Azure DevOps Technical Challanges¶
Here are some common technical challenges that can arise when using Azure DevOps:
Integration challenges: Integrating Azure DevOps with other tools in your tech stack can be challenging. This includes integrating with other Azure services, as well as non-Azure tools like GitHub or Jira.
Pipeline complexity: Azure DevOps provides powerful tools for building and deploying pipelines, but creating complex pipelines can be challenging. For example, setting up continuous delivery with multiple environments can require configuring many moving parts.
Security and compliance: Ensuring security and compliance across your pipelines and repositories can be challenging. Azure DevOps provides security features like RBAC, but implementing and enforcing security policies can require careful planning and configuration.
Release management: Managing the release of software to multiple environments can be challenging. This includes configuring release gates and approvals, rolling back releases, and tracking deployments across environments.
Performance and scalability: As your pipeline and repository size grows, you may encounter performance and scalability issues. This can include slow build times, long queue times, and issues with concurrent builds.
Version control: Using Git for version control in Azure DevOps can be challenging for teams not familiar with Git. It requires a different workflow than centralized version control systems, and can be difficult to manage if multiple teams are working on the same codebase.
Continuous testing: Setting up and maintaining continuous testing with Azure DevOps can be challenging. This includes configuring test plans, integrating with test automation tools, and ensuring that tests run reliably and accurately.
Integration challenges: To overcome integration challenges, it's important to understand the capabilities of Azure DevOps and the tools you want to integrate with. Azure DevOps provides a range of APIs and extensions that can help with integration. It's also important to plan integration in advance and test it thoroughly before deployment.
Pipeline complexity: To simplify complex pipelines, it's important to break them down into smaller, more manageable pieces. Use templates and variables to reduce duplication and improve consistency. It's also important to test pipelines regularly and optimize for speed and reliability.
Security and compliance: To ensure security and compliance, it's important to understand the security features of Azure DevOps and how to configure them properly. You should also establish clear security policies and ensure that all users are aware of them. Regular audits and monitoring can also help ensure compliance.
Release management: To manage releases effectively, it's important to establish clear release policies and automate as much of the release process as possible. Use release gates and approvals to control the release process and ensure that releases are tested thoroughly before deployment. Monitor releases closely and be prepared to roll back if necessary.
Performance and scalability: To improve performance and scalability, it's important to optimize pipelines for speed and reduce queue times. This can involve using parallelism, caching, and distributed builds. It's also important to monitor performance regularly and scale resources as necessary.
Version control: To overcome version control challenges, it's important to establish clear version control policies and train all users in the use of Git. Use branching and merging effectively to manage code changes, and ensure that code reviews are conducted regularly to maintain code quality.
Continuous testing: To set up and maintain continuous testing, it's important to establish clear testing policies and automate as much of the testing process as possible. Use test plans and test suites to organize and manage tests, and integrate with test automation tools for better efficiency. Monitor test results closely and be prepared to adjust your testing strategy as necessary.
Skipping CI for Git Push¶
Moreover, you may instruct Azure Pipelines to forego starting a pipeline that a push would typically start. To prevent Azure Pipelines from performing CI for this push, just put [skip ci] in the message or description of any of the commits that are a part of a push. Any of the following modifications are also acceptable.
-
[skip ci] or [ci skip]
-
***NO_CI***
Example
git commit -m " Commit Message ***No_CI*** "
syncs changes back to the same branch in Azure DevOps:¶
The script provided below is a PowerShell script that is used in Azure DevOps to sync changes back to the same branch in the code repository. This script assumes that you have already cloned the repository in the pipeline and are working in the same branch.
Pre-Requsites
Enable OAuth Token in Agent: The agent running the script should have an OAuth token enabled to access the code repository. This can be done by following the steps in the Azure DevOps documentation.
Now let's take a closer look at the script and what each line does:
git pull origin $(Build.SourceBranch): This command pulls the latest changes from the source branch into the local repository.
git checkout $(Build.SourceBranch): This command switches to the source branch.
git commit -m "Syncing updates with the code repository NO_CI": This command commits the changes made to the repository and adds a commit message. The NO_CI flag in the commit message disables the continuous integration (CI) trigger for subsequent commits. This means that if there are further changes made to the code repository, the pipeline won't trigger a build, preventing the pipeline from running in a loop.
git push origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranch): This command pushes the changes to the same branch in the remote repository.
The next block of code is an if statement that checks if the previous command executed successfully:
if ($?) {Write-Host "Syncing Changes Back to Repo"}
else {Write-Host "Pushing Changes Anyway"
git push -f origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranch)}
Overall, this script automates the process of syncing changes back to the same branch in a code repository using Azure DevOps.
git pull origin $(Build.SourceBranch)
git checkout $(Build.SourceBranch)
git merge %sourceBranch% -m "Merge to $(Build.SourceBranch)"
git config --global user.email "$(Build.RequestedForEmail)"
git config --global user.name "$(Build.RequestedFor)"
git add .
git status
git commit -m "Syncing updates with the code repository ***NO_CI***"
git push origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranch)
if ($?) {
Write-Host "Syncing Changes Back to Repo"
}
else {
Write-Host "Pushing Changes Anyway"
git push -f origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranch)
}
git pull origin $(Build.SourceBranch)
git checkout $(Build.SourceBranch)
git merge %sourceBranch% -m "Merge to $(Build.SourceBranch)"
git config --global user.email "$(Build.RequestedForEmail)"
git config --global user.name "$(Build.RequestedFor)"
git add .
git status
git commit -m "Syncing updates with the code repository ***NO_CI***"
git push origin HEAD:$(Build.SourceBranch)
if [ $? -eq 0 ]
then
echo "Syncing Changes Back to Repo"
else
echo "Pulling before pushing Changes Back to Repo"
git pull origin $BUILD_SOURCEBRANCH
git push origin HEAD:$BUILD_SOURCEBRANCH
fi
Pre-Merge Validation from Variable Source Branches to Fixed Target Branch¶
When there is a pull request from a variable feature branch, such as Feature-A, Feature-B, or Feature-C to the Development branch, we must determine whether the code in the feature branch is buildable or not. When the feature branch is good, we must only merge it with the development branch. However, in Azure Classic pipelines, we are unable to automatically change the source branch name. The script below will get the variable feature branch name whenever there is a PR and it will run the Build Validation pipeline by changing the branch name.
echo "Login to Azure "
az login -u $(username) -p $(password)
echo "Fetching Current Feature Branch "
$PR = az repos pr list --repository $(Repo) --target-branch $(targetbranch) --organization $(URL) --project $(project) | grep sourceRefName | awk '{print $3}'
$Branchname = $PR.Split("/")[2] | sed 's/""/\ /g' | sed 's/,/\ /g' | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//' | Foreach {$_.TrimEnd()}
echo "The Current PR Received from Branch: $Branchname "
git switch $Branchname
echo "Commands to Execute"
npm i #Example Commands
npm run build #Example Commands