Azure DevOps (in the past known as VSTS) is all that you need to assemble your product from start to finish. Azure DevOps is a single platform that helps every software developer team on this planet design ventures utilizing the Agile process, oversee code utilizing Git, test the application, and deploy code using using the CI/CD framework. We can understand in a simple way (Dev+Ops= DevOps), which means a combination of development and operation processes for software development.
I hope the above image is the best graphical example to understand the complete process about Azure DevOps services.
Online vs On-premises
Azure DevOps can be accessible in two different ways: on-premises (“Server”) and online (“Services”). The last structure is called Azure DevOps Services (in the past Visual Studio Online before it was renamed to Visual Studio Team Services in 2015). The cloud service belongs to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. It utilizes a similar code as the on-premises rendition of Azure DevOps, minor adjustments, and executes the latest highlights. Azure DevOps requires no extra configuration. A user just needs to sign up from their Microsoft account to set up a domain, create a project, adding a new user.
So let me clarify one confusion here, today in this article I am just going to explain about Azure DevOps Service, not the Azure DevOps server.
History of Azure DevOps
As per Wikipedia details, Microsoft launched the first version of the Team Foundation Server on March 17, 2006. So Microsoft provides all types of support for TFS, Azure DevOps Service, and Azure DevOps server. See the below image which is taken from Wikipedia.
What can Azure DevOps do?
- Planning
As discussed above, the Azure board is an ALM tool. So Azure board helps us to maintain an Agile process which means Azure DevOps helps us to plan, track development history for individual developers and detects issues using a kanban and scrum. - Develop
To manage our workspace and code repository multiple types of version control are already integrated with Azure DevOps. Almost all features related DevOps already inbuilt inside. - Integration/Build
We can use continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) with the help of the Azure pipeline. There are multiple types of job agents, and templates are already available inside. - Package
As we know we have already an inbuilt extension available, Azure Artifacts, so we don’t need to go anywhere for any type of packages. - Testing
As we know Testing is an important part of the DevOps process. So Azure DevOps provides multiple types of inbuilt testing templates and management tools. - Release
As we know the software release process is a very critical moment of DevOps. So Azure DevOps has already multiple types of inbuilt features to make the process easy and risk-free. - Configure/Operate
As per my experience, it’s very easy to configure and operate, because Azure DevOps has a simple process to configure organization, kanban, sprints, etc.. - Monitor
Each phase of the DevOps life cycle should be monitor because it helps to ensure the health, performance, and reliability of your application. - Reporting
Azure DevOps has a dashboard where we can see reports, a summary and can generate an analytical report with BI integration. - Wiki
Azure DevOps Wiki helps us to distribute information, share knowledge and collaborate across team and stakeholder. A Wiki can be used to explain about the project’s user stories, sprints, release notes, etc..
Conclusion
Azure DevOps platform is generally utilized in the Software Development process. Along these lines, this platform helps the association which is as of now utilizing Azure and making the SLA simple. In this article, we have talked about the Introduction to Azure DevOps. In our upcoming articles, we will talk about progressively every topic with details and instructional exercises of Azure DevOps.
