{"id":85473,"date":"2019-10-24T19:02:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T19:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/?p=85473"},"modified":"2022-04-24T20:52:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-24T20:52:48","slug":"configure-ci-cd-azure-devops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.red-gate.com\/simple-talk\/devops\/tools\/configure-ci-cd-azure-devops\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Configure CI\/CD in Azure DevOps"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the goals of DevOps is to provide faster and reliable releases. In this regard, the terms Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment have become very popular. Continuous Integration (CI) is a software development practice that requires developers working on the project to integrate code into a shared repository. For the CI process to be a success, the build, unit tests, integration tests, acceptance tests should be successful. This article explains\u00a0 how to configure CI\/CD in Azure DevOps.<\/p>\n

Continuous Delivery (CD) is an extension of CI that enables you to ship software faster, continuously. Continuous Delivery is achieved through Continuous Testing. Automated testing is integrated with the CI\/CD pipeline. This ensures that all changes flowing through the pipeline are validated. Here’s the entire CI\/CD workflow in a step by step manner.<\/p>\n

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  1. The developer checks in the source code to the code repository<\/li>\n
  2. The build process is triggered<\/li>\n
  3. All automated tests (unit tests, acceptance tests) are run<\/li>\n
  4. If any of the tests fail, the build process terminates abruptly<\/li>\n
  5. The release process is only triggered if the build process is successful<\/li>\n
  6. If a release is successful, the application is deployed<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This article presents a discussion on how CI\/CD can be configured in Azure DevOps.<\/p>\n

    The Goals<\/h2>\n

    In this post, I will show you how to:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Create an Azure DevOps Project\n
        \n
      1. Edit a build pipeline (this pipeline will be created automatically)<\/li>\n
      2. Edit a release pipeline (this pipeline will be created automatically)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      3. Clone the Code Repository<\/li>\n
      4. Explore the CI\/CD pipelines<\/li>\n
      5. Trigger the CI\/CD process<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The Prerequisites<\/h2>\n

        In this article, you\u2019ll be using Visual Studio 2019 and .NET Core.<\/p>\n

        If you don\u2019t have Visual Studio 2019 installed in your system, you can get a copy from here<\/a>. If you don\u2019t have .NET Core installed in your system, you can download a copy from here<\/a>. You should also have an Azure account. You can create an Azure account for free. If you don’t have an Azure account, you can create one from here.<\/a><\/p>\n

        Creating an Azure DevOps Project<\/h2>\n

        Azure DevOps Project facilitates an easy setup of the continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipeline in Azure. You can use your existing code or use the example code from the sample application that is created by default when you create a new Azure DevOps Project in Azure.<\/p>\n

        To create a new Azure DevOps project, follow the steps outlined below:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Select the + Create Resource<\/em> icon in the left navigation bar (refer to Figure 1)<\/li>\n
        2. Select DevOps<\/em> from the Azure Marketplace<\/li>\n
        3. Click on DevOps Project<\/em> in the list<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          <\/p>\n

          Figure 1: The Azure DevOps Marketplace<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. In the next screen, select .NET<\/em> shown in Figure 2 and click Next.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            <\/p>\n

            Figure 2: Choose the technology to be used<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. In the next screen, select ASP.NET Core<\/em> as the application framework, as shown in Figure 3. Since this example does not use a database, you can ignore the Add a database <\/em>option for now.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              <\/p>\n

              Figure 3: Choose the application framework to be used<\/p>\n

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              1. Click Next<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                You can deploy your application to Virtual Machines, Windows App Service, Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS), Azure SQL Database, and Azure Service Fabric. In this example, you’ll deploy the sample application to Windows App Service.<\/p>\n

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                1. Specify Windows Web App<\/em> as the type of the Azure service to be used, as shown in Figure 4.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  <\/p>\n

                  Figure 4: Select the Azure service to deploy the application<\/p>\n

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                  1. Click Next<\/em><\/li>\n
                  2. In the next screen, specify the project name and the name of the Azure DevOps organization, as shown in Figure 5.<\/li>\n
                  3. Select the Subscription you would like to use<\/li>\n
                  4. Fill in a Web app name<\/em>. Note that the name must be unique across Azure.<\/li>\n
                  5. Select your Location<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Note that you can change the default pricing tier being used by clicking on Additional settings<\/em> and selecting the Pricing Tier<\/em> from the drop-down control. The screen should look similar to Figure 5.<\/p>\n

                    <\/p>\n

                    Figure 5: Specify the basic details<\/p>\n

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                    1. Click Done<\/em> to complete the process<\/li>\n
                    2. Once the deployment is complete, click Go to resource<\/em> to view it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      A new DevOps project will be created. Figure 6 shows how the Azure DevOps project dashboard looks. Note that you will have to wait several minutes for the Build<\/em> process to complete, and until then the Azure resources<\/em> details will not be filled in.<\/p>\n

                      <\/p>\n

                      Figure 6: The Azure DevOps Dashboard<\/p>\n

                      Click Browse<\/em> (refer to Figure 6) to view your application in the web browser. Figure 7 below shows how your application should look in the web browser.<\/p>\n

                      <\/p>\n

                      Figure 7: The Web Application in execution!<\/p>\n

                      Cloning the Code Repository<\/h2>\n

                      In the Azure DevOps<\/em> project dashboard (refer to Figure 6), click on the name of your application under Code<\/em>. Figure 8 shows the code repository in the web browser. Click Clone<\/em> and then copy the Clone URL<\/em> as shown in Figure 8 and proceed to the next step.<\/p>\n

                      <\/p>\n

                      Figure 8: Clone the repository<\/p>\n

                      Now follow the steps given below to clone the repository in Visual Studio 2019.<\/p>\n

                        \n
                      1. Open the Visual Studio 2019 IDE<\/li>\n
                      2. Click Continue without code<\/em> as shown in Figure 9 below<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                        <\/p>\n

                        Figure 9: Continue without code<\/p>\n

                          \n
                        1. In the Visual Studio 2019 IDE, click on View Team Explorer<\/em> from the menu.<\/li>\n
                        2. Click Clone<\/em> in the Team Explorer<\/em> window.<\/li>\n
                        3. Specify the Clone URL<\/em> and the path to the local folder where the repository will be cloned like Figure 10.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                          <\/p>\n

                          Figure 10: The Team Explorer<\/p>\n

                            \n
                          1. Click Clone<\/em> to start the process<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                            Once the repository has been successfully cloned, you can view the source code in the Solution Explorer<\/em>. You can even make changes to the code if needed. Note that once you commit these changes to the code repository, the build process will be automatically triggered. After switching to the Solution<\/em> view, the project should look similar to Figure 11.<\/p>\n

                            <\/p>\n

                            Figure 11: Solution Explorer<\/p>\n

                            Examining the CI\/CD Pipelines<\/h2>\n

                            A full CI\/CD pipeline will be automatically configured for you. You can explore the pipeline and even customize it if need be. At the top of the Azure DevOps project dashboard, you’ll see menu options for both Build<\/em> pipelines<\/em> and Release<\/em> pipelines<\/em> as shown in Figure 12.<\/p>\n

                            <\/p>\n

                            Figure 12: The build and release pipelines<\/p>\n

                            Build Pipelines<\/h3>\n

                            Click Build pipelines<\/em> to load the build pipeline(s) for your application in the web browser, as shown in Figure 13 and then click Edit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

                            <\/p>\n

                            Figure 13: Edit the build pipeline<\/p>\n

                            The build pipeline performs the following tasks.<\/p>\n