TFS 2010 Fresh Install - on virtual or physical machines?

Question

I'm planning on installing TFS 2010 as a fresh install. I'm thinking that I'll do a dual-server deployment to start. For the DB tier, I'll most likely go with physical. For the App tier, is there any reason not to go with a virtual machine?

Thanks,
--Ed

P.S. does anyone know why using the TFS2010 Install Guide chm (TFSInstall-RTM-Aug2010.chm - 510KB) I get a "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" for the content in the right pane? The left pane shows the tree no problem.

Answer 1

I have everything installed on virtual machines (SQL server, app tier and build server) and it works very well. There's no reason for not using a virtual machine for the app tier.

P.S. For the .chm file right click on its properties and there will be a button that says that this file was downloaded from the internet and you need to unblock it.

Answer 2

I would suggest, for even the smallest host, that the datatier should be deployed on physical hardware. Unless you have som killer Virtual setup.

The load of the TFS database is massive and there's a lot of report generating, cube generating and so on going on the whole time which will take up disk performance if not in a proper configured setup.

just my 2 cents! :)