Coming out of the traditional waterfall model is necessary for all IT organizations worldwide! Azure DevOps is the latest innovation that offers a unique approach to bring noticeable improvements in business operations. Microsoft’s cloud service, Azure, offers a robust “DevOps” service called “DevOps.” Today, we will discuss what it is and how it drives product velocity.
“Begin your DevOps journey by understanding how it relates to the overall software development process.”
DevOps unites people, processes, and products. It facilitates Continuous Delivery (CD) to generate excellent value for enterprise customers.
Why is DevOps needed?
The traditional software development process was manual and complicated, resulting in frequent code errors and bugs. Azure DevOps Services solved the problem by bringing Development and Operations professionals to work together. As both teams stay in sync, it promotes continuous software code integration and delivery. It also eliminates manual tasks with automated scripts that improve operations efficiency. It controls every software code development, deployment, and maintenance step.
The Correlation Between DevOps and Agile
Both are software development practices. Yet, each approach has significant differences. DevOps is more of a culture rather than a process. It focuses on improving operational efficiency with smooth code developments. On the other hand, the development process supports the software development framework end to end.
The Fundamentals of Azure DevOps Practices
This section highlights the main components used in developing a DevOps culture.
Lean Project Management with Agile Planning
DevOps follows agile development as the delivery approach for lean manufacturing. Developers perform short development tasks through incremental sprints. It improves the development teams’ efficiency.
Version Control
With a larger team of developers working together, version control is essential to protect the source code and back up new code versions. Azure supports version control systems like Git to monitor and manage code changes efficiently.
Continuous Integration
CI process automates frequent code builds and test case commits to complete code deployment smoothly. As one of the primary Azure Services for DevOps, it validates code based on testing with the main source code in the main branch.
Continuous Delivery
CD framework enables Dev & Ops to deliver reliable software features and updates faster. It validates all code commits only after testing every component of the code. Point to note, CI is a component of Continuous Delivery.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
DevOps simplifies infrastructure provisioning and resource configuration processes with Infrastructure-as-Code. IaC leverages technologies like PowerShell, ARM Templates, Terraform, and Ansible for scripting. IaC provides a declarative definition of how the infrastructure deployment processes will be automated.
Monitoring and logging
The scope of DevOps Services goes beyond code development and delivery. Instead, it creates a continuous feedback loop by providing endless data points for monitoring and logging. It’s crucial for validated learning and improving software delivery.
Introducing Primary Services of Azure DevOps
Microsoft’s DevOps Services comprise five Azure services, each with different purposes and use techniques. Next, we will discuss the primary services Azure is offering to combine Dev & Ops.
Azure Boards
It offers a centralized dashboard for all software developers to track ongoing project activities and development tasks. Developers can monitor assigned tasks, user stories, threats, bugs, and other system vulnerabilities from the Azure Boards.
Azure Repos
Azure Repos is one of the core Azure DevOps Services that is the code repository where developers can manage the codebases. It is a private cloud-based repository that supports Git and TFVC as source code version control systems.
DevOps Pipelines
This CI/CD tool is perfect for automating manual code development, testing, and deployment tasks. It supports various scripting languages that can test and deploy code builds for any number of targets.
Azure Test Plans
This DevOps service enables software testers to incorporate their cloud-based testing tools into a single platform. They can manage all testing requirements, including test case planning, user acceptance testing, and gathering stakeholders’ feedback from the same place.
Azure Artifacts
Azure Artifacts is the last component in the Azure Services for DevOps list. It offers an open-source library service where developers can use or share code development packages from online public registries. It comes as a pre-installed component that supports various other Azure cloud services.
Learning Path For Beginners
Learning about Microsoft Azure and its DevOps services isn’t as complex as you think. Microsoft provides free learning materials to improve the software delivery process using Azure Development and Operations. You can either hover through Microsoft-provided tutorials or study to acquire any of the below certifications:
- MS Certified Azure Developer Associate
- Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
- MS Certified DevOps Engineer Expert
The sooner you start learning about Azure DevOps Services, the easier it becomes to utilize the knowledge to implement a fully-functional DevOps culture.
Why Is DevOps A Good Investment For Enterprises?
Modern enterprises are constantly reinventing their operational workflows while trying to perform:
- Faster software development
- Automate manual tasks with scripting
- Sync development and operations activities
- Manage multiple project activities
- Detect code defects and implement fixes
- Monitor system performance continuously
DevOps is the ultimate solution for today’s enterprises seeking continuous improvement. Not only it enhances productivity through collaboration, but it also ensures reliable service delivery. Azure DevOps is the latest trend with a high potential to stay in demand in 2023.
It’s not late to build your DevOps culture; take help from the professionals!
BDCC
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