How to: Set Up a Build Computer

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With Team Foundation Build, a designated computer can be used for running builds. You can install the Team Build Service on the designated computer which is a separate installation from the Team System application tier, data tier, or Visual Studio client. You may designate a separate computer, or the build can be installed side-by-side on the client computer or on the servers.

Important

In order to run tests during build, Team Edition for Testers must be installed on the build computer. In order to run unit testing, code coverage or code analysis, Team Edition for Developers must be installed on the build computer.

The installation process installs the .NET Framework SDK and the appropriate Team Foundation Build components. One of important components installed is the Team Build Service. This service requires special permissions. The following procedures describe the steps used to install Team Foundation Build on a designated build computer.

If the build computer has firewall enabled make sure that the following are in the exceptions list:

  • tfsbuildservice

  • Port 9191 that uses .NET Remoting.

Each build computer can be associated with only one Team Foundation application tier. However, a Team Foundation application tier can communicate with multiple build computers.

Note

If you change the service account for Team Build Service, you must make sure that the account is a member of the Build Services group, and that the account has read/write permissions to the temporary folders and the ASP.NET temporary folder. For more information, see Managing and Resetting Service Accounts and Passwords.

Required Permissions

To perform this procedure, you must belong to the Administrators security group on the computer that you are installing Team Foundation Build. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

To set up a build machine

  1. On the computer for which you want to install the Team Build Service, run setup to start the build computer setup, and follow the directions provided.

    Note

    The setup and associated files are located on the Team Foundation Server installation CD under \build.

  2. The setup wizard prompts for logon credentials, enter a valid Domain account or Workgroup account.

    Note

    To build a team project, the account supplied here should be added to the Build Services group of the project. For more information, see How to: Establish Permissions for Team Foundation Build Computer.

  3. After installation, click OK.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Uninstall Team Foundation Build from a Build Computer