Introduction Designing and Implementing Pipelines

In this guide, you’ll learn how to design, build, and manage CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps. Whether you’re preparing for the AZ-400 certification or optimizing your team’s delivery process, mastering Azure Pipelines is essential for scalable, automated deployments.

What You’ll Learn

• Azure Pipelines Fundamentals: Core concepts, terminology, and architecture
• First Pipeline Setup: Connect repositories, choose pipeline types, and define build steps
• Automated Deployments: Multi-stage YAML or classic release pipelines with approvals
• Scalable Pipeline Design: Template reuse, parallel jobs, and agent autoscaling
• GitHub Integration: Service connections, webhooks, and combining GitHub Actions
• End-to-End Workflow: From code push to production monitoring
• Cost, Tools & Licensing: Estimating hosted vs. self-hosted agent costs and license tiers
• Triggers & Parallel Builds: Push, PR, scheduled triggers, and multi-job parallelism

1. Azure Pipelines Overview

Azure Pipelines provides a cloud-based CI/CD service that works with any language, platform, and cloud provider. You can choose between:

2. Setting Up Your First Pipeline

1. Connect to a Repository
   Link Azure DevOps to Azure Repos or GitHub via Service Connections.
2. Select Pipeline Type
   • YAML: add azure-pipelines.yml at the repo root
   • Classic: configure steps in the Azure DevOps UI
3. Choose an Agent Pool
   Decide between Microsoft-hosted or self-hosted pools.
4. Define Build Tasks
   Install dependencies, run tests, and publish artifacts.

Example azure-pipelines.yml:

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'

steps:
  - task: UsePythonVersion@0
    inputs:
      versionSpec: '3.x'

  - script: |
      pip install -r requirements.txt
      pytest
    displayName: 'Install dependencies & run tests'

3. Automating Deployments

• Classic Release Pipelines or Multi-Stage YAML
  Define explicit stages (Dev → QA → Production) with artifact sharing.
• Approvals & Checks
  Use branch policies, manual approvals, or Azure Policy gates to enforce compliance.

4. Designing Scalable Pipelines

5. Integrating GitHub

• GitHub Actions & Azure Pipelines
  Trigger Azure Pipelines from Actions workflows or vice versa.
• Service Connections
  Securely authenticate Azure DevOps to GitHub organizations.
• Webhooks & Status Checks
  Enforce branch policies and display build status in PRs.

6. End-to-End DevOps Workflow

1. Code Push to Azure Repos or GitHub
2. Continuous Integration: build, test, and publish artifacts
3. Continuous Delivery: deploy to staging and production environments
4. Monitoring & Feedback: integrate with Azure Monitor and Application Insights

7. Cost Estimation, Tools & Licensing

8. Triggers, Agent Pools & Parallel Builds

Triggers

• trigger for branch-based CI
• pr for pull request validation
• schedules for nightly or periodic runs

Agent Pools

• Shared pools vs. dedicated pools
• Microsoft-hosted vs. self-hosted

Parallel Jobs Example

jobs:
- job: Build
  pool:
    vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
  steps:
    - script: echo Building...

- job: Test
  dependsOn: Build
  pool:
    vmImage: 'ubuntu-latest'
  steps:
    - script: echo Testing...

References

• AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
• Azure Pipelines Documentation
• Azure Monitor Overview
• GitHub Actions Documentation