AZ-400 Practice Test 22 — 15 Questions

Question 1

The pipeline above fails with: 'The deployment job 'DeployToProd' references environment 'Production' which does not exist.' What should you do to resolve this error?

Accepted Answer

Create an environment named 'Production' in Azure DevOps project settings.. Option D is correct because creating the 'Production' environment in Azure DevOps will resolve the reference. Option A is wrong because changing to runOnce doesn't fix missing environment. Option B is wrong because adding a new job doesn't help. Option C is wrong because removing the environment reference removes the deployment strategy.

Answer

Remove the 'environment' property from the deployment job.

Answer

Change the deployment strategy from 'runOnce' to 'rolling'.

Answer

Add a script step before the deployment job to create the environment.

Question 2

Your team wants to implement automated testing in the build pipeline. You need to ensure that tests run and results are published. Which TWO tasks should you include?

Accepted Answer

Visual Studio Test task. Option A is correct because the VSTest task runs tests. Option C is correct because the Publish Test Results task publishes results. Option B is wrong because the Copy Files task copies files, not runs tests. Option D is wrong because the Publish Build Artifacts task publishes artifacts, not test results. Option E is wrong because the Azure PowerShell task runs scripts, not tests.

Answer

Publish Build Artifacts task

Answer

Copy Files task

Answer

Azure PowerShell task

Question 3

You have a multi-stage YAML pipeline in Azure DevOps that deploys to multiple environments. The pipeline uses a deployment job with environment approvals. You need to ensure that the deployment to the production environment is only triggered after a manual approval is granted. However, you also want the deployment to automatically roll back if the post-deployment health check fails. Which configuration should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Enable 'Auto-revert' on the production environment and set post-deployment conditions.. In Azure Pipelines, environment approvals provide manual gate before deployment. The 'post-deployment auto-revert' feature can be enabled on the environment to automatically revert to the previous successful deployment if the post-deployment conditions (like health checks) fail. Option D is correct. Option A is incorrect because the approval is pre-deployment, not post-deployment. Option B is incorrect because approvers cannot trigger rollback automatically. Option C is incorrect because 'Automatically revert' is the feature name.

Answer

Use a release pipeline with a pre-deployment approval and a post-deployment automatic rollback trigger.

Answer

Configure pre-deployment approvals on the production environment and use a post-deployment gate that fails the deployment.

Answer

Configure pre-deployment approvals and add a manual intervention task to roll back if health check fails.

Question 4

Your Azure DevOps pipeline uses a YAML template that defines variables. You want to override a variable value when running the pipeline manually. What is the best approach?

Accepted Answer

Use the 'Variables' tab in the pipeline run UI to set a new value for the variable.. Option A is correct because Azure DevOps allows you to set pipeline variables at queue time, which override template variables. Option B is incorrect because it would require modifying the template. Option C is incorrect because variable groups are for shared variables, not for overriding. Option D is incorrect because the 'Override' parameter is not a YAML template parameter.

Answer

Create a variable group and link it to the pipeline.

Answer

Edit the template YAML file to hardcode the desired value.

Answer

Define a parameter in the template and pass the value via the 'Override' parameter in the pipeline.

Question 5

Your team is designing a build pipeline for a Java application that uses Maven. The pipeline must run unit tests and integration tests separately, and fail the build if integration tests fail. However, integration tests require a running database container. Which approach should you use to ensure the database is available for the integration tests?

Accepted Answer

Use a Docker Compose task in the pipeline to start the database container before running integration tests.. Option B is correct because Docker Compose allows you to define and run multi-container Docker applications, making it easy to spin up a database container for integration tests. Option A is incorrect because it requires manual steps and is not automated. Option C is incorrect because a self-hosted agent with preinstalled database reduces flexibility. Option D is incorrect because it's not a feature of Azure DevOps.

Answer

Configure the pipeline to use a self-hosted agent that has the database already installed and running.

Answer

Install the database as a service in the pipeline using the Service Fabric task.

Answer

Use a PowerShell script in the pipeline to install and start the database on the build agent.

Question 6

Your organization uses GitHub Actions for CI/CD. You need to ensure that deployment to production only occurs after a successful deployment to a staging environment and requires approval from a senior developer. The deployment workflow is defined in a single YAML file. What is the most efficient way to achieve this?

Accepted Answer

Use two environments (staging and production) with required reviewers on the production environment, and use conditional steps to deploy to staging first.. Option C is correct because GitHub Actions supports environment protection rules, including required reviewers, and environment variables can control deployment steps. Option A is incorrect because matrix builds are for parallel builds, not sequential approvals. Option B is incorrect because workflow run is not a step. Option D is incorrect because manual triggers don't enforce sequential deployment.

Answer

Add a step that pauses the pipeline until a manual approval is received via a custom webhook.

Answer

Use a workflow_dispatch trigger and require the senior developer to manually run the production deployment.

Answer

Use a build matrix to run staging and production deployments in parallel.

Question 7

Which THREE of the following are best practices for managing secrets in Azure Pipelines? (Select THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Use Azure Key Vault to store secrets and link them to variable groups.. Options A, C, and E are correct. A: Using Azure Key Vault is a secure way to store secrets. C: Limiting variable group permissions ensures only authorized pipelines access secrets. E: Using secret variables with $( ) in script tasks prevents exposure. B is incorrect because pipeline logs can inadvertently output secrets; it's better to avoid logging. D is incorrect because hardcoding secrets in YAML is a security risk.

Answer

Hardcode secrets directly in the YAML file and use variable substitution at runtime.

Answer

Enable 'Allow scripts to access the OAuth token' for all build pipelines.

Question 8

Which THREE of the following are valid deployment strategies that can be implemented using Azure DevOps release pipelines? (Select THREE.)

Accepted Answer

Rolling deployment.. Options A, B, and E are correct. A: Rolling deployment updates instances gradually. B: Blue-green deployment uses two environments for switching traffic. E: Canary deployment releases to a subset before full rollout. C is incorrect because 'red-black' is not a standard term. D is incorrect because 'linear deployment' is not a recognized strategy.

Answer

Red-black deployment.

Answer

Linear deployment.

Question 9

Your team uses Azure Pipelines to build a .NET Core application. You notice that the build takes too long because it restores NuGet packages every time. What is the best way to improve build performance?

Accepted Answer

Enable the 'Cache' task to cache the NuGet packages folder. Option B is correct because caching package restore speeds up builds. Option A is wrong because piped builds are not a concept. Option C is wrong because a hosted agent does not cache by default. Option D is wrong because a self-hosted agent does not automatically cache.

Answer

Configure the build to use a self-hosted agent with previously restored packages

Answer

Use a private agent with a faster network connection

Answer

Use a Microsoft-hosted agent with a larger SKU

Question 10

Which TWO actions should you take to implement a gated check-in policy in Azure Repos that triggers a build before changes are merged?

Accepted Answer

Configure a build validation policy on the branch. Option A is correct because a build validation policy triggers a build on pull request. Option C is correct because a branch policy is required to enforce the build. Option B is wrong because a pre-merge build is part of build validation, not a separate policy. Option D is wrong because manual builds are not automatic. Option E is wrong because a CI trigger is for commits, not pull requests.

Answer

Enable continuous integration (CI) trigger on the build pipeline

Answer

Set the build to run a 'pre-merge' validation

Answer

Require a manual build before merging

Question 11

You have a YAML pipeline that builds a .NET application. You want to cache the NuGet packages to speed up subsequent builds. Which task should you use?

Accepted Answer

Cache task with a key based on the packages.lock.json hash.. Option A is correct because Cache task restores/saves a cache keyed by hash. Option B is wrong because NuGet restore does not cache by itself. Option C is wrong because CopyFiles copies files, not caches. Option D is wrong because PublishBuildArtifacts is for artifacts, not caching.

Answer

CopyFiles task to copy packages to a staging directory.

Answer

NuGet restore task with 'cacheRestore' option.

Answer

PublishBuildArtifacts task to upload packages.

Question 12

Your release pipeline deploys to Azure App Service using slots. You need to ensure that after swapping, the warmup request is sent to the production slot before traffic is fully routed. What should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Enable auto swap for the deployment slot and configure a custom warmup path.. Option B is correct because auto swap with custom warmup triggers a warmup request to the target slot before swap completes. Option A is wrong because manual swap does not have warmup. Option C is wrong because deployment slot settings are sticky and not swapped. Option D is wrong because health check is different from warmup.

Answer

Add a health check to the App Service.

Answer

Perform a manual swap and then send a warmup request via a script.

Answer

Configure slot-specific app settings to enable warmup.

Question 13

You have a pipeline with the above YAML trigger configuration. A developer pushes changes to a file in 'src/app/config.json' on a branch named 'release/v1'. Which statement is true about the build trigger?

Accepted Answer

The build will be triggered.. Option A is correct because the branch 'release/v1' matches the include pattern 'release/*' and the file path is under 'src/app/'. Option B is wrong because the branch is included. Option C is wrong because the path is included. Option D is wrong because the trigger will execute.

Answer

The build will be triggered but only if no other builds are running.

Answer

The build will not be triggered because the path filter is too restrictive.

Answer

The build will not be triggered because the branch is not 'main'.

Question 14

You need to deploy a web app to Azure App Service using Azure Pipelines. The deployment slot should be 'staging' first, and after smoke tests, swap to production. Which deployment strategy should you use?

Accepted Answer

Slot swap. Option B is correct because slot swap allows deploying to staging and swapping to production. Option A is wrong because rolling update updates instances gradually without slots. Option C is wrong because blue-green requires separate environments. Option D is wrong because canary routes a small percentage of traffic.

Answer

Canary deployment

Answer

Rolling update

Answer

Blue-green deployment

Question 15

Your Azure DevOps pipeline uses a variable group to store secrets. The variable group is linked to a Key Vault. You need to use a secret variable in a pipeline task. How should you reference the secret in the YAML pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Reference the variable as $(VariableName) in the pipeline tasks.. Option A is correct because Key Vault-backed variables are automatically mapped as secret variables, and you reference them using the variable name. Option B is incorrect because $(variable) syntax is for non-secret variables; secrets require $(). Option C is incorrect because the task name is not part of the reference. Option D is incorrect because task.getVariable is a scripting method, not YAML.

Answer

Reference the variable as $(VariableName) but only in a script task using 'env' mapping.

Answer

Use the 'task.getVariable' method in a PowerShell script.

Answer

Use the Azure Key Vault task to retrieve the secret and then reference the output variable.

AZ-400 Practice Test 22 — 15 Questions

Exhibit

AZ-400 Practice Test 22 — 15 Questions

Exhibit