📍 Introduction:

Are you looking for a comprehensive set of tools and services to streamline your application development workflow? Look no further than Azure DevOps! Azure DevOps provides a powerful platform to plan, develop, test, and deliver applications efficiently. In this blog post, we will explore how to create a CI/CD pipeline using Azure DevOps to build and deploy applications to Azure App Service upon changes in the source control repository. Let's get started! 🚀

Step 1: Set Up Azure DevOps

To begin, you'll need an Azure DevOps account. If you don't have one, you can sign up for a free account at dev.azure.com. Once you have your account ready, follow these steps:

1. Create a new project: Click on the "New Project" button and give it a meaningful name.

2. Set up a repository: Inside your project, create a new repository or connect to an existing one. Azure DevOps supports various version control systems like Git, Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC), and Subversion (SVN).

3. Create a service connection: A service connection allows Azure DevOps to communicate with your target deployment environment. In our case, we'll create a service connection to Azure.

   • Go to your project settings and select "Service connections."

   • Click on "New service connection" and choose "Azure Resource Manager."

   • Follow the instructions to authenticate and authorize Azure DevOps to access your Azure subscription.

Step 2: Define Your CI/CD Pipeline

Now, let's define a CI/CD pipeline to automate the build and deployment process whenever changes occur in your source control repository.

1. Create a new pipeline: In Azure DevOps, navigate to your project, click on "Pipelines," and select "New pipeline." Azure DevOps supports YAML-based pipeline configuration, which provides more flexibility and version control for your pipeline definition.

2. Choose your repository: Select the repository where your application code resides. Azure DevOps will analyze the repository and suggest templates for popular frameworks and platforms.

3. Select a pipeline template: Choose a template that suits your application's technology stack. For our example, let's select the template for an ASP.NET Core application.

4. Configure the pipeline: Modify the YAML file to match your application's specific requirements. You can specify build steps, test tasks, and deployment actions.

    trigger:
      branches:
        include:
          - main
   
    jobs:
      - job: Build
        displayName: 'Build and Test'
        pool:
          vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
        steps:
          - script: dotnet build --configuration Release
            displayName: 'Build'
          - script: dotnet test
            displayName: 'Run Tests'
   
      - job: Deploy
        displayName: 'Deploy to Azure App Service'
        dependsOn: Build
        pool:
          vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
        steps:
          - task: AzureRmWebAppDeployment@4
            displayName: 'Azure App Service Deploy'
            inputs:
              ConnectionType: 'AzureRM'
              azureSubscription: 'YourAzureServiceConnectionName'
              appType: 'webAppLinux'
              WebAppName: 'your-web-app-name'
              packageForLinux: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/drop/**/*.zip'
   

   Customize the YAML file based on your application's needs. Remember to replace YourAzureServiceConnectionName with the name of the Azure service connection you created earlier and your-web-app-name with the name of your Azure App Service.

5. Save and run the pipeline: Save the pipeline configuration, and Azure DevOps will validate the YAML file. Once validated, commit and push the changes to trigger the pipeline for the first time.

Step 3: Observe the CI/CD Pipeline in Action

Now that your CI/CD pipeline is set up, let's observe it in action by making changes to your application code and pushing them to the repository.

1. Make code changes: Open your application code in your preferred development environment and make some changes.

2. Commit and push changes: Commit the changes to your local Git repository and push them to the remote repository on Azure DevOps.

3. Observe the pipeline execution: Head over to Azure DevOps and navigate to the Pipelines section. You'll see your pipeline automatically triggered by the changes you made. You can monitor the pipeline's progress, including build, test, and deployment stages, through the Azure DevOps interface.

4. Verify deployment: Once the pipeline completes successfully, visit your Azure App Service to see the changes deployed automatically. Your application is now up-to-date with the latest code changes.

📍 Conclusion

Azure DevOps provides a powerful platform for efficiently managing your application development lifecycle. With its comprehensive set of development tools and services, you can streamline your processes, from planning to delivery. By creating a CI/CD pipeline using Azure DevOps, you can automate the build and deployment of your applications to Azure App Service upon changes in your source control repository. This enables faster development iterations and ensures your application is always up-to-date. Start leveraging Azure DevOps today and witness the benefits of seamless application development and deployment! 👩‍💻👨‍💻

We hope this guide was helpful in getting you started with Azure DevOps. Happy coding! 🎉

Disclaimer: The code snippets provided in this blog are for illustrative purposes and may require modification based on your specific application's needs.

🔍 Image Credit:

https://www.tatvasoft.com/blog/introduction-of-azure-devops-pipelines/

🔍 Checkout GitHub Repository for projects:

🔗 github.com/sumanprasad007