Getting Started with Lab Management
There are some steps you must complete before you can create and manage lab environments.
Note
For an overview of lab environments, see Using a Lab Environment for Your Application Lifecycle.
If you’re only going to use standard environments, then you only need to set up a test controller and then connect Microsoft Test Manager to your Team Foundation Server. You can then create and manage lab environments in the Lab Center of Microsoft Test Manager. However, if you are creating SCVMM environments, you must set up some additional components.
Here’s what you have to do before you can create and manage lab environments:
Set up a test controller: To create any type of lab environment, you need to set up a test controller and register it with your Team Project Collection. See Setting Up Test Controllers in Lab Environments.
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Important
You only need to set up SCVMM if you are going to create SCVMM environments. Standard environments do not require this step.
Set up SCVMM: If you are going to create SCVMM environments, you must set up SCVMM and configure lab management on your team project collection. If you are going to use network isolation in any of your SCVMM environments, you must also configure the network isolation settings for your team project collection. See Configuring Lab Management for SCVMM Environments.
Set up Lab Center: Connect Microsoft Test Manager with your team project, and then open Lab Center. See the section below, Setting up Lab Center.
Update Existing Lab Environments: If you already have lab environments that were created with Visual Studio 2010, and you want to use them, you need to upgrade your lab management components. See Upgrading Lab Management Components from Visual Studio 2010.
Connecting Lab Center to Your Team Project
To connect Lab Center to Your Team Project
Start Microsoft Test Manager. On your own desktop computer, on the Start menu, choose either Visual Studio 2012 or Microsoft Visual Studio Test Professional, then Microsoft Test Manager.
If you can’t find Microsoft Test Manager, you must install:
Visual Studio Ultimate, or
Visual Studio Test Professional
Connect. If you are prompted to add a Team Foundation Server, type the name of a team project collection on which you are a contributor, and then choose Add.
Expand the list of team projects in the team project collection, select a team project, and then choose Connect Now.
Note
If no team projects appear in the team project collection, the collection administrator might not have created any projects. If a project appears but is displayed as Not supported, the collection administrator might not have provisioned the library shares and host groups for that team project. To set up Lab Management on your team project server, see Configuring Lab Management for SCVMM Environments.
Choose Lab Center from the drop-down list of centers, or if you had to add a Team Foundation Server, choose Lab Center under Change project.
The Environments pane is displayed.
.png "Environment list under Lab Center, Lab tab.")
Next Steps
After you set up lab management, you can create lab environments and run tests in them.
Plan an SCVMM Environment: If you are using SCVMM environments, learn when to use running virtual machines or objects from your Team Project Library such as templates. |
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Create lab environments: Create standard environments and SCVMM environments. |
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Use your environments: Learn how to perform basic procedures on your lab environments, such as connecting, viewing, and modifying your environments. |
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Run tests in your lab environments: Learn about the different ways to run tests in your lab environments. |
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Set up your build, deploy, and test cycle: Create build-deploy-test workflows so you can automatically build, deploy, and test your application using a build definition. |
External resources
Guidance
Testing for Continuous Delivery with Visual Studio 2012 – Chapter 3: Lab Environments