SourceOffSite consists of a Server and a Client. They can communicate over any standard TCP/IP connection, including a PPP connection over a modem, an ISDN line, or an Ethernet connection on the same LAN as the Server. SourceOffSite does not require Windows Remote Access Service (RAS).
SourceOffSite is designed with a client-server architecture to facilitate remote version control. It is up to 12 times faster than Visual SourceSafe over RAS.
Server
The Server is installed on the machine with access to the file system on which the Visual SourceSafe database resides. Once installed there, the Server provides access to Visual SourceSafe operations to Clients that connect using any standard TCP/IP connection.
The Server requires .NET 3.5, and can therefore be installed on systems running Windows ServerTM 2003, Windows ServerTM 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. It runs in the background with no user interface of any kind. Configuration of the Server is accomplished through the Server Manager utility.
The SourceOffSite Server does not necessarily need to be installed on the machine where the VSS database resides. It can be installed on a different machine from the one hosting the VSS database, as long as they are both on the same LAN. However, the SourceOffSite Server does use the Visual SourceSafe Automation component (APIs). Thus, the Visual SourceSafe Client component must be installed on the server machine hosting the SourceOffSite Server. Installing the Visual SourceSafe Client also installs the Visual SourceSafe APIs.
Client
The SourceOffSite Client is a Microsoft 2007 Office Fluent UI designed application that provides all major Visual SourceSafe Explorer functionality. Visual SourceSafe users should find the SourceOffSite Client to be familiar and easy to use. Users can perform almost all Visual SourceSafe operations in a similar fashion. These operations include:
- Create Project
- Add Files
- Delete Files or Projects
- Get Latest Version
- Check Out
- Check In
- Undo Check Out
- Share
- Branch
- View
- Edit
- Merge
- Show Differences
- Show Properties
- Show History
- Status Search
- Cloak
- Web deploy
- Label Version
- Pin Files
- Rename
- Move
- Set Working Folder
- Refresh File List
- Refresh Project Tree
- Cancel Operation.
The SourceOffSite Client can connect to any SourceOffSite Server by simply specifying the location of that server (a host name or IP address, and a port number). SourceOffSite Clients are available for Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 platforms. Linux and Solaris users may still use SourceOffSite 4.2 to connect to SourceOffSite 5.0 servers.