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The project I am on is using TFS Build in conjunction with Web Deploy to handle the deployments of the web site and service to the servers. We also have a windows service that needs to be deployed to the server as well.

My question is: Is there a way to deploy the Windows Service to the Web Server from the TFS Build server?

The other issue I have is that the service needs to be stopped before it can be deployed. I have tried to modify the Build Configuration file, but could not manage to get it to work.

Thanks.

sevargdcg
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1 Answers1

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Options:

  1. If you install TFSBuildagent service on the web server and grant the user which runs the service Admin rights on the web server, then you can create a new build definition just for the deployment/installation. This is fairly simple and straight forward, but this would only work when you have limited number of web servers (who wants to install TFS BUild agent on all 2000 servers) and only work in the non-prod environment. This is how we are doing it for non-prod deployments, I have created a build definition which is just for deployment, which takes care of all the things like stopping services etc.

  2. If the user which runs the TFSBuild Service on the build server have enough rights on the web server then you can use psexec or powershell to run your commands remotely. Read the below links: 1. PSEXEC

  3. Powershell Remote commands

What did you do to stop the service in your build configuration file? Does the user have enough rights?

There is no inbuilt activity/process which can help you run scripts on remote machines in TFS build workflow.

Step 1 for you is to identify how you are going to run scripts on the remote machine, as mentioned above you can either use PSEXEC or Powershell (though running PowerShell on remote computers may be a little more complicated to set up).

Step2, write the actual scripts to do the work, stop services, install MSI etc.

Step3, Edit your current build defintion - create a new custom activity or make use of InvokeProcess activity from within your build definition to invoke the script that you have created in Step 2. InvokeProcess Activity

Isaiah4110
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  • Installing TFS Build on the server isn't an option. I was hoping there was a way to build it into the Build Configuration workflow to call a command on a remote server. The build server has full rights on the web servers so that account can do the actions, it's just a matter of adding it to the workflow. – sevargdcg Jul 25 '13 at 16:10