Team Foundation Build Servers
To take advantage of the Team Foundation Build features, one or more computers in the Team Foundation environment can be designated as build servers. Team Foundation Server does not require a build server, but can integrate with one or many build servers. A build server uses Team Foundation Build and Team Foundation Build Tasks to download source code into a local workspace, perform a build, run test suites, log work items, update work items, record test coverage and code churn metrics, and publish a build report to the team project portal.
You can choose to install Team Foundation Build on a separate server or client computer, or side-by-side on any client computer with Team System installed. You can also choose to install Team Foundation Build on the same server as Team Foundation Server, although this is not recommended.
Build Server Services and Applications
The Team Foundation Build feature contains the binaries necessary for building code into executable software. The following services run on the build server:
Team Build Service, which runs under the service account you specify during setup. To build a team project on this computer, this account should be added to the Build Services group of the Team Foundation Server project.
Team Foundation Build tools, including MSBuild.exe. For more information about build server operation and management, see Administering Team Foundation Build.
Build Server Requirements
The number of build servers in your deployment and scope of your builds will affect the hardware and software you need for the build server or servers. For more information about build server hardware requirements, see Server Requirements for Team Foundation Build.