We have been silent for a while because we have been busy with operations, technology debt reduction, and self-service automation. We will share more on that later. In this update, we have tackled an issue that has bothered us for months, and more importantly causing some concern among our engineers using the v2 CI/CD blueprints.

LOOKING BACK

We stored all our configuration templates in a separate repository called *.Configuration.v2, protected by branch policies and monitored by our common engineering and security teams. This caused annoying delays when the team needed to change configurations and get reviews that added little value.

LOOKING FORWARD

We moved the *-config.yml from the *.Configuration.v2 repository to the same one where the team's application code and pipeline are tracked. The *-control.yml line referencing the file changed from:

variables:
- ${{ if ne(parameters.suppressCD, true) }}:
  - template: /deploy/${{ lower(parameters.portfolioName) }}/nuget-package-config.yml@CeConfiguration

To:

variables:
- ${{ if ne(parameters.suppressCD, true) }}:
  - template: /deploy/${{ lower(parameters.portfolioName) }}.${{ lower(parameters.productName) }}-config.yml@self

Note the @self which highlights that we refer to the repository where the original pipeline was found.

We also removed the following line from all *-start.yml templates:

  - repository: CeConfiguration
    type:       git
    name:       '__TODO_INSERT_AZURE_DEVOPS_NAME_HERE__/AzureDevOps.Automation.Pipeline.Configuration.v2'

The only exception is the NuGet v2 CI/CD blueprint, where the *-start.yml template remains unchanged and allows loading the centralized configuration file from *.Configuration.v2 or from the same repository as the team's code and pipeline.

- ${{ if and( eq(parameters.suppressCD, false), eq(parameters.useDefaultConfig, true) ) }}:
  - template: /deploy/default.config/nuget-package-config.yml@CeConfiguration

- ${{ if and( eq(parameters.suppressCD, false), eq(parameters.useDefaultConfig, false), eq(parameters.usePortfolioConfig, true) ) }}:
  - template: /deploy/${{ lower(parameters.portfolioName) }}/nuget-package-config.yml@CeConfiguration

- ${{ if and( eq(parameters.suppressCD, false), eq(parameters.useDefaultConfig, false), eq(parameters.usePortfolioConfig, false) ) }}:
  - template: /deploy/${{ lower(parameters.portfolioName) }}.${{ lower(parameters.productName) }}-config.yml@self

OUTCOME

Now, the pipeline and its configuration templates are version controlled and managed by the same team that owns the code, making the process simpler and more efficient.

Click here to view the associated Pull Request

Changes:

• All blueprints/wepapp/azure-pipeline-*-control*.yml templates have been updated.
• All blueprints/wepapp/azure-pipeline-*-start*.yml templates have been updated.

What else can/should/must we consider as part of our blueprints? Thoughts?