Domain Requirements for Team Foundation Server

  • Article

An Active Directory domain deployment is intended for larger teams or departments for whom individual management of large groups of users would be prohibitive. In an Active Directory domain deployment topology, there is at least one server acting as the Active Directory domain controller that is independent of Visual Studio Team System and the server that is running Team Foundation Server.

Important

Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server are incompatible with Windows NT Server 4.0 domain controllers. Additionally, Team Foundation Server cannot be installed on a server configured as a domain controller.

Supported Domain Configurations

Team Foundation Server is supported in the following Active Directory modes and functional levels:

  • Windows 2000 Active Directory in native mode.

  • Windows Server 2003 Active Directory in Windows 2000 Native functional level.

  • Windows Server 2003 Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 functional level.

Note

Team Foundation Server does not support the authentication modes and functional levels of Windows NT Server 4.0 or functional levels that support the functional levels of Windows NT Server 4.0, such as Windows 2000 mixed-mode.

Additionally, Team Foundation Server supports the deployment of Team Foundation application-tier servers and Team Foundation data-tier servers in different domains, although this is not optimal. Team Foundation Server supports client connections from other domains and even other forests.

Depending on your domain configuration, you might have to configure trusts between domains and forests in order to support Team Foundation Server and Team Foundation clients. For specific information about domain and trust configurations, see Trusts and Forests Considerations for Team Foundation Server.

Unsupported Domain Configurations

  • Windows NT Server 4.0 domain controllers.

  • Windows 2000 domain controllers in mixed mode (default).

  • A mix of Windows 2000 domain controllers and Windows NT Server 4.0 domain controllers.

See Also

Concepts

Trusts and Forests Considerations for Team Foundation Server
Workgroup Requirements for Team Foundation Server

Other Resources

Managing Team Foundation Server in an Active Directory Domain
Domain and Workgroup Requirements