System requirements for Team Foundation Server
The most recent requirements information, which also covers TFS 2015, is Requirements and Compatibility.
Before you install Team Foundation Server, make sure your system meets the software requirements described in this topic. You must use a 64-bit server operating system to install Team Foundation Server. We support 32-bit client operating systems, but 32-bit server operating systems are no longer supported. Team Foundation Server offers an option to install SharePoint 2013 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, not requirements. In general, the bigger your team, the greater your need for robust hardware. Eventually you will require more than one server to distribute the load.
Required software
TFS requires a supported operating system and SQL Server product. The following tables offer compatibility for TFS 2013 and earlier TFS products to help you plan upgrades. For a comprehensive breakdown of major and minor TFS dependencies, including client compatibility and support options, see the TFS 2013 Compatibility and Dependencies white paper. For more information about TFS upgrade requirements, see TFS upgrade requirements.
Supported operating systems
You can install Team Foundation Server on the following operating systems:
Server Operating System |
TFS 2013 |
TFS 2012 |
TFS 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
64-bit versions of Windows Server 2012 R2 (Essentials, Standard, Datacenter) |
|
|
|
64-bit versions of Windows Server 2012 |
|
|
|
64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008 R2 (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter) ¹ |
|
|
|
Windows Server 2008 |
|
|
|
Windows Server 2003 R2 |
|
|
|
Windows Server 2003 |
|
|
|
Windows Small Business Server 2011 (Standard, Essentials, Premium Add-On) ¹ |
|
|
|
Windows Home Server 2011 |
|
|
|
.png "Supported")
.png "Not supported")
¹ If you are installing Team Foundation Server or SQL Server on Windows Server 2008 R2, you must have the .NET Framework 3.5 installed. On Windows Server 2008 R2, you can install the .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.
Team Foundation Server does not support the Server Core installation option. (What is Server Core?)
Client Operating System |
TFS 2013 |
TFS 2012 |
TFS 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
Windows 8.1 (Basic, Professional, Enterprise) |
|
|
|
Windows 8 |
|
|
|
Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate) |
|
|
|
Windows Vista |
|
|
|
You can install Team Foundation Server on a client computer that is running one of the operating systems in the table. However, client operating systems do not support integration with SharePoint Products, reporting, or the ability to run TFS proxy. This means no website to trade Office documents and collaborate, no HTML reports for your software projects, and no capability to proxy version control files. If you want to use any of these features, you must install Team Foundation Server on a server operating system.
The TFS standard installation wizard is not supported on client operating systems because that wizard configures SharePoint.
Supported SQL Server products
You can use one of the following SQL Server products:
SQL Server |
TFS 2013 |
TFS 2012 |
TFS 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
SQL Server 2014 ¹ (Express, Standard, Enterprise) |
|
|
|
SQL Server 2012 |
|
|
|
SQL Server 2008 R2 |
|
|
|
SQL Server 2008 |
|
|
|
¹ TFS 2013 with update 2 (TFS 2013.2) adds support for SQL Server 2014.
² We strongly recommend installing CU2 or higher on top of SQL Server 2012 SP1.
For more information about SQL Server requirements for TFS, see SQL Server requirements for Team Foundation Server.
Optional software requirements
You can use the following supported products with TFS:
SharePoint |
TFS 2013 |
TFS 2012 |
TFS 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
SharePoint 2013 (Foundation, Standard, Enterprise) |
|
|
|
SharePoint 2010 (Foundation, Standard, Enterprise) |
|
|
|
Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Standard, Enterprise) |
|
|
|
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 ¹ |
|
|
|
¹ Windows SharePoint Services is the equivalent of the Foundation editions in current SharePoint products. In 2010, Microsoft began using a different product naming strategy.
For more information about SharePoint requirements for TFS, see SharePoint Products requirements for Team Foundation Server.
Project Server |
TFS 2013 |
TFS 2012 |
TFS 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
Project Server 2013 |
|
|
|
Project Server 2010 |
|
|
|
Project Server 2007 |
|
|
|
For more information about Project Server requirements for TFS, see 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) |
Build service hardware requirements
The build service has the same operating system requirements as TFS. Sometimes it makes sense to run the build service on a machine separate from the TFS application tier. Hardware requirements for the build service are the same as the operating system on which it is running. However, you can optimize build service performance by tailoring the hardware specs of your build machine to the types of builds your team will use. For more information, see System requirements for Team Foundation Build Service
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 2013, which Team Foundation Server can install for you, requires a 64-bit 4 core CPU and a base minimum of 8 GB of system memory. If you install SharePoint 2013 on a server that is also running SQL Server (as required by the TFS standard configuration), SharePoint recommends that you have 24 GB of system memory, If you have only 8 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:
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 2013
The links below provide guidance about browser compatibility, the numerous clients available for working with this version of TFS (and which can perform a set of given tasks), and backwards compatibility with previous TFS clients, especially with regard to new features in this version of TFS.
Comprehensive breakdown of major and minor TFS dependencies, including client compatibility and support options TFS 2013 Compatibility and Dependencies white paper
Browser support, including compatibility between Team Foundation Clients and Team Foundation Server
More information about 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.