How to: Create a Team Foundation server farm (high availability)

You might add an application-tier server to an existing deployment of Team Foundation Server for any of the following reasons:

• You want to build redundancy into your deployment of Team Foundation Server.

• You want your deployment of Team Foundation Server to run faster.

• You want to restore an application-tier server that has failed.

• You want to move an application tier to a different server.

Redundancy and performance

By using the Application-tier Only Configuration wizard, you can enhance the availability, scalability, and performance of your application tier. 

To benefit from multiple application-tier servers, you should ensure that your initial deployment of Team Foundation Server includes the following characteristics:

• The application tier and the configuration database are installed on separate servers.

• You used a domain account for the Team Foundation Server service account (TFSSERVICE).

• Network Load Balancing (NLB) is deployed.

You use NLB to create a cluster of Web servers that appear as a single logical Web service. This procedure is separate from the Application-tier Only Configuration wizard. For more information about how to set up NLB, see the following page on the Microsoft website: Network Load Balancing.

If you create an NLB cluster, you do not need to use a SQL Server cluster for your configuration database or any team project collection. For the purposes of performance, scalability, and availability, any SQL Server cluster that you might deploy is independent of the NLB cluster.

Disaster recovery and hardware upgrade

If you have a backup of your configuration database and your application tier has a hardware failure, you can use the Application-tier Only Configuration wizard to restore the application tier.

You can also move your application tier with the Application-tier Only Configuration wizard. Although no particular architecture is required to move an application tier, you must have access to the configuration database for the deployment.

To create a Team Foundation Server Farm

Use the steps in this checklist to add an application tier to an existing deployment of Team Foundation Server.

	Task	Detailed instructions
	Check for supported hardware and software. Verify that the operating system and hardware meet requirements for Team Foundation Server.	System requirements for Team Foundation Server
	Set up Team Foundation Server. Install Team Foundation Server and run the Application-Tier Only Configuration wizard.	Run Team Foundation Server installation Configure Team Foundation Server using the Application-Tier Only Configuration Wizard