Minimize Queued Builds and Improve Build Times with Azure DevOps | Contoso

Minimize Queued Builds and Improve Build Times

Question

You have a free tier of an Azure DevOps organization named Contoso. Contoso contains 10 private projects. Each project has multiple jobs with no dependencies. The build process requires access to resource files located in an on-premises file system.

You frequently run the jobs on five self-hosted agents but experience long build times and frequently queued builds.

You need to minimize the number of queued builds and the time it takes to run the builds.

What should you do?

Answers

Explanations

Click on the arrows to vote for the correct answer

A. B. C. D.

B

If you want Azure Pipelines to orchestrate your builds and releases, but use your own machines to run them, use self-hosted parallel jobs. For self-hosted parallel jobs, you'll start by deploying our self-hosted agents on your machines. You can register any number of these self-hosted agents in your organization.

Incorrect:

Not D: Microsoft-hosted CI/CD -

If you want to run your jobs on machines that Microsoft manages, use Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs. Your jobs run on our pool of Microsoft-hosted agents.

We provide a free tier of service by default in every organization.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/licensing/concurrent-jobs

Option A: Configure the pipelines to use the Microsoft-hosted agents. This option suggests that you configure the pipelines to use the Microsoft-hosted agents instead of the self-hosted agents that you are currently using. Microsoft-hosted agents are virtual machines that are maintained and managed by Microsoft, and they can be used to build, test, and deploy code without the need for managing and maintaining the infrastructure. This option can help to reduce the build times and minimize the number of queued builds since Microsoft-hosted agents are designed to be highly available and scalable. However, if your build process requires access to resource files located in an on-premises file system, this option may not be suitable for you since Microsoft-hosted agents do not have direct access to your on-premises resources.

Option B: Register additional self-hosted agents. This option suggests that you register additional self-hosted agents to the existing pool of agents that you are currently using. Registering additional self-hosted agents can help to reduce the build times and minimize the number of queued builds since there will be more agents available to handle the workload. However, this option may require additional hardware and infrastructure to manage and maintain the additional agents, which can be costly and time-consuming.

Option C: Purchase self-hosted parallel jobs. This option suggests that you purchase self-hosted parallel jobs, which can help to increase the capacity of your build infrastructure and reduce build times. Self-hosted parallel jobs allow you to run multiple jobs in parallel on a single self-hosted agent, which can help to reduce the number of queued builds and improve build times. However, this option can be expensive, and it may not be suitable if your workload is not consistent or if you do not have the necessary resources to manage and maintain the additional parallel jobs.

Option D: Purchase Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs. This option suggests that you purchase Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs, which can help to increase the capacity of your build infrastructure and reduce build times. Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs allow you to run multiple jobs in parallel on a Microsoft-hosted agent, which can help to reduce the number of queued builds and improve build times. However, as with option A, this option may not be suitable if your build process requires access to resource files located in an on-premises file system.

In summary, based on the information provided, option B (register additional self-hosted agents) appears to be the most appropriate solution since it can help to reduce the build times and minimize the number of queued builds without requiring significant changes to your existing infrastructure. However, if you have the necessary resources and budget, options C (purchase self-hosted parallel jobs) and D (purchase Microsoft-hosted parallel jobs) can also be effective solutions. Option A (configure the pipelines to use the Microsoft-hosted agents) may not be suitable if your build process requires access to resource files located in an on-premises file system.