How to: Install Team Foundation Proxy and set up a remote site

Team Foundation Proxy

If you have developers at a remote site who are sharing code with developers at the main site, you might save bandwidth by caching version control files at the remote location. Team Foundation Server Proxy distributes popular version control files from its cache at the remote site, rather than having multiple developers from the remote site each download the same file from the main site. Your team at the remote site works like they always have, without managing which version control files get loaded into the cache.

To set this up, you install and configure the proxy server at the remote site, connect the proxy server to the application tier, and then connect the version control feature of Team Explorer to the proxy. Before you can start to cache files at the remote site, you must add the service account for the proxy server to Team Foundation Server at the main site.

To cache version control files at a remote site

Task

Detailed instructions

Step 1

Check for supported hardware and software. Verify that the operating system meets requirements for Team Foundation Server Proxy and that the hardware can run it.

Step 2

Set up Team Foundation Server Proxy. Install Team Foundation Server Proxy. After the installation is finished, use the Team Foundation Server Configuration Tool to configure your proxy server.

Step 3

Connect Team Explorer to Team Foundation Server Proxy. After you configure the proxy server to connect to Team Foundation Server, you must configure Team Explorer to access version control files through the proxy server.

Q&A

Q: Is TFS 2013 Proxy backward compatible with previous versions of TFS?

A: Yes. TFS 2013 Proxy is fully compatible with TFS 2010 and TFS 2012. In fact, TFS Proxy 2010, TFS Proxy 2012, and TFS Proxy 2013 are fully compatible with one another in any combination. For example, you can use TFS Proxy 2010 with TFS Server 2013 or vice versa.

Q: Does any version of TFS Proxy have cache cleanup improvements to support disks larger than 1 TB?

A: Yes. TFS Proxy 2012 and TFS Proxy 2013 have cache cleanup improvements to support large disks.

Q: Does TFS Proxy 2013 have corruption detection logic?

A: Yes. If a cached file becomes corrupted on a disk after it was stored, TFS Proxy 2013 has logic to detect the corruption.

Q: Does TFS Proxy 2013 fully support caching against VisualStudio.com?

A: Yes.

Q: What happens to the proxy cache when I upgrade from one version of TFS to another?

A: If you upgrade from TFS Proxy 2010, TFS Proxy 2012, or TFS Proxy 2013, the cache is preserved during upgrade. You will be able to continue accessing TFS from remote locations right away, without any performance impact, because TFS will not need to recreate or repopulate the cache.