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994

answers:

8

What Subversion (SVN) Server would recommend a newbie get started on the Windows Server OS?

I think I'll be using TortoiseSVN on the client and will be doing .NET development mostly.

UPDATE:
Great advice. I'm picking my answer based on votes. I will try VisualSVN and CollabNet. Please read chyne's answer which I thought was really good too (+1). I'll try that method out too.

I'll come back to this question in a week or two an update with my thoughts in the comments.

+18  A: 

I use VisualSVN server and find it really easy to setup and use.

Also if you're doing .NET development, look into AnkhSVN for Visual Studio integration. I have both that and tortoise SVN installed as clients.

Andrew Barrett
Just be sure to download the server, because they also make a client. The server is free, while the client is not so free. But yeah, VisualSVN is pretty neat.
toast
This is what we use, great stuff
Allen
Along with the VisualSVN server I use the VisualSVN client and I think it's well worth the few $ for nice Visual Studio integration.
Rory
Given how much effort goes into TortoiseSVN, it makes me feel a little sad for Stefan, Simon and everyone on the TortoiseSVN team to see others profiting from their work. Yes I understand FLOSS, and perhaps VisualSVN donate to TortoiseSVN, but I can't tell, and IMHO it would be nice if they did.
Si
+12  A: 

Just use the standard windows distribution of the SVN server, running as a service. It works perfectly fine for me. I use TortoiseSVN for the client, as well.

Alex Fort
Where is the standard distribution? Is that CollabNets?
tyndall
CollabNet, yes. http://subversion.tigris.org/
Piskvor
Some instructions for setting up svnserve on windowshttp://tortoisesvn.net/docs/release/TortoiseSVN_en/tsvn-serversetup-svnserve.html#tsvn-serversetup-svnserve-2
Si
A: 

I'd just go for the basic run of the mill SVN server package, especially since you'll be using Tortoise. It's lean :)

Andy
+3  A: 

sliksvn simple, free and just works - runs as a service, no need for a web server.

Martin Beckett
+1  A: 

I had trouble with SlickSVN as you can read about here. In the end I went with the CollabNet binaries.

Sean
good to know (+1)
tyndall
+2  A: 

Visual SVN is great, but I found it a little too magical.

I set mine up following the directions from Code Magazine.

http://www.code-magazine.com/Article.aspx?quickid=0807081

Tom B
+2  A: 

If you're talking one person, just getting started, working on your own personal projects on a single PC, then I would recommend starting with a file system based repository and skip the server altogether. Keep it simple.

TortoiseSVN can create a local repository (on a network drive, or external drive if you need the safety of having your working copy and repository in different places).

Just create a folder somewhere for your repository, right-click it and use Tortoise's "Create Repository Here" command.

The URL of your repository will then be something like: file:///X:/path/to/repository.

You can always move your repository to a server later if necessary.

chyne
A: 

I often use TortoiseSVN in combination with the offical simple Subversion server that's included with the official Subversion Windows binaries. I've created a simple batch script file that starts the server when I need it. Here it is:

@echo Starting SVNServe in daemon mode...
C:\Utils\SVN\bin\svnserve.exe -d -r C:\Repositories

As you can see I keep my repositories in C:\Repositories.

Ofcourse this is a very simple approach. If you want more security, you'd probably host the repositories on a different server etc. But on the other hand this is very easy to manage.

LeonZandman