Run Azure DevOps Private Agents in Kubernetes Clusters

Since in last post, we discussed on how to run Azure Pipelines agents as docker containers and configure them accordingly, the next step would be to run them on the Kubernetes platform. This kubernetes cluster can be on-premise and/or cloud and could be self managed or managed by the cloud service provider itself.

One of the reasons you may want to run them on Kubernetes is because you want better utilization of your kubernetes cluster. Another reason might be to leverage your existing knowledge of the kubernetes platform and work on it. Another reason would be to not use Microsoft hosted agents, as by default you would get only 1800 minutes of agent time to utilize, for free accounts.
Continue reading “Run Azure DevOps Private Agents in Kubernetes Clusters” →

Running Azure DevOps private agents as docker containers

To run the build or deployment jobs in Azure DevOps or Azure Pipelines (formerly known as TFS and VSTS respectively), an agent is required. Microsoft provides the different types of the agents and they are hosted and managed by Microsoft only. However, it is advisable to host your own private agent for various reasons other than the cost. Microsoft provides the facility of installing agent on various OS’es like Windows, Linux, Mac OS etc. They have done a good job in terms of documentation, however you still need to perform few steps in order to set it up correctly.
Continue reading “Running Azure DevOps private agents as docker containers” →

Configure CI/CD in Azure Pipelines to deploy docker containers as Azure Web App

Few days back, we learned about how to publish Azure Container Instances where-in we can deploy either a container or group of containers and use the same. Azure Web App for Containers allows you to not only run your containers but it also brings forth the PaaS innovations for the Web App. So it brings best of the both worlds together. It also allows you to not worry about the maintaining an container orchestrator mechanism. You can prefer to package their code and dependencies into containers using various CI/CD systems like Jenkins, Maven, Travis CI or VSTS, alongside setting up continuous deployment web hooks with App Service.

In this blog post we’ll learn more about how to deploy .NETCore application packaged as docker container and using CI/CD in Azure Pipelines (Formerly VSTS). Continue reading “Configure CI/CD in Azure Pipelines to deploy docker containers as Azure Web App” →

Configure CI/CD for Azure Container Instances using Azure / Azure DevOps Pipelines

Containers are fast becoming the preferred way to package, deploy, and manage cloud applications. Azure Container Instances offers the fastest and simplest way to run a container in Azure, without having to manage any virtual machines and without having to adopt a higher-level service.

Azure Container Instances is a great solution for any scenario that can operate in isolated containers, including simple applications, task automation, and build jobs. Also, Azure Container Instances supports the deployment of multiple containers onto a single host by using a container group aka pods in terms of Kubernetes. Multi-container container groups or Pods are useful when building an application sidecar for logging, monitoring, or any other configuration where a service needs a second attached process.
Continue reading “Configure CI/CD for Azure Container Instances using Azure / Azure DevOps Pipelines” →

Use SSL Certificates for Dotnet Core Application in Docker Containers

Using SSL to secure incoming and outgoing traffic from your server is always recommended. When you are developing locally or testing on a server, whether it is Windows or Macintosh or some distribution of Linux like CentOS, fedora, Ubuntu etc, its easy to put the certificate in one of the local directories and then ask server to use the same. However this becomes a little bit different if you are using Containers. Since Docker is the most popular container technology, it has become almost synonymous with containers. When using containers, you can many choices:
1) Map a local volume containing certificate files to the container and then refer to it from inside container
2) Copy certificate directly inside Container during image build process and then refer to it Continue reading “Use SSL Certificates for Dotnet Core Application in Docker Containers” →