Introduction

  • 4 minutes

Manually executing environment provisioning and configuration management is laborious and error-prone. Azure DevOps advocates automation to reduce the probability of errors introduced through manual execution. Automation also completes work more quickly without relying on subject matter experts.

Azure is built to support automation. Azure Automation is an Azure service that provides a way to automate manual, long-running, error-prone, and frequently repeated tasks commonly done in cloud and enterprise environments.

Azure Automation saves time and increases the reliability of regular administrative tasks. You can schedule tasks to be executed automatically at regular intervals. You can automate processes using runbooks or automate configuration management by using Desired State Configuration (DSC).

For more information about Azure Automation, review An introduction to Azure Automation.

Azure Automation icon

Azure Automation capabilities

Azure Automation isn't the only way to automate within Azure. You can also use open-source tools for some operations. However, the integration capabilities available to Azure Automation remove much of the integration complexity you would have to manage if you did these operations manually.

Azure Automation provides the following capabilities:

  • Process automation: Automate frequent, time-consuming, and error-prone cloud management tasks.
  • Azure Automation State Configuration: An Azure service that allows you to write, manage, and compile Windows PowerShell DSC configurations, import DSC Resources, and assign configurations to target nodes in the cloud. For more information, visit Azure Automation State Configuration Overview.
  • Azure Update Manager: Manage operating system updates for Windows and Linux computers in Azure, on-premises environments, or other cloud providers. Get update compliance visibility across Azure, on-premises, and other cloud services. You can create scheduled deployments to orchestrate update installations within a defined maintenance window. For more information, visit Azure Update Manager.
  • Source control integration: Integrate with GitHub, Azure DevOps, Git, or Team Foundation Version Control repositories. For more information, go to Source control integration in Azure Automation.
  • AWS automation: Automate common tasks with resources in Amazon Web Services (AWS) using Automation runbooks in Azure. For more information, go to Authenticate Runbooks with Amazon Web Services.
  • Shared resources: Azure Automation includes a set of shared resources (such as connections, credentials, modules, schedules, and variables) that make it easier to automate and configure your environments at scale.
  • Backup automation: Run regular backups of non-database systems, such as backing up Azure Blob Storage at specific intervals.

Azure Automation works across hybrid cloud environments in addition to Windows and Linux operating systems.

This module describes Azure Automation with Azure DevOps, using runbooks, webhooks, and PowerShell workflows. You'll learn how to create and manage automation for your environment.

Learning objectives

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

  • Create and configure Azure Automation accounts: Set up automation accounts to store runbooks, jobs, and automation assets.
  • Implement and manage runbooks: Create and manage runbooks using PowerShell, PowerShell Workflow, Python, and graphical editors.
  • Configure webhooks: Set up webhooks to trigger runbooks from external systems and services.
  • Integrate with source control: Connect Azure Automation with GitHub and Azure DevOps for version control and CI/CD.
  • Create PowerShell workflows: Build workflows with checkpoints and parallel processing for resilience and performance.
  • Plan hybrid management: Implement automation across Azure and on-premises resources using Hybrid Runbook Workers.

Prerequisites

  • Understanding of DevOps concepts and practices.
  • Familiarity with PowerShell scripting and command-line interfaces.
  • Basic knowledge of Azure services and resource management.
  • Experience with version control systems (Git or Team Foundation Version Control).