Migrate to Local SVN repository

Question

We currently have CSVN installed on Windows Server, and I use TortoiseSVN client and AnkhSVN for Visual Studio on my Windows 10 machine.

The company is planning on decommissioning the Windows server.

I am now the only developer using SVN and I am permanently working from home. It therefore makes sense to move the repositories to my local machine (with suitable backup of course).

I believe TortoiseSVN can access repositories using file: instead of http:

Can I therefore simply copy the repository data folders from the file server onto my own machine, and reconfigure Tortoise to use these?

Will I also be able to do this with the AnkhSVN VS plugin?

Thanks

Phil.

Answer 1

Can I therefore simply copy the repository data folders from the file server onto my own machine, and reconfigure Tortoise to use these?

Yes, you can copy the repositories to your home workstation and use the local file:// protocol to access the repositories. Make sure that no one commits to the repositories when the copy is in progress.

Will I also be able to do this with the AnkhSVN VS plugin?

AnkhSVN supports the file:// protocol.

I assume that your current server is quite old. Subversion is a project of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) since February 2010. But you call Subversion "CSVN" which stands for CollabNet Subversion, so I guess that your server (or even a client maybe) has some pre-2010 version. The latest versions are 1.10 (long-term support, LTS) and 1.13 (regular, short-term support).

As a Windows user, you may want to try VisualSVN Server at home. VisualSVN Server is built with the latest SVN 1.10 LTS and installs in a few clicks, see the Getting Started guide. The server has a modern admin interface (MMC console) and a repository web UI (see a demo at https://demo-server.visualsvn.com/!/#asf/view/head/subversion/trunk). The server has all the must-have repository admin features such as backups, scheduled verification, GUI-based permission management, etc. packed in a user-friendly GUI, and a PowerShell module for admin tasks scripting and automation.

After you move your repositories, besides planning backups, it makes sense to perform some additional maintenance:

• Verify the integrity of the repositories. Please, see SVNBook | svnadmin verify and consider the following article KB115: Getting started with repository verification jobs - the server has scheduled repository verification jobs to make it easier to implement daily verification.
• Consider upgrading the format of your repositories. Please, see SVNBook | svnadmin upgrade and consider the following articles - KB142: Upgrading the filesystem format of a repository and KB135: Understanding the Subversion repository types and formats.