How to: Install Team Foundation Server Using the Advanced Configuration

  • Article

Installing Team Foundation Server on Multiple Servers Using Existing Infrastructure

Installing on more than one server

If you want to change the default installation options for Team Foundation Server, use the advanced configuration, which lets you configure Team Foundation Server on multiple servers and change many other options.

Why use advanced? The standard installation might not fit your needs. You might want to customize a single server installation or install Team Foundation Server and its configuration database on different servers. Perhaps you already have SQL Server or SharePoint Products running in your organization and you’d like to use one of these installations to host team projects or the data for Team Foundation Server. If you use the optional features that require prerequisite server software, these installations can also be hosted on different servers. If you use multiple servers, you can distribute the load between Team Foundation Server and the configuration database, or you can ensure that prerequisite server software for features such as reporting or the portal site is running on capable hardware.

Don’t confuse the multiple server installation with the robust scale-out features that Team Foundation Server offers. These scale-out features include the ability to create a Team Foundation Server farm and add a team project collection to an instance of SQL Server that was not part of the original deployment of Team Foundation Server. However, these scale-out features are not part of this scenario. This scenario offers you guidance for an initial deployment of Team Foundation Server that takes advantage of configurable installation options, such as installing TFS on more than one server. For more information about how to add an application-tier server to your deployment of Team Foundation Server, see How to: Create a Team Foundation Server Farm (High Availability).

A multiple-server installation requires an Active Directory domain and domain accounts or the Network Service account. You cannot use local accounts for service accounts.

Tip

You can get step-by-step instruction for installing TFS 2012 on Windows Server 2012 with SQL Server 2012 and SharePoint 2013 by downloading,  “Installing Team Foundation Server 2012: the ultimate guide for installing TFS,” an e-book that comes in many popular file formats, including PDF, and RTF and is based on the material from this guide (Smashwords).

To install Team Foundation Server with the advanced configuration

The tasks in the following table help you prepare the operating systems and network environment for a multiple server Team Foundation Server installation.

Task

Detailed instructions

Step 1

Check for supported hardware and software. Verify that the operating system on every server where you will install a Team Foundation Server component meets Team Foundation Server requirements. Verify the hardware is capable of running Team Foundation Server and all prerequisite server software. Review the language requirements for Team Foundation Server.

To use Team Foundation Server on multiple servers, you must have an Active Directory domain that meets the requirements of Team Foundation Server.

Check for required permissions and user accounts. Verify that the account that you will use to install Team Foundation Server is a member of the Administrators security group on the servers where you will install Team Foundation Server. If you plan to configure reporting, you must also be a member of the Administrators security group on the server that is running SQL Server Reporting Services. If you plan to configure SharePoint Products, you must be a member of the Farm Administrators group on the SharePoint Central Administration site.

Determine the service accounts that you will use to install Team Foundation Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint Products.

Step 2

Set up SQL Server. Review the Team Foundation Server collation requirements. Determine the collation settings that your organization requires for its data and ensure that those settings meet the requirements of Team Foundation Server. If these settings are not consistent across all SQL Server instances added to Team Foundation Server, you may get unexpected results in reports.

Either install SQL Server on the server where you will host the Database Engine and Full text search features or verify that an existing installation meets Team Foundation Server requirements. By default, Team Foundation Server creates required databases during installation, but you can provision empty databases, using appropriate naming conventions. Provisioning empty databases is optional.

(Optional) Set up Reporting. If you want to use reporting, you must either install SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Analysis Services or verify that an existing installation meets Team Foundation Server requirements. You do not have to use the same SQL Server instance for the report server as the one that you used for the Database Engine. You can even use multiple servers to host the report server. However, your report server cannot be shared with other applications. Team Foundation Server requires a dedicated report server. If your report server is not on the same server as Team Foundation Server, you must add the service account for Team Foundation Server to the Content Manager group on the report server.

Verify SQL Server. Verify that all instances of SQL Server are configured to meet the minimum requirements of Team Foundation Server.

Step 3

(Optional) Install and configure Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 on the application tier (pictured).

If you plan to use the installation SharePoint Products that comes with the installation of Team Foundation Server, skip to the installation of Team Foundation Server.  If you want to do something else with SharePoint, you have the following options:

  • Install a supported version of SharePoint Products on the application tier before you install Team Foundation Server. Helpful if you don’t want to use the version of SharePoint that ships with Team Foundation Server. If you are using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010, perform the required configurations for dashboard compatibility before you install Team Foundation Server.

  • Install Team Foundation Server on a server that hosts a supported installation of SharePoint Products. Helpful if you already have an installation of SharePoint and don’t mind installing Team Foundation Server on the same hardware. Remember to verify your SharePoint configuration before you install Team Foundation Server.

  • Install Team Foundation Server extensions for SharePoint Products onto a remote installation of SharePoint Products. Helpful if you have SharePoint running on hardware different from where you’ll install Team Foundation Server. Remember to install the Team Foundation Server extensions for SharePoint and make any required configurations for dashboards before you install Team Foundation Server.

Step 4

Set up Team Foundation Server. Install Team Foundation Server, and then use the Team Foundation Server Configuration tool to configure your deployment.

Final configuration of Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010.

If you installed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010, you must configure the enterprise application definition that you created for Team Foundation Server. If you are using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or skipped installation of SharePoint Products, you can skip this step.

Tip

Download the most recent version of the Installation Guide for Team Foundation to see any late-breaking changes to these steps.

See Also

Concepts

How to: Create a Team Foundation Server Farm (High Availability)

How to: Install Remote SharePoint Products for Team Foundation Server

SharePoint Products Requirements for Team Foundation Server