System Requirements for Team Foundation Server

Before you install Team Foundation Server, make sure your system meets the operating system requirements described in this topic. New for this release, you must use a 64-bit server operating system to install Team Foundation Server. We support 32-bit client operating systems, but no longer support 32-bit server operating systems. Team Foundation Server offers an option to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 as a companion program for managing team documents, but doing so will substantially increase your hardware requirements. See SharePoint Hardware Requirements below.

You can also find information about hardware in this topic, but these are just recommendations, i not requirements. In general, the bigger your team, the greater your need for robust hardware. Eventually you might require more than one server to distribute the load.

Operating System Requirements

You can install Team Foundation Server on a server that is running one of the following operating systems:

Server operating systems:

• 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008   with SP2

• 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 ¹ with SP1

• 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2012 ²

Note

Team Foundation Server does not support the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2012.

Client operating systems:

• 64-bit or 32-bit versions of Windows 7 with SP1 (Windows 7 Home Premium with SP1, Windows 7 Professional with SP1, Windows 7 Enterprise with SP1, Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1)

• 64-bit or 32-bit versions of Windows 8

Note

You can install Team Foundation Server on a client computer that is running one of the operating systems in the list. However, client operating systems do not support integration with SharePoint Products or reporting, which means no HTML reports for your software projects, and no website to trade Office documents and collaborate. If you want to use either of these features, you must install Team Foundation Server on a server operating system.

¹ If you are installing Team Foundation Server  or SQL Server  on Windows Server 2008 R2, you must have .NET Framework 3.5 installed. On Windows Server 2008 R2, you can install .NET Framework 3.5 by using the Add Features Wizard from Server Manager. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft website: Adding Server Roles and Features.

² Because Team Foundation Server installs SharePoint Foundation 2010 with the standard configuration, you can’t use it on Windows Server 2012. If you want to install Team Foundation Server on Windows Server 2012, use the advanced configuration and skip the installation of SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Additional software requirements

TFS also has requirements for SQL Server, which is required by TFS. TFS has requirements for SharePoint and Project Server, but TFS does not require these products. For more information, see SQL Server Requirements for Team Foundation Server, SharePoint Products Requirements for Team Foundation Server and Project Server Requirements for Team Foundation Server.

Hardware Recommendations

The following table includes hardware guidelines for teams installing Team Foundation Server without SharePoint Products. Small shops can run Team Foundation Server with the basic configuration, which requires only 1GB RAM and 8 GB of hard disk space.

Number of users	Configuration	CPU	Memory	Hard disk
Fewer than 250 users	Single-server (Team Foundation Server and the Database Engine on the same server).	1 single core processor at 2.13 GHz	2 GB	1 disk at 7.2k rpm (125 GB)
250 to 500 users	Single-server.	1 dual core processor at 2.13 GHz	4 GB	1 disk at 10k rpm (300 GB)
500 to 2,200 users	Dual-server (Team Foundation Server and the Database Engine on different servers). This row is for Team Foundation Server.	1 dual core Intel Xeon processor at 2.13 GHz	4 GB	1 disk at 7.2k rpm (500 GB)
	This row is for the Database Engine with 500 to 2,200 users.	1 quad core Intel Xeon processor at 2.33 GHz	8 GB	SAS disk array at 10k rpm (2 TB)
2,200 to 3,600 users	Dual-server. This row is for Team Foundation Server.	1 quad core Intel Xeon processor at 2.13 GHz	8 GB	1 disk at 7.2k rpm (500 GB)
	This row is for the Database Engine with 2,200 to 3,600 users.	2 quad core Intel Xeon processors at 2.33 GHz	16 GB	SAS disk array at 10k rpm (3 TB)

SharePoint Hardware Requirements

If you install SharePoint Products, you will need more robust hardware than what is listed in the previous table. For example, SharePoint Foundation 2010, which Team Foundation Server can install for you, requires a 64-bit 4 core CPU and a base minimum of 4 GB of system memory. If you have only 4 GB, the Team Foundation installer will warn that you should have 10 GB, but you will be able to finish the install.

Go here for complete SharePoint hardware requirements:

• Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013 (SharePoint Foundation 2013/SharePoint Server 2013

• Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Foundation 2010)

• Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010)

• Determine hardware and software requirements (Windows SharePoint Services)¹

• Determine hardware and software requirements (Office SharePoint Server)¹

¹ Although SharePoint supports Windows Server 2003, TFS 2012 does not. You can’t install TFS SharePoint extensions on a server that does not meet the minimum TFS requirements listed on this page.

For a complete list of supported versions of SharePoint, go here: SharePoint Products Requirements for Team Foundation Server

Virtualization

Microsoft supports the virtualization of Team Foundation Server in supported virtualization environments. For more information, see the following pages on the Microsoft website:

• Microsoft server software and supported virtualization environments

• Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software

• Support partners for non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software

• Server Virtualization (officially supported products)

Compatibility and Team Foundation Server 2012

The links below provide guidance about browser compatibility, the numerous clients available for working with this version of TFS, and backwards compatibility with previous TFS clients, especially with regard to new features in this version of TFS.

• Supported web browsers

• Supported TFS clients

• Compatibility between Team Foundation Clients and Team Foundation Server

Tip

Do you wonder which client to use for any given task? See Choosing the Right Tool for the Task to Manage Projects, Collaborate, and Monitor Progress in Visual Studio ALM (Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server Blog)

More information on Team Foundation Server requirements for companion products: SQL Server, SharePoint Products, and Project Server

• SQL Server Requirements for Team Foundation Server
  Team Foundation Server requires SQL Server, but you have many options, including an option to let Team Foundation Server install SQL Server Express for you.

• SharePoint Products Requirements for Team Foundation Server
  Team Foundation Server doesn’t require SharePoint Products. If you want to use SharePoint Products, you have many options, including the option to let Team Foundation Server install SharePoint Foundation 2010 for you.

• Project Server Requirements for Team Foundation Server
  Team Foundation Server doesn’t require Project Server, but if you want to use it, you must use a supported version.

See Also

Concepts

Install Team Foundation Server

How to: Install Team Foundation Server Using the Advanced Configuration

TFS Upgrade Requirements

How to: Set Up Remote SharePoint Products for Team Foundation Server

How to: Add Project Server to Team Foundation Server