Deploy to Azure App Service by using Azure Pipelines

Define a pipeline by creating an azure-pipelines.yml YAML file in your code repository.

1. On the left navigation menu for your Azure DevOps project, select Pipelines.
2. On the Pipelines page, select New pipeline, or Create pipeline if this pipeline is the first in the project.
3. On the Where is your code screen, select the ___location of your source code, either Azure Repos Git or GitHub. If necessary, sign in to GitHub.
4. On the Select a repository screen, select your code repository.
5. On the Configure your pipeline screen, select Starter pipeline.

Add the .NET Core (DotNetCoreCLI@2) task to the pipeline, and build and publish your app.

1. On the Review your pipeline YAML screen, delete all the code after the steps: line.
2. Select the end of the file, and then select Show assistant at right.
3. Under Tasks, select .NET Core.
4. On the .NET Core configuration screen, under Azure Resource Manager connection, select your Azure subscription, and then select Authorize to create the required service connection.
5. Under Command, select publish.
6. Ensure that the Publish web projects and Zip published projects check boxes are selected, and then select Add.
7. The task appears in your YAML pipeline. Review the YAML code to see what it does. When you're ready, select Save and run, and then select Save and run again.
8. On the build Summary screen, under Jobs, select the Permission needed link. On the Checks screen, select Permit, and then select Permit again. Granting permission here permits use of the service connection you authorized for all runs of this pipeline.

1. On the left navigation menu for your Azure DevOps project, select Pipelines.
2. On the Pipelines page, select New pipeline, or Create pipeline if this pipeline is the first in the project.
3. On the Where is your code screen, select Use the classic editor to create a pipeline without YAML.
4. On the Select a repository screen, select the ___location of your source code, either Azure Repos Git or GitHub, and then select your code Repository and Default branch. Select Continue.
5. On the Choose a template screen, select ASP.NET Core, and then select Apply.
6. On the new pipeline screen, under Agent Specification at right, select an agent specification such as ubuntu-latest or windows-latest depending on your app platform and version.
7. Look at the pipeline to see what it does. When you're ready, select Save & queue.
8. Select Save & queue again, and on the Run pipeline screen, select Save and run.

1. On the pipeline run Summary screen, select the More actions icon at upper right, and then select Edit pipeline.
2. Select the end of the YAML file, and select Show assistant if the Tasks list isn't showing.
3. In the Tasks list, search for and select the Azure Web App task. Alternatively, you can use the Azure App Service deploy task.
4. On the Azure Web App configuration screen, under Azure subscription, select the same service connection you set up for the previous step. You don't need to reauthorize this connection.
5. For App type, select Azure Web App on Linux or Azure Web App on Windows, depending on your code.
6. For App name, select or enter your App Service app name.
7. Select Add.
8. Select Validate and save, and then select Save.
9. Select Run, and then select Run again.

The complete YAML pipeline should look like the following code:

trigger:
- <branch-specification>

pool:
  vmImage: <agent-specification>

steps:
- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: '<your-authorized-service-connection>'
    command: 'publish'
    publishWebProjects: true

- task: AzureWebApp@1
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: '<your-authorized-service-connection>'
    appType: 'webApp'
    appName: '<your-app-name>'
    package: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/**/*.zip'
    deploymentMethod: 'auto'  

• azureSubscription: Name of the authorized service connection to your Azure subscription.
• appName: Name of your existing app.
• package: File path to the package or folder containing your App Service contents. Wildcards are supported.

For classic pipelines, it's easiest to define build and release stages in separate pipelines.

1. On the left navigation menu for your project, select Pipelines > Releases, and then select New pipeline to create a release pipeline.

2. Under Select a template, select the Azure App Service deployment template, and select Apply. This template automatically adds the necessary tasks.

   Note

   If you're deploying a Node.js app to App Service on Windows, select the Deploy a Node.js app to Azure App Service template. This template configures the task to generate a web.config file containing a parameter that starts the iisnode service.

3. On the New release pipeline page, select the Tasks tab, select Stage 1, and complete the following fields under Parameters:

   • Azure subscription: If you don't already have an Azure service connection, select your Azure subscription, and then select Authorize to create the required service connection.
   • App type: Select Azure Web App on Linux or Azure Web App on Windows, to match your code and agent specification.
   • App service name: Select your App Service app.

4. On the Pipeline tab of the New release pipeline screen, next to Artifacts, select Add.

5. On the Add an artifact screen, make sure Build is selected, and under Source (build pipeline), select the pipeline you created in the previous section.

6. Select Add.

7. On the pipeline page, select Save at upper right, and then select OK.

8. To run the pipeline, on the pipeline page, select Create release, and then select Create.

The Azure Web App task deploys to the root application in the Azure web app. You can deploy to a specific virtual application by using the VirtualApplication property of the Azure App Service deploy task.

- task: AzureRmWebAppDeployment@5
  inputs:
    VirtualApplication: '<name of virtual application>'

VirtualApplication is the name of the virtual application configured in the Azure portal. For more information, see Configure an App Service app in the Azure portal.

The Azure Web App task deploys to the root application in the Azure web app. To deploy to a specific virtual application, enter its name in the Virtual Application property of the Azure App Service deploy task.

The following example shows how to deploy to a staging slot, and then swap to a production slot:

- task: AzureWebApp@1
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
    appType: webAppLinux
    appName: '<app-name>'
    deployToSlotOrASE: true
    resourceGroupName: '<name of resource group>'
    slotName: staging
    package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/*.zip'

- task: AzureAppServiceManage@0
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
    WebAppName: '<app-name>'
    ResourceGroupName: '<name of resource group>'
    SourceSlot: staging
    SwapWithProduction: true

• azureSubscription: Your Azure service connection.
• appType: Optional app type such as webAppLinux to deploy to a web app on Linux.
• appName: The name of your existing app.
• deployToSlotOrASE: Boolean. Whether to deploy to an existing deployment slot or App Service environment.
• resourceGroupName: Name of the resource group to deploy to, required if deployToSlotOrASE is true.
• slotName: Name of the slot to deploy to, required if deployToSlotOrASE is true. Defaults to production.
• package: File path to the package or folder containing your app contents. Wildcards are supported.
• SourceSlot: Slot sent to production when SwapWithProduction is true.
• SwapWithProduction: Boolean. Whether to swap the traffic of source slot with production.

Use the option Deploy to Slot or App Service Environment in the Azure Web App task to specify the slot to deploy to. To swap the slots, use the Azure App Service manage task.

You can use jobs in your YAML file to set up a pipeline of deployments. By using jobs, you can control the order of deployment to multiple web apps.

jobs:
- job: buildandtest
  pool:
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
 
  steps:
  # publish an artifact called drop
  - task: PublishPipelineArtifact@1
    inputs:
      targetPath: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)' 
      artifactName: drop
  
  # deploy to Azure Web App staging
  - task: AzureWebApp@1
    inputs:
      azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
      appType: <app type>
      appName: '<staging-app-name>'
      deployToSlotOrASE: true
      resourceGroupName: <group-name>
      slotName: 'staging'
      package: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/**/*.zip'

- job: deploy
  dependsOn: buildandtest
  condition: succeeded()

  pool: 
    vmImage: ubuntu-latest
  
  steps:
    # download the artifact drop from the previous job
  - task: DownloadPipelineArtifact@2
    inputs:
      source: 'current'
      artifact: 'drop'
      path: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)'

  - task: AzureWebApp@1
    inputs:
      azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
      appType: <app type>
      appName: '<production-app-name>'
      resourceGroupName: <group-name>
      package: '$(Pipeline.Workspace)/**/*.zip'

To deploy to multiple web apps, add stages to your release pipeline. You can control the order of deployment. For more information, see Stages.

To deploy conditionally in YAML, use one of the following techniques:

• Add a condition to the step.
• Isolate the deployment steps into a separate job, and add a condition to that job.

The following example shows how to use step conditions to deploy only successful builds that originate from the main branch:

- task: AzureWebApp@1
  condition: and(succeeded(), eq(variables['Build.SourceBranch'], 'refs/heads/main'))
  inputs:
    azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
    appName: '<app-name>'

For more information about conditions, see Specify conditions.

In your release pipeline, you can implement various checks and conditions to control the deployment:

• Set branch filters to configure the continuous deployment trigger on the artifact of the release pipeline.
• Set pre-deployment approvals or configure gates as a precondition for deployment to a stage.
• Specify conditions for a task to run.

For more information, see the following articles:

• Classic release triggers
• Deployment control using approvals
• Deployment gates concepts

trigger:
- main

pool:
  vmImage: windows-latest

variables:
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  inputs:
    command: 'publish'
    publishWebProjects: true
    arguments: '--configuration $(buildConfiguration)'
    zipAfterPublish: true

- task: AzureRmWebAppDeployment@5
  inputs:
    ConnectionType: 'AzureRM'
    azureSubscription: '<service-connection-name>'
    appType: 'webApp'
    WebAppName: '<app-name>'
    packageForLinux: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)/**/*.zip'
    enableCustomDeployment: true
    DeploymentType: 'webDeploy'

If you're using the Azure App Service deployment template in a release pipeline, follow these steps to deploy to Web Deploy.

1. Select the Tasks tab, and then select Deploy Azure App Service, the Azure App Service deploy task.
2. On the configuration screen, make sure that Connection type is set to Azure Resource Manager.
3. Expand Additional Deployment Options and choose Select deployment method. Make sure that Web Deploy is selected as the deployment method.
4. Save the release pipeline.