title: What is a recommended Develop-test-deploy strategy for Azure?
body: <p>We are new to Azure and are going to deploy our first app in the next few days. I was just wondering if we need to have a more clear cut process in place for test and deploy and how to make it more cost effective. </p>
  
  <p>This is the process I was considering -</p>
  
  <p>1.Develop on local Dev fabric</p>
  
  <ol start="2">
  <li><p>Maintain a common Build server which also hosts source control (we use TFS for both)</p></li>
  <li><p>Use the build server for local testing which feeds bugs to development</p></li>
  <li><p>Have a separate azure account for environment testing - Test-passed builds will be deployed to this account and used for environment testing</p></li>
  <li><p>Once any issues are fixed and the tests pass, deploy the same build to production account (directly from the build server, i could not think of a way to move from azure test to azure production)</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Some points I ll have to take care of - </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li><p>Data will have to be reproduced from Production to Test servers for the testing to be effective</p></li>
  <li><p>Build activities will have to be automated to reduce manual errors (especially changing account related parameters like keys)</p></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Do you guys this is fine? Or are there any loopholes in this? I wanted to keep Test account and prod account separate so that the security credentials of our prod can be kept with only key operational personnel. This is sort of what is recommended in one of the Microsoft blogs, but I wanted to get it whetted through a team of experts. Thanks in advance.</p>