Manual Validation Azure DevOps: A Comprehensive Guide

Manual validation in Azure DevOps is a crucial step in ensuring the quality of your software releases. It involves manually verifying that the changes made to the codebase meet the required standards and don't introduce any new bugs.

The process starts with creating a test plan that outlines the specific tests to be performed on the code. This plan should be based on the requirements and specifications of the project.

A test plan helps to identify the test cases, test data, and the expected results, which are essential for manual validation. It also helps to estimate the time and resources required for the testing process.

Manual validation can be performed using various tools and techniques, including exploratory testing, where testers manually explore the application to identify defects.

Approvals and validation are crucial steps in the manual validation process in Azure DevOps. You can manually control when a stage should run using approval and checks, commonly used to control deployments to production environments.

To set up approvals, sign in to your Azure DevOps organization, navigate to your project, and select Pipelines > Environments. Add a new check by selecting the Approvals and checks tab and clicking the + sign.

If a group is designated as an approver, only one user within the group needs to approve for the run to proceed. The list of users who can review an approval is fixed at the time approvals & checks start running.

You can also defer an approval and set the time the approval becomes effective. This is useful when the time when an approval is given and the time the deployment should start don't match. For example, you might want to wait to deploy a new release until a low-traffic time in the evening.

The Manual Validation task allows you to pause a pipeline run within a stage, typically to perform various manual steps or actions and then continue with the pipeline. You can configure the task to send email notifications to users and user groups when it is awaiting a review and specify the automatic response (reject or resume) after a configurable timeout occurs.

Here's a summary of the Manual Validation task configuration:

Approvals are a crucial part of the pipeline process, and Azure DevOps provides a robust system for managing them. You can manually control when a stage should run using approval and checks, which is commonly used to control deployments to production environments.

To set up an approval check, you'll need to navigate to your project, select Pipelines > Environments, and then select your environment. From there, you can select the Approvals and checks tab and add a new check.

The list of users who can review an approval is fixed at the time approvals & checks start running, so make sure you add all necessary users before starting the process. If a group is designated as an approver, only one user within the group needs to approve for the run to proceed.

You can also defer an approval and set the time the approval becomes effective, which is useful when the time when an approval is given and the time the deployment should start don't match. For example, you might want to wait to deploy a new release until a low-traffic time in the evening.

To defer an approval, select Defer approval and set the approval time. The approval will be visible in the Checks panel as a pre-approval, and it will be effective at the set time.

One of the benefits of using approvals is that you can make a pipeline wait by adding a gate, such as the built-in approval process combined with environments. This can be a powerful tool for ensuring that deployments are thoroughly reviewed before they go live.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to set up an approval check:

By following these steps and using the approval system in Azure DevOps, you can ensure that your pipeline is thoroughly reviewed and validated before deployments go live.

Syntax plays a crucial role in approvals and validation, specifying the instructions that are shown to the user when resuming or rejecting the manual validation.

These instructions are based on the specific needs of the user, allowing them to make an informed decision about the manual validation.

The syntax is designed to be clear and concise, ensuring that the user understands what is required of them.

By providing specific instructions, the user can confidently proceed with the validation process, knowing exactly what is expected of them.

To set up an environment for manual validation in Azure DevOps, start by creating a new environment and giving it a useful name.

You can do this by going to Environments, creating a new environment, and naming it accordingly. This will be the foundation for your approval pipeline.

Next, navigate to the details of the environment, click on the action menu on the top right, and select Approvals and checks. This is where you'll configure the checks that will be executed before approvals are granted.

To set up your environment, start by creating a new environment and giving it a useful name.

Go to Environments and create a new environment.

This will be the foundation for your approval pipeline.

Next, go into the details of the environment and open the action menu on the top right.

From there, select Approvals and checks.

Add a new check by clicking the + button on the top right, and then select Approvals.

Assign a user or group to the approval, and you can leave the rest of the options as default or customize them to your needs.

Azure Monitor and Query is a crucial step in manual validation in Azure DevOps. You can use Query Azure Monitor Alerts to observe Azure Monitor and ensure no alerts are raised for the application after a deployment.

This process involves checking if any alert rules are activated at the time of evaluation. The evaluation is repeated after the Time between evaluations setting in control options.

The check will fail if the stage hasn't started execution within the specified Timeout period.