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( votes)If your organization undergoes a digital transformation, all your business operations including software development may move to the cloud to leverage all it has to offer. You can cut costs, connect remote teams, and increase security; all of which massively benefits the development lifecycle. Microsoft Azure DevOps is a flexible public cloud computing platform from where you can build, test, deploy and manage applications and services conveniently and securely from a web browser.
Microsoft Azure provides Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). It supports many different programming languages, tools and frameworks including Microsoft-specific and third-party software and systems. As a cloud service, there is no need to manage hardware or server software.
Interested in exploring Azure DevOps in the cloud? A little preparation goes a long way.
A crucial first step before you start coding and deploying with Azure DevOps tools is to have a plan for how to support and operate services in the cloud. You should have a documented tech spec that answers the following questions:
- What Azure regions will your company leverage to run assets and services in the cloud?
- How many Azure subscriptions will be used and what directory (e.g., Azure Active Directory) will each subscription be associated to?
- What roles will you leverage to manage permissions in the Azure subscription?
- Will these roles be integrated to Active Directory group membership?
- How will services in the cloud be tracked and properly paid for? What “cost code” will it align with (CapEx or OpEx)?
- What “guard rails” (Azure management groups) will you apply to Azure resources in different subscriptions to ensure proper tracking and accountability of services in the cloud?
- What will your naming standards be for Azure resources? What about “tagging” resources with what tags/values?
- What specific Azure services will you use, and which ones will you not use due to security, cost, operational support or maturity?
Adopt Azure DevOps Services in the cloud and be empowered to create and improve products faster.
Azure DevOps modern dev services cover the entire application lifecycle from planning, collaboration on code development, and testing prior to deployment.
Azure Boards feature agile tools, Kanban boards, team dashboards, built-in scrum boards and more. Azure Boards is where you can plan, track, discuss projects and stay apprised of any code changes linked to work items. Backlog tracking and powerful analytics give insight into the status of the project.
Azure Pipelines comprise the whole end-to-end story of how you write code and get it into production. Combining continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD), Azure Pipelines include an integrated set of features that allow you to automatically build and test your web, desktop and mobile applications and deploy to any cloud or on-premises. It works with just about any language or project type including Node.js, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, C/C++, .NET, Android and iOS apps as well support for YAML.
Azure Artifacts provide a place to push your packages so that they can be consumed by the rest of the team or partners. Package management with Azure Artifacts simplifies complex build jobs and allows your teams to create and share Maven, npm, NuGet, and Python package feeds. Artifacts can be used with your favorite tools and services and is integrated with Azure Pipelines CI/CD.
Azure Repos is where your source control is stored that gets published to the artifacts. Unlimited, cloud-hosted Git repos allow developers to collaborate on code.
Azure Test Plans is a browser-based test management solution that covers planned manual testing, user acceptance testing, exploratory testing, and gathering feedback from stakeholders. You can test across desktop and web apps.
Note that you can use all these DevOps services together, or mix and match to use only what you need as part of your existing workflow.
Get Started with JourneyTEAM
JourneyTEAM was recently awarded Microsoft US Partner of the Year for Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (Media & Communications) and the Microsoft Eagle Crystal trophy as a top 5 partner for Dynamics 365 Business Central software implementations. Let JourneyTEAM walk you through the steps to adopt Microsoft Azure DevOps in the cloud. We can provide demos and full custom introductions. Contact JourneyTEAM today!
Article by: Dave Bollard – Marketing Director | 801-436-6636
JourneyTEAM is an award-winning consulting firm with proven technology and measurable results. They take Microsoft products; Dynamics 365, SharePoint intranet, Office 365, Azure, CRM, GP, NAV, SL, AX, and modify them to work for you. The team has expert level, Microsoft Gold certified consultants that dive deep into the dynamics of your organization and solve complex issues. They have solutions for sales, marketing, productivity, collaboration, analytics, accounting, security and more. www.journeyteam.com
