As a passionate DevOps consultant, I am always on the lookout for the best tools to streamline the software delivery process. In this quest, I have found that one of the most powerful combinations in the modern DevOps toolchain is the seamless integration of Azure DevOps and GitHub. In this post I want to highlight how these two platforms work together to enhance product management, code management, release management, and security.
Product Management with Azure DevOps Boards
Azure DevOps provides robust features for product management through Azure Boards, allowing teams to efficiently plan and track their projects. With its integrated boards, you can easily manage product timelines, track work items, and visualize progress. Agile teams can leverage the sprint planning and tracking capabilities to ensure smooth and efficient development cycles. Furthermore, the release management features enable teams to automate the deployment process and ensure that new features are rolled out seamlessly. Azure DevOps can be integrated with GitHub repositories, allowing you to link commits, pull requests, and branches to the corresponding Work Items (User Stories, etc.) in Azure Boards.
GitHub for Code Management
GitHub needs no introduction, over 100 million developers user this platform when it comes to version control and code collaboration. It offers the ultimate development coding experience, providing developers with a secure and collaborative environment to work on their projects. The ease of creating branches, merging code, and performing pull requests simplifies the development workflow, fostering a more productive and collaborative environment.
Source Control Security with GitHub Advanced Security
As a Software Developer and a DevOps professional, I’m asked regularly to do more with less and so tools like GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) are essential to the DevOps toolchain. This service allows the developer to write secure code from the beginning. GHAS helps reduce the risk of secrets from even leaving the developers’ workstations by scanning for vulnerabilities, potential security issues, and secret leaks directly within the codebase. By addressing security concerns early in the development process, teams can avoid costly and time-consuming security breaches and deliver more reliable software. At Build 2023, the GitHub team announced this service was coming to Azure DevOps allowing for the same type of scanning services to be applied to Azure DevOps Repos.
Azure DevOps Pipelines for Automated Release Management
Choosing Azure DevOps pipelines integrated with GitHub repositories provides a winning combination of modern pipelines with YAML configuration and seamless integration. With Azure DevOps pipelines, the team can achieve full automation of the build, test, and release process, all while maintaining control of the release gates and offering product management complete visibility into the status through updates on the boards. This streamlined approach translates to accelerated and dependable software releases, resulting in heightened customer satisfaction and improved team efficiency. By leveraging this integration, teams can foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, ultimately delivering high-quality software products with greater speed and efficiency, giving them a competitive edge in the market.
Azure Sentinel for Enhanced Compliance and Governance
Azure Sentinel, Microsoft’s cloud-native SIEM and SOAR solution, can be seamlessly integrated with Azure DevOps and GitHub. By doing so, organizations can achieve an overarching governance framework from a security posture. Azure Sentinel allows teams to observe hundreds of repositories, both private and public, from a single place provides a comprehensive view of security events, enabling proactive risk mitigation. In a future post I will dive into using Azure Open AI and Azure Sentinel to define automated response actions when certain security events are detected in GitHub.
Azure DevOps and GitHub Together
The combination of Azure DevOps and GitHub offers an impressive array of features that streamline the software delivery process. From efficient product management and code collaboration to automated release management and enhanced security, this integrated DevOps toolchain ensures teams can deliver high-quality software faster and with reduced risk. Our expert team and solution offerings can help your business with any Azure product or service. Contact us directly to learn more.
