Introduction to Azure DevOps   

Azure DevOps is a cloud-based platform that helps teams build, deploy, and manage software. It provides a wide range of features and capabilities, including:

• Source control: Azure DevOps provides a secure and scalable source control system that allows teams to collaborate on code.
• Build and release pipelines: Azure DevOps provides a powerful build and release automation system that allows teams to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software.
• Testing: Azure DevOps provides a wide range of testing tools and capabilities that allow teams to test software for quality and performance.
• Monitoring and reporting: Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive set of monitoring and reporting tools that allow teams to track the health and performance of their software.

Azure DevOps is a powerful platform that can help teams improve their software development process. It can help teams to:

• Increase collaboration: Azure DevOps provides a central repository for code, which makes it easy for team members to collaborate on projects.
• Automate the build and release process: Azure DevOps can automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software, which can save teams time and improve the quality of their software.
• Improve the quality of software: Azure DevOps provides a wide range of testing tools and capabilities, which can help teams to find and fix bugs in their software.
• Monitor the performance of software: Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive set of monitoring and reporting tools, which can help teams to track the health and performance of their software.

Azure DevOps is a valuable tool for teams of all sizes. It can help teams to improve their software development process and deliver high-quality software more quickly.

Here are some statistics and infographics that are relevant to Azure DevOps:

• 92% of organizations that use DevOps report increased agility.
• 86% of organizations that use DevOps report increased quality.
• 76% of organizations that use DevOps report reduced costs.

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• infographic showing the benefits of using DevOps

If you are looking for a way to improve your software development process, Azure DevOps is a great option. It is a powerful platform that can help teams to increase collaboration, automate the build and release process, improve the quality of software, and monitor the performance of software.

Getting started with Azure DevOps   

Azure DevOps is a suite of tools that helps you plan, develop, test, deploy, and operate software. It provides a central place for your team to collaborate on code, manage projects, and track progress.

To get started with Azure DevOps, you will need to create a new project. Once you have created a project, you can add team members and set up a development environment.

Get started – Step-by-step

Here is a step-by-step process for getting started with Azure DevOps:

1. Sign in to your Azure account.
2. Go to the Azure DevOps website.
3. Click on the “Create a project” button.
4. Provide a name for your project, a description, and a location.
5. (Optional) Choose to create a project from a template.
   1. Creating a new project
   2. To create a new project, you will need to sign in to your Azure account. Once you have signed in, you can go to the Azure DevOps website and click on the “Create a project” button.
   3. You will be asked to provide a name for your project, a description, and a location. You can also choose to create a project from a template.
6. Add team members.
   1. Once you have created a project, you can add team members. To do this, go to the “Members” tab and click on the “Add members” button.
   2. You can add team members by entering their email addresses or by searching for them by name.
7. Set up a development environment.
   1. Once you have added team members, you can set up a development environment. To do this, go to the “Pipelines” tab and click on the “New pipeline” button.
   2. You can choose to create a pipeline from a template or to create your own pipeline.

Once you have completed these steps, you will be ready to start using Azure DevOps to manage your software development projects.

Using Azure DevOps features 

Azure DevOps provides a wide range of features and capabilities. Some of the most important features include:

Source control

Azure DevOps provides a secure and scalable source control system that allows teams to collaborate on code. The system uses Git, a popular open source version control system, and provides a number of features that make it easy for teams to work together, such as:

• Branching and merging: Teams can create branches to work on different features or bug fixes, and then merge those branches back into the main branch when they are ready.
• Pull requests: Team members can submit pull requests to request that their changes be merged into the main branch. This allows other team members to review the changes before they are merged, which helps to prevent errors from being introduced into the code.
• Code reviews: Team members can review each other’s code to help ensure that it is well-written and free of errors.
• Reporting: Azure DevOps provides a number of reports that can be used to track the activity in the source control system, such as who has made changes to the code, when those changes were made, and what those changes were.

Build and release pipelines

Azure DevOps provides a powerful build and release automation system that allows teams to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software. This can save teams a significant amount of time and effort, and it can also help to ensure that the software is deployed consistently and reliably.

Build and release pipelines are made up of a series of steps, each of which can be automated. For example, a build pipeline might include the following steps:

1. Check out the latest code from the source control system.
2. Install the necessary dependencies.
3. Build the code.
4. Run unit tests.
5. Run integration tests.
6. Package the software.

A release pipeline might include the following steps:

1. Deploy the software to a staging environment.
2. Run user acceptance tests.
3. Deploy the software to a production environment.

Testing

Azure DevOps provides a wide range of testing tools and capabilities that allow teams to test software for quality and performance. These tools can be used to automate the testing process, which can save teams a significant amount of time and effort.

Some of the testing tools that are available in Azure DevOps include:

• Unit testing: Unit tests are small tests that are used to test individual units of code.
• Integration testing: Integration tests are used to test how different units of code interact with each other.
• System testing: System tests are used to test the entire system, including the user interface, the database, and the back-end code.
• Performance testing: Performance testing is used to test how the system performs under load.

Monitoring and reporting

Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive set of monitoring and reporting tools that allow teams to track the health and performance of their software. These tools can be used to track:

• Application performance: This includes metrics such as response time, error rate, and throughput.
• Application usage: This includes metrics such as number of users, number of sessions, and number of page views.
• Application health: This includes metrics such as number of errors, number of warnings, and number of security vulnerabilities.

The monitoring and reporting tools in Azure DevOps can be used to identify potential problems with the software, and they can also be used to track the progress of the software over time. This information can be used to make decisions about how to improve the software and how to ensure that it is performing as expected.

Something advanced

Customizing Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps can be customized to meet the specific needs of any team. This can be done by creating custom workflows, tasks, and templates.

• Workflows: Workflows are a series of steps that are executed automatically when a certain event occurs, such as a new commit being made to the source control system. Workflows can be used to automate a wide range of tasks, such as building, testing, and deploying software.
• Tasks: Tasks are individual steps that can be executed as part of a workflow. Tasks can be used to perform a wide range of actions, such as running unit tests, compiling code, and deploying software.
• Templates: Templates are pre-defined sets of workflows and tasks that can be used to quickly get started with a new project. Templates can be customized to meet the specific needs of any team.

Integrating with other tools

Azure DevOps can be integrated with a wide range of other tools, including IDEs, build systems, and continuous integration servers. This allows teams to use the tools that they are most familiar with, and it also allows teams to take advantage of the features and capabilities of other tools.

• IDEs: IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) are tools that developers use to write code. Azure DevOps can be integrated with a wide range of IDEs, including Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Sublime Text.
• Build systems: Build systems are tools that are used to build software. Azure DevOps can be integrated with a wide range of build systems, including TeamCity, Jenkins, and Bamboo.
• Continuous integration servers: Continuous integration servers are tools that are used to automate the process of building, testing, and deploying software. Azure DevOps can be integrated with a wide range of continuous integration servers, including Jenkins, TeamCity, and Bamboo.

Managing security

Azure DevOps provides a comprehensive set of security features and capabilities that allow teams to protect their software and data. These features include:

• Role-based access control (RBAC): RBAC allows teams to control who has access to different parts of Azure DevOps.
• Data encryption: Azure DevOps encrypts all data at rest and in transit.
• Vulnerability scanning: Azure DevOps scans all code for known vulnerabilities.
• Security alerts: Azure DevOps sends alerts when security vulnerabilities are detected.

By using the security features and capabilities that are available in Azure DevOps, teams can help to protect their software and data from unauthorized access, modification, or destruction.

Tier	Pricing
Basic	Free for up to 5 users and 10 GB of storage.
Standard	$5 per user per month for up to 50 users and 100 GB of storage.
Premium	$15 per user per month for up to 100 users and 1 TB of storage.
Enterprise	$25 per user per month for up to 200 users and 2 TB of storage.

Note: These prices are for Azure DevOps Services. Azure DevOps Server has different pricing.

Here is a breakdown of the pricing for each tier:

• Basic: This tier is free for up to 5 users and 10 GB of storage. There is no charge for additional users or storage.
• Standard: This tier costs $5 per user per month for up to 50 users and 100 GB of storage. Additional users are charged $5 per user per month, and additional storage is charged $0.0009 per GB per month.
• Premium: This tier costs $15 per user per month for up to 100 users and 1 TB of storage. Additional users are charged $15 per user per month, and additional storage is charged $0.0009 per GB per month.
• Enterprise: This tier costs $25 per user per month for up to 200 users and 2 TB of storage. Additional users are charged $25 per user per month, and additional storage is charged $0.0009 per GB per month.

Discounts: Azure DevOps offers discounts for government, education, and non-profit organizations.

Free trial: Azure DevOps offers a free trial for 14 days.

Payment terms: Azure DevOps is billed monthly.

Billing region: Azure DevOps is billed in the region where your subscription is located.

Taxes: Azure DevOps prices are subject to taxes.

Support: Azure DevOps includes 24/7 support.

SLA: Azure DevOps has a 99.9% SLA.

Contact: For more information about Azure DevOps pricing, please contact Microsoft sales.