Installing and Configuring Agents on a Virtual Machine

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

This topic shows you how to install, repair, and uninstall any of three Microsoft Visual Studio Team System agents on a physical or a virtual machine. An agent is a background process that runs on a machine to configure, act, monitor, and report on status and errors. The three types of agents that that are included with Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server are as follows:

• Test agent. A test agent runs tests on the local machine. The test agent runs a service that listens for requests from the test agent controller to start a new test. When a request is received, the test agent service starts a process on which to run the tests. Each test agent runs the same test.

  The test agent takes as input a set of tests and a set of simulation parameters. A key concept in Team System Test is that tests are independent of the computer on which they are run. For information about how to install test agents, see Installing and Configuring Test Agents. For information about how to install test agent controllers, see Installing and Configuring Test Agent Controllers.

• Build agent. A build agent receives, runs, and reports on Team Foundation Server builds and other property settings on a single computer. The build agent communicates with the build controller, usually located on another computer. For more information about how to install a build agent and a build controller, see Understanding and Setting Up a Team Foundation Build System

• Lab agent. The lab agent communicates with the lab Web service that is running on the Team Foundation Server application tier. When you finish installing the lab agent, the VSTS Lab Management Agent Service and the VSTS Lab Management Network Agent Service will be installed and running on the machine.

It is recommended, but not required, that you install agents on a virtual machine (VM) before that VM is saved as a template on the team project collection library share. If you do this, you only have to install the agent one time, instead of every time that you create a new VM from the template.

Some important considerations about installation:

• You should not install an agent on a domain controller.

• You must install the controller before you install any agents.

Required Permissions

To install an agent, you must be a member of the Administrators security group on the computer.

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements

Software Requirements

The following operating systems are supported for an agent:

• Windows Server 2008 RTM or later versions

• Windows Server 2003 SP2 or later versions

• Windows 7 Beta 1 or later versions

• Windows Vista RTM or later versions

• Windows XP Professional SP2 or later versions

Procedures

To follow these steps on the machine or the machines that are running the test agent controller and build controller, you must be a member of the Administrators on the local machine.

To install a test agent

• Follow the procedures in Installing and Configuring Test Agents.

To install a lab agent

1. Start install.exe, This file is located in the vstl\agents\net folder.

   The Welcome to Lab Agent Setup page appears.

2. Click Next.

   The License Terms page appears.

3. Review the License Terms, select I have read and accept the license terms, if appropriate, and then click Install.

   The Installing components page appears.

4. Upon successful installation, the Setup Completed Successfully page appears. Click Finish to complete the setup.

To install a build agent

1. From the Team Foundation Server DVD, start either the 32-bit or the 64-bit setup.exe to match the operating system that you are running.

   The Team Foundation installation wizard appears.

2. On the Welcome page, click Next.

3. On the Start Page, read the terms of the license. Click I have read and accept the license terms, and then click Next.

4. On the Options Page, click Build Service, and then click Install.

   The Install Page is displayed and shows you the progress of the installation. If the installation wizard prompts you to restart your server, click Restart Now. After the server is restarted, installation resumes.

5. Select the Launch Team Foundation Server Configuration Tool check box, and then click Finish.

6. In the Team Foundation Server Configuration Tool, click Team Build Configuration, and then click Start Wizard.

7. In the Team Foundation Build Service Host Configuration dialog box, click Configure.

   The Build Service Host Properties dialog box is displayed.

   Under Connect to Team Project Collection (outgoing) click Browse.

8. In the dialog box, click Browse.

9. Add the machine that is running the logical application-tier for Team Foundation Server, select the team project collection you have configured for Lab Management, and then click Start.

   This configures and starts the build service.

10. In the Team Foundation Build Service Host Configuration dialog box, click New Controller.

11. Under Default Controller - machine name, click Start.

12. In the Team Foundation Build Service Host Configuration dialog box, click New Agent.

13. In the Build Agent Properties dialog box, under Status, click Enabled, and then click OK.

    A new build controller and agent is created and configured with the team project collection.

14. In the Team Foundation Build Service Host Configuration dialog, click Close.

15. In the Team Foundation Server Configuration wizard, click Close.

To add TFSService account permissions

1. On the local machine, click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Run dialog, type lusrmgr.msc, and then click OK.

3. In the lusrmgr window, under Local Users and Groups (Local), click Groups.

4. In the list of groups, right-click TeamTestControllerAdmins and then click Add to Group.

5. In the TeamTestControllerAdmins Properties dialog box, click Add.

6. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, under Enter the object name to select, type the name of the service account under which Team Foundation Server is running, and then click OK.

   This gives the lab service permissions on test controller.

7. In the list of groups, right-click TeamTestControllerUsers and then click Add to Group.

8. In the TeamTestControllerUsers Properties dialog, click Add.

9. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog, under Enter the object name to select, type the names of the team project members, and then click OK.

   This lets users connect to the test agent controller and run tests on environments.

10. In the list of groups, right-click TeamTestAgentService and click Add to Group.

11. In the TeamTestAgentService Properties dialog box, click Add.

12. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, under Enter the object name to select, type the name of the service account under which the local test agent is running, and then click OK.

    This allows test agents to connect to test agent controller.

13. Add the test agent controller to the team project collection.

To associate an test agent with a test agent controller

1. On the client machine, click Start, and then click All Programs. Point to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and then click Microsoft Test and Lab Manager.

2. If you are prompted to connect to a team project, click Add. Type the URL, or just the name of the Team System 2010 Team Foundation Server, and then click Add.

   The connection string that will be used to connect to Team Foundation Server is shown in Preview.

   Note

   If you do not know the name of your Team System 2010 Team Foundation Server, contact your system administrator.

3. To select a team project, click the arrow to view the list of team projects in the project collection. Select the name of your team project in the list, and then click Connect.

   If you successfully connect to this team project, the name of the team project is displayed in the Microsoft Test and Lab Manager window following Context.

4. When you are prompted to set context, click Don’t set context.

5. In the upper-left drop-down list, click Lab Center.

6. On the Controller tab, click Add test agent controller and type the name of machine where the test agent controller is installed.

7. Click Add, and then click Save and Close.

   Note

   If you use network isolation and a local service account, then you must disable IPSEC on the machine that is running the test agent controller in case that machine is joined to a domain that has enabled IPSEC policies on this machine.

See Also

Concepts

Working with Virtual Machine Templates