Azure DevOps Solutions

Establishing Your Foundation with Azure DevOps Essentials

Let’s begin by understanding what Azure DevOps is and how to set up your environment for success in the DevOps journey.

Understanding the Azure DevOps Ecosystem

Azure DevOps is Microsoft’s end-to-end DevOps toolchain that helps teams plan work, collaborate on code development, and build and deploy applications. It consists of five main services: Azure Boards, Azure Repos, Azure Pipelines, Azure Test Plans, and Azure Artifacts. Each service is designed to work seamlessly with the others, providing a comprehensive solution for modern software development practices.

The platform supports various programming languages, deployment targets, and tools, making it versatile for different development needs. Whether you’re building web applications, mobile apps, or cloud services, Azure DevOps provides the infrastructure to support your development lifecycle.

Setting Up Your Azure DevOps Organisation

To begin using Azure DevOps, create an organisation at dev.azure.com by signing in with your Microsoft account. If you don’t have an organisation, provide a unique name and select your region. Your organisation serves as the container for all your projects.

After creation, customise organisational settings from the Organisation Settings gear icon at the bottom left of your Azure DevOps portal, including security policies, user access, and billing.

Creating Your First Project

Once your organisation is set up, create your first project by clicking “New project.” Provide a name, description (optional), and choose between public or private visibility. Select a work item process—Agile, Scrum, CMMI, or Basic—based on your team’s methodology.

The project dashboard provides an overview of status, recent activities, and shortcuts to common tasks.

Navigating the Azure DevOps Interface

The Azure DevOps interface is organised around its five core services:

• Overview: Provides dashboards and project information
• Boards: For work item tracking and agile planning
• Repos: For source code management
• Pipelines: For build and release management
• Test Plans: For manual and exploratory testing
• Artifacts: For package management

Configuring Personal and Project Settings

Access personal settings by clicking your profile picture and selecting “User settings” to configure notifications, personal access tokens, and preferences.

Project settings are available via the “Project settings” gear icon at the bottom of the left navigation bar. Here, manage team configurations, repository settings, pipeline permissions, and more to optimise your workflow.

Mastering Project Management and Team Collaboration Workflows in Azure DevOps

Now that your environment is set up, let’s explore how to effectively manage projects and teams to maximise productivity and collaboration.

Understanding Work Item Types and Processes

Work items are the building blocks of project management in Azure DevOps. Different work item types are available depending on your chosen process:

• Epics: Large bodies of work that can be broken down
• Features: Functionalities that deliver business value
• User Stories/Requirements: Detailed descriptions of functionality
• Tasks: Specific work items assigned to team members
• Bugs: Issues that need to be fixed

Each type has its own fields and workflow states essential for effective project management.

Creating and Managing Backlogs

Backlogs help organise and prioritise work. Access your backlog via Boards > Backlogs to create new work items, reorder them by priority, and organise them hierarchically.

The backlog provides different views:

• Epics: For strategic planning
• Features: For tracking major functionalities
• Stories/Backlog items: For detailed implementation planning

Use the + button to add items and drag and drop to reorder them. The mapping feature helps create parent-child relationships between work items.

Sprint Planning and Management

For Scrum or Agile methodologies, navigate to Boards > Sprints for planning tools, where you can:

• Define sprint durations and dates
• Move work items from the backlog to a specific sprint
• Set the capacity for team members
• Track sprint progress with burndown charts

During sprints, team members update work item status, log hours, and add comments, feeding into sprint reports and dashboards.

Setting Up Teams and Managing Access

Teams represent groups of users working together. Navigate to Project Settings > Teams to create and manage teams, each with its own backlog, dashboards, and settings.

To add members:

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Teams
2. Select the team to modify
3. Click “Add” in the Members section
4. Search for users by name or email
5. Assign appropriate access levels and permissions

Creating Custom Dashboards

Dashboards provide at-a-glance project status information. Navigate to Overview > Dashboards to create custom dashboards with widgets like:

• Burndown/Burnup charts
• Query results
• Work item trends
• Code quality metrics
• Build status

Arrange widgets by dragging and dropping them. Well-designed dashboards help teams focus on key metrics and identify issues early.

Implementing Effective Source Control Strategies with Azure Repos for Code Management

With project management in place, let’s turn to managing your codebase with Azure Repos, exploring version control options and collaboration techniques.

Git vs. Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC)

Azure Repos supports two version control systems:

• Git: A distributed system where each developer has a complete repository copy
• TFVC: Centralised system where code is stored on a central server

Git is generally recommended for most scenarios due to its flexibility and industry adoption, while TFVC might be preferred for very large codebases or teams transitioning from older systems.

Creating and Cloning Repositories

To create a new repository:

1. Navigate to Repos > Files
2. Click the repository dropdown at the top
3. Select “New repository”
4. Provide a name and choose Git or TFVC
5. Optionally add a README or .gitignore file

To clone to your local machine:

1. Navigate to the repository in Azure Repos
2. Click “Clone” in the upper right
3. Copy the repository URL
4. Use the Git command line or your IDE to clone

Branching Strategies and Policies

Effective branching strategies are crucial for collaboration. Common patterns include:

• Gitflow: Using main/master for production, develop for integration, and feature branches
• Trunk-based: Working primarily in the main branch with short-lived feature branches
• Release flow: Feature branches merge to main, with release branches as needed

To implement branch policies:

1. Navigate to Repos > Branches
2. Right-click a branch and select “Branch policies”
3. Configure required reviewers, build validation, and other checks

Pull Requests and Code Reviews

Pull requests facilitate code reviews and controlled merging:

1. Navigate to Repos > Pull requests
2. Click “New pull request”
3. Select source and target branches
4. Add title, description, and reviewers
5. Optionally link work items

Reviewers can comment on specific code lines, approve or reject changes, and request revisions. The PR shows the diff between branches, merge status, and build results.

Managing Git Hooks and Repository Settings

Git hooks customise Git’s behaviour at key workflow points. To configure repository settings:

1. Navigate to Project Settings > Repositories
2. Select the repository to configure
3. Explore options like:
   • Security (who can contribute)
   • Policies (branch protection rules)
   • Cross-repository policies
   • Repository settings (case sensitivity, file size limits)

Advanced users can set up client-side Git hooks to enforce coding standards, run tests, or perform other pre-commit checks.

Automating Your Build and Deployment Processes with Azure DevOps CI/CD Pipeline Solutions

With your code management established, it’s time to automate your build and deployment processes with Azure Pipelines, creating a seamless CI/CD workflow.

Understanding Pipeline Concepts

Azure Pipelines automates building, testing, and deploying code. Key concepts include:

• Pipelines: The overall workflow definition
• Stages: Major divisions (e.g., build, test, deploy)
• Jobs: Groups of steps running on the same agent
• Steps: Individual tasks within a job
• Agents: Computing resources running the pipeline

Pipelines can be defined using YAML files (recommended) or the classic editor interface. YAML-based pipelines offer better version control, reusability, and code integration.

Creating Your First Build Pipeline

To create a YAML build pipeline:

1. Navigate to Pipelines > Pipelines
2. Click “New pipeline”
3. Select your repository location
4. Choose your repository
5. Select a starter template or start from scratch
6. Configure the YAML file with build steps
7. Save and run the pipeline

A basic build pipeline includes steps to check out code, restore dependencies, build the application, run tests, and publish artefacts.

Configuring Release Pipelines

Release pipelines deploy your application to different environments:

1. Navigate to Pipelines > Releases
2. Click “New pipeline”
3. Select a template or start with an empty job
4. Add artefacts from your build pipeline
5. Configure stages for each environment
6. Define deployment tasks
7. Set up approval gates between stages

Release pipelines can trigger automatically after successful builds or manually, supporting various deployment targets.

Working with Environment Variables and Secret Management

Pipelines require configuration values and secrets, managed through:

• Pipeline variables: Defined in the pipeline itself
• Variable groups: Reusable sets of variables
• Azure Key Vault integration: For secure secret storage

To create a variable group:

1. Navigate to Pipelines > Library
2. Click “+ Variable group”
3. Add variables and mark sensitive ones as secrets
4. Link the variable group to your pipelines

In YAML pipelines, reference variables using: $(variableName)

Implementing Deployment Gates and Approvals

Deployment gates add control by requiring approvals or validation checks:

1. Edit a release pipeline
2. Select a stage and click on pre-deployment or post-deployment conditions
3. Enable approvals and add required approvers
4. Configure additional gates like:
   • Azure Function checks
   • REST API checks
   • Azure Monitor alerts
   • Work item queries

Gates ensure deployments only proceed when conditions are met, reducing problematic release risks.

Ensuring Quality and Performance through Comprehensive Testing and Monitoring Frameworks

Finally, let’s explore how to maintain high quality and performance through testing and monitoring solutions that integrate seamlessly with your development process.

Integrating Automated Tests in Pipelines

Automated tests maintain code quality. Azure Pipelines supports various testing frameworks, including MSTest, NUnit, xUnit, JUnit, Mocha, Jest, Karma, pytest, and unittest.

To integrate tests:

1. Ensure tests are part of your codebase
2. Add test tasks to your build or release pipeline
3. Configure test result publishing

Manual Testing with Test Plans

Azure Test Plans provides manual testing tools:

1. Navigate to Test Plans > Test Plans
2. Create a new test plan associated with your iteration
3. Add test suites to organise test cases
4. Create detailed test cases with steps and expected results

Testers execute these cases using the web interface or Test Runner client, recording results, attachments, and bugs. The Test & Feedback extension supports exploratory testing.

Monitoring Application Performance

Application performance monitoring identifies issues before they affect users:

1. Instrument your application with Application Insights SDK
2. Configure connection strings in your deployment
3. Set up dashboards in Azure DevOps for key metrics

Create release gates that check performance metrics before proceeding with deployment, verifying response times and error rates are within acceptable thresholds.

Setting Up Alerts and Notifications

Configure alerts in Azure DevOps by:

1. Navigating to Project Settings > Notifications
2. Creating subscription rules for events like build failures or work item changes

For application monitoring alerts:

1. Configure alert rules in Azure Monitor
2. Set appropriate thresholds and conditions
3. Define action groups to notify team members or trigger automation

Well-designed alerts focus on actionable information while ensuring critical issues are addressed promptly.

Analytics and Reporting

Azure DevOps provides analytics capabilities to track project health:

• Dashboards: Customizable views with widgets
• Analytics Service: Backend for querying work item data
• Power BI integration: For advanced reporting

To create a Power BI report:

1. Connect Power BI to Azure DevOps
2. Authenticate and select your organisation and project
3. Choose datasets (work items, builds, releases)
4. Create visualisations for metrics like cycle time, bug trends, release frequency, and test coverage

Regular metric reviews help teams identify process improvements and track progress toward goals.