MDCMS Azure Pipeline Interface Manual English

MDCMS-Azure DevOps Interface Guide

Published June 16, 2025

Overview

The primary objective of the Azure DevOps interface is to invoke pipeline jobs defined on Azure DevOps servers to build, test, deploy, review and rollback artifacts on remote platforms from within an MDCMS RFP and to then capture the result and job details from those jobs.

This way, MDCMS acts as a centralized deployment manager across all platforms for an organization.

Prerequisites

• MDCMS v8.4 or higher must be installed and licensed on at least one IBM i partition

• MDOpen v8.4 or higher must be licensed on the same IBM i partitions

• MDWorkflow Base + Pipeline must be licensed on the same IBM i partitions

• The user(s) responsible for configuring the interface must have access to MDOpen v8.4 or higher installed in MDOpen for RDi, MDOpen for VS Code or MDOpen for Web.

• The user(s) responsible for configuring the interface in MDOpen must be authorized to MDSEC Code 5 (Attribute Maintenance) and MDSEC Code 10 (Server Location Maintenance).

• The user(s) responsible for configuring the interface in Azure DevOps must have access to the Azure DevOps Dashboard and sufficient knowledge and privileges in Azure DevOps to:

  • create service users and add API tokens
  • add and update Azure DevOps Project Plans

• The network firewall must allow bi-directional http(s) traffic between the MDCMS partitions and Azure DevOps servers. The port to allow on the Azure DevOps side is the port that the Azure DevOps server listens to.
  The port to allow on the MDCMS side is either the port defined for the MD REST API server or the port defined for the http server that forwards requests to the MD REST API server.

• The credentials for an Azure DevOps user with admin rights to the applicable organizations/projects must be known.

Configure Connection to an API Server

Before MDCMS can communicate with a Azure DevOps server, the location and credentials must be defined. The user that will configure this must have MDSEC authority to code md/10 – Server Location Maintenance.

Take the following steps to add an API Server connection:

1. Within MDOpen, connect to the repository for a partition and then expand Settings/DevOps Settings

2. Left-click on API Servers. The API Servers view will open and list any already defined servers

3. Within the view,select option Add (or Copy if a similar item already exists)

4. An editor will open with the following fields:

Once the field values have been entered, click the Save button

Test Connection to API Server

The connection can be tested by clicking on the Test Connection icon on a row in the API Server view.

The pass/fail message will be displayed in MDOpen and the detailed logging can be viewed by clicking on the Connection Logs icon.

The API consumer logs are stored as IFS files (one per day per server) in folder /MDCMS/logs/<instance>/pipeline. A log file is deleted after n days, based on the retention settings in the MDCMS Log maintenance screen. The default is to retain these IFS files for 10 days.

Map Server Users to MDCMS Users

If setting up the triggering of Release Pipelines from MDCMS, then any MDCMS developers that are authorized to approve the deployment of a release must be mapped to Azure DevOps team members. To do this:

1. In MDOpen, right-click on the API Server and select option Project User Mapping

2. Click the Get Project Users option to retrieve the latest list of users belonging to the Project

3. For each user that will be used as a Release Pipeline Approver, and isn't yet mapped to the correct MDCMS user, click on the Server User Name and then enter the correct MDCMS user in the MDCMS user field or click the content-assist icon to select from a list.

4. Click Save

Configure *PIPE Attributes

There is a special MDCMS Object Type, *PIPE, that can be assigned to an attribute. Attributes of this type indicate to MDCMS that 0 or more Pipeline jobs will be invoked for object requests assigned to the attribute when an RFP runs for a target level.

The same attribute ID should be defined for each level in a migration path so that the object requests will migrate from level to level. Then, for each level, Attribute Pipelines will be defined if any pipeline jobs should be invoked for that level. If no pipeline execution is required for a specific level, MDCMS will simply migrate the request records in the RFP without performing activity on them.

If certain artifacts will require a different set of Pipeline jobs then other artifacts, then a separate attribute should be created for them.

The user that will configure an attribute must have MDSEC authority to code 5 – Attribute Maintenance for the target Appl/Lvl.

Take the following steps to add a *PIPE Attribute:

• Within MDOpen, expand the repository for a partition and then expand Settings

• Left-click on Attributes. The Attributes view will open and list any already defined attributes based on the filter values.

• Within the view, right-click and select option Add (or Copy if a similar item already exists)

• An editor will open with many fields. Only the following fields are relevant for *PIPE attributes:

• Once the field values have been entered, click the OK button

Configure Attribute Pipelines

Once a Pipeline Server and a *PIPE attribute is defined, Attribute Pipelines can be defined to specify which Pipeline Jobs should run for which attribute at each promotion level.

The user that will configure an Attribute Pipeline must have MDSEC authority to code 5 – Attribute Maintenance for the target Appl/Lvl.

Take the following steps to add an Attribute Pipeline:

• Within the MDOpen API servers view, select option Attribute Pipelines for the server in question.
• Within the view, select option Add (or Copy if a similar item already exists)
• An editor will open with the following fields:

Once the field values have been entered, click the OK button

Attribute Pipeline Parameters

Click the Pipeline Parameters icon on a row in the Attribute Pipelines view to manage parameters that are passed to the Pipeline job on the API server.

Attribute Pipeline Parameters are passed as Parameter/Value pairs to the job when it is requested to be executed.
These coincide with parameters that are defined for the Pipeline job that are then used within the Pipeline script instead of hardcoded values.

There is 1 String Parameter that is always passed by MDCMS and MUST NOT be additionally defined within MDOpen in the list of parameters for the Attribute Pipeline. That parameter is:

• MD_TRANS

Any other parameters that are required by your script should be defined in the pipeline YAML script and in MDOpen.

Attribute Pipeline Parameter fields:

Options to manage Parameters across Attribute Pipelines

Apply attribute pipeline parameter – when this option is selected, every Attribute Pipeline will be listed where the Parameter doesn’t exist or the Parameter exists, but with a different description or value. Check the description or value checkbox for each Attribute Pipeline that you wish to apply the values of the parameter to.

Delete attribute pipeline parameter – when this option is selected (multi-select is enabled for this option), the current Attribute Pipeline will be shown at the top of the parameter deletion list with the Delete checkbox checked by default. Below that entry will be every other Attribute Pipeline where the parameter(s) are defined and the option to delete them from those entries as well.

Define the MDCMS Service Connection in Azure

In Azure DevOps, MDCMS URL REST API is configured as a Service Connection which can then be used within a Pipeline Job. Steps to define the service connection:

1. Go to the Project Settings for the Azure DevOps project that contains the pipelines to be triggered by MDCMS.

2. Click on Service connections

3. Click the New service connection button at the top right

4. Select Generic as the connection type from the list and click Next

5. The Server URL will be the endpoint defined in MDCMS in the prior chapter + /mdcms + the callback resource depending on the Pipeline type.

   For Build pipelines, the resource is /pipeline/callback
   For example: https://mysystem.mycompany.com/mdcms/pipeline/callback

   For Release pipelines, the resource is /azure/release/callback
   For example: https://mysystem.mycompany.com/mdcms/azure/release/callback

6. The username and password can be left blank.

7. Enter a name for the Service connection. This name will then be used within the build or release pipeline

8. Set Grant access permission to all pipelines to true

Add MDCMS Callback Stage to a Build Pipeline

Now that the Service Connection is defined, a final stage needs to be added to the YAML script for each Build pipeline in the project that is to be triggered by MDCMS.

1. In the Azure DevOps project, click Pipelines

2. Click on the pipeline to be triggered by MDCMS

3. Click the Edit button

4. Click the … to the right of the Run button and select triggers

5. Set Disable continuous integration to true, so that the pipeline isn’t triggered automatically by a commit to a repo.

6. Return to the YAML editor

7. Append the following syntax to the end of the script to call the MDCMS REST API at the end of the job:

stage: md_update

displayName: Updating MDCMS

condition: always()

jobs:

- job: Update_MDCMS

pool: server

variables:

- name: MD_BUILDURL

value: $(System.CollectionUri)/$(System.TeamProject)/_build/results?buildId=$(Build.BuildId)&view=results

steps:

- task: InvokeRESTAPI@1

inputs:

connectionType: 'connectedServiceName'

serviceConnection: 'MDCMS_Callback'

method: 'POST'

body: |

{

"md_trans": "$(MD_TRANS)",

"summary_msg": "GET",

"build_url": "$(MD_BUILDURL)",

"build_num": "$(Build.BuildId)"

}

waitForCompletion: 'false'

Rename the highlighted Service Connection to the name you entered in the Project Settings.

If you wish to return passthru variable values to MDCMS for use in downstream Pipeline jobs, you should add the following syntax after the build_num variable in the body:

"passthru_name_1": "<your variable name>",

"passthru_value_1": “<your variable value>"

Up to 99 passthru name/value pairs are allowed to be returned to MDCMS.

Add MDCMS Callback Job to a Release Pipeline

Now that the Service Connection is defined, a final job needs to be added to each stage for each Release pipeline in the project that is to be triggered by MDCMS.

1. In the Azure DevOps project, click Releases

2. Click on the Release to be triggered by MDCMS

3. Click the Edit button

4. Click the Pre-deployment Conditions icon for a stage

5. Enable Pre-deployment approvals and ensure that the Approvers list includes any MDCMS developers that would be authorized to request the release deployment to that environment. Each of those developers must be mapped for the Project.

6. The Approval order should be set to Any one user

7. Click on the jobs, tasks link for the stage

8. Click the … next to the parent process and select option Add an agentless job

9. Provide a job name such as MDCMS Callback

10. Set the Run this job parameter to Even if a previous job has failed

11. Click the + icon next to the job to add a task

12. Select Invoke REST API as the task type and click the Add button

13. Click on the new task

14. Provide a Display name such as MDCMS Callback

15. Set the Connection type to Generic

16. Select the MDCMS Service Connection for releases from the list

17. Set the Method to POST

18. Leave the Headers as they are

19. Paste the following JSON syntax into the Body parameter:
    {
    "release_url": "$(Release.ReleaseWebURL)",
    "release_id": "$(Release.ReleaseId)",
    "env_id": "$(Release.EnvironmentId)"
    }

20. Save the changes

Requesting *PIPE Object Requests

Now that everything is configured, it’s time to start requesting items and having them built and deployed via Azure DevOps.

The most common way for files and folders to get requested is through Continuous Integration triggered by a push to a Git repository. This process is defined in MDOpen and full instructions on that configuration is available in the Continuous Integration Knowledge Guide.

If the Continuous Integration definition is set to create *PIPE request records, then those records will be created automatically for each new/changed/deleted file if for diffs, or for all folders and files if for contents.

Each record will contain the Repository type of *GIT, the Repository ID defined in MDOpen and the revision hash of the Git commit.

If manually creating *PIPE Object Requests, you can manually add the repository information to the Object Request Detail record in the Repository fields near the bottom of the Object Request editor.

If the pipeline job requires information about the SCM repository in order to pull artifacts from it, you can pass that information dynamically as wildcards on Attribute Pipeline Parameters.

SCM Wildcards:

MDCMS does NOT physically store and migrate actual files for *PIPE object requests, keeping the MDCMS process very light and fast. Instead, it utilizes best practices to expect the pipeline jobs to retrieve the files from the SCM themselves when they need it.

If using Continuous Integration or Cross-Platform impact analysis, MDCMS will clone the SCM repository onto the IBM i partition to perform tree-walking or diff-walking, but those files don’t proceed further in the promotion process.

Other Object Request-Specific Wildcards that may be useful as parameters:

Requests for Release Pipelines

The triggering process of Release Pipelines by MDCMS is via the Approval of a Stage.

Once a release is generated out of a build pipeline, the exact name of the Release (case-sensitive) should be used as the name of the Object Request.

If the Release name is different for target environments higher up the migration path, the Object Request name can be renamed in MDCMS or MDOpen prior to submitting the RFP.

Pipeline Object Requests can also start higher up the migration path and don’t have to start at a checkout level.