How do you describe DevOps? It’s not easy, but I like to think of it as a transformation that involves people, processes, and products (in this order). It involves development, testing, operations, business, and other teams working together, efficiently, to deliver better and faster results to customers. A great starting point is The Phoenix Project novel. Microsoft and particularly the Cloud + Enterprise group underwent a shift towards DevOps practices internally to deliver better services across the board. Here is a sample of DevOps practices roughly in the order you might apply them:
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – use your software development processes to manage the deployment and configuration of systems and applications automatically.
Continuous Integration (CI) – merge all working copies of developers’ code with a shared mainline, producing a new build upon code check-in.
Automated Testing – run load, integration, and unit tests automatically attached to CI or some other means.
Continuous Deployment/Delivery (CD) – usually comes after CI to push a new known good build to an environment automatically or on a schedule.
Release Management – automate deployment of new applications as well as changes to applications across managed environments. It builds on CD and adds approvals, traceability and rollback across environments.
Configuration Management – handle changes systematically so that your systems maintain integrity over time.
As you can see they all have shared goals of automation, reducing errors, and improving quality and agility and require teams to work together. So, where to start? Take the DevOps Self-Assessment to help you learn about your existing processes, watch the free courses on Microsoft Virtual Academy, and review what Visual Studio Online offers to start your own path towards DevOps!
Thiago Almeida Senior Developer and Technical Evangelist TED Services and Devices Microsoft Corporation
5 Questions to ask about IoT Any company that has a device, data or software story has an opinion about what IoT is. This creates confusion, especially when it comes to which providers can help you realize its value. The Internet of Things is part of a larger story about connected infrastructure and big data that’s been revitalized by the low cost of devices, connectivity and the cloud. Scott Gu's summary puts this nicely.
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AzureCon 2015 on demand The AzureCon sessions are now available to watch on demand. See Scott Gutherie's 'Journey to the Intelligent Cloud', and other top rated sessions such as how to 'Add identity into your cloud-based apps' and a 'Deep dive on the Azure Container Service'
This week's apps help proved access New Zealand's largest business directory in style, new products from top retailers via TradeMe and access to information from Xero while you’re working in Office 365.
Have a Windows project on the side? Show it off! Share it with the rest of the community in the Kiwi Windows Apps Facebook Group or send us an email at msdnnz@microsoft.com.
Skill Up With Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) and Channel9
Developer Interview Series In this interview series, we bring you best practices, anecdotes, and insights from developers who are building creative solutions using Microsoft technologies. Interview #3: Michele Leroux Bustamante is the Founder of California based Snapboard and a Microsoft Regional Director. Channel 9 Cloud Cover Series: IoT Hub An introduction to the new IoT Hub service. See how to write both management code and on-device code leveraging the IoT Hub SDK. IoT Hub allows you to manage millions of devices, to collect telemetry from these devices and to send commands back to them. Azure Service Fabric Lifecycle Management The Service Fabric is the system that is underlying Windows Azure itself, and it's now being made available as a programming model for developers to create "Born in the Cloud" applications.
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