Azure DevOps Integration

Learning objectives#

• Name the five Azure DevOps services
• Connect a pipeline to Azure with a service connection
• Write a basic azure-pipelines.yml
• Compare Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions

Explanation#

Boards (work items and sprints), Repos (Git), Pipelines (CI/CD), Test Plans (manual and exploratory testing) and Artifacts (package feeds) can be used together or individually.

A service connection stores how a pipeline authenticates to Azure. Workload identity federation lets pipelines get short-lived tokens without storing secrets.

Pipelines are defined in YAML in the repository, so changes are reviewed like code.

GitHub Actions offers similar CI/CD; many teams use GitHub for code and either tool for pipelines.

Code example: Build and deploy an ASP.NET Core API#

1trigger: [main]
2pool: { vmImage: ubuntu-latest }
3

4steps:
5  - task: UseDotNet@2
6    inputs: { packageType: sdk, version: 9.x }
7  - script: dotnet test --configuration Release
8    displayName: Run tests
9  - script: dotnet publish src/Shop.Api -c Release -o $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)
10    displayName: Publish
11  - task: AzureWebApp@1
12    inputs:
13      azureSubscription: sc-shop-prod      # service connection (workload identity federation)
14      appName: app-shop-api
15      package: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)

Every push to main runs tests, publishes the API and deploys it to App Service. A failed test stops the deployment.

This example is illustrative. Copy or download it and run it in your own environment; the expected output is shown above.

Step-by-step explanation#

1. trigger runs the pipeline on pushes to main.
2. UseDotNet installs the .NET 9 SDK on the hosted agent.
3. Tests run before publishing, so broken code never deploys.
4. AzureWebApp deploys using the service connection — no credentials in the YAML.

Real-world use case#

Common mistakes#

Best practices#

• Use YAML pipelines in the repo
• Use workload identity federation for service connections
• Add environment approvals for production
• Cache dependencies to speed up builds

Remember this#

Practice exercise#

1  - task: AzureWebApp@1
2    condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/main'))

Mini quiz#

Want more? Practise all Microsoft Azure MCQs · Microsoft Azure interview questions

Related topics#

My notes#

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