CloudOps Camp: 03/03/21

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

What is Azure DevOps?

Azure DevOps is a set of tools from Microsoft that helps software teams manage their projects, write and test code, and deploy applications. It brings together several key services to streamline the entire development process.

Here's an example to show how it works:

Project: Building a New Website

Planning with Azure Boards:

Your team starts by using Azure Boards to organize and track tasks. They create a list of features, bugs, and other tasks, and use a Kanban board to see what's in progress, what's done, and what's coming up next. This helps everyone stay on the same page and prioritize work effectively.

Code Management with Azure Repos:

As developers write code for the website, they save it to a Git repository in Azure Repos. This version control system allows multiple developers to work together, keeping track of changes and making sure nothing gets lost.

Building and Deploying with Azure Pipelines:

Whenever new code is pushed to the repository, Azure Pipelines automatically builds the application and runs tests to check for any issues. If everything looks good, it deploys the website to a staging environment where it can be tested further.

Testing with Azure Test Plans:

QA testers use Azure Test Plans to manage and run test cases. They can perform manual tests and automate some to ensure everything works as expected before the website goes live.

Managing Artifacts with Azure Artifacts:

The project uses some third-party libraries and tools. Azure Artifacts helps manage these packages, making sure they're available and up-to-date, so the website runs smoothly.

How to Install Minikube

Minikube is a great tool for running Kubernetes locally on your machine. Let’s walk through the setup step by step.

What You Need First

Hypervisor: Minikube needs a virtual machine (VM) to run Kubernetes. You can use VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V (for Windows), or Docker. Make sure you’ve got one of these installed.
kubectl: This is the command-line tool for Kubernetes. You can get it from the Kubernetes website.

Installation Steps

Get Minikube
- On Windows:
  1. Download the Minikube executable from the Minikube GitHub releases page. Look for minikube-windows-amd64.exe.
  2. Rename the file to minikube.exe and put it in a folder that's in your system’s PATH, like C:\Program Files\.
- On macOS:
  1. The easiest way is to use Homebrew. Open a terminal and run:
```
brew install minikube
```
- On Linux:
  1. Download the Minikube binary:
```
curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
```
  2. Make it executable:
```
chmod +x minikube-linux-amd64
```
  3. Move it to a directory in your PATH:
```
sudo mv minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube
```
Start Minikube
- Open your terminal or command prompt.
- To start Minikube, use the driver that matches your setup. For example, with VirtualBox:
```
minikube start --driver=virtualbox
```
  Or with Docker:
```
minikube start --driver=docker
```
- Minikube will now download and set up a virtual machine with Kubernetes. This might take a few minutes.
Check Everything’s Running
- To see if Minikube is up and running:
```
minikube status
```
- Verify that kubectl is set up to work with Minikube:
```
kubectl cluster-info
```
- You should see info about your Kubernetes cluster.
Optional: Open the Kubernetes Dashboard
Minikube includes a handy dashboard. To open it in your web browser, run:
```
minikube dashboard
```

Extra Tips

Updating Minikube: To check for updates, run:
```
minikube update-check
```
Stopping Minikube: When you’re done, you can stop it with:
```
minikube stop
```
Deleting Minikube: To remove the VM and everything associated with it:
```
minikube delete
```

And that’s it! You should now have Minikube up and running. If you hit any snags, the Minikube documentation and community are great resources.