Change URL for build process templates (TF215097)

Question

I have an issue getting my builds to work on a TFS2013 installation.

The build I created it very basic (default template). When I initiate a build, it fails immediately with TF215097: An error occurred while initializing a build for build definition \Telematics\Development.

Following this is a bunch of HTML which is our firewall page telling me I don't have access to this resource. So the TFS build can't grab the .xaml template due to firewall restrictions.

From the server, I realized that if the server name is used in the URL, like this (which is what TFS build uses)...

http://TheServerName:8080/tfs/HercProjectCollection/_apis/resources/containers/1?itemPath=BuildProcessTemplates%2FTfvcTemplate%2FTfvcTemplate.12.xaml

I get the firewall error. But if I use localhost...

http://localhost:8080/tfs/HercProjectCollection/_apis/resources/containers/1?itemPath=BuildProcessTemplates%2FTfvcTemplate%2FTfvcTemplate.12.xaml

This will get around the firewall. I am having difficulty with the networking group to resolve this issue. So is there a way to configure TFS build to use localhost rather than use the ServerName?

Answer 1

As far as i know this is not possible from Team Foundation Build. As the common scenario is that the build server is on a different box it uses the public URL.

you could try adding it to the hosts file. \Windows\system32\dricers\etc contains a files called hosts. If you add an entry for the server name to the loopback address (172.0.0.1) then you might be able to get around the problem temporarily.

p.s. Why does the firewall come into play on your internal network?