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DevOps Toolchain for Fabric Landing Zones

A comprehensive and modern DevOps toolchain is crucial to implementing and operating Azure and Fabric Landing Zones efficiently. It enables teams to plan, build, test, release, and operate infrastructure and workloads reliably and collaboratively.

Overview​

A DevOps toolchain spans several stages:

  • Plan: Agile planning, backlog management, sprint reviews
  • Build: Infrastructure as Code, configuration management
  • Integrate: Continuous Integration (CI)
  • Deploy: Continuous Delivery (CD), automation pipelines
  • Operate: Monitoring, logging, alerting, recovery
  • Collaborate: Feedback loops, ChatOps, dashboards
  • Secure: Integration von Sicherheitsrichtlinien, Code Scanning, Secret Management
  • Measure: Metriken zur DevOps-Performance (Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, Mean Time to Recovery)

DevOps Principles and Practices​

Fabric Landing Zones profitieren besonders von einem DevOps-Ansatz, der auf bewährten Prinzipien basiert:

  • Everything as Code (EaC): Infrastruktur, Konfiguration, Policy, Dokumentation und Deployments werden alle in Versionierungssystemen wie Git verwaltet.
  • Pull-Request-getriebene Workflows: Änderungen durchlaufen Peer Reviews, automatisierte Tests und CI/CD-Pipelines, bevor sie produktiv gehen.
  • Environment Parity: Entwicklungs-, Test- und Produktionsumgebungen sollen möglichst gleich aufgebaut sein, um Konfigurationsdrift zu vermeiden.
  • Shift-Left Testing: Tests (Unit, Integration, Policy) werden früh im Prozess integriert, um Fehler schneller zu erkennen.
  • Release Gates & Stages: Kontrollierte Deployment-Prozesse mit Prüfungen und Genehmigungen pro Umgebung (z. B. Dev, Test, Prod).
  • Telemetry & Observability by Default: Jedes Artefakt soll Metriken, Logs und Tracing bieten (z. B. via Application Insights).

There are two main integration models for Azure Landing Zones:

1. Full Stack Azure DevOps Toolchain​

Azure DevOps provides an all-in-one environment for planning, code repositories, CI/CD, testing, package management, and collaboration.

Key Components:

  • Azure Boards: Agile planning and dashboards
  • Azure Repos: Git repositories
  • Azure Pipelines: CI/CD with multistage support
  • Azure Artifacts: Package storage
  • Azure Test Plans: Manual and exploratory testing
  • Azure Monitor & Application Insights: Monitoring and telemetry
  • Azure Automation: Runbooks and event-based operations
  • Azure DevOps Wiki & Microsoft Teams: Collaboration

2. Combined GitHub and Azure DevOps Toolchain​

GitHub and Azure DevOps can be integrated for organizations that prefer GitHub for code management but want to leverage Azure’s native capabilities for planning, deployment, and operations.

Key Components:

  • GitHub Repos + Codespaces
  • GitHub Actions: Automation and CI/CD workflows
  • GitHub Advanced Security: Code scanning, secret scanning, dependency reviews
  • Azure Boards: Planning and tracking
  • Azure Monitor, Azure Automation: Diagnostics and operations
  • GitHub Discussions & Microsoft Teams: Community and feedback

Tooling with Visual Studio Code​

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is the preferred development environment for both GitHub and Azure DevOps workflows:

  • Native support for Azure CLI, Fabric CLI, and REST API calls through integrated terminals and extensions
  • YAML and Bicep editing with IntelliSense
  • GitHub and Azure DevOps integration
  • Debugging and live sharing support
  • Extensions for ARM/Bicep, GitHub Actions, Markdown Preview, and REST Client
  • Unterstützung für Testautomatisierung, z. B. Playwright, REST Client Tests, Power BI XMLA Tests
  • Verwaltung von Secrets via Azure Key Vault Extensions
  • Azure DevOps CLI und GitHub CLI für Projekt- und Pipeline-Verwaltung

Recommendations​

  • Choose the full-stack Azure DevOps toolchain if you’re deeply embedded in Microsoft ecosystems.
  • Choose the hybrid GitHub + Azure model for flexible collaboration and modern development workflows.
  • Use VS Code as your primary development interface.
  • Integrate Fabric CLI, REST APIs, and IaC tooling into CI/CD pipelines.
  • Automate monitoring and governance through Azure Policies, Azure Monitor, and DevSecOps pipelines.
  • Etabliere eine DevOps Governance mit zentralem Monitoring (Dashboards), DORA-Metriken und regelmäßigen Retrospektiven.

For official guidance, see Define your DevOps technology ecosystem.

Deep Dive: Advanced Toolchain Design​

Für reife Teams empfiehlt sich der Aufbau einer mehrschichtigen Toolchain-Struktur:

1. Code Layer

  • GitHub / Azure Repos für IaC, PaC, Docs, Pipelines
  • Branch Protection, PR Templates, Secret Scanning

2. Build & Package Layer

  • Azure Pipelines / GitHub Actions
  • Statisches Code-Scanning (CodeQL, SonarQube)
  • Container-Builds, Bicep-Module, Power BI Artefakte

3. Deploy Layer

  • Multi-Stage Pipelines mit Approval Gates
  • Canary- und Blue-Green Deployments für Fabric
  • Fabric CLI & REST API in Deployments eingebunden

4. Operations Layer

  • Application Insights, Azure Monitor, Power BI Monitoring Workspaces
  • Alerting & Auto-Remediation via Logic Apps oder Azure Automation

5. Governance Layer

  • Azure Policies (Policy as Code), Azure Blueprints
  • Azure Cost Management + Tagging + RBAC-Mapping

Mit dieser Architektur kannst du Fabric Landing Zones sicher, nachvollziehbar und wiederholbar in verschiedenen Stufen betreiben.

Contributors