AZ-400 Design and implement build and release pipelines Practice Test 19 — 15 Questions

Question 1

Your Azure Pipelines release pipeline deploys to multiple stages. You need to implement a manual approval gate that requires two specific users to approve before deployment proceeds to production. The approval should expire after 8 hours. Which configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'All' policy and set timeout to 480 minutes. Option C is correct because you can add multiple approvers (individuals) and set a timeout for approval. Option A is wrong because requiring 'Any one' allows a single approver. Option B is wrong because 'Team' approval requires the team's collective approval, not two specific individuals. Option D is wrong because pre-deployment conditions don't support timeout on approvals.

Answer

Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'Any one' policy

Answer

Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'All' policy and set 'Allow deployment without approval' to true

Answer

Post-deployment conditions: Add approvers (team) with 'All' policy

Question 2

Your build pipeline uses a hosted agent. You notice that every build starts with a clean workspace, increasing build time. You want to improve performance by caching the Node.js 'node_modules' folder. Which task should you add to the pipeline?

Accepted Answer

Cache task. Option B is correct because the Cache task is designed to cache folders between runs. Option A is wrong because the Copy Files task does not cache. Option C is wrong because the Publish Build Artifacts task publishes artifacts but does not cache on the agent. Option D is wrong because the Download Build Artifacts task downloads artifacts, not cache.

Answer

Publish Build Artifacts task

Answer

Copy Files task

Answer

Download Build Artifacts task

Question 3

You have the YAML pipeline snippet shown in the exhibit. The first run produces version 1.0.0. What will be the version produced on the third run?

Accepted Answer

1.0.2. Option C is correct because the counter expression starts at 0 for majorVersion=1 and increments each run. First run: 0, second: 1, third: 2. Option A is wrong because counter does not reset. Option B is wrong because it is the first run value. Option D is wrong because counter increments by 1 each run, not by 2.

Answer

1.0.1

Answer

1.0.3

Answer

1.0.0

Question 4

Your release pipeline deploys to Azure App Service using a deployment slot. You need to ensure that after swapping slots, the staging slot retains the previous production configuration for rollback. Which deployment strategy should you use?

Accepted Answer

Swap with preview. Option D is correct because swap with preview allows you to validate before completing the swap, and the staging slot keeps the old production configuration. Option A is wrong because rolling update doesn't use slots. Option B is wrong because blue-green typically uses separate environments, not slots. Option C is wrong because canary deploys traffic gradually, not slot swap.

Answer

Rolling deployment

Answer

Blue-green deployment

Answer

Canary deployment

Question 5

You need to integrate security scanning into your build pipeline to detect vulnerable open-source dependencies. Which Azure DevOps extension should you use?

Accepted Answer

WhiteSource Bolt. Option A is correct because WhiteSource Bolt (Mend) is a popular extension for open-source vulnerability scanning. Option B is wrong because SonarQube is for code quality, not dependency scanning. Option C is wrong because Azure Policy is for compliance of Azure resources. Option D is wrong because GitHub Advanced Security is for GitHub repos, not Azure Repos.

Answer

Azure Policy

Answer

GitHub Advanced Security

Answer

SonarQube

Question 6

Your build pipeline runs on a self-hosted agent pool. You need to ensure that only authorized pipelines can use these agents. Which security measure should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Set permissions on the agent pool. Option C is correct because agent pools can have permissions set to restrict which pipelines can use them. Option A is wrong because agent queues are deprecated and don't provide granular pipeline permissions. Option B is wrong because agent tokens are for agent registration, not pipeline authorization. Option D is wrong because variable groups are for variables, not agent access.

Answer

Use agent tokens

Answer

Use variable groups

Answer

Configure agent queues

Question 7

You run the Azure CLI command shown in the exhibit as part of a release pipeline to deploy a ZIP package to an Azure App Service. The deployment succeeds, but the app does not start. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The app's startup command is not configured. Option B is correct because the ZIP deploy does not set the start command; you need to configure the startup file or command separately. Option A is wrong because the resource group name is only used for identification. Option C is wrong because the command does not require a slot name. Option D is wrong because the command works without specifying the runtime stack.

Answer

The resource group name is incorrect

Answer

The runtime stack is not specified in the command

Answer

The deployment slot is not specified

Question 8

Your team uses GitHub for source control and wants to set up continuous integration using GitHub Actions. Which file should you create in the repository to define the workflow?

Accepted Answer

.github/workflows/ci.yml. Option A is correct because GitHub Actions workflows are defined in YAML files under the .github/workflows directory. Option B is wrong because azure-pipelines.yml is for Azure Pipelines. Option C is wrong because the Dockerfile is for building Docker images. Option D is wrong because Jenkinsfile is for Jenkins.

Answer

Jenkinsfile

Answer

Dockerfile

Answer

azure-pipelines.yml

Question 9

Which TWO conditions must be met for a self-hosted agent to be used in an Azure Pipelines agent pool? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

The agent must have network access to Azure Pipelines.. Options A and C are correct. A: The agent must be registered with the agent pool. C: The agent must have network access to Azure Pipelines. Option B is wrong because the agent can run on any OS. Option D is wrong because the agent can be registered to any pool. Option E is wrong because the agent can be on any machine.

Answer

The agent must be in the Default pool.

Answer

The agent must run on Windows Server.

Answer

The agent must be installed on a virtual machine.

Question 10

Which THREE factors should you consider when designing a release pipeline for a critical production application? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Rollback strategy. Options A, B, and D are correct. A: Approval gates ensure controlled deployments. B: Rollback strategy is essential for failures. D: Monitoring deployment health is crucial. Option C is wrong because least privilege is a security principle, not specific to release pipeline design. Option E is wrong because single environment is not a factor; you typically have multiple environments.

Answer

Use of service principal with least privilege

Answer

Single environment deployment

Question 11

Which TWO triggers can be used to automatically start a pipeline in Azure Pipelines? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Continuous integration (CI) trigger. Options A and C are correct. A: Continuous integration (CI) trigger runs on code push. C: Pull request trigger runs on PR creation. Option B is wrong because a manual trigger requires user action. Option D is wrong because a scheduled trigger is time-based, but not automatic on code changes. Option E is wrong because a webhook trigger is also automatic but not a built-in trigger type in Azure Pipelines (it's a service hook).

Answer

Webhook trigger

Answer

Manual trigger

Answer

Scheduled trigger

Question 12

You have the YAML pipeline shown in the exhibit. What will be the output of the script in the Deploy stage?

Accepted Answer

Deploying to prod. Option B is correct because the Deploy stage overrides the variable 'environment' to 'prod' for that stage. Option A is wrong because the variable is overridden. Option C is wrong because the condition only checks if Build succeeded. Option D is wrong because the script will run and echo the variable.

Answer

The Deploy stage will be skipped

Answer

Deploying to dev

Answer

The script will fail because variable is not defined

Question 13

You need to implement a build retention policy that automatically deletes old builds after 30 days, but keeps the latest 5 builds regardless of age. Which configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Set 'Days to keep builds' to 30 and 'Minimum number of builds to keep' to 5. Option A is correct because in Azure Pipelines retention policy, you set 'Days to keep builds' to 30 and 'Minimum number of builds to keep' to 5. Option B is wrong because 'Maximum retention policy' is not a setting. Option C is wrong because 'Number of days to keep artifacts' is separate from builds. Option D is wrong because 'Number of days to keep runs' is for GitHub Actions.

Answer

Set 'Number of days to keep runs' to 30 and 'Number of runs to keep' to 5

Answer

Set 'Maximum retention policy' to 30 days and 'Number of builds to retain' to 5

Answer

Set 'Number of days to keep artifacts' to 30 and 'Number of artifacts to keep' to 5

Question 14

You need to run unit tests in your build pipeline and publish the test results to Azure Pipelines. Which task should you use?

Accepted Answer

Publish Test Results task. Option B is correct because the 'Publish Test Results' task publishes test results to Azure Pipelines. Option A is wrong because 'Visual Studio Test' runs tests but does not publish to the pipeline. Option C is wrong because 'DotNetCoreCLI' can run tests but needs an additional task to publish results. Option D is wrong because 'Npm' is for Node.js, not .NET tests.

Answer

DotNetCoreCLI task with test command

Answer

Npm task

Answer

Visual Studio Test task

Question 15

Your team uses a multi-stage YAML pipeline in Azure Pipelines. The pipeline includes a stage that runs integration tests against a test environment. You want to ensure that the integration tests are not affected by other pipelines that deploy to the same environment concurrently. What should you implement?

Accepted Answer

Set the environment's 'Exclusive lock' check to enabled.. Option C is correct because exclusive lock check ensures only one pipeline runs at a time for a given environment. Option A is incorrect because manual approval does not prevent concurrency. Option B is incorrect because environment checks only evaluate conditions, not concurrency. Option D is incorrect because deployment queue settings with 'Number of parallel deployments' set to 1 provide exclusive lock, but the correct answer is exclusive lock resourced by environment.

Answer

Set the pipeline's 'Maximum number of parallel deployments' to 1.

Answer

Configure a required template check on the environment.

Answer

Add a manual approval check on the environment.