Team Foundation Server 2013 (TFS) Step by Step Installation Guide

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You can use a basic installation of TFS to share your code and improve collaboration with customers and team members. If you don’t already have TFS, you can set it up on your own server by following the steps in this topic: Install TFS, Install the build service, and Install Team Explorer. 






If you don't want to manage your own server, you can use Visual Studio Online instead. If you'd rather install TFS in a different configuration, you can learn how in Team Foundation Server install guide.


Download TFS. You can install TFS on a client or on a server operating system. For clients, use Windows 7 or Windows 8, 32-bit or 64-bit. For servers, you have to use 64-bit. Go here for the complete list of system requirements for TFS
If you install on a server operating system, you can add a SharePoint portal and SQL Server reporting later, even if you skip those features during initial installation.
Use the Basic configuration wizard for a quick and simple installation.
Use TFS basic 

After finishing, close the basic configuration wizard.

TFS success!

Once you've installed TFS, you might need to add antivirus exceptions.


After finishing the basic configuration wizard, you can install the build service on the same server. The build service automates builds of your software projects. Launch the build service configuration wizard.
Select TFS build install wizard 
Close the wizard after it finishes. Now your build server is ready to go.

Build install wizard success

Team Explorer installs with each version of Visual Studio, or you can download it for free. Although Team Explorer isn't necessary for most administration tasks, it is required to create team projects, which your software teams will require, and to support work item tracking customization. Installing it on the server is a convenient way to ensure that you can create team projects whenever necessary without having to go to another computer.
  • If you downloaded the DVD5 ISO image, browse the directory where you downloaded the image files, open the Team Explorer folder, and run the vs_TeamExplorer application.
  • If you ran the tfs_server application to install TFS, then you’ll need to download Team Explorer from the Visual Studio downloads page.
You are ready to connect to TFS and start creating your first team projects!

Create a team project

You create a team project in Team Foundation Server (TFS) to establish a repository for source code and a place for teams to plan, track progress, and collaborate.

From Team Explorer 2013, connect to the server and team project collection where you want to create your team project.



Select team project link on the Connect page in Team Explorer

Team Explorer is installed with Visual Studio. Or, you can install Team Explorer for free.

You must connect from a client that is at the same version level as TFS. That is, you must connect to TFS 2013 from Team Explorer 2013.

Connect to Team Foundation Server dialog box

If you are running Team Explorer from a server that hosts SharePoint Products and SQL Server Reporting Services, you might need to run Visual Studio as an administrator.

If it’s your first time connecting to TFS, you’ll need to add TFS to the list of recognized servers.

Servers button on the Connect to Team Foundation Server dialog box. Add button on the Add/Remove TFS. Name of server in the Add TFS dialog box. OK button.

Open the New Team Project Wizard.

New link on Connect page (Team Explorer)

Name the team project. Don’t specify more than 64 characters.

Specify the Team Project Settings page in the New Team Project dialog box

And, note that after you’ve created a team project, you can’t change its name.

Choose a process template.

Select a Process Template page in the New Team Project dialog box

Choose your source control system.

Specify Source Control Settings page in the New Team Project dialog box

Unless your team project collection is configured to support a SharePoint project portal, you’re done.



Confirm Team Project Settings page in the New Team Project dialog box

If the Next button is active, you can configure your project portal.

If the wizard encounters a problem, you’ll receive an error message and a link to the project creation log. Review the log for specific errors and exceptions.

When you’re finished, you can see your team project in Team Explorer. You can also choose the Web Access link to connect to your team project using the Team Web Access.

Home page for team project in Team Explorer

Add team members

Members of a team project can contribute to source control, work item tracking, and other team activities. If you don't yet have a team project, create one.


  1. If you're not yet an administrator, get added as a team administrator. Only administrators can add members to a team or team project.
  2. On the TFS home page, choose your team or team project. If you don't see your team project listed, use Browse all to select it.
Select team project from TFS home page

Manage members from the team home page.

Manage members for a team or team project

Add an individual Windows user account or a group.

Choose to add Windows accounts or a TFS group

Account entry box on Add a user or group dialog

The first time an account is added to TFS, you must enter the full domain name and the alias. Then you can then browse for that name by display name as well as account name.

You must enter user and group names one at a time. However, after entering a name, the account is added to the list, and you can type another name in the Identities text box before choosing to save your changes.

To verify that you've added all accounts, return to the home page and view the list of team members.

Verify team member list

Send the URL for your team project (for example, http://fabrikamprime:8080/tfs/DefaultCollection/Fabrikam%20Fiber%20Website) to the new team members so that they can start contributing to the team project.

By default, team members inherit the permissions afforded to members of the team project Contributors group. Members of this group can add and modify source code, create and delete test runs, and create and modify work items. They can collaborate with other team members and check in work to the team's code base or collaborate on a Git team project.

Team member default permissions

Configure a backup schedule and plan

If you administer systems, you're probably already familiar with all the reasons why a good backup set is crucial. No one wants to be the administrator of a server that goes down without a complete set of backups in place. Fortunately, you can back up data for TFS by using the Scheduled Backups tool in the administration console. If you regularly back up those databases, you reduce the risk of losing productivity or data because of equipment failure or other unexpected events. Unlike previous methods, this tool also backs up the SharePoint databases that TFS uses, if TFS is configured to use SharePoint.

Important
If you are using the Enterprise or Datacenter edition of SQL Server and you want to restore the collection and configuration databases to a Standard edition of SQL Server, then before you make the backup, you must turn off SQL Server compression by following the steps in the Microsoft Knowledge Base article.


  1. If you're not an administrator for TFS, a member of the SQL Server System Administrators group, and (if your deployment uses SharePoint Products) a member of the Farm Administrators group, get those permissions now.
    In addition, the service account for TFS (TFSService) must have SQL Server Perform Back Up and Create Maintenance Plan permissions set to Allow on each instance of SQL Server that hosts the databases that you want to back up, and Full Control on the network share, folder, or storage device where the backups will be kept.
  2. Open the administration console for TFS and on the Scheduled Backups page, launch the wizard for creating a backup schedule.
The Schedule Backups node in the console

Backups must be stored on a network-accessible location, and both the account that configures the scheduled backup and the service account for TFS must have Full Control for that location. You can also choose how long a backup set will be kept and the file extensions used for backup types.

Specify the network path for the backups

If your server is configured with SMTP support, you can select email alerts for specific events. If not, all selections will be dimmed.

Alerts are only available if SMTP is configured

Choose between two default schedules, or create your own custom schedule.

Choose a preconfigured or custom schedule





Complete the wizard. If your deployment uses reporting, you will be prompted for a password in order to back up the encryption key for reporting.

The wizard confirms success

Once you’ve configured the scheduled backups, you can allow them to run as scheduled. You can also choose to take an immediate backup, which will back up your data right away while leaving your plan in place. This is particularly recommended if your scheduled backups will not occur for a significant amount of time, or if you do not already have a recent backup available.

Note:
If another administrator chooses to take an immediate backup, that administrator must also have Full Control on the location where the backups are saved.

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