Add Integration with SharePoint Products to a Deployment of Team Foundation Server

When you installed Visual Studio Team Foundation Server, you might have skipped configuring any SharePoint Products resources for your deployment. A server that is running SharePoint Products is not required for Team Foundation Server to operate, but many features of Team Foundation Server require integration with SharePoint Products. You can add a server that is running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to your deployment of Team Foundation Server. After you add a SharePoint Web application, you can configure the team project collections and team projects that are already in your deployment to use that server for team project portals, reports, and dashboards.

Note

If you do not already have a server that is running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2010, or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can find instructions for installing either of these programs for use with Team Foundation Server in the installation guide for Team Foundation. For the most recent information, download the guide from this page on the Microsoft website: Installation Guide for Team Foundation or view the guide on the following page on the Microsoft website: Installing Team Foundation Components. As an alternative, you can review the SharePoint Products documentation for installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 from this page on the Microsoft Web site: Install Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a server farm environment. To review the SharePoint Products documentation for installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, see this page on the Microsoft Web site: Deploy a simple farm.

To add a server that is running SharePoint Products to your deployment of Team Foundation Server, you must configure SharePoint Products with settings that are compatible with Team Foundation Server. If you are adding a server that is running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010, you must perform additional steps before the reports and dashboards will function correctly for associated team projects.

Note

You can manually integrate Team Foundation Server and SharePoint Products by following the steps in this procedure. As an alternative, you can use a configuration tool to automatically integrate Team Foundation Server with either Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 if your deployment topology is compatible with the default settings that the tool requires. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft website: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 Pre-configuration Tool for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2010.

The manual configuration steps include configuring one or more accounts with the permissions that they require to act as service accounts. You must also install the Team Foundation Server Extensions for SharePoint Products on the server that is running SharePoint Products. Finally, you must configure existing team project collections or team projects if you want to enable them with portals, dashboards, and other features of integration with SharePoint Products.

Note

The procedures in this topic are designed for a deployment where SharePoint Products and Team Foundation Server are fully integrated. If your deployment requires a higher level of security restrictions between Team Foundation Server and SharePoint Products, see Integrate Team Foundation Server with SharePoint Products Without Administrative Permissions

In this topic

To add a server that is running SharePoint Products to a deployment of Team Foundation Server, you must complete the following procedures in the sequence listed:

  1. Required Permissions

  2. Create a Web Application

  3. Configure Settings for Dashboard Compatibility

  4. Install and Configure Extensions

  5. Grant Access

  6. Configure the Enterprise Application Definition

  7. Configure Existing Team Project Collections

  8. Configure Existing Projects

Required Permissions

To perform the following procedures, you must be a member of the following groups or have the following permissions:

  • a member of the Administrators security group on the server or servers that are running the administration console for Team Foundation 

  • a member of the Farm Administrators group for the farm to which you are configuring a Web application and changing settings for SharePoint Products

In addition to these permissions, you might need to address the following requirements on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008:

  • To follow a command-line procedure, you might need to open an elevated Command Prompt by clicking Start, right-clicking Command Prompt, and clicking Run as Administrator.

  • To follow a procedure that requires Internet Explorer, you might need to start it as an administrator by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, right-clicking Internet Explorer, and then clicking Run as administrator.

  • To access SharePoint Central Administration, Report Manager, reports, or Web sites for SQL Server Reporting Services, you might need to add these sites to the list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer.

For more information, see the following topic on the Microsoft Web site: User Account Control.

Create a Web Application and Site Collection for Use with Team Foundation Server

To integrate SharePoint Products and Team Foundation Server, you must configure a Web application and site collection with the settings that Team Foundation Server requires. Because you did not install or configure Team Foundation Server with SharePoint Products, you must manually create this Web application and site collection.

To create a Web application and site collection

  1. Create a SharePoint Web application that uses port 80, uses NTLM for authentication, and has a unique name that also indicates the port number.

    For more information about how to create a SharePoint Web application and a site collection for use with Team Foundation Server, see Create SharePoint Web Applications and Sites for Use with Team Foundation Server.

  2. Create a site collection that is on that Web application and that has a unique name.

Configure Office SharePoint Server Dashboards

If you want to use a server that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to support your deployment of Team Foundation Server, you should skip the following section.

If you are installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 on a server that is specifically for use with Team Foundation Server, you can follow the instructions for installing SharePoint Products in the installation guide for Team Foundation. To download the most recent version of this guide, see this page on the Microsoft Web site: Installation Guide for Team Foundation.

To use an existing deployment of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 with your deployment of Team Foundation Server, you must configure that deployment with the settings that Team Foundation Server requires before the reports and dashboards will operate correctly in team project portals. If you do not configure these settings, the reports and dashboards that are available in team project portals might not have all the functionality that you expect or might not function correctly.

You must plan carefully to configure Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010 successfully. Configuring a deployment is a complex process that involves many aspects. For example, you must determine the accounts to use as service accounts, administrative accounts, and group accounts as part of your planning process. The requirements for accounts are discussed in detail in Service Accounts and Dependencies in Team Foundation Server. You can also review an example in Interactions Between SharePoint Products and Team Foundation Server. You should review the information carefully to make sure that you understand the requirements before you begin the configuration.

To configure Office SharePoint Server so that reports and dashboards will appear correctly in Team Foundation Server

  • In SharePoint Central Administration, enable the services and configure the settings that Team Foundation Server requires.

    For more information, see Configure Settings for Dashboard Compatibility.

    Note

    On servers that are running SharePoint Products on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you must also enable the Desktop Feature Experience feature before Microsoft Office applications will interoperate correctly with Team Foundation Server. For more information, see Desktop Experience Overview.

Install Extensions

After you have configured your deployment of SharePoint Products, you must install the Team Foundation Server Extensions for SharePoint Products. If you intend to add more than one server or Web application, you must install the extensions on each server that is running SharePoint Products.

Note

You do not have to install the extensions if SharePoint Products is running on the same server that hosts the application tier for Team Foundation Server.

To install Team Foundation Server Extensions for SharePoint Products

  • For more information, see the installation guide for Team Foundation. To download the most recent version of this guide, see this page on the Microsoft Web site: Installation Guide for Team Foundation.

Grant Access

After you install the extensions, you must configure both the SharePoint Web application and Team Foundation Server to allow the programs to integrate. You must grant access between a SharePoint Web application and Team Foundation Server to integrate your team projects with SharePoint sites. 

The access grants between Team Foundation Server and SharePoint Products are paired. Integration will not succeed until you grant the necessary access for both the Web application and Team Foundation Server. In addition, if your account is not a member of the Farm Administrators group, you must add the service account that SharePoint Products uses to the SharePoint Web Application Services group in Team Foundation Server.

To configure access between a SharePoint Web application and Team Foundation Server

Configure the Enterprise Application Definition

If you want to use a server that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to support your deployment of Team Foundation Server, you should skip the following section.

If you want to use a server that is running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or SharePoint Server 2010, you must open the administration console for Team Foundation Server and add the enterprise application definition that you created in SharePoint Products when you configured settings for dashboard compatibility. This configuration is required before reports and dashboards will appear correctly in the team project portals that you create for the projects that are already in Team Foundation Server.

To configure the enterprise application definition

  1. On the server that is running Team Foundation Server Extensions for SharePoint Products, open the administration console for Team Foundation.

    For more information, see Open the Team Foundation Administration Console.

  2. Click Extensions for SharePoint Products, and then click the SharePoint Web application for which you want to configure the enterprise application definition.

  3. Click Modify access, type the name of the enterprise application definition, and then click OK.

Configure Existing Team Project Collections

After you have added a SharePoint Web application to your deployment of Team Foundation Server, you can add that application as a resource for any team project collections in that deployment. By adding the Web application to a collection, you allow project administrators to create and populate a SharePoint site as the team project portal for a new or existing team project in that collection.

To add a SharePoint Web application and a default root location in which project administrators will create team project portals

Configure Existing Projects

After you have added a SharePoint Web application to a team project collection, you can configure any project in that collection with a team project portal on that SharePoint Web application. You must first create a SharePoint site for the team project on the Web application, and then you must add the site to the project. By creating a team project portal, you provide a single point of information about the team project and its status and encourage project members to communicate and share resources. After you create a SharePoint site to use as the portal for a team project, you must manually configure the site so that reports and dashboards for the project will function correctly.

To create a SharePoint site for use with Team Foundation Server

  1. Open Internet Explorer.

  2. In the address bar, type the address of the top-level site on the SharePoint Web application where you want to create the site.

  3. Click Site Actions, and then click Create.

    The Create Page page appears.

  4. Under Web Pages, click Sites and Workspaces.

    The New SharePoint Site page appears.

  5. In Title and Description, type a title and a description for the site.

  6. In Web Site Address, type a URL for this site.

    The URL will automatically be prefaced with the address of the Web application.

  7. Under Permissions, specify the user permissions that are appropriate for your new site, and then click Create.

  8. On the Template Selection page, specify the template that is appropriate to the process that you want to follow.

    For example, click Agile Dashboard if you are creating a Web site for a project that uses Agile techniques.

  9. Click OK.

    Note

    The site will open immediately after you create it, but some of its features will not appear correctly. This behavior is expected and will remain until you finish adding the site as a portal for a team project.

To add the SharePoint site as a portal to an existing team project

  1. In Team Explorer, right-click the name of the project, point to Team Project Settings, and then click Portal Settings.

  2. On the Project Portal tab, select the Enable project portal check box.

  3. Click Use this SharePoint site, and then click Configure URL.

  4. In the Web application list, click a SharePoint Web application.

  5. In Relative site path, type the relative path of the SharePoint site that you created for this team project.

    As you type the path, it appears at the end of the value in URL.

  6. In URL, click the link.

    A browser window opens.

  7. Verify that the Web site that opens is the site that you want to use, close the window, and then click OK.

  8. If you want this SharePoint site to show data for this project, select the Reports and dashboards refer to data for this team project check box.

    Important

    If you select this check box and another team project is already using that site, you will cause serious consequences for that team project. By selecting this check box, you will redirect all automated reports and data on this portal to reflect the data for this team project instead of the other team project. You must ensure that no other team projects use this SharePoint site, or you must verify with the owner of the other team project that you should make this change. To redirect the reports and data, you must also be a member of the Project Administrator group in both projects.

  9. Click OK.

  10. Right-click the team project, and then click Show Project Portal.

    The team project portal opens in a new browser window.

  11. Click Site Actions, and then click Site Settings.

  12. Under Site Administration, click Site features.

  13. In the list of site features, click Activate for each feature that you want to activate for this portal.

See Also

Tasks

Integrate Team Foundation Server with SharePoint Products Without Administrative Permissions

Modify or Remove Access Between a SharePoint Web Application and Team Foundation Server

Concepts

Interactions Between SharePoint Products and Team Foundation Server

Roles in SharePoint Products

Extensions for SharePoint Products

Configure Settings for Dashboard Compatibility

The Team Foundation Administration Console

Team Foundation Server Architecture

Service Accounts and Dependencies in Team Foundation Server

Team Foundation Server Permissions

Updating an Upgraded Team Project to Access New Features

Other Resources

Configuring Resources to Support Team Projects