Updating the Team Foundation Server Data Warehouse

We've recently deployed Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server as our project management and source control system. (Actually my team has been using it for the last year, but we've finally deployed it out to the rest of the organization)

One of the questions that has come up is how to change the update interval for the Data Warehouse. (The update interval controls how "real time" the generated reports are. It's set to a default value of 1 hour)

Basically, TFS is a pretty convoluted set of parts that are stitched together to present a very straightforward and integrated set of tools. Because of this though ,certain tasks can be a pain in the neck. Updating the Data Warehouse configuration is one of those pains.. :)

Using the Data Warehouse Configuration Web Service

The TFS Data Warehouse is controlled through a web service interface. As of now, there's not a unified configuration GUI available (at least not one that I know of) so you need to use the built-in "diagnostic" capabilities of the web service. Access the web service by logging on to the local machine (you MUST log on locally!) and using Internet Explorer (or another browser that supports SOAP) browse to: http://localhost:8080/Warehouse/v1.0/warehousecontroller.asmx to load the Warehouse configuration web service. It should bring up the following page:

In order to change the update interval, select the "Change Setting" link, which will bring up the following page:

The setting name for the update interval is "RunIntervalSeconds" and is of course specified in seconds. For example, to set the Warehouse to update every 30 minutes, enter RunIntervalSeconds in the settingID field and 1800 in the newValue field and then select Invoke. This should result in a new window opening with the following response:

Following the above steps will allow you to update the Update Interval of the TFS Data Warehouse.