How to: Run a Scan

  • Article

You can prevent or troubleshoot problems in a deployment of Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server by scanning it with the Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server. Before you run a scan, you should consider which type of scan will report the kinds of results that you need, which computers you should scan, and from which computer you will run the scan.

For example, you can run a preinstall check before you deploy Team Foundation Server or a health check to troubleshoot an existing deployment. For more information about these two checks, see Rule Checking Performed by the Best Practices Analyzer Tool.

  • Before you deploy Team Foundation Server, you should follow the steps in the first two procedures in this topic, depending on which version you want to deploy.

  • After you deploy Team Foundation Server, you can identify potential problems and solutions by following the steps in the last procedure in this topic.

You can run a scan from any computer where you have installed the Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server. As a best practice, you should install the tool and run the scan from the computer whose information you most need to collect because some rules can run only on a local computer. For more information, see Access is not available.

When you run a preinstall check, you can specify the name of an application-tier server, a data-tier server, or both. If you specify the name of only one server, the tool checks only those rules that apply to that type of server. If you specify the same name for both types of server (as for a single-server deployment), the tool checks the rules for both types of server. If you specify different names for each type of server, the tools checks the appropriate rules for each server.

Required Permissions

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the Administrators security group on the computer from which you run the scan.

To perform a preinstall check for Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server

  1. Open the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Team Foundation Server Admin tools, and then click Best Practices Analyzer.

    The Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server opens.

  2. On the Welcome page, click Select options for a new scan.

    Or, in the link pane, click Start a scan.

  3. In Enter the Scan Label, type a name for the scan so that you can access the scan later.

    If you leave this box blank, the tool will automatically label the scan with a date and time stamp.

  4. In Scan type, click Preinstall Check (TFS 2005).

  5. In Application Tier server, type the name of the application-tier server on which Team Foundation Server is installed or will be installed.

    By default, the tool specifies the name of the local server.

  6. In Data Tier server, type the name of the data-tier server on which Team Foundation Server is installed or will be installed. If you are scanning a single-server deployment, type the same name as the application-tier server.

    Note

    If SQL Server is installed on a cluster, the server name is the name of the cluster and not the computer name.

  7. Click Start Scanning.

  8. On the Scanning Completed page, click View a Report of this Best Practices scan.

    For more information about the reports that you can view, see Reports that the Best Practices Analyzer Tool Generates.

To perform a preinstall check for Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server

  1. Open the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Team Foundation Server Admin tools, and then click Best Practices Analyzer.

    The Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server opens.

  2. On the Welcome page, click Select options for a new scan.

    Or, in the link pane, click Start a scan.

  3. In Enter the Scan Label, type a name for the scan so that you can access the scan later.

    If you leave this box blank, the tool will automatically label the scan with a date and time stamp.

  4. In Scan type, click Preinstall Check (TFS 2008).

  5. Make the following entries based on your deployment:

    Box

    Description

    Application-tier server for Team Foundation

    Type the name of the application-tier server where Team Foundation Server is installed or will be installed.

    By default, the tool automatically specifies the name of the local server.

    Data-tier server for Team Foundation

    • Type the name of the data-tier server where Team Foundation Server is installed or will be installed. If you have a single-server installation, type the same name as the application-tier server.

    • If SQL Server is installed on a cluster, the server name is the name of the cluster and not the computer name.

    • If you have a named database instance, use the following format: ServerName/InstanceName.

    • If you do not want the tool to scan the data-tier server, leave this box blank.

    SharePoint Default Site URL

    Type the URL of the default Web site. The format is http://SharePointServer:Port/sites.

    Note

    Leave this box blank if SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed or will be installed on the application-tier server.

    If you have installed SharePoint Products and Technologies on a remote server, type the URL (for example, TFS_SPS:80/sites).

    Note

    When SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed on the application-tier server, port 80 and the sites folder are assigned to the Default Web Site. The port number and folder name might be different if SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed on a remote server.

    SharePoint Central Administration URL

    Type the URL of the SharePoint Central Administration site. The format is http://ServerName:AdminPortNumber.

    Note

    Leave this box blank if SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed or will be installed on the application-tier server.

    If you have installed SharePoint Products and Technologies on a remote server, type the URL (for example, TFS_SPS:17012).

    Note

    If you use the installation wizard for Team Foundation Server to install SharePoint Products and Technologies, 17012 is assigned as the port number for the SharePoint Central Administration site. If you install SharePoint Products and Technologies by another means, the port number is randomly assigned.

  6. Click Start Scanning.

  7. On the Scanning Completed page, click View a Report of this Best Practices scan.

    For information about the reports that you can view, see Reports that the Best Practices Analyzer Tool Generates.

To perform a health check scan

  1. Log on to the computer where the Team Foundation Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool is installed.

  2. Open Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Team Foundation Server Admin tools, and then click Best Practices Analyzer.

    The Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server opens.

    Or, in the left pane, click Start a scan.

  3. On the Welcome page, click Select options for a new scan.

  4. In Enter the Scan Label, type a name for the scan so that you can access the scan in the future.

    Otherwise, you can leave this blank and the tool will automatically label the scan with a date and time stamp.

  5. For the Scan type, click Health Check.

  6. For Perform scan on, click one of the following three choices to specify which computers are to be scanned:

    • Client and Team Foundation Server (default). Performs a scan on the servers where Team Foundation Server software is installed and the local computer from which you start the scan. 

    • Team Foundation Server Only. Performs a scan only on the servers where Team Foundation Server software is installed.

    • Client Only. Performs a scan only on the local computer from which you initiate the scan and only applies those rules that are applicable to the client.

  7. In the Team Foundation Server URL (including port) text box, type the URL for the Web service of Team Foundation Server. The text box is automatically filled in with the http://LocalServerName:8080 name by using information from the registry as soon as that information is available.

    Note

    When you select Client Only, the text box is unavailable.

    Be sure that you include the port number after the computer name. This should be in the form http://ServerName:PortNumber. For example:

    http://AppTierServerName:8080

    or

    https:/AppTierServerName:8080

  8. Click Start Scanning to start the scan of the system.

  9. On the Scanning Completed page, click View a Report of this Best Practices scan. For a description of the reports, see Reports that the Best Practices Analyzer Tool Generates.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Open the Best Practices Analyzer Tool

How to: List Scans and View Reports

How to: Resolve and Hide Issues

Concepts

Rule Checking Performed by the Best Practices Analyzer Tool

Reports that the Best Practices Analyzer Tool Generates

Other Resources

Using the Best Practices Analyzer Tool