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Microsoft Releases Azure DevOps Server 2019

Azure DevOps Server 2019, Microsoft's rebranded successor to Team Foundation Server 2018, became generally available on Tuesday after being at the Release Candidate 2 test stage since January.

The new production environment-ready release was described as an "RTW" (or "Release to Web" version) by Erin Dormier, release manager for Azure DevOps, in an announcement. The RTW term, previously associated with Microsoft's service release milestones, maybe is a little confusing because Microsoft also offers a subscription-based Azure DevOps Service, announced back in September, that's hosted from Microsoft's datacenters.

However, the idea of using Azure DevOps Server 2019 is that organizations can deploy it in their own infrastructures or any datacenter. They can also use Azure datacenter infrastructure if they want to host the server there, but Microsoft handles all of the maintenance aspects when organizations use its Azure DevOps Service offering.

Users of Team Foundation Server 2012 and newer versions can upgrade to Azure DevOps Server 2019. The new server requires using 64-bit Windows Server 2012 or higher and SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 1 or higher (or the Azure SQL Database service). It'll run on Windows 10 version 1607 (Pro or Enterprise) clients, too, but that's just for individual use. The use of Windows 10 also brings other limitations, such as no SharePoint support and an inability to install Azure DevOps Server Proxy, according to Microsoft's requirements page.

Azure DevOps Server 2019 is notable for having a redesigned user interface that follows Microsoft's Fluent design concepts. Developers get access to various services, such as Azure Pipelines for continuous integration/continuous development across different languages and platforms. It has an Azure Artifacts service for package feeds and project tracking via the Azure Boards service. Testing is supported by the Azure Test Plans component. The server also works with the Azure Repos service to integrate with Git repos.

Azure DevOps Server 2019 is a server product, but Microsoft nonetheless bills monthly for use of the associated Azure services. There's even a 99.9 percent service-level agreement uptime promise when using the "paid Azure Test Plans Load Testing Service," according to Microsoft's pricing page.

Azure DevOps Server 2019 can be downloaded at this Visual Studio product download page.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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