Hi,

my coworker and I just can't get the proxy setup straight. I started a test setup where I have one TFS and one client. The client can connect directly to the TFS without a problem, now I want to do the same, but use a proxy (we will later do this between remote locations with a slow connection). I have some really basic questions and I guess I just did not understand how exaclty the proxy works.

a) Where do I have to install the proxy portion (the setup in the proxy folder on the TFS CD)? I assume that this goes on the machine that is the client to the actual TFS server. Like this:
TFS Server ----WAN connection---- Proxy &Client (VS2k5) on same PC
Correct ?

b) In the proxy.config file, is it correct to enter the name of the actual TFS Server, such as this:
<Servers>
<Server>
<Uri>http://TFS-SERVER/VersionControl</Uri>
</Server>
</Servers>
Correct ?

c) Now in VisualStudio, to which TFS do I need to connect ? I understand it as that I need to connect to the PC where the proxy is, which in my case would be "localhost". I told the local proxy that it should connect to the real TFS Server, which I specified in the proxy.config.
Correct ?

Well, if I do this I always get two errors in the VS client. TF31001 and TF30059 / HTTP503.
In my current test setup both PCs are in the same domain and I log on with the same account. So there should be no rights issue.

I am pretty much sure I do something wrong. Is there any place where I can find "TFS Proxy for Dummies" instructions? I find the supplied documentation from Microsoft not very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

The proxy isn't quite what you've guessed.

The proxy is intended to run on a separate machine (from both the server and the client(s)), and improves version control download operations by caching files as they're requested. (Side note: The AT has a built-in 'proxy' file cache, so you don't need to install the proxy on the AT or anything like that)

So, the configuration looks more like this:

TFSServer --- WAN connection --- proxy server --- LAN connection --- client(s)

Basically, you want a machine with IIS and a decent hard disk to serve as the proxy on the client's side of the slow connection(s).

a) There's little point to installing the proxy on the client itself - the workspace can be thought of as the local 'cache' of version control data.

b) Correct, but the URL node includes the proxy's port as well (typically 8081 in our install, but configurable at proxy install time)

c) In the Connect to TFS dialog, you enter the server. In Tools/Options/Source Control/Team Foundation Server, you'd enter the name and port of the proxy machine.

Try that setup, and let me know if you have problems or additional questions.

Also, note that the proxy can service multiple servers (as you probably surmised from the config file structure); but your client can only point at a single proxy at a time. We may overhaul this configuration in a future release, based on customer feedback (internally, we've already observed that for mobile clients like laptops, being able to easily choose a different proxy or no proxy for a given server, would be nice).

Thank you for this quick and helpful reply.

I did spawn a new question though:
One the proxy box, do I need to install a full-fledged TFS as well or only the proxy portion ?

Could I potentially run a local TFS and a proxy for a remote TFS on the same box ? If yes, how to do figure out to which TFS I am connected as the client will point in both cases to the same PC.
Or asked a bit differently, how to do figure out if I am connected to a TFS through a proxy or directly ?

Uhhh...and one more question, does domain association play any role? If I understand correctly, the data transfer is done exclusively via HTTP (and why HTTP and not FTP, which tends to be better for file transfers?), so different domains ought not to be a problem - correct ?

Thanks for undummying me.

You only need the proxy on the proxy box.

You could (theoretically) put a proxy for a remote TFS on the same box as a local TFS, but keep in mind that those two servers have no real relationship; the client can talk to either or both servers but the servers won't share data in any way.

The only way to tell if you're connecting through the proxy is to first ensure you've configured it on the client, and then to attempt a download -- you'll get a warning that the proxy isn't responding if the proxy isn't working for some reason.

Cross-domain can definitely be an issue - if the proxy and server are in different domains without mutual trust, the server probably won't be able to authenticate the proxy.

HTTP is preferred to FTP because the communication is implemented as a web service, using the existing SOAP over HTTP infrastructure. FTP may be better for the pure exchange of files; but given the variety of operations that are going on, doing the actual file downloads in a similar fashion made sense compared to inventing/managing a separate channel for file transfers.

For more details about the Proxy config file refer http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms400679(VS.80).aspx

After installing proxy on a seperate machine, Perform the following steps

Update proxy.config (on the proxy machine)

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Proxy Install directory
(For example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server\Web Services\VersionControlProxy).
Using Notepad, open proxy.config.

Locate the following token and make the appropriate substitution, save and close the file.
Replace @H_TFSSERVER@/VersionControl with

http://<YOUR TFS SERVER NAME>:8080/VersionControl

Direct Client to Proxy

Perform the following steps on the client machine

1. Open VS
2. Go to Tools -> Options -> Source Control -> Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
3. Check ??se proxy server??
4. Server name is <ProxyTierMachine>
5. Port is 8081
6. Click OK

Once you are done with these steps,

Perform a ??orce??get on a file from source control explorer. Errors (if any) from proxy will be displayed in the output window. If there are no errors then you should see some new folders and files under ??program Files%\Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server\Web Services\VersionControlProxy\Data\<guid>??on the proxy machine.

Also you can navigate to http://localhost:8081/VersionControlProxy/v1.0/ProxyStatistics.asmx using IE on the proxy server and see whether non-zero values are displayed for the performance counters

For more information about Team Foundation Server Proxy configuration, visit the following topic 'How to enable source control caching after installing Team Foundation Server Proxy' in the Team Foundation Administrators guide located online at
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=62391 or in the product documentation.

For more information about Team Foundation Server Proxy installation, see the Team Foundation Installation Guide located online at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=40042 or the TFSInstall.chm file included with the product.

Rajesh

OK, first of all, thank you very much for all your good tips.

I uninstalled everything TFS and installed only the TFS Proxy on the proxy box. I changed the proxy.config file and then started VS on a different PC.

I changed the TFS settings to use the proxy and entered the name of the proxy box and set the port to 8081.

After some problems, I finally found the source control explorer. With that one up on the screen I cannot do more than turn the folder pane on and off and click on Refresh. When I click Refresh VS tells me to connect to a TFS. Ahem, and now ?

I did try adding the proxy box data into the "Add Team Foundation Server" dialog, but neither http nor https on 8080 or 8081 did anything useful. I do get eventually a error TF 31002 "Unable to connect to this Team Foundation Server".

Do I need to add anything in that dialog ? The Server list is empty though, but since I told VS to use a proxy and gave all there is to enter in the in the options, I'd expect to see that proxy server or the "real" TFS to show in the server list. I did restart VS and that did not do anything either. I could also not find any "Force" option in the source control explorer. I was also not able to find anything about a "Force" option in the documentation. Maybe it is called something else in VS ?

One the proxy box, the data folder is still empty.

<rant> I looked at the documentation again, which still is causing more confusion than giving answers. This whole TFS / proxy stuff is severely disturbing and confusing and I wonder if there wasn't a way to make it both easier and working right from the start. Do we always have to wait for SP4 to come around first ?</rant>

Is there any way I can figure out if the proxy has any chance of getting something from the "real" TFS ? Any web page I can open and simulate a proxy or client for that TFS ? If the proxy cannot connect to the main server, then the client will not be able to get anything out of the proxy either.

I did test it with my local "test" TFS, but that went the same way - nowehere.

I also checked the statistics page. After waiting for a fairly long time I get a page that lists one option "QueryProxyStatistics". Clicking that link gives some page that has a section with an "Invoke" button at the top and two SOAP samples, one for 1.1 and one for 1.2. I did a text search on "performance" as well as "counter", both did not turn up anything. Where on that page would I see the performance counter value ?

I also never know when to add the "http://" in front of the proxy server or TFS server name. Does any of that use https by default ? If not, then I can save myself some time testing that option each time.

Seems you guys need to dumb it down for me a bit more.

Sorry for not finding it in the documentation. I did a search and it did not turn up anything that seemed related to this. I believe you that it is there and easy to find when one know where to look for it.

Anyhow, I entered the server addresses as proposed and I got one step closer. Rather than an error message I get a login box, in which I entered user name and password for the TFS. I still get the TF31002 error.

I used IE to connect to http://10.144.61.227:8080/services/v1.0/registration.asmx , where the IP is that of the TFS server. I do get the registration page after using the same user name and password that I entered in VS. That makes me believe that it is not a user name or password problem.

One more question:
Chris Rathjen mentioned that cross-domain connection can be an issue. I wonder though why that is when all connections are done via HTTP and I apparently can log on to the registration site ? I will have our IT guys check the domain trust settings.

Besides that, I'm always open for more suggestions....

Thank you very much in advance.

The text is small, but I copied it into notepad, so it was not a problem in the end.

Some more problems that came in, but that do not have their source in TFS. IT stuck the Cisco Security Agent on my proxy box. More out of desperation, I started looking through all kinds of logs and the system events (should have looked the earlier!). Turns out that this Cisco thingie blocks the execution of C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe. I did tell Cisco to run it anyway, but I cannot sit in fron of the proxy box and click Yes every time this message pops up....and who knows what else it blocked that it did not tell me about. I have our IT group fix this.

Another issue that came to my attention that twisted the whole picture quite a bit. The "real" TFS is not in a domain (and the box is in Germany, which does not make it easier). The TFS is part of a simple workgroup as there is no domain server at that location.

Maybe I need to look at these things first before trying to redo installations and configurations over and over again.

So the questions is, is there any chance to have a proxy who is in a domain successfully authenticate with a TFS that is in a workgroup ?

You can try having the proxy run under an account that maches a machine account on the server (which has Valid User permissions). Then you'll just have to sort out what accounts to have your end users accessing both machines with...

I'd generally shy away from trying to have a mix of domain and workgroup machines - if at all possible, get everyone on a domain (or multiple domains with mutual trust), or consider having the proxy in the same workgroup as the server.