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Objective

The goal of the this tutorial is to demonstrate on how to integrate an Azure DevOps Release pipeline through FlexDeploy.

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We will walk through each of the FlexDeploy features that will be created and configured to accomplish this goal. By following the steps below, we will be able to create the release and trigger the release stage execution in a very short amount of time.

Checklist

Azure DevOps Release

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Pipeline Configurations

1. Azure Storage Account is going to be static in our case, hence this will be passed during Release creation through varPassedWhileReleaseTrigger. Check the Scope for this variable is Release.

2. Where the target Blob container is different env-wise. Hence we are going to pass the container names through varPassedWhileStageTrigger for each env stage execution. Check the Scope for this variable is Dev, QA & Prod, since they are env-specific.

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Note : This is just for showcasing the capability of passing dynamic variables, you can always have the values static in case the are not changing.

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Configure Cloud Account

First, an Azureaccount needs to be configured under Integrations. FlexDeploy will

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1. Azure DevOps Access Token is a password (Personal Access Token) field and hence needs to be kept hidden. To update the same click on the pencil icon as shown below

2. Update the Personal Access Token value under Secret Text. This is to make sure no one else can retrieve the password

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Build Workflow

Technical steps involved:

• FlexDeploy shall will download the code from scm, create the artifact object with selective files (.xml) and upload the package in Azure DevOps Artifact repository.

Navigate to

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Workflows and create a

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The Workflow Group and Subgroup define the folder hierarchy. Once the workflow is created, it should look like the below. No constraint on workflow or folder naming convention.

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The steps of the workflow execution can be configured through the Definition tab.

1. Navigate through the plugin operations and find the desired one.

2. In our workflow execution, 3 plugin operations being used to achieve our goal.

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Below given is a logical explanation of build workflow to publish the artifacts generated to Azure DevOps Artifacts Source.

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build workflow using the button as highlighted below.

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Below is a sample build workflow to publish the artifacts generated to Azure DevOps Artifacts Source.

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Step: Clone Git Repository

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We'll start by creating a Workflow Property for the Feed Name, Package Name and Project Name.

1. Go back to the Main Properties tab of the Workflow.

2. Under Workflow Properties, use Add option to add the properties.

3. From the Add menu, we We can add an existing property , or create a new one. Select New Property Create

4. Properties must each have a unique code, give . Give a meaningful code for the new property.

5. A property Display Name does not have to be unique and can contain spaces. This is the name that will be displayed on the Project/Target property association screen.

6. Select the property scope, this . This defines where the property will be configured. We're using Project because this property can be overridden at project level.

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Click on save and Activate the workflow.

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Deploy Workflow

Technical steps involved:

• FlexDeploy shall create the Azure DevOps Release pipeline instance. The new Release instance will be created from the pipeline first/lowest pipeline environment only (Dev in this case). The same Release pipeline shall be leveraged to deploy across all environments.

• It can optionally pass variable/properties details as well.

• FlexDeploy till now has just created the Release instance. It will capture Azure DevOps Environment Id & other relevant details from create Release step.

• Next FlexDeploy will initiate the Release stage deployment env-wise.

• It will also pass required environment to initiate deployment along with env-specific variables.

• Release pipeline can use the package uploaded by Build workflow in Azure DevOps Artifact repo.

• FlexDeploy can also optionally check(preferably) the completion status of Release execution env-wise.

Similar to Build Workflowbuild workflow, following follow the same steps we are creating to create the deploy workflow. The Workflow Group and Subgroup define the folder hierarchy. Once the workflow is created, it should appear as given below. No constraint on workflow or folder naming convention.

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The steps of the workflow execution can be configured through on the Definition sectiontab.

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Let’s try to understand the if block which is applicable only for the environment Dev (first/lowest env inside within pipeline). Below given is the logical flow.

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createRelease operation returns the Release Id and Environment Details specific to the newly created Release. Environment Details basically return unique ids for each configured environment, against the created Release instance.

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Another key thing to understand here is - Release Id and corresponding Environment Details are created only during Dev environment execution. However same details are need for all other environments as well. That's why we have 2 workflow input parameters to propagate the same. And this will be the job of pipeline to capture the Workflow Output variable from Dev Environment and pass those values as workflow input to all other environments.

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Below given is the logical flow for else block.

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Step: If pipeline environment is ‘Dev’

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As can be observed from highlighted Output, that the RELEASE_ID & ENV_DETAILS are captured from plugin Output.

createRelease Operation relevant Input details

Step: Assign Release Id captured during createRelease operation (else block):

Substring is to remove the quote sign( ' ) around the Release Id.

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is to remove the quote sign( ' ) around the Release Id.

The full Expression value is RELEASE_ID_INP.substring(1,RELEASE_ID_INP.length()-1)

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Step: Assign Environment Details captured during createRelease operation (else block):

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Based on the current Environment Code, this method will capture the Release stage Environment ID.n.b.

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Parse Json Inputs:

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We'll start by creating a Workflow Property for the Feed Name, Package Name and Project Name.

1. Go back to the Main Properties tab of the Workflow

2. Under Workflow Properties, choose open the Add men.

3. From the Add menu, we We can add an existing property , or create a new one. Select New Property Create

4. Properties must each have a unique code, give a meaningful code for the new property

5. A property display name does not have to be unique and can contain spaces. This is the name that will be displayed on the Target screen

6. Select the property scope, this defines where the property will be configured. We're using Project because this property can be overridden at project level and Target to capture environment level properties.

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Note: It may appear interesting that we are using 2 Target variables (CONFIG_PORT & CONTAINER_NAME) however we haven’t used them in the workflow. We wanted to pass these details dynamically to Azure DevOps Release based on env-specific value configured under Topology-->Target Properties. Further details can be found under Topology and Project Properties .

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Toplogy Toplogy isMissingRequiredParameters true

Topology

For detailed steps on how to configure the topology and target properties, please refer to Target Groups

Target Properties

Selecting the DEV environment mapped to the Target Group will display the configurable properties/Endpoint and allows to the configure the properties.

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Also Container Name is set here which is a env specific value.

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Target Properties details

Create the Azure DevOps Create Release Flow Project using Blank Project

The assumption is that you have FlexDeploy installed and ready for use. When logged into the FlexDeploy, you will see the Home page. Click on the + icon on the top and click “Create Project” to create a new project.

The screen displays the list of blueprints supported by the FlexDeploy. Select a Blank project from the list or you can search for the blueprint in the search filter present in the top.

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General Configuration

Scroll through this guide to fill in the project information.

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Project Info

Project configuration

We can see the Folder hierarchy on the top of the project and the project configuration as below

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ProjectProperties ProjectProperties isMissingRequiredParameters true

Project Properties

1. To configure Project specific settings one can navigate to the Project Configuration tab as shown above.

2. Next, select the PROPERTIES option from the left-hand pane.

3. Click on Save.

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Project Properties details

[
  {
    "type": "PackageManagement",
    "alias": "_${{PACKAGE_NAME}}",
    "instanceReference": {
      "id": "${{FD_PROJECT_VERSION}}",
      "name": "${{FD_PROJECT_VERSION}}"
    },
    "definitionReference": {
      "definition": {
        "name": "${{PACKAGE_NAME}}"
      },
      "feed": {
        "name": "${{FEED_NAME}}"
      },
      "packageType": {
        "id": "upack",
        "name": "Universal"
      }
    }
  }
]

{
  "varPassedWhileStageTrigger": {
    "value": "${{CONTAINER_NAME}}"
  },
  "file_replacement_prop_port": {
    "value": "${{CONFIG_PORT}}"
  }
}

{
  "varPassedWhileReleaseTrigger": {
    "value": "azDevOpsstgaccnt1"
  }
}

Build Execution

1. Navigate to Execution tab and click on Execute to submit the Build Request form.

2. The Build Request Form will appear and we need to select the environment.

3. Select main as branch name.

4. Submit the request, this will initiate the AzDevOpsBuildFlow workflow.

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Navigate to steps tab in order to view the workflow steps. Click on the link to view the plugin logs.

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Deploy Execution

Navigate to back to the Execution tab and click on icon shown as below to submit the Deploy Request form.

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Upon submission, the deploy workflow is initiated and the workflow steps are executed on the Azure DevOps instance in the Dev environment, utilizing the Localhost endpoint. Upon completion of the workflow, the execution status will be successful.

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Post deployment - Execution on Azure DevOps

Post Deployment success might take some time to deploy the package with provided version. In case of failure we can easily debug the issue from the log or navigate to the Web URL which is returned as output variable FDAZ_DevOps_OUT_REL_ENV_WEB_URL in Azure DevOps Platform.

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Azure DevOps Release Deployment

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Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Azure DevOps Create Release and Update Release Environment Status tutorial.

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