The approaches used by development and IT operations teams under the name "DevOps" are meant to speed up and scale software delivery.
Automation, continuous integration, development, testing, and the use of infrastructure as code are some of these techniques. One of the popular devops platforms is Azure Devops.
What is Azure DevOps?
The DevOps platform Azure DevOps was formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services, or VSTS.
It is a Microsoft software as a service (SaaS) platform. It was developed to essentially serve as a one-stop shop for putting all of your DevOps processes for your project into place.
It is an assortment of concepts and tools, or simply anything that allows the efficient, automated, high-quality development and release of applications practical. Furthermore, it promotes the utilization of DevOps practices in both cloud and on-premises systems.
What are the main features of Azure DevOps?
By fully or largely automating the software development lifecycle, DevOps with Azure seeks to maximize efficiency.
It basically enacts the DevOps process, which spans the whole software development lifecycle, technologically. It therefore has characteristics for each stage of this lifecycle, which are:
a. Azure boards
Developers may manage software development projects with the use of interactive, adaptable tools from Azure Boards.
An easy-to-configure dashboard, calendar views, integrated reporting, and native support for Scrum, Kanban, and Agile processes are just a few of its numerous features.
Therefore, as part of the agile or scrum processes, you may submit tickets or tasks on Azure boards for features upgrades or corrections for your apps.
When features or upgrades are being created, you may assign it to employees to work on and monitor their progress.
Azure boards can therefore be utilized inside the job description for communication between the developers, testers, product owners, etc.
b. Azure Repos
azure repository feature is what you can use in order to host the application code that developers are creating which is also part of that life cycle.
Regardless of size, version control is beneficial for all software development projects and should be adopted early on.
A version control system is a tool of software that enables users to keep track of changes made to the source code of an application over time.
Teams may coordinate code updates using version control systems and go back and make specific modifications as needed.
c. Azure Pipelines
Azure Pipelines can generate and test code automatically, making it available to diverse projects.
It supports the majority of project types and languages. In order to develop, test, and ship code to a destination, Azure Pipelines offers CI/CD pipelines, which stand for continuous integration and continuous delivery.
Putting in place a CI/CD pipeline provides a quick, safe, and simple approach to automate the construction process and make projects accessible to different users.
d. Azure Artifacts
Using software packages managed from a single platform, Azure Artifacts enables development teams to exchange and manage code effectively.
Developers may share packages with their teams, the entire business, or the public by publishing them to feeds using Azure Artifacts.
The public registries NuGet.org and npmjs.com are only two examples of the many packages that developers may use.
Azure Artifacts supports a variety of package types, including npm, NuGet, Maven, and Python.
E. Azure Test Plans
A development team uses Azure Test Plans as a collection of tools to improve the quality of the code sets as they progress through the development cycle.
These test plans offer a variety of testing frameworks together with the necessary feedback that can be used by many stakeholders for the entire development team.
They are simple to use and can be controlled straight from the browser itself.
What is the pricing of Azure DevOps?
You must of course pay for these services and the use of these resources as this is a managed service. However, there is a free tier for Azure DevOps to get you started. It essentially consists of a set number of services that are free to use, such managed agents for pipeline jobs.
There are five price tiers for DevOps with Azure, ranging from $2 to $52. The various price editions are shown below.
How to learn Azure DevOps?
It can be incredibly gratifying to harness the mastery of DevOps with Azure. However, there are plenty of courses that can help you get to it from scratch.
List of Azure tutorials and training/courses
Here is a list of the most recent, updated tutorials and courses that will help you master DevOps with Azure:
1. Azure DevOps Tutorial for Beginners
This brief introduction to Azure DevOps video will help you learn the fundamentals and advance concepts. You may investigate and comprehend its comprehensive principles and offered services with its assistance.
2. Get started with Azure DevOps
This educational path is one of several. You can select the topics that most interest you or you can go through each one in order.
Starting with the planning stage, application development, and application deployment using Azure DevOps. To master all the talents, it should take two to three months, but as I already mentioned, you'll acquire them gradually.
3. Azure DevOps Fundamentals for Beginners
People who are *completely new* to DevOps terminology should take this course. However, it might be useful to comprehend cloud-based computing's basics.
You should be able to finish it in approximately a month because there are 44 lectures in it.
4. GIT and Visual Studio with Azure DevOps Repos for Developers
Transfer your source control to the Microsoft Azure cloud. The quickest and simplest method to learn how to utilize Azure DevOps Repos with GIT and Visual Studio is through this video.
The detailed instructions will demonstrate how to utilize GIT efficiently for local version control.
The video begins by explaining what GIT and Azure Repos are, then walks you through each step needed to create a local project and manage it on the cloud. No prior knowledge is necessary.
5. Azure DevOps Boards for Project Managers/Analyst/Developers
n only a few hours, you can master Azure Boards with the help of this course. In this video, you will discover how to construct Epics, Features, Product Backlogs, and Tasks using Microsoft's Azure DevOps (VSTS / TFS) Boards.
6. Azure DevOps (AZ - 400) Training
This course will assist you in integrating all the real-world experience, specialty, and job-ready abilities, regardless of whether you are an experienced IT professional or a college graduate.
This course is primarily created for beginners by IT industry experts and will give you a thorough overview of a variety of Azure DevOps tools.
What does the future holds for Azure DevOps?
Azure DevOps is here to stay and is receiving a lot of support. Microsoft's dedication over a long period of time to the life cycle of its software and its provision of new features and customer support is one of the company's underappreciated strengths.
In light of this, Azure DevOps is still being actively developed and will do so for some time.
FAQ
Conclusion
This article covered every aspect of DevOps with Azure, including its features and prospects. The following are the major elements you need to remember:
