Managed DevOps Pool - Efficient and secure DevOps pipelines?

A Managed DevOps Pool lets you manage the infrastructure you need to run a DevOps pipeline without having to maintain servers or machines – Azure handles that. You can run your pipelines on your own compute resources and focus entirely on development and deployment. Why a Managed De

Why use a Managed DevOps Pool?

A Managed DevOps Pool in Azure consists of a group of automatically managed virtual machines (VMs). These VMs carry out tasks in your DevOps pipelines, such as running tests and deploying software to different environments. Automatic scaling and updates keep the machines ready to use.

The benefits at a glance:

• Exclusive access: Unlike standard Azure pools, this pool is accessible only to you and your team.
• Additional security: By placing the pool in your own VNet, you can put security and network controls in place without compromising your DevOps pipelines.
• Protected resources: Protect resources such as container registries, key vaults and storage accounts from the public internet.
• Private Endpoints: Provide secure access to your DevOps Pool within your own VNet.

How do you create a Managed DevOps Pool?

Follow these steps to set up a Managed DevOps Pool:

1. Preparation

Make sure you meet the following requirements:

• Request a quota for your Managed DevOps Pool.
• Register the Microsoft.DevOpsInfrastructure resource provider.

2. Creating a Managed DevOps Pool

• Create a Dev Center and a Dev Center Project.
• Choose the number of agents, their size and their image. The number of agents depends on how many jobs you want to run in parallel. The image depends on the OS you want your agents to use. Choose an image based on the operating system you need, or use your own image with Docker.
• Configure the scaling options:
  • Do you want a new agent for each job, or will you reuse an existing one?
  • Do you want to keep agents on standby to minimise waiting times? (Recommended: enable standby mode.)

3. Security and Network Settings

Do you want to place the Managed DevOps Pool in your own VNet? If so, you need to create a VNet (see below). We recommend this because it gives you maximum control and security.

• Create a VNet with a subnet delegated to Microsoft.DevOpsInfrastructure/pools.
• Assign the Reader and Network Contributor roles to the DevOpsInfrastructure service principal.

Conclusion

With a Managed DevOps Pool, you can automate and optimise your DevOps environment. At DSL, we use this Azure feature to set up our solutions securely and efficiently – without compromising the development process.

Ready to get started? Read the full documentation here and take the step towards an advanced DevOps environment today! Arrange a meeting with us if you’d like advice on this.