Share via

Troubleshoot server administration

Azure DevOps Server 2022 | Azure DevOps Server 2020 | Azure DevOps Server 2019

Review the questions and answers provided here for information on managing Azure DevOps Server, previously named Team Foundation Server (TFS).

Important

You should not manually modify any of the TFS databases unless you're either instructed to do so by Microsoft Support or when you're following the procedures described for manually backing up the databases. Any other modifications can invalidate your service agreement.

Q: Can I rename a project or project collection?

A: You can rename both a project and project collection.

Q: How are services managed?

A: Azure DevOps and the products it integrates with include several services and service accounts which run on some or all of the logical tiers and physical computers that compose a deployment. You can use the same account for all of these service accounts, or you can use different accounts. Your choice of account or accounts to use depends on the configuration of your deployment, your security needs, and what components you have installed. For clarity, each service account is referred to separately by using placeholder names.

To learn more, see Service accounts and dependencies.

Q: How do I scale my deployment?

A: You can move Azure DevOps Server to a new server or add additional application-tier servers. You can also Move Azure DevOps Server from one environment to another.

Q: How do I monitor my deployment?

A: You can monitor Azure DevOps on-premises activity using the following tools:

  • From the administration console Logs page, you can open a log file generated when configuring or servicing Azure DevOps on-premises.

  • From the web administration page for the application-tier server, you can view activity logs and job monitoring charts.

    http://MyServer:8080/tfs/\_oi/

  • From the web portal Control Panel, you can export an audit log of all users and their access levels. See Change access levels.

Q: What should I know about maintaining multiple servers?

A: Depending on how you initially installed and configured Azure DevOps on-premises, you might need to manage it across one or multiple servers to maintain and operate your deployment. For example, the following illustration shows the logical architecture of a deployment that integrates with both SQL Server Reporting Services:

Database relationships

In this example, you have to:

  • Manage the configuration of the components, the users, the groups, and permissions across several servers.
  • Configure firewalls or other devices to allow network traffic on the ports that are required for communication between the servers.
  • Make sure that all services that the deployment requires are running and configured to start automatically.
  • Make sure that the Azure DevOps service account is fully trusted by every computer in the deployment.

Q: Where can I learn more about requirements?

A: See one or more of the following articles:

You can also learn about requirements and infrastructure in these reference articles:

For licensing information, read the licensing whitepaper.

Q: Are there any maintenance restrictions?

A: Yes. As mentioned above, you should never manually modify Azure DevOps on-premises databases, because that can invalidate your service agreement, block upgrades and patches, and result in data loss or corruption. There are only two circumstances where you should ever consider modification:

  • You are instructed to do so by Microsoft Support.
  • Your deployment needs require you to manually back up your Azure DevOps databases. In that case, you should only modify the databases as described here.

Q: What other resources are available?

A: The following resources and tools are available:

Azure DevOps Server:

Azure DevOps Services: