Team Development with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server

• Use a VPN connection. You can provide access to TFS over a virtual private
network (VPN).
• Publish your TFS through a reverse proxy. You can provide access to TFS through
a reverse proxy such as Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server.
• Locate your TFS in the extranet (“hosted scenario”). You can host your TFS
server on an extranet.
If you are supporting remote users with VPN access, use the VPN solution. This is the
easiest solution to enable, provides well-understood security, allows remote access to all
TFS features, and allows you to use the TFS Proxy to improve performance. In this
solution Your TFS sits inside the internal network, and external users access it over a
VPN. Internal users access a TFS directly
If you are supporting remote users without VPN access or without access to the domain,
use the reverse proxy scenario. This solution is more difficult to set up, but it enables
remote users to access an internally located TFS without the need for VPN. In this
solution your TFS sits inside the internal network, and one or more reverse proxy
machines, such as ISA Server, bring in client requests from the Internet to your TFS.
If you are supporting a set of remote users who will be using a TFS installation dedicated
to their use, such as a community development site, use the extranet scenario. This
solution gives you the most separation between the remote users and your internal
network resources. In this solution only external clients access your TFS, and it is located
outside of the firewall on an extranet
If you are supporting an office with multiple clients connecting to a remote Team
Foundation Server, you should install and configure Team Foundation Server Proxy in
the remote office. This improves performance by caching source control files on the
remote office’s proxy server.
If you are supporting a single client connecting to a remote TFS, configure the client to
connect directly to the TFS.
Additional Resources
• To learn more about TFS remote access scenarios, see “Ch 17 - Providing Internet
Access to Team Foundation Server” in this guide
• To learn more about the Team Foundation Server Proxy, see “Team Foundation
Server Proxy and Source Control” at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms252490(VS.80).aspx
• For more information about examining TFS proxy performance, see “How to:
Examine Cache Performance for Team Foundation Server Proxy” at
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms252455(VS.80).aspx
How to optimize TFS Version Control proxy performance
At your remote location, install and configure Team Foundation Server Proxy. This
improves performance by caching source control files in the remote office’s proxy.