Krishnakumar Subramanian - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Director at Alstom Ferroviaria S.p.A.
Reseller
Top 10
Allows us to easily build and deploy applications
Pros and Cons
  • "Overall, so far we have no major issues to report."
  • "I think that the integration is to some extent, immature."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for continuous integration. It provides us with strategic analysis. We use it to create and deploy virtual machines. In short, we mainly use it for integration and deployment.

Currently, there are five to ten of us working on conception. Soon, there will be more than 200 of us using this solution. 

What is most valuable?

The most interesting subject for me is the deployment part where you build virtual machines and enable them to learn. That's interesting to me.

What needs improvement?

As I'm in the very early stages of this story, this is a hard question for me to answer. However, I think that the integration is to some extent, immature.

Overall, so far we have no major issues to report. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been evaluating this solution for roughly six to eight months. 

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Microsoft Azure DevOps
April 2024
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How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite straightforward.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licensing costs are reasonable. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We also evaluated GitHub and GitLab. We actually have one deployment that is already ongoing in GitLab. 

Currently, we're evaluating both GitLab and Microsoft. We're trying to get a sense of which one is better for us. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would give this solution a rating of eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Project Manager at Shell Exploration & Production Co.
Real User
Good organization and structure, and the scheduling works well
Pros and Cons
  • "What I like the most is the DevOps Boards. It's easy to create a hierarchical project structure, assign tasks to people, and to track their tasks."
  • "I would like to automate notifications on sprint planning. When we are getting to the end of sprint planning, we would be automatically notified."

What is most valuable?

What I like the most is the DevOps Boards. It's easy to create a hierarchical project structure, assign tasks to people, and then track their tasks.

I also like the scheduling functionality.

What needs improvement?

I would like to automate notifications on sprint planning. When we are getting to the end of sprint planning, we would be automatically notified. 

Also, it would be nice to have a percentage complete. For example, if a task is in progress, how much of it is complete, how much is left outstanding. I'd like that to be something that the assignee fills in and that automatically reports back to me.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for six months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is scalable.

How are customer service and technical support?

I have not contacted technical support.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, I used Microsoft Project. We chose to use Microsoft Azure DevOps because I needed something that my stakeholders could access.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was very straightforward.

The time it takes to deploy is dependent on the type of deployment. Deployment of software, or deployment of the project into the software? 

It took me a week to deploy the project into the software. It's approximately 800 PBIs.

What other advice do I have?

Before implementing Microsoft Azure DevOps, I would suggest doing your research on how to configure it. It is a product that I recommend

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Azure DevOps
April 2024
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Azure DevOps. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2024.
769,599 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Himanshu  Rana - PeerSpot reviewer
Delivery Service Engineer at Hanu Software
MSP
Centralized code repository facilitates collaboration and visibility and scalability allows for handling large code volumes and deployment needs
Pros and Cons
  • "Azure DevOps is effective for repository management and code collaboration. We can create branches, differentiate between code versions, save and review code later, get PR approvals, and more. All these features are valuable."
  • "Another area is the Azure monitoring agent for Citrix machines. There's room for improvement there too."

What is our primary use case?

We use Azure Repos for most things. It integrates with Azure Boards. 

It's good for the ticketing part and for saving the Azure Repos. We use Terraform.

How has it helped my organization?

Azure DevOps integrations with other tools have streamlined our workflows.

The centralized code repository is a major part. We store code and collaborate, and everyone can see what others are doing and what code they're adding. We can review the code and make changes if needed. 

The same code used for implementation is visible to other team members, allowing them to contribute. Additionally, the Azure board interface helps create tickets and assign workloads, keeping everyone informed about progress.

What is most valuable?

Azure DevOps is effective for repository management and code collaboration. We can create branches, differentiate between code versions, save and review code later, get PR approvals, and more. All these features are valuable.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in customer service and support. Sometimes, I create a ticket for a specific issue, and they tell me it's not relevant to that ticket. 

They ask me to create a different one, basically saying they can't help with the current one. It's a communication gap. We're troubleshooting, so we don't always know the exact issue. They should let us stick with the same ticket and maybe assign a different engineer if needed. These areas definitely need improvement.

Another area is the Azure monitoring agent for Citrix machines. There's room for improvement there too.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for four months. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a very refined tool from Microsoft, so there haven't been any problems with stability for us.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is great. We can add as much code as we need, and the deployed code volume can also be scaled. 

The scalability comes in the sense of creating virtual machines using IaaS, which works really well within the suite.

I'm on the DevOps team, and around 25 to 30 of us in the team itself use Azure DevOps. So, overall, there are a lot of end users in my company. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support are good, but there are some issues when we're doing a deployment and need clarification. They're not very helpful there. Maybe there's a separate team for that. 

But in general, for project creation and work, after everything is deployed, Microsoft can help with a general support ticket. But they won't help with the planning phase. They're more like big management. So, there's a gap in the assistance we need for new project deployments.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

For ticketing, we use ServiceNow. Both solve the same problem in that regard. And for code repositories, we use GitHub. So, it's not an all-in-one solution like Azure DevOps, which has a lot of features bundled together.

Since Azure DevOps offers everything in one place, it feels more convenient. It does a bit of everything. So it's a good option because it replaces various individual tools and provides all their services in one package.

How was the initial setup?

It is very straightforward. It was easy for me to deploy. 

The deployment depends on the workloads we have. For example, deployment for setting up Azure DevOps or the application itself isn't the same.

It takes a lot of time to get the setup ready. 

Regarding setup, connecting it to Visual Studio was smooth on both Mac and Windows. Integrations are quite good. 

Deployments depend on the workload. We create virtual machines using Terraform, so it's usually fast, especially when downloading repos from Azure Repos.

What about the implementation team?

Smaller tasks like deploying a prepared code for a single service wouldn't require additional engineers. Many workflows can be handled by one person. 

Architecture is different, as the architect designs the infrastructure, which needs to be followed.

What was our ROI?

ROI depends on the cost optimization we can achieve. Sometimes, clients use heavier resources than they actually need. So it depends. 

If the environment is fully optimized, there can be significant savings, leading to a good return on investment. But they would also be paying for partner management. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

For Microsoft, it can get expensive when you need heavy-duty machines. But compared to on-premises solutions or the hardware we used before, it's still much more convenient for us. So even though it can be pricey, the benefits outweigh the cost in our case.

Maybe some more flexible payment options could improve the pricing. 

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Owner and Senior Consultant at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Simple to use, numerous add-ons, and versatile work items, but user management is difficult.
Pros and Cons
  • "The work items option is incredibly flexible."
  • "When you compare with Jira, there is a lack of progress features."

What is our primary use case?

A common use case of Microsoft Azure DevOps is the use of work items and then connecting them to Git repositories and their updates. It is primarily used for item and code management.

What is most valuable?

The work items option is incredibly flexible.

There are multiple add-ons available.

It is easy to use.

The entry point is adequate.

What needs improvement?

When you compare with Jira, there is a lack of progress features.

I would like to be able to customize the product using add-ons or a similar mechanism.

Scalability is an area where they could advance and make changes.

Unfortunately, managing users in Azure is a very complicated issue. We also have a problem with one of their other tools, which is Teams. The Team messaging has caused us some trouble because they have what is called organization, in addition to the users, but it doesn't work very well.

Technical support needs improvement.

I would like to see scalability, dashboards, KPIs, measurements, and some visual management assistance improved in the next release.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Microsoft Azure DevOps for one year.

We are using the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Microsoft Azure DevOps is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is used by 20 people in our organization.

It appears to be simple, but based on the work items and project management aspects, I believe there are few options for scaling it up in terms of dashboards and KPIs.

How are customer service and support?

I contacted technical support about managing users in Azure. Unfortunately, they were able to resolve this issue for us.

We tried several times and we did not get the answer we expected to get.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I use Jira as well as TFS.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. It is simple to install.

Other than the initial setup, it does not require any maintenance.

What about the implementation team?

It was implemented internally.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The majority of the components are reasonably priced. Testing is one of the more expensive components. When you compare it, it is approximately $3 per month for the other components and $45 or $50 for the Testing component. It costs ten times as much as the other components.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others who may be interested in using it.

I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
DevOps Engineer at Simprints
Real User
The least expensive of the competitors in this class continues to develop and benefits Microsoft users
Pros and Cons
  • "Azure is an advantage when working with other Microsoft solutions."
  • "Azure has not yet advanced to the performance level of the other major competitors and is missing integration with important technologies."

What is our primary use case?

I took a part-time job doing a mentorship to guide the students on how to use cloud computing on the AW and Azure cloud resources. For that project, we go through each and every service on cloud computing that is part of the service platform. The new technology is called server-less technology. The goal of the mentorships is showing students how to fundamentally use these resources and explain the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing over on-premises solutions.  

What is most valuable?

Currently, I do not know if there is really a single feature that stands out as the most valuable. If you consider our use case and that we were using Azure essentially as a teaching tool, it was the tool itself that was valuable.  

I do not have in-depth experience with Microsoft Azure, but it is like other services such as AWS. Currently, the number of services are increasing on Azure actually at a faster rate than with Google Cloud. If you are working with Microsoft products like Office 365 the best cloud solution would be on Azure services. The cost is also better than AWS.  

Microsoft has also built an association with other cloud products for helping to migrate your licenses to the cloud. This works out well if you have a substantial investment in licensing for Microsoft products on-premises. Being able to bring that license to the cloud is a good transitionary solution.  

What needs improvement?

I have been running reports on the availability of the major competitors in the cloud services to use as a demonstration in webinars and comparison of services. The most available solution on the cloud in user availability by minutes is Google Cloud. Google is the number one solution and the second one is AWS. The third one is Microsoft Azure.  

Compared to the availability of the other two major cloud solutions, Microsoft Azure needs to make an improvement in their availability. This report suggests that the Azure team needs to do some major changes to match the availability of the other services and make the product more competitive.  

In DevOps (software development and IT operations), server-less architecture and QNX platform integrations are things that need to be added to Azure. Currently, I am not sure that this is the case. But previously, I have had experience trying to use Azure with service and integration with the QNX platform and it is not as good as Google Cloud. Azure has improved its current set of data services on the cloud. But Google Cloud is doing more right now to bring those technologies and make them available to developers or enterprise solutions. So, QNX integration needs polishing.  

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the product for only the last two months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I have not experienced any issues with stability.  

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In general, I have seen no real issues with scalability. It is a cloud platform and scalability should usually be available on demand.  

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Google Cloud on one of my previous projects but currently, we are using the on-premise solution. So we are hosting everything locally on-premises. We do not have any current cloud provider for the business as a whole. We are using AWS for security and backup for the production environment but mostly we rely on the on-premise solutions at the moment.  

We use the S3 compute instance of AWS only. We do not use any other AWS services. We just use VM's that we create on the S3 instance.  

How was the initial setup?

Setup is not so much of an issue as the product is on the cloud. The services are essentially on demand for the product. What you do with the services is what may take more time and consideration.  

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I am not comfortable sharing the details of cost because there may be different pricing schemes, but compared to AWS, Azure is less expensive. So in the pricing in this class of services, Azure is good. It can work well for small to medium enterprises. But this solution is may not be good for those who are not enterprise-level users. Small cloud computing providers have better pricing than the bigger cloud computing providers like AWS and Microsoft Azure and may be a better choice for non-enterprise use.  

Still, Azure is priced better than AWS. Price may not be the only thing to consider.  

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have had the opportunity to use a variety of different solutions and it has not really come down to a situation where one is replaced with another. There is an ongoing evaluation of the products as newer technology including the most well known, like AW, Google, and Azure. AWS is the most expensive cloud hosting. In my estimation, that is the best product right now, but things are changing quickly.  

What other advice do I have?

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Microsoft Azure DevOps as an eight-out-of-ten. It is not quite up to the level of other offerings in some ways but it is improving all the time.  

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Senior Cloud Architect at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
CI/CD pipeline setup is user-friendly and everything is in one place
Pros and Cons
  • "The CI/CD pipeline setup is more user-friendly. You can manage various stages, and there are over 400+ plugins available for each stage."
  • "There is room for improvement on the UI side, especially with merge requests. If we compare Azure DevOps to GitLab when it comes to branches and PRs (pull requests), GitLab has a better interface."

What is our primary use case?

We build CI/CD pipelines. It's the Azure DevOps phase. Everything is in one place, like version control. CI/CD Pipelines, Release Pipelines. Everything is in there. 

So we have everything in one place basically. We use it as a complete end product.

What is most valuable?

The first thing is that everything is in one place. Azure DevOps integrates Secrets management, release pipelines, and build pipelines. 

The CI/CD pipeline setup is more user-friendly. You can manage various stages, and there are over 400+ plugins available for each stage. It's more user-friendly overall, which simplifies setting up pipelines and managing the workflows.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement on the UI side, especially with merge requests. If we compare Azure DevOps to GitLab when it comes to branches and PRs (pull requests), GitLab has a better interface.

Regarding CI/CD pipelines, Azure DevOps is improving. They're adding new plugins and making overall upgrades. For instance, they used to have only one type of pipeline, but now they have YAML-based release pipelines. Build pipelines are still under development, I believe, but their roadmap is in good shape.

They're also integrating IAM enablement directly into the UI. So, if you want to use the Azure portal to produce roles or make similar changes, you can now do that within Azure DevOps. It's a positive development. Overall, the roadmap for Azure DevOps is very strong.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for six years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is improving and looks very promising. Moreover, it's free. Initially, a subscription was required, but now Azure DevOps is provided for free if you are using the Microsoft Azure cloud and have that option enabled. 

So, it's a very stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It's agent-based. You must manually configure a pool of agents to run all your pipelines and deployments anytime. There have been some disturbances with the agent pools, but they are improving. 

Initially, there were many issues with agent pool stability, but now, as you increase and update your agent pool, it becomes more robust. There isn't automatic scalability; you must ensure the agent pools are properly configured initially.

Myentire organization uses it because many projects under this organization use Azure DevOps. There are more than a thousand end users. 

How are customer service and support?

The customer service and support are pretty good. There is a bunch of documentation out there. 

It is not to complicated to use. If there is something required, the support is accessible. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used Kitlabs, GitLab, GitOps, Jenkins, and Central Station, among others.

We looked at the features, and for one, Azure DevOps integrates all development and operations for continuous deployment in one place, which none of the other products offer in the market.

For Git, we needed repositories. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is of medium complexity compared to others. It's not too complex, nor is it too easy. It's a medium setup, and it includes all the key features. You can create departments, projects, and programs—everything is taken care of with Azure DevOps. 

It's like ServiceNow for continuous improvements and deployments in the DevOps world. Every project and support request I handle for clients has its challenges, but Azure DevOps manages these effectively.

What about the implementation team?

Deploying code to your endpoint is a one-person job. You can configure your system, integrate your CI/CD pipeline, and set up authentication on your own. 

However, at an organizational level, where roles need managing and permissions must be assigned—for example, some can only handle releases while others manage builds—you need a robust access control system. 

In such cases, you would need two to three administrators to handle everything.

People involved in the process would be Azure DevOps admins, who control everything related to permissions and Azure DevOps operations, such as setting up pipelines, running deployments, etcetera. While our application teams handle some tasks, issues like access problems or agent failures are taken care of by the admins.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend using it.  Overall, I would rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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C# Developer at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Real User
The nice thing about it is its modular design
Pros and Cons
  • "The nice thing about Visual Studio Code is that it's a modular design. So if you're working on a strange language that has a different syntax, you can just get a plugin that'll format your code for you based on the language it's in."
  • "Microsoft could improve Visual Studio by making it easier to find the plugins you need to get your job done. Maybe they could implement an AI search instead of a simple tech search. Sometimes, people come up with a catchy name for something, and you don't know how it's spelled. For example, a developer might come up with a packet wizard and spell weird, like P-A-K-I-T."

What is most valuable?

The plugins are the biggest thing. I like how Visual Studio is designed as a shell application, and then the plugins make it do what you want it to do.

What needs improvement?

Microsoft could improve Visual Studio by making it easier to find the plugins you need to get your job done. Maybe they could implement an AI search instead of a simple tech search. Sometimes, people come up with a catchy name for something, and you don't know how it's spelled. For example, a developer might come up with a packet wizard and spell weird, like P-A-K-I-T.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been working with Microsoft Visual Studio since it first came out in 1997, so about 24 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Visual Studio is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I don't think scale applies to Visual Studio because it's a developer tool. And I haven't had a lot of experience with massive projects where multiple teams are working on the same source code. I've only worked on a team of a few people.

How are customer service and support?

I think support is probably pretty decent, but I've never had to use it. I just look at Visual Studio's source code to troubleshoot it. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup is pretty straightforward. Visual Studio runs pretty fast.

What other advice do I have?

I'd say Visual Studio is a nine out of 10. If you're thinking about adopting Visual Studio, research the kind of functionality you need. The nice thing about Visual Studio Code is that it's a modular design. So if you're working on a strange language that has a different syntax, you can just get a plugin that'll format your code for you based on the language it's in.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
Director of Development and Support at MEDICARE Planos de Saúde
Real User
Stable, integrates well, and good functionality
Pros and Cons
  • "Microsoft Azure DevOps integrates well with other components, such as Synapse, which is a data warehouse tool of Azure. It is a framework platform for BI and integrated with other tools, such as Power BI."
  • "The solution can improve by adding integration with on-premise tools. The only built-in repository options are GitHub and DevOps."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Microsoft Azure DevOps for the repository for Git.

We are migrating to the on-premise version of GitLab. We do not use any advanced tools. We are planning to do more with DevOps and are evaluating other tools to incorporate in our process of development.

What is most valuable?

We use the functionality of Git for our development. We do not use the other tools that are integrated into the DevOps. We use it because we have an enterprise agreement with Microsoft.

Microsoft Azure DevOps integrates well with other components, such as Synapse, which is a data warehouse tool of Azure. It is a framework platform for BI and integrated with other tools, such as Power BI.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Microsoft Azure DevOps for approximately three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

There are other solutions available that are open source and free, such as GitLab.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are switching from Microsoft Azure DevOps to GitLab because we have the infrastructure and we are migrating part of our service to on-premise which includes our VMs. We decided to install GitLab because it is open-source, free, we can install it in-house, and we have some members that have experience with that product. We are now starting to migrate some projects.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to companies that use the incorporated services provided, it is very good to adapt as a DevOps tool.

I have not used the solution extensively enough to give the solution a higher rating.

I rate Microsoft Azure DevOps an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2024
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Microsoft Azure DevOps Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.