Azure DevOps

DevOps in the Cloud and on-prem

DevOps is available in the Cloud (referred to as Azure DevOps Services) or on-prem (referred to as Azure DevOps Server).

The on-prem offering requires an SQL Server backend.

Azure DevOps Services was previously called Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS). The former name of Azure DevOps Server was Team Foundation Server (TFS).

Azure DevOps Server Express is a no-cost version of Azure DevOps Server for individual developers or teams of up to five members.

It can be installed on a personal deskop or laptop and does not need a dedicated server.

DevOps services

The following table lists the DevOps services. With the renaming of VSTS, the «old» VSTS features are brought in line with DevOps naming:

DevOps service	VSTS feature
Azure Boards	Work
Azure Pipelines	Build & Release
Azure Repos	Code
Azure Test Plans	Test
Azure Artifacts	Packages (extensions)

Enhancing DevOps

The functionality of DevOps can be enhanced by integrating extensions that are offered by

Campfire
Slack
Trello
UserVoice
etc.

Projects

Projects are a fundamental concept in Azure DevOps: they store data that is added to DevOps.

A project provides a source code repository.

A project is logical entity in which software building takes place and allows to perform the following related activities:

planning
tracking progress
collaboration

A project is associated with at least one team, which is created automatically when the project is created.

Additional teams can be added to a project if needed (Typically, a team consists of 6 to 9 members).

A project can be accessed from a browser on the URL https://dev.azure.com/{organization}/{project}

Collections

A collection is a container for projects.

When signing up with Azure DevOps Services or installing Azure DevOps server (formerly TFS), a default collection is created.

In Azure DevOps Services, a collection corresponds to an organization.

Work items

A work item is one of

issue
bug
epic
feature
user story
task

A work item collects

information (field values)
attachments
relations to other work items

In JIRA, a work item largely corresponds to an issue type.

Reporting tools/services

Reporting tools and services that are included into Azure Devops (Services and Server) include

Dashboards
Charts
Analytics service / Analytics widgets
Microsoft Power BI intergration
OData support

URL

An organization's DevOps URL is dev.azure.com/{organization}.

It's possible to install TFS on-prem with a non-default URL.

Other DevOps services

Other DevOps services include

TODO

Navigaion Actions

Navigaton-Actions

Projects
My work items
My (Git) pull requests