Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is a set of Microsoft-hosted software development services. Customers can use any subset of the services, and they work with non-Microsoft technologies such as Linux, macOS, and various development frameworks and programming languages. The offering overlaps with GitHub, which is gaining capabilities at a faster rate and will likely eventually supplant Azure DevOps.

Service Overview 

Azure DevOps consists of five Azure services that are accessed using Web-based user interfaces (separate from the Azure portal), which comprise an Azure DevOps portal. (For an illustration, see “Azure DevOps Portal.”)

Azure Pipelines

Azure Pipelines allow customers to define and run build-and-deploy workflows with steps such as retrieving source code files, compiling code (using Microsoft or third-party compilers), running code through automated tests, and deploying built code on-premises or to the cloud.

Pipelines facilitate continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), where developer contributions are frequently integrated into the primary codebase and new software builds are frequently deployed. CI/CD is commonly used in Agile development processes, which typically deliver new versions of software after short so-called sprints of development.