Related Microsoft Learn Materials
- Create a new Release pipeline Staging Production Deployment Slot
- Set up pre-and post deployment approvals
- Review automated options
- Set up CD trigger
- Run the release pipeline
- Review the release
Now that the build pipeline is complete, we can turn our attention to creating a release pipeline.
Like the build templates, there are many packaged options available that cover common deployment scenarios, such as publishing to Azure.
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From the left hand menu, under Pipelines click Releases. Click New Pipeline to create a new CD pipeline to deploy the artifacts produced by the build.
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Click Empty job.
The first item to define in a release pipeline is exactly what will be released and when. In our case, it's the output generated from the build pipeline. Note that we could also assign a schedule, such as if we wanted to release the latest build every night.
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Select the associated artifact.
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Set Source to the build pipeline created earlier and Default version to Latest and click Add.
As we did with continuous integration starting on a source commit, we also want to have this pipeline automatically start when the build pipeline completes. It's just as easy.
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Click the Triggers button on the artifact.
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Enable continuous deployment, if it is not already enabled.
Just like the build pipeline, the release pipeline is really just a set of tasks. There are many out-of-the-box tasks available, and you can build your own if needed. The first task our release requires is to set up the Azure deployment environment if it doesn't yet exist. After we add the task, I can authorize access to the Azure account I want to deploy to and instruct it to use the variable name we just specified for the resource group name.
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Click the Add task button.
Search for "app service" and Add an Azure App Service Deploy task.
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Select the newly created task.
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Select the same subscription as earlier.
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Enter the App Service name of your Staging Server.
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Rename this task from Stage 1 to Staging
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Clone this task using the Clone button below the task
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Rename the new task Production
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Change the App Service name to your Production Server
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Clone the Production task using the Clone button
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Rename the task in the middle Canary
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Click on the middle Canary task, then on the Deploy Azure App Service subtask.
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Inside the subtask, choose Deployment Slot. Set the deployment slot to Canary inside your Production Server.
The release pipeline deploys to Staging, Canary and production. If the deployment to Staging fails, then deployment to the Canary deployment slot won't trigger. It is recommended to always verify if your app is working properly in Staging before deploying to production. Adding approvals will ensure all the criteria are met before deploying to the next stage. To add approvals to your pipeline follow the steps below:
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Select the Production stage, Pre-deployment conditions icon then Pre-deployment approvers.
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In the Approvers text box, enter the user(s) that will be responsible for approving the deployment.
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You can add as many approvers as you need, both individual users and organization groups. It's also possible to set up post-deployment approvals by selecting the "user" icon at the right side of the stage in the pipeline diagram.
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Select Save.
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Save the pipeline.
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Select + Release and then select Create a Release
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Select Create to start a new release.
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Navigate to the release summary by clicking on the Release-1 link that appears. Click In progress to follow the release process.
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Note that it will take a few minutes for the app to finish deploying due to heavy first-time operations.
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Select the App Service Deploy task to view the detailed log. You should find the URL to the published website here. Ctrl+Click the link to open it in a separate tab.