This document discusses how PowerShell and Azure DevOps can work together for automation and DevOps practices. PowerShell is a powerful automation tool that can interact with Azure DevOps at many points, like using PowerShell scripts in pipelines to automate tasks. Custom scripts can also be packaged as Azure DevOps tasks. The document demonstrates creating custom tasks and using them in pipelines. It recommends applying CI/CD practices like version control, builds, and artifacts feeds to PowerShell libraries to distribute and manage them.

1. POWERSHELL AND AZURE DEVOPS
THE TWO BUDDIES OF DEVOPS!
Matteo Emili

2. WHO AM I?
• Systems Engineering Advisor at One Identity
• Microsoft MVP – Developer Technologies
• Professional Scrum Master 1
matteo.emili@live.com || @MattVSTS || https://mattvsts.blogspot.com

3. I AM ONLY A POWERSHELL USER

4. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

5. A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

6. WHAT I AM *NOT* GOING TO SHOW
• Interact with Azure DevOps via VSTeam or TfsCmdlets
https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/VSTeam/4.0.10
https://github.com/igoravl/tfscmdlets
• Use the Azure DevOps REST APIs for automations
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/vsts/?view=vsts-rest-4.1
• Deploy infrastructure via Azure Resource Manager
https://mva.microsoft.com/en-us/training-courses/azure-resource-
manager-devops-jump-start-8413
• Use a Version Control System (Git or TFVC)
• Best practices (?)

7. SO, POWERSHELL AND AZURE
DEVOPS…

8. …WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

9. POWERSHELL IS AN EXTREMELY
POWERFUL TOOL

10. AUTOMATION IS ONE OF THE
PILLARS OF DEVOPS

11. AZURE DEVOPS IS AN INTEGRATED
STACK
It used to be called VSTS…

12. THERE ARE SO MANY POINTS WHERE
THEY BENEFIT FROM EACH OTHER

13. SOME EXAMPLES OF SYSTEM
INTERACTION
• Full power of PowerShell on target agent or deployment group
• Deploy infrastructure with DSC or Azure Resource Manager
• Create complex set of tasks to automate as much as possible
• Integrate your custom scripts in a CI/CD Pipeline to make it behave like
out-of-the-box tasks

14. SCRIPTS ARE FIRST CLASS CITIZENS
• Re-use your set of scripts and re-distribute them internally as pre-
packed Azure DevOps tasks
• Have a consistent behaviour for free
• Leverage on variables to pass parameters
• Integrate your outputs with Azure DevOps logging system to provide an
integrated experience for the end-user

15. SYSTEM INTERACTION
FUNDAMENTALS
Demo #1
PoSh Tasks
Task Groups
Azure DevOps-ification

16. THIS SORT OF SYSTEM INTERACTION
IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE

17. YOU CAN EASILY PERFORM ALL THE
ADVANCED DEPLOYMENT PATTERNS
YOU READ AROUND

18. AND OF COURSE, NOT JUST IN THE
CLOUD…

23. AZURE DEVOPS IS AN EXTENSIBLE
STACK

24. THE EXTENSIBILITY MODEL
CREATES AN ECOSYSTEM

25. POWERSHELL IS ONE OF THE
TECHNOLOGIES AT ITS CORE

26. WHERE CAN YOU HAVE AN IMPACT
WITH CUSTOMISATIONS?

27. BUILD AND RELEASE!

28. HOW A CUSTOM BUILD TASK IS MADE
• Create the extension’s scaffolding with tfx
• Add your scripts as the core portion of the custom task (targeting
Windows)
• Edit the manifest and (if you want) add an icon
• Install the PowerShell SDK for extensions
• Re-package, publish and potentially distribute to the marketplace!

29. AZURE DEVOPS CUSTOMISATIONS
Demo #2

30. DO YOU EMBRACE CI/CD?

31. IS THERE ANY FACTOR STOPPING YOU
FROM USING CI/CD FOR YOUR
POWERSHELL LIBRARIES?

32. USE AZURE REPOS TO STORE AND
VERSION YOUR SCRIPT CODE

33. BUILD THE NUGET PACKAGE WITH
AZURE PIPELINES

34. DISTRIBUTE THE LIBRARY ON AN
AZURE ARTIFACTS FEED

35. WHY SHOULD YOU DO THIS FOR
APPLICATION CODE BUT NOT FOR
POWERSHELL SCRIPTS?!

36. YOU CAN QUICKLY CREATE AN END-
TO-END PIPELINE FOR YOUR LIBRARIES

37. YOU CAN ALSO CONTROL ITS
DISTRIBUTION AND UPDATE LIFECYCLE

38. CI/CD FOR POWERSHELL LIBRARIES
Demo #3

39. RECAP
• Extract maximum value from out-of-the-box tasks
• Integrate your PowerShell scripts with Azure DevOps Pipelines as first
class citizens
• Re-use set of tasks via Task Groups to share them with your teams
• Create custom Build or Release Tasks as Azure DevOps Extensions, for
both private and public consumption within Pipelines
• Apply CI/CD concepts to your custom libraries and store them in an
Artifacts feed to redistribute them for managed consumption

40. QUESTIONS?

41. THANKS!