How do you delay and schedule a stage to only run the latest build in an Azure Devops yaml pipeline?

Question

How do you schedule a stage to run at a particular time of day in a multi stage azure devops pipeline but for only the latest build?

For example, let's say I have a combined build and release pipeline...

I do 4 check-ins that day
4 pipelines, each with a build and release stage are created (1 for each check-in). The build phases complete as the code is merged
I don't want to deploy after every check-in so I schedule the release stage to run overnight

Once it reaches the release scheduled time isn't it going to kick off 4 simultaneous deployments for each pipeline that was created that day? How would I ensure it only schedules the latest? What if I wanted to ensure it also runs that deployment stage even if there have been no code changes?

I can solve this requirement with classic releases by scheduling the release to be created and deployed at a certain time with the latest artifact. It then doesn't matter how many builds were run that day.

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 18 '21 at 03:12

How do you schedule a stage to run at a particular time of day in a multi stage azure devops pipeline but for only the latest build?

Based on your requirement, I suggest that you could use the cron parameters(Scheduled triggers) to set the deployment. Then it could schedule a stage to run at a particular time of day.

How would I ensure it only schedules the latest

To use the latest artifacts , you could add the [download build/pipeline artifacts task] 2 in your deployment stage and set the version as latest.

At the same time, you could use condition to determine the stage to run.

Here is my example:

schedules:
- cron: "0 0 * * *"
  displayName: Daily midnight build
  branches:
    include:
    - main
 
pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

stages:
- stage: A
  condition: eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'IndividualCI')
  jobs:
  - job: A1
    steps:
      - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
        inputs:
          PathtoPublish: '$(Build.Sourcesdirectory)'
          ArtifactName: 'drop'
          publishLocation: 'Container'


- stage: B
  condition: eq(variables['Build.Reason'], 'Schedule')
  jobs:
  - job: B1
    steps:
      - task: DownloadBuildArtifacts@0
        inputs:
          buildType: 'specific'
          project: 'Googletest'
          pipeline: '507'
          buildVersionToDownload: 'latest'
          downloadType: 'single'
          artifactName: 'drop'
          downloadPath: '$(System.ArtifactsDirectory)'

Result:

When you checkin changes and trigger the build , it will run the first stage(build).

When the pipeline is triggered by Schedule , it will run the second stage(deployment).

The deployment stage will download the latest artifacts.It then doesn't matter how many builds were run that day.

Thanks for this. It did help although I've now run into the issue of not being able to manually deploy a stage after the pipeline has been created. I believe it's explained here - https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/specify-manual-stages-in-multi-stage-yaml-pipeline/629260 — Konzy262, Mar 18 '21 at 18:17
Yes. You are right. This is a feature request. If the answer could give you some help, you may consider accepting it . Thank you. — Kevin Lu-MSFT, Mar 19 '21 at 01:15

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 10 '21 at 19:29

1

I'd recommend breaking out your pipelines into two distinct processes:

Build Verification: Have this run with every check-in to verify the integrity of your code.
Nightly Deployments: Run a full build & deployment on a schedule every night.

This takes the complexity out of the scenario, while still offering you build verification at check-in.

answered Mar 10 '21 at 19:29

Max Morrow

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4
13

Do you think those could be combined in the same yaml file? – Konzy262 Mar 10 '21 at 21:46
Not really. The only method that might work is using **separate branches for your nightly releases vs your build verification. In this case, you could use the **condition:** attribute to restrict which branches you'd build verification is triggered from. You'd include both a branch trigger and a schedule in this case. This would allow build verification to only proceed, while your nightly builds are released from a separate branch. I'd not recommend this though, two separate pipelines would be the cleanest way to accomplish what you're looking for. – Max Morrow Mar 11 '21 at 01:23

How do you delay and schedule a stage to only run the latest build in an Azure Devops yaml pipeline?

2 Answers2