Installing and Configuring Test Agents

Article
06/18/2009

[This documentation is for preview only, and is subject to change in later releases. Blank topics are included as placeholders.]

This topic shows you how to install, repair, and uninstall a test agent on a physical or on a virtual machine. A test agent runs tests on the local machine. The test agent runs a service that listens for requests from the test agent controller to start a new test. When a request is received, the test agent service starts a process on which to run the tests. Each test agent runs the same test.

The test agent takes as input a set of tests and a set of simulation parameters. A key concept in Team System Test is that tests are independent of the computer on which they are run.

It is recommended, but not required, that you install agents on a virtual machine (VM) before that VM is saved as a template on the team project collection library share. That way, you only have to install the agent once, rather than each time you create a new VM from the template.

Some important considerations about installation:

You should not install an agent on a domain controller.
You must install the controller before you install any agents.

Required Permissions

To install an agent, you must be a member of the Administrators security group on the computer.

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements

Component	Test agent
Type of machine	Physical or virtual
CPU	Min: 1 GHz Rec: 2 GHz
Disk – system	Min: 1 GB Rec: 1 GB
Disk - install	Min: 1 GB Rec: 5 GB
Memory	Min: 1 GB Rec: 1 GB

Software Requirements

The following operating systems are supported for an agent:

Windows Server 2008 RTM or later
Windows Server 2003 SP2 or later
Windows 7 Beta 1 or later
Windows Vista RTM or later
Windows XP Professional SP2 or later

Procedures

To install a test agent

Set up the test agent controller before you set up any test agents.
Start setup.exe. It is located in the vs\agent folder.

The Welcome to Setup page appears.
Click Next.

The License Terms and Product Key page appears.
Review the License Terms, select I have read and accept the license terms, if appropriate, and then click Next.

The Destination Folder page appears.
Click Browse to select a different destination folder, or click Next to use the default folder.

Note

If you are installing the agent on the same computer as the test agent controller, the option to choose a new location is disabled.

The Specify Logon Account page appears.
Type the account name and password for the Team Test Agent service account and then click Next.

The Specify Controller page appears.
Type the computer name of the computer where the test agent controller is installed and click Next.

Note

You can locate the name of the controller computer by clicking My Computer, right-clicking, choosing Properties, and viewing the Computer Name tab.

The Ready to Install page appears.
Review the installation information and then click Install to continue.

The Installing Components page appears.
Upon successful installation, the Setup Completed Successfully page appears. Click Finish to complete the setup.
Following this, you will be prompted to restart your computer to complete the installation.

Each test agent is associated with a test agent controller. During test agent setup, you are prompted for the name of the computer that is running the test agent controller. Setup communicates with the test agent controller to add the test agent to it.

During setup, you are prompted for the name of test agent user. This user is automatically added to TeamTestAgentService group on the controller. Only Agent Service Users who are members of this group are allowed to communicate with the controller.

The agent service is named Visual Studio Team Test Agent. To view the properties of the service, use Control Panel. In Control Panel, click Administrative Tools and then click Services. The test agent services can be started and stopped like other services in Windows. Also the test agents can be administered using the Administer Test Controller dialog box, available on the Test menu.

Note

AgentConfigUtil.exe is a command line utility that can be used to assign a test agent to a different test agent controller, or to add a test agent to a controller if test agent setup fails to do so.

If you are running Windows Firewall, test agent setup adds the following exceptions to your firewall:

Exception	Reason
QTAgentService.exe	Enable communication with the test agent controller
AgentServiceUI.exe	Enable communication with the test agent controller
QTAgent.exe	Enable communication with the test agent controller
AgentConfigUtil.exe	Enable communication with the test agent controller
File and Printer Sharing Port 139	Enable Restart Environment in Administer Test Controllers dialog to work Enable collection of performance counters Caution Setup does not add this firewall exception. Add this exception manually.

If you are running Windows XP in a work group, test agent setup also turns off Simple File Sharing.

Security

The setup for the test agent creates user groups and services that together help provide security for your environment. The following groups are used to authenticate users:

Users	Description
Team Test Controller Users	Users who are allowed to submit tests to the test agent controller.
Team Test Controller Administrators	Users who are allowed to perform administrative functions on the test agent controller.
Team Test Agent Service	For security, test agents connect to the test agent controller, and test agents only accept tests from the test agent controller they connect to. The test agent controller only authorizes the test agent to connect if the agent service user is in this group. Test agents connecting as a user in this group can be used by the test agent controller.

When a user connects to the test agent controller, the controller authenticates the user and sets the permissions based on the group the user belongs to. If the user is not a member of one of these groups, the connection is rejected. Test agent controller users can submit runs, view results, and pause, postpone, or delete runs that they submitted. Additionally, test agent controller administrators can delete, pause, or postpone any run, and change the status of test agents.

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