Import/Export TeamCity build configuration from one server to another
What's the best way to move a single TeamCity build configuration from one server to another?
I have a local instance of TeamCity that I test builds on. Then when the build is sufficiently mature, I manually create it (eyeball-copy) on our main TeamCity server.
Is there an Export & Import feature that will do this for me?
Answer
Unfortunately there is no such thing. TeamCity 8 made the situation a little bit better though by introducing a Build Id format (project name + build config name, can be overwritten) that makes it feasible to "hand copy" build configurations:
Basically under the hood all your TeamCity build configurations are really just XML files in the BuildServer\config\projects\ folder and sub folders. While I haven't tried this you should be able to just copy your project folder or build config XML to the appropriate destination on your new TeamCity instance if the ids don't collide. At the very least you can definitely overwrite existing projects with updates this way (something I have done in the past to dynamically change build configs "on the fly").
Of course if your build config depends on other builds / artifacts those ids have to match as well, so either you have to copy those as well or adjust the ids accordingly. Same goes for agent requirements.
Edit:
With TeamCity 9 out now there's a much better option to move projects between TeamCity servers built in:
Now TeamCity provides the ability to move projects among servers: you can transfer projects with all their data (settings, builds and changes history, etc.) and with your TeamCity user accounts from one server to another. All you need to do is create a usual backup file on the source TeamCity server containing the projects to be imported, put the backup file into the /import directory on the target server and follow the import steps on the Administration | Projects Import page.
For a full summary see what's new in TeamCity 9.