External authentication issue

Question

Hello,

I've been using an instance of TFS 2010 Basic on a little server for more than one year without any problem until now.
Today I set up automatic backup of my tfs installation using the wizard tool. As a result of that, I cannot externaly log on my TFS.

When I use RDP to connect to my server I can log in to TFS using the following patterns :
- http://localhost:8080/tfs/web/
- http://externalipaddress:8080/tfs/web
- http://localmachinename:8080/tfs/web
But I cannot log using an internet web address : http://webdomain.com:8080/tfs/web

On a machine other than my server I can not log on using any method.

By "Can not log on" I mean that the web browser keep asking me for my credentials.

If I try to log on using Visual Studio (http://ipaddress:8080/tfs) I get the following error :

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio

TF31002: Unable to connect to this Team Foundation Server: http://ipaddress:8080/tfs.

Team Foundation Server Url: http://ipaddress:8080/tfs.

  

Possible reasons for failure include:

- The name, port number, or protocol for the Team Foundation Server is incorrect.

- The Team Foundation Server is offline.

- The password has expired or is incorrect.

I checked my IIS bindings and firewall port before (I even shutdown the firewall a few minutes to try) but I did not see any issue there.

Thanks in advance for your help to get back my tfs access working correctly.

Answer 1

Hi John, 

Thanks for your post.

To make TFS Server external access, we need to configure it, please refer to the detailed steps in this article: http://www.tjopsta.net/2010/04/16/how-to-change-team-foundation-server-2010-urls-for-use-externally/.   

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Hi John,

Thank you for your answer.

I'd like to precise that before my issue, the external access worked perfectly using a url of the shape http://johndomain.com:8080/tfs/web.

Yesterday I tried to repair my tfs installation with the tool you're talking about in your blog post (great tutorial by the way) without success. I tried to change the urls and so but the result was at best the same or often worse.
Today I tried another fix which partly solved the issue. I used the following fix :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896861 (Method 1)

The result of this is that I can now log myself in tfs from the server (using RDP) using one on my domain name (for exemple
http://johnsdomain.com:8080/tfs/web) which was impossible before. I still cannot log from the outside though.

I really looks like enabling automatic backup has corrupt a setting somewhere.

Thank you for you help.

Answer 3

Hi John,   

Thanks for your reply. 

Which backup tool you used? The tool in that blog(change TFS 2010 urls for use externally) which I provided?    

Do you mean that you can external access your TFS Server from outside correctly, but that backup tool(the account who running this tool) can’t external access your TFS external web access url?  

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 4

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay.

The backup tool I used is the one provided in the blog

http://www.tjopsta.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/tfs001.png

What I mean is that no account can access my TFS Server from outside since I configured the bakcup tool. Before I did that configuration everything was working like a charm for more than one year. Note that every account can access the TFS Server provided that the connection is made from the machine hosting the TFS Server itself (using RDP).





Answer 5

Hi John, 

Thanks for your reply.

That screenshot is the TFS Admin Console, and there’s not the Team Foundation Backups section in this TFS Admin Console(not installed TFS Power Tools). 

Do you meant that after installed TFS Power Tools on your TFS Server, your accounts can’t access TFS Server from outside?        

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 6

Hi John,

I found another screenshot showing exactly the screen of the backup tool I was talking about :

http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-36-52-metablogapi/2210.Backup20_5F00_28A43A58.png

What I mean is that after I configured the automatic backups as show in the screenshot my accounts (Windows accounts using NTLM authentication) could not access the TFS Server from the outside.

Thanks

Answer 7

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, this Team Foundation Backups feature is provided by TFS Power Tools.

In Backup Plan Wizard>>Account tab, you provided your account as the task account? After you typed your account name and password, click the Test, test passed ok? You can share the detailed creating backup plan log here.

To backup TFS 2010, we also can follow the detailed steps in this document: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms253070.aspx.   

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 8

Hi John,

Thanks again for your reply.

The account I provided as the tak account is NT AUTHORITY\Local Service. I did not have to provide any password information and did not click the "Test" hyperlink button as it is disabled in that mode.

I chose to use the power tools as it was easier and quicker to set up than using the whole documentation you provided (I'm the only one using this TFS server and I must admnit that I prefer to use my time coding than administrating :-) )

Answer 9

Hi John, 

Thanks for your reply. 

Try to provide a TFS admin user(domain user) as the task account in Backup Plan Wizard, then Test it and create the backup plan.  

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 10

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply,

I did as you told me and created a new admin account and changed the user of the backup plan. The backup plan works perfectly but I still cannot connect to the TFS Server from outside.

Answer 11

Hi John, 

Thanks for your reply.

According your description, you created a new TFS admin account as the task account to create the backup plan, and the backup plan works fine.

But you( or all other accounts) still cannot connect to the TFS Server from outside if you configured the backup plan?  Can’t access http://johndomain.com:8080/tfs/web from outside?

If don’t configure the backup tool(uninstall TFS Power Tools from TFS Server machine), all TFS accounts access http://johndomain.com:8080/tfs/web from outside correctly?     

---

John Qiao [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us