Team Test Rig Requirements for Team Foundation Server

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Several test types, including unit, Web, load, and manual tests as well as the measurement of code coverage, are integrated into Visual Studio. Visual Studio Team System Test Edition enables Visual Studio Team System users to run tests on remote computers. This configuration is collectively referred to as a rig. A rig provides distributed, automated test execution. A Test Edition rig is made up of a test controller and one or more agents. One test controller can coordinate the execution of several test runs on computers which have the test agent installed. Memory and CPU resources limit how much load the test agent can generate in a Team Test rig. The controller service itself does not do much work. However, the controller database needs considerable resources to manage the data and the agents involved in the load-testing scenario.

The most common use of a rig is to scale load generation. For example, if you want to run a load test simulating 10,000 users, you can set up a single controller and five agent computers to emulate this. You can also run a large set of functional tests on the agent computers. The tests will run in parallel so you can reduce the amount of time it takes to execute all the tests.

Team Test Rig Services and Applications

The Test Edition controller hosts the test execution files necessary for Test Edition to run tests on Test Edition agent computers. The following services and applications run on the Test Edition controller:

  • Visual Studio Team Test Controller Service (QTController.exe)   This service communicates with the test agents and runs under the user context given at the time of installation. The user account specified must have permission to read performance counters on the test agent computers.

The following services and applications run on the Test Edition agent:

  • Visual Studio Team Test Agent Service (QTAgentService.exe)   This service communicates with the test controller and starts the agent processes on the computer where the tests are actually run. The service runs under the user context given at the time of installation.

  • Visual Studio Team Test Agent (QTAgent.exe)   Tests run in this process. The process runs under the user context given at time of installation.

Team Test Rig Requirements

The number of test rigs in your deployment and the scope of your tests affect the hardware and software needed for the test controllers and agents in your environment. For more information about test rig hardware requirements, see Test Rig Requirements for Team System.

For more information about test rigs, see Setting Up the Controller and Agent Functionality.