[toredash]

Are you thinking about already-cached container images on the host level ? Not sure how AZP fits in here?

Since you mentioned it, what I've done before when it comes to improving CI builds, is to use karpenter + local SSD mounts with very large instance types in an idle timeout of ~1h. This allowed us to have very performant build machines at a low cost. The first build of the day took a while to get going, but for the price-benefit perspective it was great.

[westurner]

Are the container image repositories and the container images also "external resources" that could make CI build pod placement more efficient?

Thanks; that sounds faster than most self-hosted CI services.

[toredash]

If the image repositories were AZ bound resources, that would make the CI build process more efficient.

Or, if the resources that CI build is utilizing within the image (after the image is pulled and started) is AZ bound, then yes the build process would be improved since the CI build would fetch AZ local resources, rather than crossing the AZ boundary