T-SQL Tuesday 142 – Introducing my Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments

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For my T-SQL Tuesday contribution this month is I want to introduce my Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments.

This months T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Frank Geisler. Frank has invited us to write about deploying SQL components through descriptive methods and build some new cool templates for them.

Which is good timing for me, because I co-presented a session on the day this post is published. I showed how to use YAML in Azure DevOps for Data Platform deployments at Data Platform Virtual Summit. .

So, when I saw this invite, I had a big smile on my face. Because I was already going to release a post about YAML templates this week. For me, this was perfect timing.

You can find out more about the invite by clicking this link about their T-SQL Tuesday 142 invitation or on the image below.

Using Azure DevOps for Data Platform deployments

As some of you know, I have done a fair few posts and sessions about using Azure DevOps for Data Platform deployments. For example, my post about how to create a dacpac for an Azure Synapse Analytics dedicated SQL Pool using Azure DevOps.

In addition to using Azure DevOps to deploy database updates I have also used it to deploy Azure resources. Mostly using ARM templates or Bicep.

If you are new to deploying ARM resources, I recommend looking to use Bicep. Because it will be easier to pick up. If you must use the ARM templates, then I recommend using the extension for it in Visual Studio. Because it is useful for complex templates.

Plus, I have been doing similar things with GitHub as well. Thanks to GitHub Actions.

Introducing Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments

My repositories for the Data Platform deployments tend to be private for various reasons. However, I am being asked more about the sharing the demo code for some of them.

With this in mind, I have slowly started going through my Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments. So that I can share them publicly on GitHub.

You can either fork these repositories or import them into Azure DevOps for use. You can also import them into your own GitHub repository and use them as a source for Azure Pipelines.

All the yaml pipelines can be found in a subfolder called AzureDevOpsTemplates. I intend to keep this as standard.

Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments

At the moment, the three below repositories are available.

Inside my AzureDevOps-AzureSQLDatabase repository is a database Project based on an Azure SQL Database.

Inside my AzureDevOps-AzureSynapseSQLPool repository is a database Project based on an Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Pool.

Finally, there’s an AzureDevOps-SQLServerDatabaseProject repository. Which is a Database Project based on a SQL Server 2019 database. It contains a few useful sample pipelines. It also highlights the fact you do not need to change the target platform in order to deploy to an Azure SQL Managed Instance.

I will admit, at the moment these are basic samples. However, I fully intend to update them and add more pipeline templates when I can. Of course, you are more than welcome to reach out to me with any you would want to see.

Final words

I hope some of you find my Azure DevOps templates for Data Platform deployments useful. If they do help, I’d really like to know, as it will encourage me to do more

I’d like to thank Frank for hosting this month and his brilliant timing with this invitation. I think it’s very fitting as well. Because demand for doing these kinds of deployments is rising. I’m speaking from experience here since I was a Product Owner for a SQL Team for a large company.

Of course, if anybody has any comments or queries about this post you are more than welcome to reach out to me.