GitOps and CI/CD to Drive Superior Azure Pipelines Results

DevOps
Azure Pipelines with GitOps and CI/CD

Introduction

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, the demand for agile and reliable software delivery has never been higher. As a result, GitOps and CI/CD have emerged as transformative approaches to infrastructure and application management, leveraging Git repositories as the single source of truth for declarative configurations. Furthermore, by combining GitOps principles with tools like Terraform, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevOps Pipelines, organizations can automate infrastructure, streamline deployments, and maintain consistency across environments. In addition, this approach fosters collaboration between development and operations teams, while simultaneously addressing the increasing speed and reliability demands of modern businesses.

At our organization, we specialize in advanced DevOps solutions, utilizing GitOps practices alongside powerful tools such as Terraform and GitHub Actions to build secure, scalable, and cost-effective cloud infrastructures. With extensive experience in infrastructure automation and CI/CD pipelines, we help businesses optimize their operations and adopt efficient, modern workflows.

One of our clients, a health-tech company in the fitness industry, faced significant challenges with manual processes, inconsistent configurations, and security vulnerabilities within their Azure environment. Consequently, these issues limited their ability to scale and meet the growing demands of their user base. By partnering with them, we helped modernize their operations, ensuring a secure and seamless experience for their users.

Challenges Addressed

Challenges Addressed

The client encountered significant infrastructure challenges that directly impacted scalability, security, and operational costs. Specifically, these issues can be broken down into the following key points:

  • Inefficient Resource Management: Resource provisioning was manual and error-prone, leading to delays in scaling during peak loads and inconsistent configurations.
  • Deployment Challenges: Code updates were manually managed, which resulted in frequent deployment errors and delays. Additionally, their CI/CD pipeline exposed virtual machines to the internet via public IPs, creating significant security vulnerabilities.
  • High Costs and Security Risks: Maintaining multiple Application Gateways for each application significantly increased costs. Also, public IP-based communication exposed critical resources to potential cyber threats.

These issues underscored the need for a fully automated, scalable, and secure infrastructure solution to optimize operations and reduce security vulnerabilities.

Our Solution

Our Solutions with GitOps and CI/CD pipeline

To effectively address the client’s infrastructure challenges, we designed and implemented a modern, automated solution. Specifically, our approach included the following key components:

  • Infrastructure Automation: To ensure standardized configurations across the environment, we leveraged Terraform for resource provisioning automation. Moreover, we deployed VM Scale Sets (VMSS) to enable automatic scaling and high availability, eliminating the inefficiencies of manual resource management.
  • Streamlined Networking: Recognizing the need for secure and efficient traffic management, we consolidated all applications under a single Application Gateway. By utilizing host-based routing, we achieved seamless traffic handling. Additionally, public IPs were replaced with private IPs, significantly reducing exposure to security vulnerabilities.
  • CI/CD Automation: For faster and more reliable releases, we configured GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps Pipelines to automate build and deployment processes. Furthermore, user-data scripts were implemented to dynamically configure VMs during deployment, ensuring consistency while minimizing manual intervention.

This approach transformed the client’s infrastructure, improving scalability, security, and operational efficiency while minimizing manual effort and associated risks.

Solution Implementation

gitops implementation

Prerequisites for Solution Implementation

Before implementing the solution, certain prerequisites need to be fulfilled to ensure a seamless setup. Specifically, the following are required

  1. Azure Account:
    • Valid subscription with permissions to manage resources.
  2. Azure DevOps:
    • Access to the organization and project.
    • Additionally, a Personal Access Token (PAT) with Agent Pools and Deployment Group permissions must be created.
  3. Agent Pool Permissions:
    • User must have Agent Pool Administrator or Project Administrator roles.
  4. Access to add GitHub Secrets:
    • To securely manage the integration, ensure the ability to add the following secrets:
      • AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET
      • AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID
      • AZURE_TENANT_ID
      • AZURE_DEVOPS_USERNAME
      • AZURE_DEVOPS_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN.

By meeting these prerequisites, the groundwork is established for implementing the automated and secure infrastructure solution efficiently.

1. Creating a PAT in Azure DevOps

Follow these steps to create a PAT in Azure DevOps for authenticating pipelines and agent pool configurations:

  1. Access Personal Access Tokens:
    • Firstly, sign in to your Azure DevOps organization.
    • Then, navigate to User Settings (top-right corner) > Personal Access Tokens.
  2. Create New Token:
    • Next, click on + New Token.
  3. Set Token Properties:
    • Now, enter a meaningful name (e.g., GitHub-AgentPool-Integration).
    • Organization: Select the target Azure DevOps organization.
    • Scopes: Grant permissions:
      • Agent Pools: Read & manage.
      • Deployment Groups: Read & manage.
  4. Set Expiration:
    • Choose a token expiration period.
  5. Generate Token:
    • Click Create to generate the PAT.
    • Copy the PAT value immediately as it will not be shown again.
  6. Store the PAT Securely:
    • Finally, add it to GitHub secrets or a secure credential store.

2. Steps to Create a Self-Hosted Agent Pool in Project Settings

To set up a self-hosted agent pool in Azure DevOps, follow these detailed steps:

  1. Log in to Azure DevOps
  2. Access Project Settings
    • At the bottom-left corner of the project page, click Project Settings.
  3. Navigate to Agent Pools
    • After that, under Pipelines, select Agent Pools.
  4. Add a New Agent Pool
    • Click Add Pool.
    • Provide a Name for the agent pool (e.g., “SelfHosted-Project”).
    • Choose for self-hosted agents.
    • Lastly, click Create.
  5. Assign Pool Permissions
    • Ensure the pool is authorized for use in the project by checking the box under Pool Permissions.
  6. Download and Configure the Agent
    • From the agent pool, click New Agent, and follow the provided instructions on the host machine. Alternatively, use the following script to automate the process.
  7. Run the Agent Setup Script
    • The script automatically configures the agent with the specified pool and organization.
  8. Start the Agent
    • The script ensures the agent runs as a service and starts it automatically.
  9. Verify the Agent
    • Finally, go back to Project Settings > Agent Pools.
    • Ensure the agent appears in your project-specific pool and shows online.

3. Infrastructure Automation with Terraform

For automating the infrastructure provisioning in Azure, we used AVM modules to simplify and streamline the process. The key components were provisioned with the following AVM modules:

Each AVM module not only facilitated resource creation with minimal manual intervention but also ensured seamless integration between components. Furthermore, we made several modifications to the module configurations to address the specific requirements of our environment. These adjustments optimized performance, ensured compliance, and met the client’s unique needs.

If you require assistance with customizing or configuring these modules for your infrastructure, do not hesitate to contact us for tailored support.

4. Application Deployment with CI/CD

4.1. Steps to Obtain Azure Credentials

To set up the GitHub Actions workflow for automating Azure infrastructure management, it is essential to first obtain specific Azure credentials for authentication. The following step-by-step guide will help you retrieve these credentials efficiently.

  1. Create an Azure Service Principal:
    • Initially, navigate to the Azure Portal and go to Azure Active Directory > App registrations > New registration.
    • Provide a meaningful name for the application and select the appropriate supported account types (commonly, “Accounts in this organizational directory only”).
    • Finally, click Register to complete the process.
  2. Retrieve the AZURE_CLIENT_ID
    • Once registered, access the App registrations section in Azure Active Directory and select your application.
    • Under the Overview tab, copy the Application (client) ID. This value serves as your AZURE_CLIENT_ID.
  3. Create and Retrieve the AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET
    • Next, go to the Certificates & secrets section within your application.
    • Click New client secret, provide a description, set an expiration, and click Add.
    • After the secret is created, immediately copy its value. This is your AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET (remember to save it securely, as it will not be visible again).
  4. Retrieve the AZURE_TENANT_ID
    • Navigate to Azure Active Directory > Overview, and copy the Directory (tenant) ID. This is your AZURE_TENANT_ID.
  5. Retrieve the AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID
    • Open the Azure Portal, go to Subscriptions, and select your subscription.
    • Copy the Subscription ID, which serves as your AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID.
  6. Securely Store the Credentials
    • Finally, store all retrieved credentials securely as GitHub Secrets in your repository. This ensures that your workflows can access the necessary authentication details without exposing sensitive information.

Once you have all these credentials, you can securely store them as GitHub Secrets in your repository.

4.2. How to Add Secrets to GitHub

To ensure secure authentication for your GitHub Actions workflows, you need to store the Azure credentials as secrets in your GitHub repository. Follow these steps to add the secrets:

  1. Firstly, open your GitHub repository where you want to store the secrets.
  2. Next, go to the Settings tab in your repository, then select Secrets and variables > Actions
  3. Click on the New repository secret button to begin adding the credentials.
  4. Now, for each Azure credential (e.g., AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET, etc.), enter the corresponding name and value, then click Add secret.
  5. Once added, these secrets will be securely stored and accessible within your GitHub Actions workflows, allowing you to use them without exposing sensitive information.

By following these steps, you can securely manage your Azure credentials in GitHub, enabling safe and automated infrastructure management with GitHub Actions.

4.3. GitHub Actions

To automate the creation, deployment, and destruction of Azure infrastructure using Terraform, we implemented two key GitHub Actions workflows. These workflows help streamline infrastructure management, making it more scalable while significantly reducing the need for manual intervention.

4.3.1 Create Azure Infrastructure via Terraform

This workflow is triggered manually using the workflow_dispatch event and is responsible for provisioning Azure resources through Terraform. It enables efficient infrastructure creation with minimal manual input.

4.3.2 Destroy Azure Infrastructure via Terraform

Similarly, this workflow is triggered manually via the workflow_dispatch event. It is used to tear down the Azure infrastructure that was previously created, by running terraform destroy to deallocate all resources. This ensures that resources are removed securely and efficiently when no longer needed.

These two workflows form a comprehensive solution for managing Azure infrastructure. The Create Azure Infrastructure via Terraform workflow automates the provisioning of resources, while the Destroy Azure Infrastructure via Terraform workflow ensures a clean and efficient cleanup process. Additionally, each step within the workflows is parameterized with secrets, providing secure authentication with Azure.

Moreover, you can automate these workflows as per your requirements, and even create separate workflows for staging and production environments, enabling greater flexibility in your infrastructure management.

4.4. Azure DevOps Pipelines

In addition to GitHub Actions, we also configured an Azure DevOps pipeline for multi-stage deployments, which ensures consistency and reliability across different environments. The pipeline, defined in the azure-pipeline.yml file, is specifically designed to manage the deployment process in a highly efficient manner, offering a robust CI/CD solution for our application.

This Azure DevOps pipeline enables flexibility and scalability. You can easily modify the pool name and deployment steps according to your specific needs. To do so, simply replace <your-agent-pool-name> with the name of your agent pool. Additionally, you can customize the deployment steps based on the technology stack you’re using (e.g., Node.js, Python, Docker, etc.), allowing for greater adaptability and alignment with your project’s requirements.

By leveraging this Azure DevOps pipeline, you gain a seamless and automated deployment process, ensuring that your application is consistently deployed with minimal manual intervention.

4.5. Networking Enhancements

To improve the network architecture, we implemented host-based routing in the Application Gateway, which routes traffic to specific applications based on host headers. This approach enhances traffic management by allowing more efficient and secure routing to the correct application endpoints.

Additionally, we enabled end-to-end private IP communication between resources, thereby eliminating the need for public IPs. This not only reduces exposure to potential security risks but also ensures a more secure and streamlined communication setup across resources.

4.6. Dynamic VM Configuration

To further enhance the deployment process, we leveraged user-data scripts for dynamic VM configuration during provisioning. These scripts automatically configure VMs with the necessary settings and configurations, reducing the need for manual intervention. As a result, the infrastructure is more consistent, faster to deploy, and easier to manage, ensuring that each VM is ready for use immediately after deployment.

Benefits of the Solution

By implementing the proposed solution, we achieved significant improvements in security, cost efficiency, scalability, deployment speed, and overall infrastructure consistency. Below are the key benefits

  1. Enhanced Security: By eliminating the exposure of public IPs and switching to private IPs, we reduced security risks by 85%. Additionally, strengthening access control through private IP communication and the use of Network Security Groups (NSGs) further reinforced the overall security posture.
  1. Reduced Costs: Consolidating multiple applications under a single Application Gateway resulted in a 30% reduction in infrastructure costs. Moreover, by automating scaling through VM Scale Sets (VMSS), we optimized resource utilization and reduced compute costs by 25%.
  1. Improved Scalability: VMSS enabled seamless scaling, handling peak traffic without manual intervention, improving availability by 40%.
  1. Faster Deployments: Automation in the CI/CD pipeline led to a 50% reduction in deployment time, enabling faster and more frequent releases, as well as quicker updates.
  1. Consistency and Reliability: By implementing Terraform and automated pipelines, we ensured consistent infrastructure provisioning and deployments, which significantly minimized configuration errors, reducing them by 90%.

Conclusion

By automating infrastructure provisioning, optimizing networking, and implementing robust CI/CD pipelines, we successfully transformed the client’s operations. This comprehensive solution delivered enhanced security, scalability, and cost efficiency, all while adhering to industry best practices. Through the integration of GitOps principles with tools like Terraform, GitHub Actions, and Azure DevOps, the client was able to streamline infrastructure management, enabling greater automation and consistency. This transformation has positioned the client for long-term success, allowing them to focus on innovation while minimizing operational challenges, thus ensuring their competitiveness in an ever-evolving digital landscape.

References

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