End-to-End .
NET
Microservice
Pipeline in Azure
DevOps
Creating an end-to-end pipeline for a .NET-based microservice in Azure
DevOps involves a comprehensive process, from setting up the
development environment to deploying the application in production.
This guide outlines the necessary steps, integrating Azure DevOps
features, and providing a clear explanation of each stage to ensure a
smooth and efficient microservice deployment.
Setting Up the
Development
Environment
1 Install Visual Studio
Download and install Visual Studio (Community, Professional, or
Enterprise edition), ensuring that the .NET desktop development
workload is selected during installation.
2 Create a New .NET Microservice Project
Open Visual Studio, create a new project, choose the ASP.NET Core
Web Application template, and select the API project type to set up
the initial microservice structure.
3 Configure Local Development
Customize the launchSettings.json file to configure the application
URL and environment variables, ensuring the microservice runs on
a specific port (e.g., https://localhost:5001).
Version Control with Git
1 Initialize a Git Repository
Open the terminal in Visual Studio or use Git Bash, navigate
to the project directory, and run the necessary Git
commands to initialize a local repository and commit the
initial changes.
2 Push to Azure Repos
Create a new repository in Azure DevOps under the Repos
section, and follow the instructions to push the local
repository to the Azure Repos remote.
Setting Up Azure DevOps Pipeline
Create a New Pipeline Define the Pipeline Save and Run the
Configuration Pipeline
Navigate to the Pipelines section in
Azure DevOps, click "New Pipeline," Use a sample azure-pipelines.yml Save the pipeline configuration and
and select Azure Repos Git as the file to configure the pipeline, click "Run" to start the build
source, choosing the repository including steps for building, testing, process, monitoring the logs for any
containing the microservice code. and publishing the microservice errors or issues.
artifacts.
Setting Up QA Environment
Create a QA Pipeline Configure QA Environment
Duplicate the production pipeline and modify it to Set up a separate Azure App Service or Azure
target the QA environment, adjusting the deployment Kubernetes Service (AKS) for the QA environment,
steps accordingly. ensuring that the connection strings and
environment variables are configured correctly in the
Azure portal.
Deploying to Production
Create Production Pipeline
Similar to the QA pipeline, create a production pipeline
1
using Azure DevOps Release Pipelines to manage the
deployment to the production environment.
Define Deployment Stages
In the release pipeline, define stages for the production
2
deployment, using tasks to deploy the microservice to
Azure App Services or AKS.
Configure Approval Gates
Set up approval gates to ensure that deployments to
3
production are reviewed and approved by designated
team members before proceeding.
Integrating Azure DevOps
Features
Set Up Dashboards
Create a new dashboard in Azure DevOps and add widgets to visualize
build statuses, test results, and work item progress.
Monitor Pipeline Status
Use the built-in monitoring features in Azure DevOps to track the status of
your pipelines and deployments.
Notifications
Set up notifications for build completions, failures, and deployments to
keep the team informed.
Security and Compliance
Manage Permissions Ensure that only authorized users have access to the
pipelines and repositories, using Azure DevOps groups
to manage permissions efficiently.
Implement Security Best Practices Regularly review and update access permissions, and
store sensitive information (like connection strings)
securely using Azure Key Vault.
