Three Key Takeaways From Our DevOps Workshops
Blog|by James Roberts|27 March 2018

We love to meet up regularly with our customers, and our February UK-wide DevOps workshops gave us the opportunity to meet many who are taking the steps towards modernising their application development and embracing software deployments that need scalability.
The first session of the day was presented by Black Marble, the second session presented by Microsoft. In the north, Black Marble’s Rik Hepworth presented ““Living the dream. Real world DevOps with Azure and VSTS” and Microsoft Cloud Architect John Duckmanton presented “DevOps with Microsoft and Azure”. In the south, the presenters were Riccardo Viglianisi from Black Marble and Ben Coleman from Microsoft.
Microsoft’s Ben Coleman delivering his session.
My three takeaways from the workshops are:
- VSTS (Visual Studio Team Services) is the developer’s friend
VSTS supports DevOp practices to provide Agile CI and CD of applications in multiple languages. It also handles much of the complexity associated with deployment. Templates for the various infrastructure components are provided to stand-up the environment needed for your application. Integration is a big part of VSTS which acts as host for the many build tools and components you need for your project. There are many more aspects to VSTS though, including the ability to run both load and performance tests in the cloud, manage code, and the ability to have unlimited private Git repositories. No matter what you’re doing, whether it’s mobile, non-mobile, open source, or Microsoft, you can build and deploy through VSTS in the cloud, or Team Foundation Server (TFS) for an on-prem or a locked-down environment model.
- If you’re new to Azure and DevOps, there is an easy starting point
Azure DevOps Projects brings VSTS, Application Insights, and Azure together into one portal. Out of the box, the guided process helps you to set up and define CI/CD pipelines. It’s about the most minimal release process you can get.
- “Can we do it faster?” is really a question about the test environment
Developers know that a code base is only as good as the quality of the testing it has been subjected to. Whether your application is on-premises or in the cloud, automated build-deploy-test workflows test your changes continuously.
The workshop videos are viewable on our YouTube channel:
Black Marble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcDoGrVzdf8&t=1310s
Microsoft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnA5kLogS6g&t=4377s
Contact Grey Matter
If you have any questions or want some extra information, complete the form below and one of the team will be in touch ASAP. If you have a specific use case, please let us know and we'll help you find the right solution faster.
By submitting this form you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and Website Terms of Use.
James Roberts
Related News
Seamless Data Protection: The Perfect Marriage of Veeam and Wasabi
In today’s data-driven world, businesses face the critical challenge of ensuring the safety and accessibility of their ever-expanding volumes of data. As organizations increasingly turn to cloud solutions for data storage and backup, the combination of Veeam and Wasabi emerges...
Safeguarding Success: The Case for Acronis and the Advantages of Purchasing Through Grey Matter
In the fast-paced and interconnected world of business, data has become the lifeblood of organisations. The ability to securely store, manage, and recover data is crucial for business continuity and success. Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, offers a...
Why use RAD Studio Architect Edition?
Elevate your development capabilities with RAD Studio 12 Architect, the most advanced RAD Studio edition with the broadest feature set. RAD Studio 12 Architect can enable enterprise-level data services and integrations with Embarcadero’s homegrown tools and services, like Aqua Data...
Intel product transition information
Intel upgrade options Intel® Parallel Studio XE users, please consider upgrading to Intel® oneAPI Base & HPC Toolkit to take advantage of the latest features including functional and security updates. Intel® System Studio and Intel® oneAPI Base & IOT Toolkit...