Configure pool settings

This article describes how to configure the basic settings of your Managed DevOps Pool.

Go to Overview to view an overview of pool settings, move Azure resources to a new resource group or subscription, or configure tags. Managed DevOps Pools passes up to 20 tags to the VM, and the rest are ignored.

To configure your pool, go to Settings > Pool.

Use the following settings to configure your Managed DevOps Pool.

• Dev Center project
• Azure DevOps organization
• Images
• Maximum agents
• Agent size
• OS disk type

Dev Center project

Azure portal

Choose the Dev Center project for your Managed DevOps Pool. During pool creation, you can create a Dev Center and Dev Center project if you don't have one.

ARM template

The dev center project is specified by the devCenterProjectResourceId property.

    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "fabrikam-managed-pool",
            "type": "microsoft.devopsinfrastructure/pools",
            "location": "eastus",
            "tags": {},
            "properties": {
                ...
                "devCenterProjectResourceId": "/subscriptions/subscription_id_placeholder/resourceGroups/fabrikam-managed-devops-pools/providers/Microsoft.DevCenter/projects/fabrikam-dev-center-project"
            }
        }
    ]
}

You can retrieve the devCenterProjectResourceId for your Dev Center project in the Azure portal by using the JSON View from the overview page of your Dev Center project, or you can retrieve it using the Azure CLI to query the project for its id property. In the following example, the devCenterProjectResourceId is retrieved from a Dev Center project named fabrikam-dev-center-project in the fabrikam-managed-devops-pools resource group.

 az devcenter admin project show --name fabrikam-dev-center-project --resource-group fabrikam-managed-devops-pools --query "id"

Azure CLI

The dev center project is specified by the devcenter-project-id parameter when creating or updating a pool.

az mdp pool create \
   --devcenter-project-id /subscriptions/aaaa0a0a-bb1b-cc2c-dd3d-eeeeee4e4e4e/resourceGroups/resourceGroupName/providers/Microsoft.DevCenter/projects/devCenterProjectName
   # other parameters omitted for space

You can retrieve the devcenter-project-id for your dev center project in the Azure portal by using the JSON View from the overview page of your dev center project, or you can retrieve it using the Azure CLI to query the project for its id property. In the following example, the devcenter-project-id is retrieved from a dev center project named fabrikam-dev-center-project in the fabrikam-managed-devops-pools resource group.

 az devcenter admin project show --name fabrikam-dev-center-project --resource-group fabrikam-managed-devops-pools --query "id"

Azure DevOps organization

Azure portal

If your Managed DevOps Pool is configured for a single Azure DevOps organization, you can specify the organization in pool settings.

If your pool is configured for multiple organizations, the Azure DevOps organization setting is not present in pool settings. To configure your pool for use in multiple organizations, go to Settings > Security, and configure Use pool in multiple organizations.

ARM template

Azure DevOps organization is configured using the organizations list in the organizationProfile section. In the following example, a Managed DevOps Pool is configured for all projects in a single organization, with a parallelism of 4. For an example of configuring multiple organizations, see Use pool in multiple organizations.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "fabrikam-managed-pool",
            "type": "microsoft.devopsinfrastructure/pools",
            "apiVersion": "2024-10-19",
            "location": "eastus",
            "properties": {
                ...
                "organizationProfile": {
                    "organizations": [
                        {
                            "url": "https://dev.azure.com/fabrikam-tailspin",
                            "projects": [],
                            "parallelism": 4
                        }
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Azure CLI

Azure DevOps organization is configured using the organizations list in the organization-profile parameter. In the following example, a Managed DevOps Pool is configured for all projects in a single organization, with a parallelism of 4. For an example of configuring multiple organizations, see Use pool in multiple organizations.

az mdp pool create \
   --organization-profile organization-profile.json
   # other parameters omitted for space

The following example shows the organizations list in the organization-profile.json file.

{
  "AzureDevOps": {
    "organizations": [
      {
        "url": "https://dev.azure.com/fabrikam-tailspin",
        "projects": [],
        "parallelism": 4
      }
    ],
    "permissionProfile": {...}
  }
}

By default, your Managed DevOps Pool is available to all projects in your specified organizations. To limit your pool to specific projects, see Security settings - configure organization access.

Maximum agents

Specify the maximum count of agents that are available for use in your pool. For example, if you specify a Maximum agents value of 2, you can run a maximum of two agents at the same time. If more than two jobs are queued, only two agents at a time will run jobs while the other jobs wait.

Azure portal

Maximum agents is configured in Pool settings for an existing pool, and on the Basics tab when creating a pool.

ARM template

Maximum agents is configured using the maximumConcurrency property. In the following example, Maximum agents is set to 4.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "fabrikam-managed-pool",
            "type": "microsoft.devopsinfrastructure/pools",
            "apiVersion": "2024-10-19",
            "location": "eastus",
            "properties": {
                ...
                "maximumConcurrency": 4
            }
        }
    ]
}

Azure CLI

Maximum agents is configured using the maximum-concurrency parameter when creating or updating a pool. In the following example, Maximum agents is set to 4.

az mdp pool create \
   --maximum-concurrency 4
   # other parameters omitted for space

Note

Maximum agents configures the maximum number of agents that can be provisioned at the same time, but your organization's self-hosted parallel jobs count specifies the number of jobs that can run concurrently. Ensure that you have enough self-hosted parallel jobs available in your organization to enable your agents to run jobs. For more information, see Azure DevOps Services parallel job pricing.

Agent size

Agent size specifies the Azure virtual machine size to use for hosting your Managed DevOps Pools agents.

Azure portal

Choose Change size to view and select an Azure virtual machine size that is available in your Azure region. Agent sizes (SKUs) with available Managed DevOps Pools quotas are marked as Available. You can request more quota for Not Available SKUs. Once a quota request for a Not Available SKU is approved, it will then be listed as Available. Learn more about Managed DevOps Pools quotas.

ARM template

Agent size is configured using the sku property in the fabricProfile section. In the following example, a Standard_D2ads_v5 VM size is specified.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "fabrikam-managed-pool",
            "type": "microsoft.devopsinfrastructure/pools",
            "apiVersion": "2024-10-19",
            "location": "eastus",
            "properties": {
                ...
                "fabricProfile": {
                    "sku": {
                        "name": "Standard_D2ads_v5"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Azure CLI

Agent size is configured using the sku property in the fabricProfile section when creating or updating a pool. In the following example, a Standard_D2ads_v5 VM size is specified.

az mdp pool create \
   --fabric-profile fabric-profile.json
   # other parameters omitted for space

The following example shows the sku section of the fabric-profile.json file.

{
  "vmss": {
    "sku": {
      "name": "Standard_D2ads_v5"
    },
    "images": [...],
    "osProfile": {...},
    "storageProfile": {...}
  }
}

If your subscription doesn't have the capacity to configure your pool with desired Azure VM SKU and maximum agents count, you'll receive an error similar to the following message. Cores needed to complete this request is 8, which exceeds the current limit of 0 for SKU family standardDDSv4Family in region eastus. Please choose a different region if possible, or request additional quota at https://portal.azure.com/#view/Microsoft_Azure_Support/NewSupportRequestV3Blade/issueType/quota/subscriptionId/subscription_id_placeholder/topicId/3eadc5d3-b59a-3658-d8c6-9c729ba35b97. To resolve the issue, see Review Managed DevOps Pools quotas.

Not all SKUs are supported for all Azure regions. If you receive an error like SKU family <sku-family> is not available in location <region>, ensure your SKU size is supported for your region. For more information, see Sizes for virtual machines in Azure and Products available by region.

OS disk type

Managed DevOps Pools provides the following disk types for the OS disk.

• Standard
• Standard SSD
• Premium SSD

The default OS disk type is Standard. If your workload's throughput exceeds the level of the standard tier, you can potentially gain a performance improvement in your workload by upgrading to a more performant disk type. For more information on disk types and performance, see Azure Managed disk types.

Azure portal

OS disk type is configured in Pool settings for an existing pool, and on the Basics tab when creating a pool.

ARM template

OS disk type is configured using the osDiskStorageAccountType property in the storageProfile section. In the following example, a Standard OS disk type is specified. Choose Standard, StandardSSD, or Premium.

{
    "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2019-04-01/deploymentTemplate.json#",
    "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0",
    "resources": [
        {
            "name": "fabrikam-managed-pool",
            "type": "microsoft.devopsinfrastructure/pools",
            "apiVersion": "2024-10-19",
            "location": "eastus",
            "properties": {
                ...
                "storageProfile": {
                    "osDiskStorageAccountType": "Standard"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Azure CLI

In the following example, a Standard OS disk type is specified. Choose Standard, StandardSSD, or Premium.

OS disk type is configured using the osDiskStorageAccountType property in the storageProfile section in the fabric-profile parameter. In the following example, a Standard OS disk type is specified. Choose Standard, StandardSSD, or Premium.

az mdp pool create \
   --fabric-profile fabric-profile.json
   # other parameters omitted for space

The following example shows the storageProfile section of the fabric-profile.json file.

{
  "vmss": {
    "sku": {...},
    "images": [...],
    "osProfile": {...},
    "storageProfile": {
      "osDiskStorageAccountType": "Standard",
      "dataDisks": []
    }
  }
}

Images

Managed DevOps Pools provides you with several options for virtual machine images for running pipelines in your pool. You can create your pool using selected Azure Marketplace VM images, use your own custom images in an Azure Compute Gallery, or use the same Windows and Linux images used by Azure Pipelines Microsoft-hosted agents.

You can configure your pool to use a single image or multiple images, and use aliases to configure your pipelines to use a specific image. For more information, see Configure Managed DevOps Pools images.

See also

• Configure images