Test Controller, Test Agent versions and their usage in different scenarios

This post clarifies the version compatibility of Test Controllers and Test Agents with different Visual Studio and TFS versions for both TC/TA scenarios and Team Build/Release Management scenarios. It details which agent versions can be used for which scenarios and which Visual Studio versions they can run tests built with. It also provides instructions for creating offline installers for Test Agents and explains the agent version selection capabilities in TFS 2017 Update 1's 'Visual Studio Test Agent Deployment' task.