Edocti
Advanced Technical Training for the Software Engineer of Tomorrow
Edocti Training

Azure DevOps Engineering: From ClickOps to Automation

Intermediate
14 h
4.3 (93 reviews)

Scheduled sessions

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Azure DevOps Engineering: From ClickOps to Automation

Azure DevOps Engineering: From ClickOps to Automation. An intensive technical course designed to help teams transition from manual operations in the web portal to a fully automated and secure delivery flow.

You will learn to build a solid foundation based on industry best practices, exclusively using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and Pipeline as Code (YAML).

We tackle real day-to-day challenges: from protecting the main branch and eliminating hardcoded passwords to implementing multi-stage pipelines (Dev -> QA -> Prod).

Gain immediate practical experience: ~70% of the course consists of hands-on technical labs conducted directly in the Azure DevOps and Microsoft Azure platforms.

Skills You Will Learn

Infrastructure as Code (Bicep) YAML Pipelines Creation Branching Policies Setup Azure Container Registry Integrations Secrets Management with Key Vault Multi-stage CD Deployments Azure Managed Identities Application Insights Observability

Curriculum

Version Control & Branching Strategies

  • Trunk-based development vs. GitFlow: what to choose and why?
  • Setting up Branch Policies: mandatory Code Reviews, preventing direct pushes to main
  • Lab: Configuring a repository with advanced main branch protections and integrating it with Azure Boards

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) in Azure

  • Introduction to Bicep (the modern and native Microsoft alternative to ARM templates/Terraform)
  • Declaring core resources: Resource Groups, App Services, Storage Accounts
  • Lab: Writing your first Bicep file and deploying it using the Azure CLI directly from the terminal

Continuous Integration (CI) with Azure Pipelines

  • Transitioning from Classic pipelines to YAML Pipelines (Pipeline as Code)
  • Anatomy of a YAML Pipeline: Triggers, Stages, Jobs, Steps; Microsoft-hosted vs. Self-hosted agents
  • Lab: Creating a YAML pipeline that compiles code, runs unit tests, and publishes a Build Artifact

Container Management (ACR)

  • Introduction to Containerization concepts and Azure Container Registry (ACR)
  • Securing access to Azure Container Registry instances
  • Lab: Extending the previously created CI pipeline to automatically perform docker build and docker push to ACR

Continuous Delivery (CD) & Multi-Stage Pipelines

  • Why deployments must be predictable and traverse isolated environments (Dev -> QA -> Prod)
  • Configuring Environments in Azure DevOps and adding Manual Approvals and Gates
  • Lab: Creating a CD pipeline that automatically deploys the infrastructure (Bicep) followed by the application code

Security, Identity & Secrets Management

  • Service Principals and Managed Identities: how the pipeline and application authenticate in Azure without hardcoded passwords
  • Integrating and securely managing secrets using Azure Key Vault
  • Lab: Storing a Connection String in Key Vault and injecting it securely during the deployment process

Observability (Monitoring & Logging)

  • Introduction to Azure Monitor, Log Analytics Workspaces, and Application Insights
  • Efficiently collecting logs and performance metrics from deployed applications
  • Lab: Instrumenting the application with Application Insights and creating automated alerts based on metrics (e.g., CPU Usage > 80%)

Troubleshooting & Best Practices

  • Efficient debugging techniques when a YAML pipeline fails
  • Reusing YAML code and adhering to the DRY principle by using Templates
  • Q&A Session: solving specific technical issues from the attendees' day-to-day scenarios

Optional modules

Optional — Advanced Pipeline Migration

  • Strategies for the gradual migration of legacy Classic UI pipelines to the modern Pipeline as Code (YAML) format
  • Using Variable Groups and Azure DevOps CLI for automating platform administration

Course Day Structure

  • Part 1: 09:00–10:30
  • Break: 10:30–10:45
  • Part 2: 10:45–12:45
  • Lunch break: 12:15–13:15
  • Part 3: 13:15–15:15
  • Break: 15:15–15:30
  • Part 4: 15:30–17:30

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