Gaffer-Tape Engineering : Windows Server 2003

Testing TFS in a Virtual Environment

Jason Neave — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:02:00 GMT

I've been a long standing proponent of virtual environments, for creating isolated test environments or sandboxing test rigs they simply can't be beaten. To that end I thought I would share some of the tricks I have used with the many virtual servers I have running under my desk at work that make creating TFS test rigs that little bit more bearable.

Active Directory
In order to have a dual tier or clustered setup for TFS a domain is required, rather than using your production domain setup a simple test domain. I always create a DC with two network cards, one connected to a loopback adapter (see below) which allows access to a share on the host machine. This is handy for moving files into the virtual domain.

Loopback
To make transferring files to the virtual domain that bit easier I would suggest you create a loopback network in Virtual Server. To do this in 2003/XP open the control panel on the host machine and open the "Add New Hardware" wizard. Select "Hardware is connected" then "Add new hardware device". Choose "install the hardware I manually select", choose "Network Adapters" then "Microsoft" and "Loopback Adapter". Open the properties for this new adapter and set the IP address to a static address in one of the private address spaces, I used 10.240.0.1 for example. Open the Virtual Server master status page and add a new network. Name it "Loop Back" or similar and choose the new loopback adapter from the drop down box then click ok. Choose to configure the newly created virtual network then click on "DHCP Server" and enter the following or similar settings;

Network Address: 10.240.0.0
Network Mask: 255.255.0.0
Starting IP: 10.240.0.50
Ending IP: 10.240.0.99
Virtual DHCP Server Address: 10.240.0.1

Then click ok. From now on, any time you create a new machine you can add it to the loopback network, it will automatically get an IP address and by using \\10.240.0.1 (or whatever static IP you assigned) your guest machines will be able to access the host machine.

Shared Setups
Assuming you have your DC running one trick I like to use it a shared setups disk attached to the DC. I have a virtual network for the guest machines only and only the DC is connected to loopback, from here I have created a large virtual disk and added it as a second disk to the DC. I then copied the setup files for TFS, SQL, et all, to this large virtual disk and shared it from the DC so that all the guests have access.

Those are my "Virtual Server Essentials" as it were and make virtual environments that bit easier to work with. I hope these are of use to someone!

Thanks,
Jason

Renaming a TFS 2005 ATDT (Single Server Deployment)

Jason Neave — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:07:00 GMT

The TFS training continues, today we were asked to rename a machine hosting a TFS ATDT. Easier said than done, though if you need to ask what ATDT means you probably shouldn't even think of attempting what I describe! For those curious souls, ATDT refers to "Application Tier, Data Tier" meaning that both the application and data aspects of TFS are installed on the same machine rather than on separate systems. This is often the better option for smaller teams of Developers.

I was using the following article as my guide, there were a few errors in the article which are being addressed though in the mean time here is a guide to most of the pitfalls. Another thing to note is that though the name suggests this is for a Data Tier only, there is a note at the top of the article which states the steps are also true for an ATDT. In case anyone is interested, this is classed as an "Environmental Move" as the envirnment that TFS runs in was changed.

How to: Rename a Data-Tier Server
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms253106(VS.80).aspx

After renaming the machine, a restart is required otherwise your "new" database instance will not be found, this isn't listed in the article though needs doing.

If reporting server reports it is not available, open reporting services configuration and navigate to "Database Setup" and correct the computer name if incorrect. Apply and restart the instance if needed.

When you get to the setupwarehouse.exe line, append the given command line with the following "-mturl http://servername:port"

If you have issues with sharepoint services after following through all the steps please check out the following KB article.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/835559/en-us

Please note, even if the server name is correct it may be best to follow step four rather than skipping it.

This isn't meant to be the ultimate guide though hopefully it will help someone out there, if not myself if this ever crops up again!

Jason

VS.Net 2005 SP1, Windows Server 2003 and Large Patches

Jason Neave — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:46:00 GMT

Today I have been having fun installing Visual Studio 2005 SP1 on my Windows Server 2003 SP2 machine. It seems that after waiting a good hour or so of it extracting, verifying and lots of other things ending in -ing, it failed.

The time is bad enough thouh not without good reason as Heath Stewart explains.

This is not an issue with the Service Pack but a known issue with installing large patches on Windows Server 2003, a fix for which is available here. Note this is only for W2K3 and then only for large patches that throw the "Digital Signature" error.

Jason