How to: Rename an Application-Tier Server

  • Article

To rename the application-tier server in a dual-server deployment of Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server, you must rename the server itself and then perform several other steps. For example, you must reconfigure Team Foundation Server, SQL Server Reporting Services, and SharePoint Products and Technologies to use the server that you just renamed. If you use any Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel files to report data from Team Foundation, you must also re-create those files so that they connect to the application-tier server by its new name. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Reporting. 

Note

To rename a single-server deployment of Visual Studio Team System Team Foundation Server, you follow the procedures in How to: Rename a Data-Tier Server.

To rename an application-tier server, you must perform the following procedures in the indicated sequence:

  1. Stop the Services that Team Foundation Server Uses

  2. Rename the Server

  3. Update Team Foundation Server to Recognize the New Name

  4. Rebuild the Team System Cube

  5. Restart Services

  6. Refresh the Data Cache on Client Computers

Required Permissions

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrators security group and the Team Foundation Administrators group on the application-tier server. You must also be a member of the sysadmin group in SQL Server on the data-tier server. For more information about permissions, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

In addition to these permissions, you might need to address the following requirements on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista:

  • To follow a command-line procedure, you might need to open an elevated Command Prompt by clicking Start, right-clicking Command Prompt, and clicking Run as Administrator.

  • To follow a procedure that requires Internet Explorer, you might need to start it as an administrator by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, right-clicking Internet Explorer, and then clicking Run as administrator.

  • To edit web.config files, you might need to start the text editor as an administrator by clicking Start, clicking All Programs, right-clicking the editor, and then clicking Run as administrator.

  • To access Report Manager, reports, or Web sites for Reporting Services, you might need to add these sites to the list of trusted sites in Internet Explorer or start Internet Explorer as an administrator.

For more information, see the Microsoft Web site.

Stop the Services that Team Foundation Server Uses

To stop the services that Team Foundation Server uses

  • Log on to the appropriate server, open Computer Manager, and stop the following components:

    Log on to the server that hosts this program

    Stop this component

    SharePoint Products and Technologies

    • SharePoint Timer Service or Windows SharePoint Services Timer

    • Default Web Site or Team Web site

    Application tier

    • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Task Scheduler Service

    • Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool

    Reporting Services

    • SQL Server Reporting Services (TFSINSTANCE)

    • ReportServer or ReportServer$InstanceName (application pool)

    • Default Web Site or Report Manager Web site

      NoteNote:
      You manage ReportServer and the Web site for Report Manager in Internet Information Services (IIS) for SQL Server 2005 but not for SQL Server 2008.

    For more information, see How to: Stop and Start Services, Application Pools, and Web Sites.

Rename the Server

To rename the server

  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer or Computer, and then click Properties.

  2. (For Windows Server 2008) Under Computer Name and domain group settings, click Change settings. 

    The System Properties window opens.

  3. On the Computer Name tab, click Change.

    The Computer Name/Domain Changes window opens.

  4. In the Computer Name box, type the new name of the server, and then click OK.

  5. Click OK to close the System Properties window.

    A system message might appear and ask "You must restart this computer for the changes to take effect. Do you want to restart the computer?"

  6. If the message appears, click Yes, and restart the computer.

    Note

    If you restart the server in a single-server deployment, wait for the server to restart, and then stop the services that Team Foundation Server uses.

Update Team Foundation Server to Recognize the New Name

To update Team Foundation Server to recognize the new name of the application-tier server

  1. Log on to the appropriate server, open Computer Manager, and start the application pools and programs in the following table:

    Log on to the server that hosts this program

    Start this component

    Application tier

    • Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool

    Reporting Services

    • ReportServer or ReportServer$InstanceName (application pool)

      NoteNote:
      You manage ReportServer in IIS for SQL Server 2005 but not for SQL Server 2008.

    • SQL Server Reporting Services (TFSINSTANCE)

  2. Open the Command Prompt window, change directories to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server\Tools, and type the following command:

    TfsAdminUtil ConfigureConnections /view

    Review the settings for /ReportsURI and /ReportServerUri.

  3. If the server for Reporting Services has changed from the information shown, you must reconfigure those connections by typing the following command:

    **TfsAdminUtil ConfigureConnections /ReportsUri:NewReports/ReportServerUri:**NewReportServer

    Note

    If you are using a named instance, you must specify it as part of the values for Reports and ReportServer. Do not eliminate or change the name of the named instance.

    For example, if Reporting Services were running on the application-tier server that you just renamed, you must provide the new uniform resource indicator (URI) for /ReportsUri and /ReportServerUri. For more information, see ConfigureConnections Command.

  4. (Optional) After you reconfigure the connections, type the following command to review the changes and ensure that they have taken effect:

    TfsAdminUtil ConfigureConnections /view

  5. Type the following command:

    TfsAdminUtil RenameDT TeamFoundationDataTierServerName

    Important noteImportant Note:

    For the RenameDT command to succeed, the application pools and programs in the first step of this procedure must be running. This requirement is new in Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server.

  6. After the command finishes, stop the following application pools and programs:

    • Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool

    • ReportServer or ReportServer$InstanceName

    • SQL Server Reporting Services (TFSINSTANCE)

    Note

    After you run the RenameDT command, you must stop the services that it requires before you continue with this procedure.

  7. Update the registration entries in the service interface for the application tier to use the new name. At the command prompt, type the following command:

    TfsAdminUtil ActivateAT newTeamFoundationApplicationTierServerName

  8. Close the Command Prompt window.

    Warning

    For client users to connect to the newly renamed application-tier server, they might have to wait two hours before they reconnect.

Rebuild the Team System Cube

After you rename the application tier and reconfigure connections, you must rebuild the Team System cube.

To rebuild the Team System cube

Restart Services

To restart services

  • Log on to the appropriate server, open Computer Manager, and start the components in the following table, in the order specified:

    Log on to the server that hosts this program

    Start this component

    SharePoint Products and Technologies

    • SharePoint Timer Service or Windows SharePoint Services Timer

    Application tier

    • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server Task Scheduler Service

    • Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool

Refresh the Data Cache on Client Computers

To refresh the data cache on client computers

  • Use the ClientService Web service to force client computers to update the cache for tracking work items the next time that the client computers connect to the application-tier server. To update the version control cache, users must update their client computers by using the tf workspaces command utility.

    For more information, see How to: Refresh the Data Caches on Client Computers.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Rename a Data-Tier Server

Other Resources

Managing Application-Tier Servers for Team Foundation

TFSAdminUtil Command-Line Commands