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A DevOps team needs to deploy an application to an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. The AKS cluster is in a different Azure subscription and resource group than the Azure DevOps project. The team wants to ensure secure, authenticated communication between the Azure DevOps pipeline and the AKS cluster for deployment operations. Which Azure DevOps component is primarily responsible for establishing this secure connection?
- AVariable Group
- BService Connection
- CAgent Pool
- DDeployment Group
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Service Connection
A Service Connection in Azure DevOps securely stores credentials and connection details for external services, including Azure subscriptions and Kubernetes clusters. It acts as an authenticated link, allowing pipelines to interact with these external resources without exposing sensitive information directly in the pipeline definition.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Variable Groups store variables, including secrets, but they don't provide the underlying authentication mechanism for connecting to external Azure resources.
- C. Agent Pools manage agents that execute pipeline jobs, but they don't establish the secure connection to external services themselves.
- D. Deployment Groups are for logically grouping deployment targets (like VMs), primarily for classic release pipelines, and don't establish the secure connection to an AKS cluster across subscriptions.
Service Connection (Azure DevOps)
A secure way to connect Azure DevOps to external services or subscriptions by storing authentication credentials and connection details.
- Enables pipelines to interact with external resources securely.
- Supports various service types (Azure Resource Manager, Kubernetes, GitHub, etc.).
- Centralizes credential management and access control.
Memory trick: Service Connection is the secure bridge.