TFS - multiple build controllers for a single collection

Question

Can anyone give me a definitive answer as to whether or not TFS 2012 allows multiple build controllers for a single collection? I can't seem to find anything that says no, but it also isn't well explained as to if it is possible. I understand that the typical solution is to expand by adding more agents, but the purpose for a secondary controller is that I want to roll out a second custom workflow with separate assemblies to run against the same collection without breaking our original workflow (which is also run using custom assemblies). So this is sort of a blue/green or drain/fill approach for testing new build steps on a live system without breaking the existing system. It appears to almost work but we've also seen some TFS connectivity issues (connection terminations) when fetching code for the build workspace which did not exist before we tried this.

Answer 1

Looks like it is definitely possible. Check the MSDN link and look at the topic "Multiple Build Server system". In the picture it show a single collection which is connected to multiple build controllers. Definitely possible.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd793166.aspx

The video below also give you a step by step process on how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGyYvdxoJKU

Answer 2

I know it is definitely possible in TFS 2010, so I can't imagine it wouldn't be in 2012. We haven dozen of build controllers (with a few build agents each), for a variety of reasons - building different products, with different tools, in different geographical locations.