Azure DevOps Tutorial: Creating and Managing Projects

Creating and managing projects in Azure DevOps is a breeze. You can create a new project from the Azure DevOps portal, and it will be automatically set up with a repository, work items, and build and release pipelines.

To get started, you'll need to choose a project template that suits your needs. Azure DevOps offers several templates, including Agile, Scrum, and CMMI, each with its own set of pre-configured processes and workflows.

With a project template, you can quickly set up your project's workflow, including boards, backlogs, and sprints. This will help you stay organized and focused on delivering your project's goals.

As you create and manage your project, you'll also want to manage permissions and access for your team members. Azure DevOps allows you to assign roles and permissions to users, ensuring that everyone has the right level of access to your project's resources.

Azure DevOps Services offers a comprehensive set of tools to support software development and deployment. It was previously known as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS).

Azure DevOps Services provides a collaborative environment for teams to plan, track, and engage in discussions about work items. It offers features like Kanban boards, backlogs, and customizable reporting to enhance productivity and transparency.

Azure DevOps Services includes Azure Pipelines, Azure Boards, Azure Monitor, Visual Studio, and Azure Kubernetes Service.

Azure DevOps Services offers a range of services to help you manage your software development projects.

You can choose between Azure DevOps Services and Azure DevOps Server, which were previously known as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and Team Foundation Server (TFS) respectively.

Azure DevOps Services provides a comprehensive environment that facilitates Git integration, Agile tools, and continuous integration.

The services provided by Azure DevOps include Azure Pipelines, Azure Boards, Azure Monitor, Visual Studio, and Azure Kubernetes Service.

Here are some of the key services offered by Azure DevOps:

Azure DevOps is free for open-source projects and small projects with up to five users.

Azure DevOps Pricing can be a bit confusing, but let's break it down.

You get one free Microsoft-hosted CI/CD with 1,800 minutes and one free self-hosted CI/CD with unlimited minutes.

After using up the free parallel jobs, you'll be charged Rs.2643.85 for each extra Microsoft-hosted job and Rs.991.44 for each extra self-hosted one.

Azure DevOps also offers free storage of 2 GB, after which you'll be charged Rs.132.19 per GB.

If you're working on an open-source project, you can use Azure DevOps for free with a maximum of five developers.

For other projects, the cost of Azure DevOps services starts from $30 per month for 10 users, going all the way up to $6,150 per month for 1,000 users.

Here's a quick summary of the pricing plans:

In this hands-on tutorial, you'll create a DevOps Organization and use the services provided by Azure DevOps. To get started, you'll need Git installed on your system.

You'll begin by going to the Azure Portal and searching for Azure DevOps, then clicking on the link shown. Next, you'll create a new organization by clicking on "Create new organization" and then "Continue".

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating your Azure DevOps organization:

You can also create a pipeline for your Python or JavaScript project by following these steps:

You can create a Java pipeline in Azure Pipelines by following these steps. Azure Pipelines will analyze your repository and recommend the Maven pipeline template.

To start, you'll see a new pipeline appear in your Pipelines page, and you can take a look at the YAML to see what it does. When you're ready, select Save and run.

You'll be prompted to commit a new azure-pipelines.yml file to your repository. After you're happy with the message, select Save and run again. If you want to watch your pipeline in action, select the build job.

This will create a working YAML pipeline (azure-pipelines.yml) in your repository that's ready for you to customize!

To make changes to your pipeline, select it in the Pipelines page, and then Edit the azure-pipelines.yml file.

To get started with .NET Core, you'll first need to create your first pipeline.

Azure Pipelines will analyze your repository and recommend the ASP.NET Core pipeline template.

This template will automatically create a working YAML pipeline (azure-pipelines.yml) in your repository that's ready for you to customize.

To customize your pipeline, select it in the Pipelines page, and then Edit the azure-pipelines.yml file.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating your first .NET Core pipeline:

You can now watch your pipeline in action by selecting the build job.

You can create up to 1000 projects within your organization in Azure DevOps. Each project can be managed and customized according to specific business needs.

To create an Azure DevOps project, go to Azure DevOps and navigate to Projects, select your organization, and click on New project. Fill out the relevant information on the form and enter a project name.

You can configure pipeline settings through the GUI by navigating to a pipeline's details page and choosing the More actions option, then selecting Settings from the dropdown menu. From the settings pane, you can control the processing of new run requests, automatically link any work items included in a run, and specify the YAML file path.

Here are the pipeline settings options:

To set up a project, you can checkout or download the source code from Github Repo. This is a great way to get started with your project.

You'll need to create 3 Azure Function Apps for each environment, with specific configurations. This will help you manage and deploy your project efficiently.

Azure Pipelines are used to build projects before deployment, making the process smoother and more reliable.

To create an Azure DevOps project, go to Azure DevOps and navigate to Projects. Select your organization and click on New project.

Fill out the relevant information on the form and enter a project name. This will help you organize and manage your project effectively.

Azure DevOps Services lets you have up to 1000 projects within your organization, so you can manage multiple projects simultaneously.

Here are the steps to create an Azure DevOps project:

You can configure Azure DevOps pipelines to manage your project's build and deployment process. Azure Pipelines are used to build projects before deployment, and you can create three Azure Function Apps for each environment.

To create a new pipeline, go to Pipelines and select Github. You will be prompted to authorize Devops access to your Github account, so follow the instructions and provide approval.

The generated Azure Pipelines file will be displayed, and you need to add "build" and "publish" steps. Change the "Root folder or file to archive" path to specify the directory containing the project build files.

You can configure the pipeline settings through the GUI by navigating to a pipeline's details page and choosing the More actions option, then selecting Settings from the dropdown menu.

Azure DevOps Services lets you have up to 1000 projects within your organization. To create an Azure DevOps project, go to Azure DevOps and navigate to Projects, select your organization, and click on New project.

The YAML file doesn't specify all the settings of a pipeline. Instead, certain configurations, such as the pipeline's enabled status and the YAML file path, are set on the GUI.

Here are the pipeline settings you can control through the GUI:

To configure the pipeline settings, select the Automatically link work items included in this run option and specify the branch. If you give a certain branch, it only associates work items with runs of that branch. If given *, it associates with all runs.

To build and deploy your project in Azure DevOps, you'll need to create a build pipeline that automates the process. A build pipeline is the entity through which you define your automated build pipeline, and it's where you compose a set of tasks, each of which performs a step in your build.

To start, you'll need to create a new pipeline in Azure DevOps, selecting Azure Pipelines and creating a new pipeline. You'll then need to add a PowerShell task to your pipeline, specifying the script path and selecting the script you created. You can also add a Publish Build Artifacts task to publish your script as an artifact.

By following these steps, you can automate your build and deployment process, and even deploy your app to production. For example, you can use the "Save and queue" feature to save and queue your build, and then select the "Save & queue" option again to deploy your app to production.

Test is a crucial part of the build and deployment process. It ensures that your application is stable and functions as expected in different environments.

Azure DevOps Pipeline allows you to test your application in various stages, including Dev, UAT, and PRD. Once changes are committed, three new releases will be created, and Dev and UAT branch builds will be automatically deployed.

You can automate testing using Azure Test Plans, which provides manual and exploratory testing tools. Automated tests can be executed in a pipeline, making it easier to identify problems at the testing phase.

The use of automated tests, such as security and compliance tests, can quickly provision resources and configure the entire production environment. This helps to identify problems early on and reduces the risk of errors in the production environment.

Azure Test Plans provides the following benefits:

You can also manually run and update tests in Azure DevOps by navigating to the project and selecting the Boards option. From there, you can add a test for a work item and enter a title for the test.

Publishing an artifact from your build is a crucial step in the deployment process. You can publish a script as an artifact, which can then be deployed to various stages in a release.

To publish an artifact, you'll need to add a task to your build pipeline. On the Tasks tab, select the plus sign (+) to add a task to Job 1, and then select the Publish Build Artifacts task.

The Publish Build Artifacts task allows you to specify the path to publish, which should be the script you created. You can browse and select the script using the button. The artifact name should be entered as "drop", and the artifact publish location should be set to Azure Artifacts/TFS.

Artifacts can be nearly anything your team needs to test or deploy your app, such as .DLL and .EXE executable files and .PDB symbols file.

Here's a summary of the steps to publish an artifact:

To save and queue a build, select Save & queue, and then select Save & queue again. This queues a new build on the Microsoft-hosted agent.

You'll see a link to the new build on the top of the page, and choosing the link will allow you to watch the new build as it happens. Once the agent is allocated, you'll start seeing the live logs of the build.

Notice that the PowerShell script is run as part of the build, and that "Hello world" is printed to the console.

Here are the steps to save and queue a build:

Finally, you can go to the build summary and notice that the script is published as an artifact on the Artifacts tab of the build.

In Azure DevOps, a release pipeline is a collection of stages to which the application build artifacts are deployed.

To create a release pipeline, go to the Pipelines tab, select Releases, and then select the action to create a new pipeline. You can also select the plus sign (+) and then select Create a release pipeline.

A release pipeline can be defined in two stages, such as QA and Production, where the application build artifacts are deployed in each stage.

To deploy a release, create a new release by selecting Create new release, and then open the release to view the logs and track the progress of each stage.

You can also track the commits that are part of each release, the associated work items, and the results of any test runs that you've added to the release pipeline.

To automate the deployment process, you can configure the release pipeline to trigger a new release automatically whenever a new build is available.

Here's a summary of the stages in a release pipeline:

You can also configure pre-deployment approvals for certain stages, such as Production, to ensure that user approval is required before triggering an actual deployment.

In addition, you can configure artifact filters to ensure that only relevant builds are deployed to the relevant Azure Function App.

By following these steps and configuring the release pipeline, you can automate the deployment process and ensure that your application is deployed to the correct stages.