Azure DevOps agent is the tool on which the automation pipelines will run. Microsoft has already created predefined agent pool (macos, ubuntu, linux) for administrators to run their pipelines. These agent pools can be selected using the vmImage instruction.
pool: vmImage: 'windows-latest' or 'ubuntu-latest' or 'macos-latest'
I have already documented the DevOps agent creation procedure and can be found on the below URL.
During the installation, the agent working directory should be selected. This is the installation path, where the pipelines files will be stored during the execution. Lets say for example that you select the C:\agent directory. During the installation a folder named work will be created and also some other folders as _diag, bin, externals. Inside the _diag folder the logs for the agent are saved.
As a result if you need to troubleshoot an Azure DevOps agent you should investigate the logs under C:\agent\_diag
Inside the work folder the pipeline files that are necessary for the runs are saved. For every pipeline run a new ID is created that will store all the files that are necessary for this run. This will be the run working directory and it is isolated between different runs. The numbers represent a build pipeline run and folders that begin with the letter r represent a release pipeline run.
Build pipelines -> Numbers
Release pipelines -> rNumber
Inside the pipeline working directory there is also a sub hierarchy with three folders (a, b, s).
The a folder is used for the artifacts and can be used to place output files.
The b folder is used for builds
The s folder is used for the source code checkout of repositories.
You can access these folders using the predefined variables. For example you can find the a folder with $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory) or the sources folder using $(Build.SourcesDirectory).
These predefined variables will let you interact with the building and publishing procedure and you should avoid using static entries like indicating the path itself (best practices)
