Azure DevOps - Usage

To use the Azure DevOps plug-in, the plug-in must be loaded and an instance created before you can configure the plug-in integration. You define configuration properties in the user interface or in a JSON file.

Integration type

The Azure DevOps plug-in supports scheduled events integration which are listed in the following table.

Name Description
SyncAzureIssuesEvent Queries the Query Azure DevOps server for new or updated pull requests and commits.
SyncAzureGitDataEvent Queries the Azure DevOps server for new or updated work items.
SyncAzureReleaseStatus Queries the Azure DevOps server for Sync Azure Release Status.
SyncAzurePipelines Queries the Azure DevOps server for deployment data.

Minimum permission to integrate with Azure DevOps

The Azure Devops Account used to generate the token must have the below permission:

How to use Build Tags Field

A new hidden field named as Build Tags is added to Azure Plugin for version 4.0.29 and later.

Build Tag Image

This field can take the comma-separated list to tags that have been added to a pipeline run. If you provide such tags, only the pipeline runs with these specific tags will be pulled to IBM DevOps Velocity as part of SyncAzureBuildsEvent.

stages:
  - stage: PreBuild
    jobs:
      - job: Tagging
        steps:
          - task: PowerShell@2
            inputs:
              targetType: 'inline'
              script: Write-Host "##vso[build.addbuildtag]IBM DevOps Velocity"

Here, IBM DevOps Velocity is the tag that has been added to the pipeline run.

Integration

To install the plug-in, perform the following steps:

  1. In IBM DevOps Velocity, click Settings > Integrations > Available.
  2. In the Action column for the Azure DevOps plug-in, click Install.

There are two methods to integrate the plug-in:

Integrating the plug-in by using user interface.

To integrate the plug-in using the user interface, perform the following steps:

  1. In IBM DevOps Velocity, click Settings > Integrations > Installed.
  2. In the Action column for the Azure DevOps plug-in, click Add Integration.
  3. On the Add Integration dialog, enter the values for the fields to configure the integration and define communication.
  4. Click Add.

Integrating the plug-in by using JSON file

The JSON file contains the information for creating a value stream. Within the JSON file is a section for integrations. It is in this section that plugin properties can be defined. Refer to the JSON sample code in Configuration Properties section.

To integrate the plug-in using a JSON, perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to value stream page, and then click the necessary value stream.
  2. Click  icon, and then Select Edit value stream to modify the JSON file in the code or tree view editors.
  3. Alternatively, you can also click Download JSON option to download the JSON file, and then select the Import JSON option to upload the revised JSON file.
  4. Edit the integration information in the JSON file to add the plug-in configuration properties. Refer to JSON sample code in the Configuration Properties section more details.
  5. Click Save.

Configuration properties

The following tables describe the properties used to configure the integration. Each table contains the field name when using the user interface and the property name when using a JSON file.

General Configuration Properties

Name Description Required Property Name
NA The version of the plug-in that you want to use. To view available versions, click the Version History tab. If a value is not specified, the version named latest is used. No image
Integration Name An assigned name to the value stream. Yes name
Logging Level The level of Log4j messages to display in the log file. Valid values are: all, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, off, and trace. No loggingLevel
NA List of plug-in configuration properties used to connect and communicate with the Azure DevOps server. Enclose the properties within braces. Yes properties
  The name of the tenant. Yes tenant_id
NA Unique identifier assigned to the plug-in. The value for the Azure DevOps plug-in is ucv-ext-azure Yes type

Azure DevOps Properties

Name Type Description Required Hidden Property Name
Access Token Secure The access token to authenticate with the Azure DevOps server. You can use either this property or the Password property to authenticate with the server. No No accessToken
Organization String The name of the Azure organization in which the specified project exists. Yes No organization
Password Secure The password used to authenticate with the Azure server. Use either this or an access token. No No password
Project String The name of the Azure DevOps project from which to pull data. Yes No project
Branch Name String The branch to pull commits from. No No branchName
Proxy Password Secure The password used to authenticate with the proxy server. No Yes proxyPassword
Proxy Server String The URL of the proxy server including the port number. No Yes proxyServer
Proxy User Name String The user name used to authenticate with the proxy server. No Yes proxyUsername
Repositories Array A list of repositories from which to import pull request, commit, and build data. No No repositories
URL String The URL of the Azure DevOps server. Yes No baseUrl
User Name String The user name to authenticate with the Azure DevOps server. No No username
Release Definition Names (Comma Separated Values) Array A comma separated list of release names to fetch specific release resources ex: deployments. Note: This field is only applicable for plug-in version 4.0.45 or later Yes No releaseDefinitionNames
DevOps Velocity User AccessKey Secure The user access key to authenticate with the DevOps Velocity server. No No ucvAccessKey
Build Tags (Comma Separated List) Array Comma separated list of tags for pushing pipeline runs as build to this server. If kept empty all the pipeline runs will be pushed as builds. No No tags
API Limits String Maximum number of Azure Devops REST API calls that will be made by the plugin in a single execution. Making too many call in a short duration might result in a connection timeout at Azure Devops server. No No apiLimits
Additional Branches (Comma Separated List) Array A comma separated list of additional branches to collect commits from besides the main one, leave blank if not needed. No No otherBranches

Release orchestration

This plugin can be used to orchestrate releases in Azure Devops. Compatibility

Orchestrating Azure release pipelines from Accelerate

The Azure DevOps plug-in syncs the repositories, builds, pipelines, releases definitions, environments, pipeline runs, and release executions for every five minutes with to IBM DevOps Velocity. An application is created in IBM DevOps Velocity pipeline. A pipeline application is created in IBM DevOps Velocity and map the application in IBM DevOps Velocity. The build that is created after mapping the application appears as version in the Input column of the IBM DevOps Velocity pipeline. In the following graphic,

App1

The application environment can be added in the IBM DevOps Velocity pipeline. For example, DevShopSphere is the application environment added to DEV environment for the release as shown in the following graphic.

App2

App3

To orchestrate the deployment from IBM DevOps Velocity, select the version using the deploy option as show in the below picture.

App5

App6

A new release is created in Azure Devops. The deployed version is synced with IBM DevOps Velocity within 5 minutes of deployment as show in the below picture.

App7

Notes

Plugin supports the release orchestration of:

Automation Tasks

You can create an automation task within a release to build and deploy the applications in Azure DevOps.

Adding automation tasks to a release

After the plugin is integrated automated tasks are available to add as a task within a release.

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