Ready-To-Code Cloud Workstations — Microsoft Dev Box

Microsoft Azure Dev Box — efficient method for Developers to code in the cloud

What is Microsoft Dev Box?

Microsoft Dev Box is a cloud service provided by Azure that offers developers self-service access to customizable, project-specific development environments, known as dev boxes. These dev boxes are preconfigured with the necessary tools, source code, and binaries, allowing developers to start coding immediately without the need for lengthy setup processes. The service is designed to support various roles within an organization, from platform engineers to development team leads and developers, facilitating a more efficient and secure development workflow.

How to Start?

The creation of a Microsoft Dev Box involves a streamlined process that begins with the configuration of the Dev Box service by platform engineers. Once configured, developers can create a cloud-hosted workstation through the developer portal, selecting the appropriate project and dev box pool to suit their needs. The process is designed to be self-service, allowing for the creation of multiple dev boxes for different tasks within a single project, which can significantly enhance workflow efficiency. Customizations can also be added to the dev boxes, enabling teams to preconfigure the necessary software for their development work.

Azure Portal Flow

1. Create a Dev Center A Dev Center in Microsoft Dev Box is a centralized management hub that allows you to group similar sets of projects together and apply consistent settings across them. It’s designed to cater to the varying needs of development teams, providing a structured environment where resources like dev box definitions and network connections are shared. With the ability to create multiple Dev Centers, organizations can tailor their development infrastructure to support specific business requirements or regional centers, enhancing efficiency and collaboration within their development operations.

Azure portal Dev Center

2. Create a Dev Box Definition

A dev box definition outlines the VM image and the VM SKU (which includes compute size and storage) that are utilized when creating the dev boxes. You can establish various dev box definitions based on the nature of the development project or the profiles of the developers. For instance, certain developers may require a specific set of developer tools, while others may need a cloud workstation with greater computing resources.

Any dev box definitions that you establish within a dev center are accessible for all projects linked to that dev center. It’s necessary to include at least one dev box definition in your dev center.

Azure portal dev box definition

3. Create a Dev Box Project

Dev Box Project define limitations for a developer to utilize and boundaries. Each project is assigned a Dev Box Center

Azure portal dev box project

4. Create a Dev Box Pool “A dev box pool is the collection of dev boxes that have the same settings, such as the dev box definition and network connection. Developers that have access to the project in the dev center, can then choose to create a dev box from a dev box pool.

Dev box pools define the location of the dev boxes through the specified network connection. You can choose to deploy dev boxes to a Microsoft-hosted network or to a network that you manage.” — learn.microsoft.com Each Dev Box Pool is assigned a definition.

Azure portal — Dev box Pool

5. Assign the DevCenter Dev Box User role to Developers To allow developer’s access to the new project we should add them to the IAM of that specific project. There is a unique role assignment for developers called — Dev Box User. There is also a specific role for Dev Box Administrator called — Dev Box Admin.

Azure Portal Role Assignments

6. Configure Optional & Additional Features

• Auto-Stop — Automatically stop the dev box on a specified time.
• Hibernation (Preview for the time being) — Pause a Dev Box which isn’t being used. Learn More
• Auto Hibernation on Disconnect (MS Build 2024) — New feature that will auto hibernate on users' disconnection.
• Connection Telemetry (MS Build 2024)
• Limitations — Configure Dev Box limit per developer.
• Project Based Catalog (MS Build 2024) — new feature to specify specific image catalog and attach it to a specific project.
• Team customizations and images

Ready to Start Coding?

az devcenter dev dev-box create --dev-box-name "test-devbox1" --pool "devbox-pool1" --project "devbox-project1" --dev-center "devbox-center-demo1"

This will create a new Dev Box named test-devbox1 using AzureCLI

az devcenter dev dev-box start --dev-box-name "test-devbox1" --dev-center "devbox-center-demo1" --project "devbox-project1" --pool "devbox-pool1"

Start the Dev Box

az devcenter dev dev-box show-remote-connection --dev-box-name "test-devbox1" --dev-center "devbox-center-demo1" --project "devbox-project1" --pool "devbox-pool1"

Show remote connection

Afterwards feel free to use any RDP client to connect to your new Dev Box with the remote connection info. Have fun!