Azure DevOps Self-Host Agent

Deploy a self-host agent on my Proxmox server: - Create an LXC with Docker - Update system and install common tools - Install .Net SDK - Create agent user - Install and configure agent - Start agent as a service - Optimize Docker cache - Fill image cache - Install .Net tools

Create LXC

Using Proxmox VE Helper-Scripts, create a LXC with Debian/Docker: - CPU: 4 cores - Memory: 4096 Mo - Swap: 2048 Mo

Update system

apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

apt-get install -y \
    curl \
    wget \
    git \
    unzip \
    apt-transport-https \
    ca-certificates \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release \
    software-properties-common

Install .Net SDK

# Add Microsoft repository
wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb
rm packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# Install .NET SDK
apt-get update
apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-9.0

# Check
dotnet --version

Create agent user

# Create user for agent
useradd -m -s /bin/bash azureuser
usermod -aG docker azureuser
usermod -aG sudo azureuser

# Config passwordless sudo for the agent (optionnel)
echo "azureuser ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL" >> /etc/sudoers.d/azureuser

# Check
su - azureuser
whoami  # Must display : azureuser
docker ps  # Check if all permission is OK
exit

Install and configure agent

# Switch to azureuser
su - azureuser

# Create agent folder
mkdir ~/azagent && cd ~/azagent

# Download the agent (current version: 4.258.1)
wget https://download.agent.dev.azure.com/agent/4.258.1/vsts-agent-linux-x64-4.258.1.tar.gz

# Extract
tar zxvf vsts-agent-linux-x64-4.258.1.tar.gz
rm vsts-agent-linux-x64-4.258.1.tar.gz

# Check
ls -la

# Configure
./config.sh

# Answer to the prompts :
# Server URL: https://dev.azure.com/YOUR-NAME
# Authentication type: PAT
# Personal access token: VOTRE_PAT_TOKEN (created on DevOps portal)
# Agent pool: (name of the pool created on DevOps portal)
# Agent name: (by default, it's the hostname of the LXC)
# Work folder: (default value: _work)

Start agent as a service

# Retour en root pour installer le service
exit  # Sortir de azureuser
cd /home/azureuser/azagent

# Installation du service
sudo ./svc.sh install azureuser

# Démarrage du service
sudo ./svc.sh start

# Vérification du service
sudo ./svc.sh status

Optimize Docker cache

# Docker configuiration for optimal cache
cat > /etc/docker/daemon.json << 'EOF'
{
  "storage-driver": "overlay2",
  "max-concurrent-downloads": 10,
  "max-concurrent-uploads": 5,
  "log-driver": "json-file",
  "log-opts": {
    "max-size": "100m",
    "max-file": "3"
  },
  "registry-mirrors": []
}
EOF

systemctl restart docker

Fill image cache

docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/sdk:9.0
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:9.0
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/dotnet/aspnet:9.0-alpine

docker pull alpine:latest
docker pull ubuntu:22.04
docker pull ubuntu:24.04

Install .Net tools

su - azureuser -c 'dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef'
su - azureuser -c 'dotnet tool install --global dotnet-sonarscanner'
su - azureuser -c 'dotnet tool install --global dotnet-reportgenerator-globaltool'

# Check
su - azureuser -c 'dotnet tool list --global'