Set up a CI/CD pipeline for a Java app with Azure DevOps Starter
In this quickstart, you use the simplified Azure DevOps Starter experience to set up a continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipeline for your Java app in Azure Pipelines. You can use Azure DevOps Starter to set up everything you need for developing, deploying, and monitoring your app.
Prerequisites
- An Azure account with an active subscription. Create an account for free.
- An Azure DevOps account and organization.
Sign in to the Azure portal
DevOps Starter creates a CI/CD pipeline in Azure Pipelines. You can create a new Azure DevOps organization or use an existing organization. DevOps Starter also creates Azure resources in the Azure subscription of your choice.
Sign in to the Azure portal.
In the search box, type DevOps Starter, and then select. Click on Add to create a new one.
Select a sample application and Azure service
Select the Java sample application. The Java samples include a choice of several application frameworks.
The default sample framework is Spring. Leave the default setting, and then select Next. Web App For Containers is the default deployment target. The application framework, which you chose previously, dictates the type of Azure service deployment target available here.
Leave the default service, and then select Next.
Configure Azure DevOps and an Azure subscription
Create a new Azure DevOps organization or choose an existing organization.
Choose a name for your project.
Select your Azure subscription and location, choose a name for your application, and then select Done.
After a few minutes, the DevOps Starter dashboard is displayed in the Azure portal. A sample application is set up in a repository in your Azure DevOps organization, a build is executed, and your application is deployed to Azure. This dashboard provides visibility into your code repository, the CI/CD pipeline, and your application in Azure.
Select Browse to view your running application.
DevOps Starter automatically configured a CI build and release trigger. You're now ready to collaborate with a team on a Java app with a CI/CD process that automatically deploys your latest work to your web site.
Commit code changes and execute CI/CD
DevOps Starter creates a Git repository in Azure Repos or GitHub. To view the repository and make code changes to your application, do the following:
On the left of the DevOps Starter dashboard, select the link for your main branch. This link opens a view to the newly created Git repository.
To view the repository clone URL, select Clone on the top right of the browser. You can clone your Git repository in your favorite IDE. In the next few steps, you can use the web browser to make and commit code changes directly to the main branch.
On the left side of the browser, go to the src/main/webapp/index.html file.
Select Edit, and then make a change to some of the text. For example, change some of the text for one of the div tags.
Select Commit, and then save your changes.
In your browser, go to the DevOps Starter dashboard.
You should now see a build in progress. The changes you just made are automatically built and deployed via a CI/CD pipeline.
Examine the CI/CD pipeline
In the previous step, DevOps Starter automatically configured a full CI/CD pipeline. Explore and customize the pipeline as needed. Take the following steps to familiarize yourself with the build and release pipelines.
At the top of the DevOps Starter dashboard, select Build Pipelines. This link opens a browser tab and the build pipeline for your new project.
Point to the Status field, and then select the ellipsis (...). This action opens a menu where you can start several activities such as queuing a new build, pausing a build, and editing the build pipeline.
Select Edit.
In this pane, you can examine the various tasks for your build pipeline. The build performs a variety of tasks such as fetching sources from the Git repository, restoring dependencies, and publishing outputs that are used for deployments.
At the top of the build pipeline, select the build pipeline name.
Change the name of your build pipeline to something more descriptive, select Save & queue, and then select Save.
Under your build pipeline name, select History.
In the History pane, you see an audit trail of your recent changes for the build. Azure Pipelines keeps track of any changes that are made to the build pipeline, and it allows you to compare versions.Select Triggers. DevOps Starter automatically created a CI trigger, and every commit to the repository starts a new build. You can optionally choose to include or exclude branches from the CI process.
Select Retention. Depending on your scenario, you can specify policies to keep or remove a certain number of builds.
Select Build and Release, and then select Releases.
DevOps Starter creates a release pipeline to manage deployments to Azure.On the left, select the ellipsis (...) next to your release pipeline, and then select Edit. The release pipeline contains a pipeline, which defines the release process.
Under Artifacts, select Drop. The build pipeline you examined in the previous steps produces the output that's used for the artifact.
Next to the Drop icon, select the Continuous deployment trigger. This release pipeline has an enabled CD trigger, which runs a deployment every time there is a new build artifact available. Optionally, you can disable the trigger so that your deployments require manual execution.
On the left, select Tasks. The tasks are the activities that your deployment process performs. In this example, a task was created to deploy to Azure App Service.
On the right, select View releases. This view shows a history of releases.
Select the ellipsis (...) next to one of your releases, and then select Open. There are several menus to explore, such as a release summary, associated work items, and tests.
Select Commits. This view shows code commits that are associated with the specific deployment.
Select Logs. The logs contain useful information about the deployment process. They can be viewed both during and after deployments.
Clean up resources
You can delete Azure App Service and other related resources when you don't need them anymore. Use the Delete functionality on the DevOps Starter dashboard.
Next steps
When you configured your CI/CD process, build and release pipelines were automatically created. You can modify these build and release pipelines to meet the needs of your team. To learn more about the CI/CD pipeline, see: