DevOps is no longer a new trend. It has become the most sought-after tool for software development. The DevOps methodologies have paved the way for faster and better software delivery by striking a balance between developer and operations teams.
Software companies are not the only ones that have realized significant Azure DevOps benefits from DevOps adoption. Many vendors, including Microsoft and Amazon, are capitalizing on this trend. Microsoft has introduced Azure DevOps, a flagship Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that offers an end-to-end DevOps toolchain for developing and deploying software.
Useful Link: Azure DevOps Services – Plan Smart, Build Fast, and Execute at a New Speed
What is Azure DevOps?
Azure DevOps, earlier known as Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS), is a DevOps service offered by Microsoft based on the Azure cloud computing platform. It brings together development, IT operations, quality engineering, and security to roll out better products faster. It enables businesses to adopt a DevOps culture, practices, and tools to better respond to customer needs and stay competitive.
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What Do Azure DevOps Services Offer?
Azure DevOps offers integrated services covering the entire software development lifecycle. In addition, organizations have the flexibility to choose one or more of the following standalone services based on their business needs:
1) Azure Repos
This facilitates users with unlimited, cloud-hosted, private Git repositories or Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) for source control of their code. It enables seamless collaboration to build better code with pull requests and advanced file management. The users can use any IDE or tool to interact with the Azure Repos in any operating system.
Azure Repos also houses the following features:
- Support for Git clients, including IDE, Text Editor, and CLI
- Semantic code search
- Collaboration tools
- CI/CD tool integration
- Branch policies to ensure code quality standards
2) Azure Pipelines
- Users can automatically develop and deploy applications with continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) tools. It is compatible with any programming language, platform, and cloud. Using cloud-hosted agents, one can run Azure Pipelines simultaneously on Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Moreover, Azure DevOps Pipelines are easily extensible and support advanced workflows to facilitate multi-phase builds, test integrations, and custom reporting. They also support containers, enabling users to push containers directly from the pipeline to container registries. On top of that, Azure DevOps Pipelines offer the flexibility to deploy to multiple environments, from Kubernetes clusters to serverless functions and even to other cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP.
3) Azure Boards
This service offers a suite of proven agile tools to enable teams to plan, track, and discuss work, code errors, and issues. Users can create work items, Kanban boards, interactive backlogs, scrum methods, dashboards, and planning tools to track and report all aspects of the project. Boards can also be customized to suit unique workflow needs and glean valuable insights using inbuilt reporting and monitoring tools. Moreover, Azure Boards supports integrations with services like Microsoft Teams and Slack.
4) Azure Test Plans
- This feature allows users to integrate a cloud-based testing platform to test code quality throughout the development lifecycle and improve applications. It offers planned manual testing, user acceptance testing, exploratory testing, and continuous testing tools.
- With Azure Test Plans, users can build and execute test cases within a pipeline. Moreover, one can test on any platform while leveraging end-to-end traceability and data-gathering tools to identify and remediate any issues. Moreover, Test Plans supports the Test and Feedback browser extension to enable exploratory testing without needing third-party tools.
5) Azure Artifacts
This artifact library service allows users to integrate fully featured package management functionality into CI/CD pipelines. Users can create, host, and share Maven, npm, NuGet, and Python package feeds from public and private sources. The packages can be organized in a central library pinned only to the specific project.
Useful Link: Azure DevOps Services for New-Age DevOps Professionals
Azure DevOps also offers the following collaboration tools:
- Custom dashboards integrated with user-friendly widgets to share information, progress, and trends
- Wikis for sharing information
- Notification center
In addition to the aforementioned standalone features, Azure DevOps tools support integration with various third-party services, including Slack, Campfire, UserVoice, and Trello. It can also be integrated with GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server repositories.
How Do Businesses Benefit from Azure DevOps Services?
Azure DevOps empowers teams to adopt DevOps culture, practices, and tools to perform optimally and build better products for greater customer satisfaction. The improved collaboration helps teams create seamless processes that improve productivity. Organizations can also realize the following
1) Faster Time to Market
Azure DevOps helps organizations accelerate their development and release cycles, allowing them to bring new features and products to market more quickly.
2) High Market Adaptability
With the agile tools provided by Azure Boards, firms can quickly adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.
3) Improve Mean Time to Recovery
The robust CI/CD tools in Azure Pipelines ensure that issues are identified and resolved fast, minimizing downtime and improving system reliability.
4) Better Agility
Integrating agile methodologies within Azure DevOps services ensures teams can respond rapidly to changes and iterate more effectively.
5) Easy Collaboration Across Domains
The collaboration tools provided by Azure DevOps support enable seamless communication and coordination among cross-functional teams.
6) Maintain System Stability and Reliability
The comprehensive testing tools in Azure Test Plans ensure that the quality of the code is maintained throughout the development lifecycle.
7) Shorter Release Cycles
The Azure automation capabilities of Azure Pipelines streamline the release process, allowing more frequent and reliable releases.
8) Robust Security
The integrated security features within Azure DevOps ensure that applications are built and deployed with security Azure DevOps best practices.
Useful Link: 6 DevOps Technical Benefits To ‘Startup’ Firms
Why Choose Azure DevOps Over Others?
Microsoft has made it easy for users to start and try Azure DevOps services for free. Azure DevOps leads the pack with the following unique features:
- Simple and swift setup
- Maintenance-free operations
- Highly scalable and flexible services
- Platform agnostic
- Cloud agnostic
- High reliability
- No upgrades to worry
- Simplified server management
- Prompt access to the latest features
- Improved connectivity with remote sites
Key Takeaways
- Azure DevOps is a SaaS platform that offers an end-to-end DevOps toolchain for developing and deploying software.
- With Azure DevOps tools, users gain integrated services and tools to manage software projects throughout the development lifecycle.
- Many Azure DevOps services are free for small teams or available through a subscription or per-use model.
- Veritis has an established framework and holistic approach to help guide our clients through their Azure DevOps journey.
Why Veritis?
- With over a decade-long presence in the IT marketplace, Veritis has developed a wealth of experience leveraging industry-leading practices to implement a wide range of business solutions, including Azure DevOps services. Our highly experienced agile and DevOps experts fortify our ability to manage projects with increased consistency efficiently, decreased risk, and enhanced quality.
- Veritis has an established framework and holistic approach to help guide our clients through their Azure DevOps journey. We help optimize the people, processes, tools, and architecture required to take clients from concept to adoption and ultimately to scale. Whether you are an SMB or a Fortune 500 company, we help you realize actual business value from your Azure DevOps journey. Partner with us today and expedite the Azure DevOps adoption journey.
Conclusion
It may seem overwhelming as you plan to take the next big step into the future through Microsoft Azure DevOps Services. With a host of practices and solutions available in the Azure DevOps ecosystem, it is expected that you may career off course if not planned strategically. While adopting Azure DevOps optimizes processes through technology, the challenge of cultivating a DevOps culture calls for profound changes in how people work and collaborate. Veritis, the Stevie and Globee Business Awards winner, is the one-stop solution for all these challenges.
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Additional Resources:
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- GitOps. What’s it all about?
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