Azure & DevOps Podcast

Today’s guest is Matt Mitrik, the Sr. Program Manager of the Azure DevOps Services Team.   Matt has been working with ALM and DevOps tools for roughly 13 years. He joined Microsoft in 2006 and has been there ever since. Originally, his journey started at the TFS Team in migration tools, helping people get from the previous generation of version control and work tracking tools. Now, within the Azure DevOps Services Team, he’s working on Azure Boards, and is helping to build that integration between GitHub and Azure Boards.   In this week’s episode, Jeffrey and Matt will be discussing GitHub with Azure Boards. They talk about the level of integration that’s going to be in Azure Boards (how they’re thinking about things right now and where they want to go), their efforts towards new project workflow and integration for Azure Boards, and the timeline Matt’s team is looking at for these changes. Matt also gives his pitch for GitHub as the future premiere offering and why you should consider migrating.   Topics of Discussion: [:47] About today’s show with Matt Mitrik. [1:13] Matt speaks about his background in the space and how he landed at Microsoft. [3:54] What works now with Azure Boards? And where does Matt want it to be? [8:33] What’s the process for moving something from Azure Repos to GitHub and vice versa? Would Matt recommend moving from Azure Repos to GitHub? [11:03] Where does the pull request feature fit in? With the work in Azure Boards or where the Git repository goes? [13:55] When a new feature is being implemented, is the right place for journaling within the user story or within the pull request? [18:34] Matt speaks about the level of integration that’s going to be in Azure Boards; how they’re thinking about things right now and where they want to go. [22:35] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [23:01] Matt talks about their efforts towards new project workflow and integration for Azure Boards. [24:41] The timeframe Matt’s team is looking at for these new changes. [25:05] The strides Matt’s team is taking with regards to integration between GitHub and Azure DevOps properties. [27:02] From a strategy perspective, what’s Matt’s pitch for GitHub being the future premiere offering and why you should migrate? [35:20] Matt talks about future options for customer feedback within Azure Boards. [39:04] What Matt recommends listeners follow-up on if they want to learn more. [40:34] Matt teases the next big thing on the horizon for his team.   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Matt Mitrik (LinkedIn) The Azure DevOps Podcast episode: “Phil Haack on DevOps at GitHub” Microsoft Teams Slack The Azure DevOps Podcast episode: “Aaron Bjork on Driving Team Productivity and Promoting Culture Through Azure DevOps”   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

25 Mars 201941min

Phil Haack joins the podcast to discuss DevOps at GitHub!   Phil has an interesting and extensive career background. He started out as a Manager of Software Engineering back in 1997. Since then, he’s done a lot — but some of his recent highlights include: being the main Program Manager at Microsoft from 2007-2011 (responsible for ASP.NET MVC and NuGet), and leading the Client Apps team as Director of Engineering at GitHub. Now, most recently, he has founded his own company, Haacked, which he started to mentor software organizations to be the best version of themselves.   In today’s episode, your host, Jeffrey Palermo, and Phil Haack, dive deep into discussing DevOps at GitHub. They talk about his role as Director of Engineering; how GitHub, as a company, grew while Phil worked there; the inner workings of how the GitHub website ran; and details about how various protocols, continuous integration, automated testing, and deployment worked at GitHub.   Topics of Discussion: [:48] About today’s episode with Phil Haack. [1:10] Phil talks about how he became the Program Manager at Microsoft in charge of ASP.NET MVC and NuGet, and what the role entailed. [4:00] The transformation Phil helped lead that continues to affect .NET developers today! [5:35] Phil shares the high points of his career at GitHub. [7:56] How Phil’s role at GitHub developed, and how (and why) GitHub went from “no managers and no meetings” to hiring on managers and starting meetings. [12:10] When did GitHub start to distribute regionally? [13:43] How many leased offices did GitHub crop up while Phil worked there? [15:25] What Phil is currently working on since leaving GitHub! [17:27] About the new book Phil is writing about GitHub. [20:07] Major strategic decisions and key aspects that gave GitHub the ability to put out features at a really fast clip for a really long time (with an incredible quality track record to boot!) [24:18] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [24:44] Architecturally, is GitHub.com one website or essentially two hundred different web applications that make up all the URLs of the website? [26:50] Was there a standard pipeline structure that GitHub maintained (or a common set of steps), or was it moreso a ship-it-however-you-can protocol per service? [27:50] If Phil had multiple services in the client application, did he have a separate Git repository for each one of those, OR, one Git repository for his team with multiple, independent services? [29:52] Did every continuous integration build have its own Git repository? [32:30] What types and quantity of automated testing did Phil pack into the continuous integration (CI) build? [33:48] Phil highlights some significant things that happened in the CI build step. [34:31] Did Phil find any good frameworks that worked out in the UI space? [35:02] What an automated test can’t tell you and why it’s so crucial to have a really good tester! [36:15] When they did have automated deployment between environments, what tools and methods did Phil use for those deployments? [38:04] For the services they were going to deploy to GitHub servers, how many environments did Phil set up in the deployment pipeline ahead of production? [41:07] The major tools on the deployment side when Phil was working at GitHub. [43:44] What Phil recommends listeners to follow-up on to continue their research!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Phil Haack (LinkedIn) Haacked MVC Framework GitHub for Dummies, by Sarah Guthals and Phil Haack Hubot Ruby on Rails Scientist.NET Electron ChatOps   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

18 Mars 201946min

On today’s episode, Jeffrey Palermo welcomes back return guest, Greg Leonardo. Greg is a Cloud Architect at Campus Management Corp. and Webonology. Greg’s main focus is to help organizations with Cloud adoption and innovation. He’s been working in the IT industry since his time in the military (1993), and is a developer, teacher, speaker, and early adopter. He’s worked in many facets of IT throughout his career and is the President of TampaDev a community meetup that runs #TampaCC, Azure User Group, Azure Medics, and various technology events throughout Tampa.   The previous episode Greg was on (episode 019 - “Greg Leonardo on Architecting, Developing, and Deploying the Azure Way”) Jeffrey and Greg discussed many topics around deploying in Azure — so in today’s episode, they’re continuing the conversation — this time getting even deeper into the topic! They’re discussing some of the topics from his book, Hands-On Cloud Solutions with Azure: Architecting, developing, and deploying the Azure way; infrastructure as code; provisioning environments; how to watch your environments; and much more on what developers targeting Azure need to know!   Topics of Discussion: [:47] About today’s episode. [2:35] Greg highlights what is so unique about deploying the Azure way. [6:04] A critical piece of the DevOps mindset is automatically provisioning and changing new environments — How does that apply to Azure? [8:03] What is a run book and how does it work? [9:10] Do the scripts to create these environments reside in Azure or do they reside in your Git repository? [10:32] Greg talks about the kinds of issues he finds when software in a system has been in place for a long time and the company is trying to transition to Azure. [14:00] Why it is so crucial to switch to automated deployment with Azure. [16:01] A word from The Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [16:25] Greg gives the lowdown on how to monitor or log environments in Azure. [19:58] Greg breaks down the pieces of what services you need (i.e. app service, Azure SQL, application insights, log analytics, etc.) for what you’re monitoring or logging and how he uses them. [24:26] How many production Azure subscriptions does Greg run? [27:30] What else Greg thinks developers targeting Azure need to know! [30:11] Jeffrey and Greg chat and reminisce about old coding and the internet. [35:37] Does Greg know of any replacements for remote application in Azure?   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Episode 019 - “Greg Leonardo on Architecting, Developing, and Deploying the Azure Way” Hands-On Cloud Solutions with Azure: Architecting, developing, and deploying the Azure way, by Greg Leonardo Greg Leonardo (LinkedIn)GregLeonardo.com Campus Management Corp. Webonology TampaDev Vets in Tech Run book Azure Monitor Azure Log Analytics   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

11 Mars 201942min

This week, Jeffrey welcomes his guest, Beth Massi! Beth is the Product Marketing Manager for the entire .NET platform. She’s also on the Board of Directors for .NET Foundation. She has been with Microsoft for over 12 years, originally starting out as a Senior Program Manager.   Beth fell in love with the .NET platform when it was first released in 2000 and hasn’t stopped working with it since — making her the perfect person to talk all things .NET with Jeffrey today!   In this episode, they discuss whether or not developers should move to .NET Core (or wait until .NET Core 3), the .NET architecture center and resources, and the open source movement. They also discuss Beth’s background with .NET, her advice to those coming into the field now, how to become a member or Board member of the .NET Foundation, and more.   Topics of Discussion: [:45] About today’s show with Beth Massi. [1:02] Beth introduces herself, talks about her career journey, and shares details of her current job and team. [11:30] Beth’s take on whether or not you should move over to .NET Core or wait until .NET Core 3. [17:06] Beth and Jeffrey talk about how many developers are taking advantage of working in .NET Framework (at least 4.6.1) which allows them to make use of the .NET Core libraries that are compiled for .NET Standard 2. [19:36] Talking Rockford Lhotka and moving apps .NET Core. [20:33] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [20:58] About the dot.net architecture center and the resources offered. [22:26] How is C# doing as far as language popularity? [25:28] Beth talks languages, which to choose, and C# competitors. [27:39] Jeffrey and Beth discuss the shift to open source within companies and the open source movement. [33:20] Beth’s advice to those just coming into the field now. [35:25] Beth explains how to become a part of the .NET Foundation Board, her role at the .NET Foundation, and what she’s looking forward to with the foundation. [37:11] How to become a member of the .NET Foundation. [38:40] How Jeffrey and Beth hope the .NET Foundation expands. [40:20] What Beth recommends you follow-up on after listening to today’s show!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Beth Massi (LinkedIn) .NET .NET Foundation Rockford Lhotka’s Blog CSLA .NET Visual Studio 2019 Launch Event   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

4 Mars 201941min

Today’s featured guest is Martin Woodward! Martin is a Principal Group Program Manager on the Azure DevOps team at Microsoft as well as the Vice President of the .NET Foundation. Martin has been with Microsoft quite a while, joining back in 2009. When he first started with Microsoft, his focus was on open source, then bringing GitHub into TFS and Microsoft, and then helping with .NET team. He even created Microsoft’s original account on GitHub.   In today’s episode, Martin and Jeffrey dive right into the topic of Azure DevOps with GitHub; discussing some of the changes since Microsoft acquired GitHub, whether you should choose to work with Azure Repos or GitHub, and how to use Azure DevOps Services with GitHub.   Topics of Discussion: [1:07] Jeffrey introduces Scott and welcomes him to the show! [1:50] About Martin’s journey at Microsoft. [6:50] Why and when Martin opened the original Microsoft GitHub account. [9:11] Martin and Jeffrey discuss some of the early projects and changes to the Outercurve Foundation (AKA CodePlex Foundation). [11:10] Is the Outercurve Foundation still going? [11:36] Martin and Jeffrey talk interesting offerings from the .NET Foundation. [16:15] How to get sponsorships for user groups. [17:40] Since Microsoft acquired GitHub, what should people be using; Git Repositories or GitHub? And is Azure Repos going to die? [21:09] Why Azure Pipelines is such a simple, powerful solution. [22:42] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [23:07] Martin addresses the “elephant in the room”: Azure Repos. [25:50] Between Azure Repos and GitHub, was does Martin see being the premiere option 10 years down the line? [30:17] The importance of having a GitHub account. [32:30] Martin and Jeffrey talk about how the industry is adopting more engineering practices and collaboration which makes DevOps work so well. [34:49] Does Martin agree with Sam Guckenheimer’s ideas on DevOps (from when he was on the podcast)? [37:09] Martin’s advice on how to use Azure DevOps Services with GitHub. [47:12] Martin’s recommendations on what to follow-up on after listening to this week’s podcast!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Martin Woodward (LinkedIn) .NET Foundation Outercurve Foundation (CodePlex Foundation) Azure DevOps User Group Meetup CruiseControl.NET Jenkins TeamCity Azure DevOps Server The Azure DevOps Podcast episode 003: “Sam Guckenheimer on Testing, Data Collection, and the State of DevOps Report” Azure Pipelines   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

25 Feb 201948min

On today’s episode, Scott Hunter joins your host, Jeffrey Palermo, to discuss DevOps capabilities in Azure. Scott is the Director of Program Management for .NET at Microsoft. When Scott first joined Microsoft back in 2007, he was working on the ASP.NET team.   As the Director of Program Management of .NET, he and his team build .NET Core, .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Entity Framework, managed languages (C#/F#/VB), as well as the Web and .NET Tooling for Visual Studio.   Join Scott Hunter and Jeffrey as they take you through the differences between .NET Core and .NET Framework, when and why you should move to .NET Core 3.0 in the future, how .NET Standard bridges the gap between these two, where all the different architectures fit into the .NET ecosystem, and an update and overview on WebAssembly and Blazor. Scott and Jeffrey also give you a preview of their upcoming book, .NET DevOps for Azure, and their motivation behind it.   Topics of Discussion: [:46] Jeffrey introduces Scott and welcomes him to the show! [2:46] Scott gives an overview of what his team at Microsoft builds. [4:10] What is .NET Core 3.0 and when should people on .NET Framework consider moving over to it? What’s the difference between the two? [11:42] How should we think of .NET Core 3.0 and .NET Framework, moving forward? [13:20] How .NET Standard bridges the gap between .NET Core and .NET Framework, opening up possibilities. [16:08] Scott gives an overview and update on WebAssembly and Blazor — an experimental project utilizing .NET Core. [20:55] Options that will be available with the .NET Core 3.0 release. [25:25] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [25:52] Some benefits of Blazor. [28:00] Would you still be deploying as an Azure website when using Blazor or does it have any changes to the deployment configuration in Azure? [28:38] Is it mandatory to use SignalR Service or are Blazor apps baked in with the framework? [30:50] With so many options in the .NET ecosystem, where do all these architectures land? For example, monolith vs. microservices. [37:24] Scott and Jeffrey give a preview of their upcoming book, .NET DevOps for Azure, and the motivation behind it. [42:36] What Scott recommends listeners follow-up on after today’s episode.   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) .NET Core 3.0 Blazor WebAssembly Mono Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) SignalR Service Monolith vs. Microservices .NET Architecture Guides DOT.NET   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

18 Feb 201943min

Simon Timms is a long-time freelance Software Engineer, multi-time Microsoft MVP co-host of ASP.NET Monsters on Channel 9, and also runs the Function Junction Youtube channel. He considers himself a generalist with a history of working in a diverse range of industries. He’s personally interested in A.I., DevOps, and microservices; and skilled in Software as a Service (SaaS), .NET Framework, Continuous Integration, C#, and JavaScript. He’s also written two books with Packt Publishing: Social Data Visualization with HTML5 and JavaScript and Mastering JavaScript Design Patterns.   In this week’s episode, Simon and Jeffrey will be discussing Azure Functions and running processes in Azure. Simon explains how the internal model of Azure Functions works, the difference between Azure Functions and Durable Functions, the benefits and barriers to Azure Functions, and much, much more.   Topics of Discussion: [:43] About today’s episode. [1:13] Simon’s career in software engineering and the high-points in his journey. [3:11] Simon gives a rundown of the options available for running backend jobs when targeting the Azure datacenter. [4:23] How is Azure Functions different from Webjobs? [7:47] How would you make the decision to run your web application or website using Azure Web Apps or App Service Plan versus Azure Functions with the consumption model? [10:01] Simon dives deeper into how Azure Functions works. [12:23] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure. [12:48] Can you use Azure Functions for things that people traditionally had running as Azure Services or a scheduled task? [13:54] About Microsoft’s new framework, Durable Functions. [15:33] Is Durable Functions ready? When should people be adopting it? [17:02] How Window queue-based services translate into Azure Functions. [18:29] How the internal model of Azure Functions works. [20:02] Azure Functions vs. Durable Functions. [21:44] How long-running business transactions look with Durable Functions. [24:30] What the testing environment and process looks like on Durable Functions. [26:26] Simon outlines some of the application types and scenarios you can do in Azure Functions. [28:28] Places where Azure Functions are not really good. [30:03] Are there any barriers to portability to going back-and-forth between hosting your job as a web job, versus hosting it as an Azure Function. [32:02] When would Simon go for Azure Batch instead of Azure Functions? [36:54] What Simon recommends listeners follow-up on!   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Function Junction Youtube Channel Simon Timms (Blog) ASP.NET Monsters Social Data Visualization with HTML5 and JavaScript, by Simon Timms Mastering JavaScript Design Patterns, by Simons Timms Azure App Service Data Factory Azure Functions Azure Web Apps Troy Hunt Have I Been Pwned? Microsoft Durable Functions The official Twitter account for Azure Functions Eduardo Laureano’s Twitter Jeff Hollan’s Twitter Mikhail Shilkov’s Twitter   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

11 Feb 201938min

Paul Stovell, the founder and CEO of Octopus Deploy, joins the podcast today. Paul is an expert on all things automated deployment and Cloud operations. He started Octopus Deploy back in 2011, but prior to that, he worked as a consultant for about five years.   Octopus Deploy is a pretty major player in the market. Their mission? To do automated deployments really, really well. Today, it helps over 20,000 customers automate their deployments, and employs 40 brilliant people. It can be integrated with Azure DevOps services and many other build services.   On this week’s episode, Paul talks about his career journey and what led him to create Octopus Deploy; his accomplishments, goals, and visions for Octopus Deploy; which build servers integrate best with Octopus Deploy; his tips and tricks for how to best utilize it; and his vision for the future of DevOps.   Topics of Discussion: [:51] About today’s guest — Paul Stovell. [1:06] Paul introduces himself and gives some background on his career journey. [3:36] Paul’s take on continuous integration in the past and now. [5:05] Paul’s original vision for his company, Octopus Deploy. [7:54] Where Octopus Deploy fits in for Visual Studio developers. [12:03] Paul speaks about the two approaches to doing deployments. [16:11] About the depth of the Octopus Deploy library. [17:27] A word from the Azure DevOps Podcast sponsor: Clear Measure. [17:54] Out of all of the build servers, which integrate best with Octopus Deploy? [19:47] How Octopus Deploy could be a big game-changer with the newest release. [26:17] When adopting a serverless environment, where does Octopus Deploy’s tentacle agent go? How does it configure? [29:23] Which tasks should go with Octopus Deploy and what’re the boundaries? [31:11] Paul’s vision for the future of DevOps 5-10 years down the road. [37:13] Jeffrey and Paul talk incident prevention and incident management. [39:16] Paul’s recommendations on where to follow-up to learn more about Octopus Deploy after this podcast.   Mentioned in this Episode: Azure DevOps Clear Measure (Sponsor) Paul Stovell Octopus DeployTeamCity Atlassian BambooRed Gate Octopus.com/blog (to join the Slack channel)   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

4 Feb 201940min