Back to basics: Building static website using Jekyll in VSTS

Utkarsh Shigihalli on Jul 16, 2018

We host this blog as a static website using Jekyll. This allows us to write our blog posts in markdown syntax and we get to version control our files.

Jekyll is a popular static site generator and from the day we have implemented it, we have thoroughly enjoyed maintaining it. In this blog post I will show you how to build a simple Jekyll website using VSTS.

Back to basics: Building .NET Core app in VSTS

Utkarsh Shigihalli on Jul 9, 2018

My current client, just started to use .NET core as their main development platform. I felt this is the right time to revisit the build steps and document them. So in this blog post we will see how easy it us to build and publish a .NET Core app within VSTS.

HOWTO: Show notifications inside Visual Studio

Utkarsh Shigihalli on Mar 29, 2018

Wondering how Visual Studio displays important notifications on top of editor? Do you want to integrate notifications in your extension? In this blog post we will see how we can show notifications on top of the Visual Studio editor in Visual Studio 2017 using Visual Studio SDK. Not only we will create the notification using InfoBar, but we will also see how to add actions so that user’s can click and take action.

How to organize VSTS build output into separate folders?

Tarun Arora on Mar 17, 2018

I have seen teams not care about the structure of the build artifact, instead add several steps in their release pipeline to unclutter the binaries generated from the build output. It is fairly trivial to control the structure in which the build output gets published as an artifact to your TFS or VSTS build. In the spirit of pushing left (DevOps way of working), in this blogpost I’ll show you how to easily structure the build output in separate folders by using the copy task in the build pipeline.

GitHub Issues Release Gate extension for VSTS Release Management

Utkarsh Shigihalli on Feb 25, 2018

We saw in my last blog post how deployment gates allow you to monitor your GitHub repo for issues in your release pipeline. Microsoft recently made release gate extension point public for all users and we thought it would be a good idea to expose integration with GitHub repo (as discussed previously) as an VSTS extension. The advantage is that you do not have to worry about other infrastructure details such as writing and deploying the Azure function etc. Instead just install our extension from the link below, write the search string for finding out issues and you are all set!

How to restore Azure SQL DW GeoBackup across Azure subscriptions..

Tarun Arora on Jan 24, 2018

If you have arrived here, you are likely using Azure SQL DW and wondering how to restore a backup from one Azure subscription to another…? While geo backup’s are enabled on Azure SQL DW by default, unfortunately there isn’t native support to restore a SQL DW geo backup from one Azure subscription to another. It’s very common for enterprises customers to keep production workloads in a separate Azure subscription to test workloads. Look no further, no matter what the question - PowerShell is always the answer!

GitHub Issues - As a deployment gate in VSTS Release Management

Utkarsh Shigihalli on Jan 23, 2018

Software teams monitor user feedback and issue reports when rolling releases across their infrastructure estate. In our (VisualStudioGeeks - Utkarsh & Tarun’s) experience Twitter and GitHub combined are the quickest way to get updates on potential problems in your software. The process of monitoring GitHub issues as a deployment gate is a manual step today, in this blogpost we’ll show you how to automate this by leveraging the power of Azure Functions and VSTS.

Automate DevSecOps with CI CD using VSTS...

Tarun Arora on Dec 13, 2017

With the adoption of infrastructure as code and development teams taking on more of the Ops activities, organizations using Azure for enterprise hosting are practically at risk of breach with every new release they roll out to these environments… In this blogpost I’ll walk you through AzSDK Security Verification Tests that can be setup in the CICD pipeline using VSTS to automate the inspection of your infrastructure in Azure and block releases that can potentially compromise your infrastructure.

Integrating VSTS Release Management with ServiceNow using Deployment Gate for Change Management

Tarun Arora on Dec 7, 2017

Are you using ServiceNow for change management and VSTS for Release Management. Are you wondering how you could automate the release approval once a change has been approved for implementation in service now…? Look no further, in this blogpost i’ll show you how to leverage the Deployment Gates feature in VSTS to integrate with service now and hopefully help you remove a manual step from your release approval workflow…

Integrating VSTS for DevOps with privately hosted Azure App Service

Tarun Arora on Oct 22, 2017

Wondering how you can make the Azure App Service private to your network by totally blocking public discoverability? In this blogpost, I’ll show you how and also show you how easy it is to use a grid of virtual machines in the cloud (in Azure Dev Test Lab), attached to the same private subnet to automate the deployment of your web application to the privately hosted Azure App Service.