Azure DevOps
As a decision maker, project manager, developer, operations manager in the organization, involvement in multiple IT software projects is expected. Project Planning, Deployment and ongoing Operations of Software Projects require the right processes and tools. Also, it needs an environment where standard procedures are followed by everyone, and processes can be a challenge for development, operations, and project management teams. There are many other tools available today who are capable of handling only specific tasks within the end-to-end process. Azure DevOps brings together all the DevOps practices and tools, enabling continuous delivery to end users by providing an efficient, high-quality, one-stop solution for the software lifecycle.
Overview of Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps is a Microsoft SaaS (Software as a Service) platform that provides an end-to-end DevOps toolchain for software development and deployment. It also integrates with most of the major tools, making it a great option for orchestrating a DevOps toolchain. DevOps Group has many customers who have found Azure DevOps to meet their needs, regardless of platform, or cloud.
What can Azure DevOps do
Azure DevOps includes a set of services covering the entire development lifecycle. There are various services provided by Azure DevOps which are listed below
- Azure Boards – It uses Kanban and Scrum methodologies to provide a set of agile tools that support planning and tracking work, code defects, and issues.
- Azure Pipelines – Provides build and release services to support continuous integration and delivery of your applications
- Azure Repos – Provides Git repositories or Team Foundation Version Control for source control of the code.
- Azure Artifacts – Enable teams to share packages such as Maven, npm, and NuGet from public and private sources and integrate package sharing into pipelines.
- Azure Test Plans – It offers multiple tools for testing the app, including manual/exploratory testing and continuous testing.
Azure DevOps can also be used to orchestrate third-party tools such as Campfire, Slack, Trello, UserVoice, etc.
Why choose Azure DevOps Services
Azure DevOps Services helps integration with GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server repositories. It can be used for
- Quick set-up
- Maintenance-free operations
- Easy collaboration across domains
- Elastic scale
- Rock-solid security
Azure DevOps Services also provides access to cloud build and deployment servers and visibility in the applications. For Example: Create an Organization and upload the codes to source control. Track the work done using Scrum, Kanban, or a combination of methods.
Benefits of Azure DevOps
Some of the benefits of Azure DevOps are mentioned below:
Reliability
As a SaaS offering, Azure DevOps is reliable, scalable, and readily available. It’s also backed by a 99.9% uptime SLA and 24/7 support.
Access to Latest Features
Azure DevOps users get access to new features every three weeks. Microsoft has published product roadmaps and is committed to rapidly iterating feature sets.
End of the upgrade cycle
Upgrading has always been a headache for organizations using on-premises CI/CD tools. By moving to a SaaS model, organizations no longer have to worry about patching or updating their toolchain.
Conclusion:
Azure DevOps is a feature-rich platform. The flexibility of supported languages, platforms, and cloud providers make it a viable option for a wide variety of organizations. Organization running an on-premises Team Foundation Server then moving to Azure DevOps is the best and natural upgrade.