To view the full article, please visit
http://www.BetterVssRemoting.com
Better VSS Remote Access Tool including SourceOffSite, SourceAnyWhere
and VSS Remoting
This article makes a detailed comparison among SourceAnyWhere,
SourceOffSite, VSS Remoting and possible others.
Keywords: VSS Remote Access, VSS Web Access, VSS Internet Access,
SourceSafe Remote Access, SourceSafe Web Access, SourceSafe Internet
Access
Index
1. Overview
2. Comparison Summary
3. Test Environment
4. Test Methodology
5. Breakdown
5.1 Speed
5.2 Stability
5.3 Security
5.4 VSS Feature Support
5.5 Usability
5.6 Diff/Merge
5.7SCCI Integration
5.8 Cross Platform
5.9 Others
1. Overview
What does the article do? It makes a comparison among SourceAnyWhere
3.1, SourceOffSite 4.1 and VSS Remoting 2.5.
Our initiative is to make an unbiased, objective, repeatable and
verifiable comparison:
a. Real project is used. The project I use is eMule, which is at
http://sourceforge.net/projects/emule/
b. Detailed steps are presented. You can follow the detailed steps
easily.
c. If you want to make a comment, I can be reached at
be************* **@yahoo.com.
If you need more info, please visit their official websites:
SourceAnyWhere (SAW) from DynamSoft http://www.dynamsoft.com
SourceOffSite (SOS) from SourceGear http://www.sourcegear.com
VSS Remoting from Source Remoting
http://www.sourceremoting.com
Want to add a product? Write to me: be************* **@yahoo.com
The real result may vary if you do the test in different environment or
different files are used. However, the basic concept of this
comparison, such as which one is the fastest, which one has more VSS
features, should be applicable everywhere.
To view the full article, please go to
http://www.bettervssremoting.com
2. Comparison Summary (5 star ***** is the best)
Speed Comparison
SAW *****
SOS **
VSS Remoting **
Stability Comparison
SAW ****
SOS ***
VSS Remoting **
Security
SAW ****
SOS ***
VSS Remoting ***
VSS Feature Support
SAW ****
SOS ****
VSS Remoting ****
Usability
SAW ****
SOS **
VSS Remoting **
Diff/Merge
SAW ****
SOS ****
VSS Remoting **
IDE Integration
SAW ***
SOS ***
VSS Remoting ****
Cross Platform
SAW *
SOS ****
VSS Remoting ***
Speed:
I am totally surprised and excited by the speed of SourceAnyWhere. For
Get, Checkout and other operations, SourceAnyWhere can be up to 40+
times faster than SourceOffSite and VSS Remoting.
Stability:
SourceAnyWhere never has any problem in the whole test.
VSS Remoting has difficulty to add files.
SourceOffSite has several problems when it comes to stability. It fails
often when I try to add big files. The big problem of SourceOffSite is
cancel. There is no cancel support in IDE integration. After a cancel
operation in Add, Checkin, Checkout or Get in SourceOffSite Explorer,
the CPU usage of SourceOffSite server goes up to almost 100% and can
not come down, unless the server is restarted.
Security:
What makes SourceAnyWhere unique is the password policy.
All the products use 128-bit cryptography.
SourceOffSite and SourceAnyWhere use BlowFish.
VSS Remoting uses HTTPS.
VSS Feature Support:
Weakness and strengths equally exist in them three.
Usability:
SAW is the best. All the Windows of SAW is in Win32 style. It can
detect if a file is changed automatically.
Diff/Merge
In File Diff (2-way)/File Merge (3-way), SourceAnyWhere and
SourceOffSite run neck and neck; VSS Remoting has a low performance
IDE Integration:
SourceAnyWhere, SourceOffSite and VSS Remoting all support MSSCCI
Integration.
VSS Remoting supports DreamWeaver integration
I have not tested the IDE integration intensively. I give this rate
just according to manual of the three products.
Cross Platform:
SourceOffSite can cross most popular platforms, VSS Remoting has a web
interface which can login server through web
To view the full article, please go to
http://www.bettervssremoting.com
3. Test Environment
3.1Test Data
a. Real project is used for test
b. All eMule0.44c and eMule0.44d files are downloaded from
Sourceforge
c. Big Files are simulated files created by us
3.2 Server Configuration
P4, 2.8G, 256M RAM, Windows XP Professional
SourceAnyWhere profession 3.1 DEMO Server
SourceOffSite4. 1 with Cryptography DEMO Server
VSS Remoting Server 2.5
Visual SourceSafe6.0 + Sp6
3.3 Client Configuration
P4 Celeron 2.0G, 256M RAM, Windows 2003
ADSL connection
SourceAnyWhere profession 3.1
SourceOffSite 4.1 with Cryptography
VSS Remoting Client 2.5
To view the full article, please go to
http://www.bettervssremoting.com
4. Test Methodology
All the three products are tested on the same computers and internet
connection
All the three products are tested on the same data set
All the three products are tested with the same process
For speed test, every action is carried out 5 times
The initial state of the VSS database is empty (newly created)
To view the full article, please go to
http://www.bettervssremoting.com
5. Breakdown
5.1 Speed
Summary
The significance of the speed can not be overemphasized, when it comes
to Remote Access.
I am completely amazed by the speed of SourceAnyWhere. It is just
incredible. SAW can be up to 40+ times faster than SOS and VSS
Remoting.
The following data is in format of
Operation: SAW (seconds), SOS (seconds), VSS Remoting (seconds):
Add files: 63.6, 283.2, Failed
Get (Local files do not exist): 64.8, 712.6, 776.6
Get (Local files are the same as the files on server): 17.0,
629.4, 734.8
Get (Local files are partially changed (Replace)): 16.6, 650.2,
786.0
Get (Local files are partially changed (Skip)): 20.8, 841.6,
95.0
Checkout (Local files do not exist): 85.8, 1184.8, 1291.8
Checkout (Local files are same as the files on server): 42.4,
1180.4, 1349.6
Checkout (Local files are partially changed (Replace)): 44.2,
1212.4, 1312.8
Checkout (Local files are partially changed (Skip)): 16.2, 841.6,
425.6
Checkin (Fully changed files): 96.4, 984.4, 1180.6
Checkin (artially changed files): 72.8 755.2 834.0
Connect to server: 4.1, 8.1, 3.2
Login : 2.9, 5.3, 2.1
Refresh file list (eMule files in the project): 6.8, 14.9,
373.4
5.2 Stability
I did the stability test with the following 4 ways:
a. Do the normal operations
b. Cancel the ongoing operations in explorer
c. Cancel the ongoing operations in IDE
d. Unplug the cable to simulate network failure
SourceAnyWhere is the best performer again. Both the SourceOffSite and
VSS Remoting have problems.
SourceOffSite freeze several times in my test and it seems the crash is
not repeatable, except the fact that the possibility of its crash is
higher when it operates on big files. But it fails sometime on small
file and normal operation, even though it is not very frequent. Also,
the handling of Cancel is very bad in SOS.
The handling of Cancel in VSS Remote is pretty good, but it is
difficult for me to add files through it and big file can cause it
crash.
5.2.1. The normal operations
SourceAnyWhere has no problem during the whole test.
Both SourceOffSite and VSS Remoting have problem of handling big file,
say, more than 200M.
In my test, it is very difficult to use VSS Remoting to add files.
5.2.2. Cancel in Explorer
Is cancelable? SAW:YES, SOS:YES, VSS Remoting:YES
Can the system continue to function after the cancel? SAW:YES, SOS: Not
really, VSS Remogint:YES
Is the checkout rolled back? SAW: YES, SOS: NO, VSS Remoting: NO
SourceAnyWhere is the best. No problem at all.
5.2.2.1 Can the system continue to function after the cancel?
After a cancellation, the SourceOffSite server CPU usage usually goes
up to almost 100%, and will not come down by itself unless it is
restarted. For our machine, it is very hard for the server to accept
any new user or carry out any other operations. I also did this test on
a machine with hyper-thread CPU, where the server could accept new
users, but the performance degraded significantly.
After a cancellation, the VSS Remoting server is fine.
5.2.2.2 Is the checkout rolled back?
Again, SourceOffSite has very big problem on cancel of checkout
operation, whereas VSS Remoting has minor problem.
The SourceOffSite checkouts all the to-be-checkout files first, then do
the file transfer. If the transfer is canceled, the status of the files
remains checkout. If before the checkout, some local files are checked
out and modified, this can cause big problem. Let us see what we can do
now:
We can not do Get. If we do Get, the local changed files will be
replaced and lost.
We can not do Checkout, since the files have been checked out.
We can not do Check in, since it is possible that the local files may
be older than the files on server and a Checkin operation on those
files can overwrite the changes made on server.
We can not do Undo checkout, since it is hard for us to know which
local file to be replaced or which file to be skipped.
5.2. 3. Cancel in IDE
SAW and VSS Remoting can do cancel in IDE.
SOS does not provide a way to cancel in IDE. During the test, if the
network goes down when a network operation is going on, the whole IDE
stops responding and there is no way to save the edited files. I was
left with no options but killing the IDE process and all the changes
are lost.
5.2.4 Unplug the cable to simulate network failure
It is reasonable to assume that the internet network is not 100%
stable. What will happen when the network failure occurs? To simulate
the network failure, I do the test by unplugging the network cable. Two
kinds of failures are simulated. Unplug the cable of the client machine
to simulate the failure of local network. Unplug the cable of ADSL line
to simulate the failure of a remote internet device, such as one of the
50 routers in the virtual circuit.
Unplug the cable of the client machine Can detect the unplugging?
SAW:Yes, SOS: YES, VSS Remoting: YES.
Can the operation be canceled properly: SAW:Yes, SOS: No. Client
crashes, VSS Remoting: Yes
Plug in again and redial. Can the client continue to work? SAW:Yes,
SourceOffSite: No. The client has to be closed, VSS Remoting:Yes
Unplug the cable of ADSL line on client Can the operation be canceled?
SAW: Yes, SOS: No. Client crashes. VSS Remoting:Yes
Plug in again and redial. Can the client continue to work? SAW: Yes,
SOS: No. If I do not cancel the operation, the client does not crash
and a network error is reported. However, the client can not be used
again. VSS Remoting: No. Client crashes, but you can connect to server
by opening a new client.
5.3 Security
Password Policy: SAW: Yes, SOS: No, VSS Remoting: No
128-bit cryptography: SAW:Yes, SOS: Yes, VSS Remoting:Yes
I find that the Password Policy of SourceAnyWhere is really very well
done. VSS is designed to be used in a trusted environment and the lack
of protection of password has long been one of the biggest weaknesses
of VSS. Now, with the Password Policy, the password of VSS through
remote access can be very strong.
Take a look of Password Policy here.
http://www.bettervssremoting.com/PasswordPolicy.jpg
5.4 VSS Feature Support
Weakness and strengths equally exist in them three.
Format: Operation SAW SOS VSS Remoting
Checkin Specify the file location for Checkin Yes No Yes
Add File Store latest version Yes No No
Comment Yes Yes No
Checkout immediately No Yes No
Get Specify the file location for Get Yes No Yes
Set file's EOL in Get Dialog Yes No No
Set file's EOL in Option Yes Yes No
Set the local file time No Yes Yes
Get old version file Yes Yes Yes
Get old version project No Yes Yes
Get old version file in IDE Yes No Yes
Checkout Specify the file location for Checkout Yes No Yes
Set file EOL In checkout Dialog Yes No No
Set file EOL In Option Yes Yes No
Set the local file time No Yes Yes
Status Search No Yes Yes
5.5 Usability
SAW is the best:
All the Windows of SAW is in Win32 style.
It can detect if a file is changed automatically.
Excellent help system.
File Change Detection
In my personal opinion, file change automatic detection is very
important. Image this, you have writable 100 files in one project, and
only 2 of them are changed in the VSS server. When you do the Get
Latest Version from server, if the system can not detect which files
are changed, it just keeps on asking you if you want to Replace or Skip
a file. An option, such as "Apply to all items", can save you of
clicking the Replace or Skip for 100 times. But if Replace and Apply to
All Items are selected, all files are got down. It surely takes time.
If Skip and Apply to All Items are selected, you get nothing.
SAW SOS VSS Remoting
File Change Detection if the file is writable
Yes No Yes
Proxy Support
SAW: http/SOCK4/SOCK5
SOS: http
VSS Remoting: http/SOCK4/SOCK5
All the dialog boxes of SourceAnyWhere are in win32 style and are very
easy to use.
Screen Shots of the three products:
http://www.bettervssremoting.com/ScreenShot_Add.htm
http://www.bettervssremoting.com/ScreenShot_Share.htm
http://www.bettervssremoting.com/ScreenShot_Set.htm
5.6 Diff/Merge
SAW SOS VSS Remoting
Diff/Merge File Diff (2-way)/File Merge (3-way) File Diff (2-way)/File
Merge (3-way)/Folder Diff File Diff(2-way)
5.7 IDE Integration
I have not tested the IDE integration intensively. I give this rate
just according to manual of the three products.
All the three products support MSSCCI integration, such as Visual
Studio6/Visual Studio.NET/Rational/Delphi.
Only VSS Remoting supports DreamWeaver integration.
5.8 Cross Platform
SAW: windows
SOS: Windows, Linux, Mac
VSS Remoting: Windows, web client
SourceAnyWhere has only Windows client. On the web site of DynamSoft, I
notice that the future version of SourceAnyWhere 4.0 has a JAVA client,
and according to SUN, this client should be "Write Once Run
Everywhere".
VSS Remoting has a web client. SAW and SOS do not. However, after many
tries, I can not use the web client.
5.9 Others
SOS has a command line client. SAW and VSS Remoting do not.
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