Create a CI/CD pipeline for Python 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 Python 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 Python sample application. The Python samples include a choice of several application frameworks.
The default sample framework is Django. 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.
Enter a name for your project in Azure DevOps.
Select your Azure subscription and location, enter a name for your application, and then select Done.
After few minutes, the 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, your CI/CD pipeline, and your application in Azure.
Select Browse to view your running application.
DevOps Projects automatically configures a CI build and release trigger. You're now ready to collaborate with a team on a Python app by using a CI/CD process that automatically deploys your latest work to your website.
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 side 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 from 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, go to the app/templates/app/index.html file.
Select Edit, and 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. To familiarize yourself with the build and release pipelines, do the following:
At the top of the DevOps Starter dashboard, select Build Pipelines. A browser tab displays the build pipeline for your new project.
Point to the Status field, and then select the ellipsis (...). A menu displays several options, such as queueing 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 various tasks such as fetching sources from the Git repository, restoring dependencies, and publishing outputs 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. You see an audit trail of your recent changes for the build. Azure DevOps keeps track of any changes made to the build pipeline, and it allows you to compare versions.
Select Triggers. DevOps Starter automatically creates 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 choose Releases.
DevOps Projects creates a release pipeline to manage deployments to Azure.Select the ellipsis next to your release pipeline, and then select Edit. The release pipeline 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. The release pipeline has an enabled CD trigger, which runs a deployment every time there's 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 to display a history of releases.
Select the ellipsis (...) next to one of your releases, and then select Open. There are several menus to explore from this view, such as a release summary, associated work items, and tests.
Select Commits. This view shows the code commits that are associated with the specific deployment.
Select Logs. The logs contain useful information about the deployment process. You can view them both during and after deployments.
Clean up resources
You can delete Azure App Service and 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: