Continuous integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD) have become essential practices for automating workflows and ensuring efficient delivery. Azure DevOps provides a robust platform for setting up CI/CD pipelines, allowing you to automate everything from building and testing to deploying your .NET Blazor Web Apps. In this article, we’ll walk through the steps to create a fully automated CI/CD pipeline for a .NET Blazor Web App using Azure DevOps.

1️⃣Setting Up the Repository in Azure DevOps

Before diving into pipelines, ensure that your Blazor Web App code is hosted in an Azure DevOps Git repository. Create a new repository in Azure DevOps or use an existing one to store your project files.

2️⃣Creating the Build Pipeline (CI)

Azure DevOps allows you to define a CI pipeline that will trigger automatically whenever changes are made to your repository. To set this up, go to the Pipelines section in Azure DevOps and create a new pipeline. Choose your repository and then select the .NET template, which will preconfigure the pipeline for .NET projects.

Here’s an example YAML configuration for a Blazor Web App:

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
- task: UseDotNet@2
  inputs:
    packageType: 'sdk'
    version: '8.x.x'   # Specify .NET 8 SDK version

- task: Restore@1
  inputs:
    restoreSolution: '**/*.sln'

- task: Build@1
  inputs:
    solution: '**/*.sln'
    buildConfiguration: $(buildConfiguration)

- task: Test@2
  inputs:
    testAssembly: '**/*Tests.dll'
    buildConfiguration: $(buildConfiguration)

• trigger: Defines which branches will trigger the pipeline (e.g., main).
• UseDotNet@2: Installs the specified version of .NET SDK.
• Restore@1: Restores NuGet dependencies for your project.
• Build@1: Builds the solution (ensuring your Blazor Web App is compiled).
• Test@2: Runs unit tests if they are part of your Blazor app.

3️⃣Setting Up the Release Pipeline (CD)

After the build pipeline successfully runs, it’s time to set up the deployment pipeline. Azure DevOps allows you to deploy your Blazor Web App to various platforms, including Azure Web Apps.

To create the release pipeline, go to Pipelines > Releases and create a new release pipeline. Link the pipeline to the build artifact generated in the CI pipeline.

You can then define the stages (e.g., Development, Production) and set up the deployment to Azure Web Apps. Here’s a YAML snippet for deploying the app:

stages:
  - stage: DeployToDev
    jobs:
      - job: Deploy
        pool:
          vmImage: 'windows-latest'
        steps:
          - task: AzureWebApp@1
            inputs:
              azureSubscription: '<Azure-Subscription-Name>'
              appName: '<App-Service-Name>'
              package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/*.zip'

• AzureWebApp@1: This task is responsible for deploying your Blazor Web App to an Azure Web App. You’ll need to configure your Azure subscription and app name accordingly.

4️⃣Monitoring and Troubleshooting the Pipeline

Once the CI/CD pipeline is set up, it’s crucial to monitor it to ensure the build and deployment processes run smoothly. Azure DevOps provides several features to help track and troubleshoot pipeline execution, ensuring that you catch issues early and maintain a stable deployment flow.

Pipeline Logs
Azure DevOps provides detailed logs for each step of your pipeline. These logs are invaluable for identifying where things went wrong in the build or deployment process. Whether it’s a failed build, missing dependencies, or a deployment error, you can navigate to the Pipelines > Runs section to view the logs.

Build Logs
If a build fails, you can view the logs to understand whether it was due to a compilation issue, missing package, or test failure. The logs show each step of the process, including restore, build, and test, and display any error messages or warnings.

Release Logs
In the release pipeline, the logs will show deployment details, including whether files were successfully copied to Azure Web Apps, whether deployment scripts ran as expected, or if there were issues with environment variables.

Pipeline Notifications
Azure DevOps allows you to set up notifications for when a build or release fails or succeeds. You can configure email notifications or integrations with Slack, Microsoft Teams, or other communication platforms to keep your team informed.

Notifications help ensure that failures are caught early, especially in a CI/CD pipeline, where automated tasks run continuously. Being aware of failures in real time allows for faster responses and resolutions.

Using Pipeline Variables for Better Debugging
Sometimes, build or deployment failures are caused by configuration issues, such as incorrect environment variables. You can use Azure DevOps pipeline variables to store configuration values that are used across different stages and jobs. These variables can be updated dynamically to handle different environments (e.g., development, staging, production), and debugging can become easier when you can clearly see and modify these values in the pipeline runs.

Retrying Failed Jobs
Azure DevOps allows you to retry failed jobs or pipeline runs without reconfiguring the entire pipeline. If a job fails due to a transient issue (e.g., network instability, temporary unavailability of a service), retrying can resolve the problem without needing to re-trigger the whole pipeline manually. Simply go to the failed job and click Retry.

Pipeline Caching and Artifacts
For better performance and faster builds, Azure DevOps supports caching and artifacts. Caching reduces build times by reusing previously downloaded dependencies and tools, while artifacts store build outputs (such as DLLs or published web apps) to be used in release pipelines. You can monitor and configure cache hit rates and artifact sizes to ensure optimal performance.

Using Quality Gates and Build Validation
Adding quality gates to your pipeline helps catch issues early in the process, reducing the likelihood of defects reaching production. You can configure Azure DevOps to check for certain conditions, such as code quality thresholds or passing unit tests, before allowing the pipeline to proceed to the next step. If any of the conditions are not met, the pipeline will fail, and you can investigate the cause in the logs.

Pipeline Monitoring Tools
Azure DevOps provides a Pipeline Dashboard, which offers an overview of the health of your pipelines. This tool shows the success rate of builds and releases, as well as detailed information about pipeline execution times, failures, and trends. This can help you identify bottlenecks or frequent failure points in your pipeline, giving you insights into potential improvements.

Environment-Specific Monitoring
If you’re deploying to multiple environments (e.g., dev, staging, prod), it’s crucial to monitor the deployment in each of these environments separately. Azure DevOps lets you track environment-specific logs and errors, which helps ensure that the right code is deployed and functions as expected in each environment. Use environment tags and log filters to identify issues that might only affect specific configurations.

Integrating with External Tools
For more advanced monitoring and alerting, you can integrate Azure DevOps with external tools such as Azure Monitor, Application Insights, or Prometheus. These tools provide deeper insights into the performance of your application after deployment. For example, you can monitor CPU usage, response times, and error rates for your Blazor app hosted on Azure and set up alerts when thresholds are exceeded.

By taking advantage of Azure DevOps’ monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities, you can quickly resolve build or deployment issues and ensure your Blazor Web App remains stable throughout the CI/CD process. With a proactive monitoring approach, you’ll spend less time on manual fixes and more time focusing on delivering quality features to your users.

Setting up a CI/CD pipeline for a .NET 8 Blazor Web App with Azure DevOps is a straightforward process that helps automate repetitive tasks and ensures faster delivery of your applications. By following the steps above, you can easily integrate continuous integration and deployment into your development workflow.

Whether you’re working with Blazor WebAssembly or Blazor Server, Azure DevOps provides all the tools necessary to automate builds, tests, and deployments seamlessly. This results in more time to focus on building features while maintaining quality and consistency across environments.