Packaging Artifacts & Containers

BuildMaster can create and manage build artifacts for any deployment target, from simple ZIP files to complex container orchestrations in the cloud.

Basic Artifacts (.zip files)

An artifact is essentially a .zip file that's associated with a build, and may be deleted at any time.

They're generally used to securely store application files you want to deploy, such an ASP.NET Web Site, .jar files, or even a single Python script. But artifacts also be used to store other files related to builds, such as documentation, release notes, archived source code, "frozen" dependencies, etc.

Creating & Deploying Artifacts

Artifacts are often created during the CI/build process using the Create-Artifact operation, but it's also common to add artifacts in other ways, such as:

• Uploading a zip file to the web interface on the Build Overview page
• Capturing from a drop path on a network share
• Importing from a third-party CI server such as Jenkins or TeamCity

You can deploy artifacts using the Deploy-Artifact operation, which is optimized to only transfer files that have been modified; this will greatly decrease deployment times of large artifacts.

Artifact File Storage

BuildMaster stores artifacts on the file system, which can be a local or network file share. The path is configurable on Administration > Advanced Settings.

ProGet-hosted Packages

You can also create packages as part of your build and publish it to a feed in ProGet. Packages are essentially zip files, but they contains a manifest file that describes the contents and can be used by other tools, instead of having to be deployed by BuildMaster.

While you can create and publish any type of package, BuildMaster can keep track of Universal and NuGet packages using a Package Source.

• Universal Packages are designed for applications and components; see Create and Publish Universal Packages
• NuGet Packages are designed for .NET-based libraries; see CI/CD for NuGet Packages

Docker Container Images

You can also use Docker within BuildMaster to create container images and publish them to a private registry like ProGet.

Like packages, BuildMaster will keep track of these externally-hosted container images using a Container Source