Azure DevOps Pipelines for .NET CI/CD

Azure DevOps Pipelines is a powerful and flexible service that you can use to automate building, testing, and deploying your .NET applications. It integrates seamlessly with Azure DevOps Repos (or other Git repositories) and provides a rich set of features for creating robust Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) workflows.

Understanding CI/CD in .NET

Before diving into Azure DevOps Pipelines, let's briefly recap the core concepts of CI/CD:

Continuous Integration (CI): The practice of frequently merging code changes from multiple developers into a central repository, followed by automated builds and tests. This helps detect integration issues early.
Continuous Deployment (CD): The practice of automatically deploying all code changes that pass CI to a staging or production environment after the build stage.

Setting Up Your First .NET Pipeline

Azure DevOps Pipelines uses YAML to define your pipelines, which offers several advantages:

Versioned: Your pipeline definition lives alongside your code in your repository.
Reusable: YAML templates allow you to share pipeline logic across projects.
Flexible: Supports multi-stage pipelines for complex deployment strategies.

Basic Build Pipeline Example

Here's a simple YAML snippet for a .NET build pipeline:


trigger:
- main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

steps:
- task: UseDotNet@2
  displayName: 'Use .NET SDK 6.0'
  inputs:
    packageType: 'sdk'
    version: '6.0.x'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Restore dependencies'
  inputs:
    command: 'restore'
    projects: '**/*.csproj'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Build project'
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    projects: '**/*.csproj'
    arguments: '--configuration Release'

- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Run tests'
  inputs:
    command: 'test'
    projects: '**/*[Tt]ests/*.csproj'
    arguments: '--configuration Release'

Key Azure DevOps Pipeline Concepts

Pipelines: A set of automated processes (stages, jobs, steps) that execute a build, test, or deploy.
Stages: A logical unit within a pipeline, often representing a distinct phase like Build, Test, or Deploy.
Jobs: A collection of steps that run on an agent. Jobs within a stage can run in parallel or sequentially.
Steps: The smallest unit of work in a pipeline, typically a script or a predefined task.
Agents: Machines that run your pipeline jobs. Azure provides Microsoft-hosted agents or you can use self-hosted agents.
Tasks: Predefined scripts or actions provided by Azure DevOps or marketplace extensions to perform common operations (e.g., running .NET commands, publishing artifacts).

Tip: For complex .NET projects, consider using .NET SDK tasks to manage SDK versions and .NET Core CLI tasks for running commands like dotnet build, dotnet test, and dotnet publish.

Multi-Stage Pipelines for Deployment

Beyond building and testing, Azure DevOps Pipelines excels at deploying your .NET applications. You can define multiple stages to represent different environments (e.g., Dev, Staging, Production) with approval gates and automated deployments.

Example Deployment Stage


- stage: DeployToStaging
  displayName: 'Deploy to Staging'
  jobs:
  - deployment: DeployWebApp
    displayName: 'Deploy Web App'
    environment: 'Staging' # Link to an Azure DevOps Environment
    strategy:
      runOnce:
        deploy:
          steps:
          - task: AzureRmWebAppDeployment@4
            displayName: 'Deploy Azure Web App'
            inputs:
              ConnectionType: 'AzureRM'
              azureSubscription: 'Your Azure Service Connection'
              appType: 'webAppLinux'
              appName: 'your-staging-webapp-name'
              package: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/drop/**/*.zip' # Path to your published artifact

Best Practices for .NET CI/CD with Azure DevOps

Keep your pipelines versioned in code (YAML).
Use templates for reusable pipeline logic.
Separate build and deployment stages.
Implement security scanning and code analysis in your pipeline.
Configure appropriate approval gates for production deployments.
Leverage Azure DevOps Environments for managing deployment targets.

Mastering Azure DevOps Pipelines can significantly improve the efficiency, reliability, and speed of your .NET application development lifecycle. Explore the documentation for more advanced scenarios like integration with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), serverless functions, and more.

Learn More on Microsoft Docs