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Connecting Azure DevOps to Zeta Alpha

This guide helps you set up access for the Zeta Alpha Azure DevOps connector.

For external apps authentication methods for Azure DevOps are currently limted to a Personal Access Token (PAT). This guide follows 3 actions:

  1. Create new user in Microsoft Entra
  2. Add user to the Azure DevOps project
  3. Create PAT for user

NOTE: In case you already have a MS Entra (service) user account you want to use, skip straight to step 9 and continue from there.

Below is a step-by-step guide for each of the 3 actions.

Action 1: Create new user in Microsoft Entra​

Log in to Microsoft Entra as a admin user (https://entra.microsoft.com/).

1. Click on Users​

Step 1 screenshot

2. Click on New user​

Step 2 screenshot

3. Click on Create new user…​

Step 3 screenshot

4. Type "zeta-alpha-crawler"​

Step 4 screenshot

5. Type "Zeta Alpha"​

Step 5 screenshot

6. Click on Copy Password to clipboard​

IMPORTANT: Be sure to keep the account email and password somewhere so you can access them later. Step 6 screenshot

7. Click on Review + create​

Step 7 screenshot

8. Click on Create​

Step 8 screenshot

Now we finished creating the Microsoft Entra user.

Action 2: Add the new user to Azure DevOps organization​

Now log into your organization's Azure DevOps as an admin user: https://dev.azure.com/my-organization.

9. Click on Organization settings​

Step 9 screenshot

10. Click on Users​

Step 10 screenshot

11. Click on Add users​

Step 11 screenshot

12. Type "zeta"​

Step 12 screenshot

13. Select the user​

Select the user created in Entra in Action 1 (step 1-8). Be sure to double check whether the email address matches the intended user. Step 13 screenshot

14. Click on Add new users…​

Click on the arrow under "Add to project".

15. Click on the project that the Zeta Alpha crawler needs to access​

NOTE: Make sure the Access Level is set to 'Basic'. Step 15 screenshot

16. Click on Add​

Step 16 screenshot

Action 3: Generate a Personal Access Token​

To create a Personal Access Token, first we need to log in with our newly created account.

17. Click on your user initials​

Step 17 screenshot

18. Click on Sign in with a different account​

Step 18 screenshot

Sign in with your newly created account using the credentials from step 6. Because this is a new account, you may need to follow a number of additional steps before you are actually login, like setting a new password. Please follow the instructions until you are actually logged in, and then proceed with the next step.

19. Click on User settings​

Step 19 screenshot

20. Click on Personal access tokens​

Step 20 screenshot

21. Click on New Token​

Step 21 screenshot

22. Type "zeta-alpha-token"​

Step 22 screenshot

23. Click on Code Read​

Step 23 screenshot

24. Click on Show all scopes​

Step 24 screenshot

25. Click on Graph Read​

Step 25 screenshot

26. Click on Identity Read​

Step 26 screenshot

27. Click on Create​

Step 27 screenshot

28. Click on Copy to clipboard​

Don't forget to copy the token. You can only access it once. If you happen to lose this token, don't worry, you will just need to create a new one. Step 28 screenshot

Share necessary information with Zeta Alpha​

Please share the following required information with Zeta Alpha:

  • Your Azure DevOps organization URL: https://dev.azure.com/my-organization
  • The projects you want Zeta Alpha to crawl (inside the organization)
  • The repo's you want Zeta Alpha to crawl (inside the projects)
  • The Personal Access Token you copied in step 28
  • Any limitations to file name (or file types) and folders you specifically do or do not want to crawl