TFS/IIS Disaster Update

I got a response from the Microsoft support person, who have told me earlier that he was able to reporoduce our error.

So, according to what he told me, he looked up some internal documentation and found out that the particular configuration that we are trying to use (Windows Server 2003 on application tier, Windows Server 2008 on data tier) may not have been properly tested. So far, the recommendation is to install reporting services on the application tier. (Later, he said, we will be able to move them to the data tier).

There were a few issues because of the Sharepoint that was not completely removed from the application tier before we started the reinstallation of the TFS, but the most interesting was the "Error 29000.The Team Foundation databases could not be installed. For more information, see the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) log."

That was a bit tricky, because both admin and service account for the TFS had all possible permissions on the data tier. Some log file reading and some searching, and I found out that this is the issue with analysis services permissions.

Problem in doing TFS2008 SP1 upgrade

The account should be a member of the “Server Role is used to grant server-wide security privileges to a user” under analysis services->properties->security option should be the TFS Service account. (There is no need to add the TFS Setup account or the TFS Report account here).

Now, the question was ... what error would come up next?

Next one was the Error 28805.The setup program cannot complete the request to the server that is running SQL Server Reporting Services. Verify that SQL Server Reporting Services is installed and running on the Team Foundation app tier and that you have sufficient permissions to access it. For more information, see the setup log.

OK, that was our mistake. The reporting services were removed from the data tier and installed on the app tier, but the databases were never created. Even the SQL Server was not installed yet on the application tier.

With that fixed, we moved forward just to finally hit the wall.

"Error 29112.Team Foundation Report Server Configuration: Either SQL Reporting Services is not properly configured, or the Reporting Services Web site could not be reached. Use the Reporting Services Configuration tool to confirm that SQL Reporting Services is configured properly and that the Reporting Service Web site can be reached, and then run the installation again. For more information, see the Team Foundation Installation Guide."

And what happens here remains a mystery for me so far.

This is what I see in the installation log:

"Setting database connection...

Verifying the configuration of SQL Server Reporting Services...
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: ReportServerVirtualDirectory Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A virtual directory is specified for this instance of report server.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: ReportManagerVirtualDirectory Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A virtual directory is specified for this instance of report manager.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: WindowsServiceIdentityStatus Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A Windows service identity is specified for this instance of report server.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: WebServiceIdentityStatus Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A web service identity is specified for this instance of report server.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: DatabaseConnection Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A report server database is specified for this report server.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: EmailConfiguration Status: NotSet Severity: 2 Description: E-mail delivery settings are not specified for the report server. E-mail delivery is disabled until these settings are specified.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: ReportManagerIdentityStatus Status: Set Severity: 1 Description: A report manager identity must be specified.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: SharePointIntegratedStatus Status: NotSet Severity: 2 Description: The report server instance supports SharePoint integration, but it currently runs in native mode. If you want to integrate this report server with a SharePoint product or technology, open the Database Setup page and create or select report server database that can be used with a SharePoint Web application.
SQL Server Reporting Services status Name: IsInitialized Status: OutOfSync Severity: 3 Description: The report server is not initialized.

Verifying SQL Server Reporting Services configuration status failed.

Error: ErrorCheckingReportServerStatus.

Configuring SQL Server Reporting Services failed."

But why? I have no idea. Here is what happens:

I open Reporting Service Configuration Manager, go to "Database Setup" and notice that the "Server Name" is pointing to the data tier, and the "Initialization" shows a grayed cross against it. So I point it to correct server, Press "Connect", "OK", "Apply" and enjoy a lot of green ticks in the "Task Status" and a grayed cross being changed to grayed tick.

Voila! Reporting Services configured properly and initialized. I can go to http://localhost/reports and see the proper "SQL Reporting Services Home Page".

So I switch back to my error and press "Retry". The installer thinks for a while, but then the error is displayed again.

So I start the Reporting Service Configuration Manager again, go to "Database Setup" and notice that the "Server Name" is pointing to the data tier, and the "Initialization" shows a grayed cross against it!

Why does the installed does it to me? I have no idea so far and could not find any good information.

by Evgeny. Also posted on my website