How can I use a Azure AD Service Principal to connect an Azure DevOps pipeline to an artifact feed?

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To use an Azure AD Service Principal to connect an Azure DevOps pipeline to an artifact feed, follow these steps:

1. Create an Azure AD Service Principal:

   • In your Azure portal, go to Azure Active Directory.
   • Create a new App Registration and note down the Application ID and Tenant ID.
   • Create a Client Secret or use a certificate for authentication.
2. Assign Permissions:        
   • In your Azure DevOps organization, navigate to the artifact feed.
     Go to "Settings" > "Permissions" and assign the Service Principal the required read permissions to the feed.
3. Create a Service Connection:      
   • In your Azure DevOps organization, go to "Project Settings" > "Service connections."
   • Create a new service connection, selecting "Azure Resource Manager" as the service connection type.
   • Fill in the details using the Application ID, Tenant ID, and Client Secret created in step 1

4. In Your Pipeline:

   • Use the NuGetAuthenticate@0 task with the service connection you created as the nugetServiceConnections. No PAT is required, and it will use the Azure AD Service Principal credentials for authentication. Here's a snippet of how it might look in your pipeline YAML:

    

jobs:
- job: build
  displayName: 'Build'
  steps:
  - task: NuGetAuthenticate@0
    inputs:
      nugetServiceConnections: 'your-service-connection-name'
  - script: nuget restore ...

With this setup, you eliminate the need for a PAT and ensure secure authentication through the Azure AD Service Principal. Make sure to protect your Service Principal credentials and manage their lifecycle appropriately for security.