Introduction The PAT(Personal Access Token) is the Azure DevOps personal access token which can be generated from your account settings and used for authentication when performing Git operations. Cons using PATs Not conducive for teamwork: If the PAT belongs to a team member who leaves the organization, the release manager or another team member will have to generate their own PAT and update the pipeline. Security risks: Similar to a password, a PAT poses risks if leaked.

Introduction When setting up your Azure DevOps pipeline for deploying a Power Platform solution, you may encounter an error message if your solution relies on connection references. The reason given was : An unexpected error occurred. This generic message does not provide much help and can occur for multiple reasons. In my scenario, it was related to the connection references in the target environment not being shared with the service principal.

Client secrets have traditionally been the go-to method for deploying Power Platform solutions from Azure DevOps, utilizing app registrations from the Azure platform. However, my personal experience has shown that this approach can be problematic, especially when you are not an application admin. It often involves wasting time figuring out why deployments have failed due to expired or missing client secrets. Even when reaching out to someone with application admin rights, they might generate a new client secret but forget to update the service connections for each service connection within Azure DevOps or the application admin does not have access requiring to reach out to someone else who have access, causing further disruptions.

Guide to Preparing setting files for Power Platform managed solution deployment This guide will walk you through the process of creating a settings file for Power Platform managed solution deployment. Refer to the posts for more details to set up Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for power platform: Power Platform ALM & Pipelines w/ Matt Devaney and Converting to Modern YAML Pipeline: Application Lifecycle Management in Azure DevOps for Power Platform for detailed steps for ALM for power platform solutions.

Power Platform Managed Solution Deployment with Connection References - Allow customisations This article explores the challenges and solutions associated with Power Platform managed solution deployment, specifically focusing on connection references and the “Allow Customisations” property. Refer to the posts for more details to set up Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) for power platform: Power Platform ALM & Pipelines w/ Matt Devaney and Converting to Modern YAML Pipeline: Application Lifecycle Management in Azure DevOps for Power Platform