AZ-400 Design and implement build and release pipelines Practice Test 24 — 15 Questions

Question 1

You are designing a build pipeline for a Java application that uses Maven. You want to publish the compiled JAR file as a build artifact. Which task should you use?

Accepted Answer

PublishBuildArtifacts@1. The Publish Build Artifacts task publishes files as pipeline artifacts. Option B (Maven@3) is wrong because it builds the project but does not publish artifacts. Option C (ArchiveFiles@2) is wrong because it creates a zip but does not publish. Option D (CopyFiles@2) is wrong because it only copies files within the agent.

Answer

Maven@3

Answer

ArchiveFiles@2

Answer

CopyFiles@2

Question 2

Your Azure DevOps pipeline deploys a web app to Azure App Service using a YAML pipeline. The deployment fails intermittently with the error 'Conflict' when updating deployment slots. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Another deployment or swap operation is already in progress on the slot.. The 'Conflict' error during an Azure App Service deployment slot update indicates that the slot is currently locked by another operation, such as an ongoing deployment or a swap. Azure App Service enforces mutual exclusion on slot operations to prevent race conditions, so if a previous deployment or swap has not completed, the new request is rejected with HTTP 409 Conflict.

Answer

The service connection is using expired credentials.

Answer

The slot name is misspelled in the pipeline configuration.

Answer

The web app is locked by a file handle from a previous deployment.

Question 3

Your team uses a monorepo in Azure Repos with multiple projects. You want to trigger a pipeline only when changes are made to a specific subfolder. Which configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Add a 'paths' filter to the CI trigger.. Azure Pipelines CI triggers support a 'paths' filter that allows you to specify include or exclude patterns for file changes. When a monorepo contains multiple projects in separate subfolders, adding a 'paths' filter to the CI trigger ensures the pipeline only runs when changes are detected within that specific subfolder, avoiding unnecessary builds for unrelated projects.

Answer

Use a branch filter in the CI trigger.

Answer

Configure the checkout step to only include the subfolder.

Answer

Use a 'file_match' condition on the job.

Question 4

You are creating a release pipeline that uses Azure Pipelines to deploy to multiple virtual machines. You need to ensure that the deployment runs on each machine in parallel. Which deployment strategy should you use?

Accepted Answer

Run once deployment with parallel execution. The requirement is to deploy to multiple virtual machines in parallel, which is achieved by configuring a 'run once' deployment strategy with parallel execution in Azure Pipelines. This strategy uses the deployment group's parallel execution settings to run the deployment job simultaneously on all target machines, ensuring each machine receives the deployment at the same time.

Answer

Blue-green deployment

Answer

Canary deployment

Answer

Rolling deployment

Question 5

Refer to the exhibit. You have a YAML pipeline with the variables shown. What will be the value of $(Build.BuildNumber) on the first run?

Accepted Answer

20250101.1. The pipeline does not define a custom build number format, so Azure DevOps defaults to the date-based format 'yyyyMMdd.revision'. On the first run of the day, the revision starts at 1, resulting in a Build.BuildNumber like '20250101.1'. The counter expression (not shown in the exhibit) is a separate variable and does not affect Build.BuildNumber. Therefore, the correct answer is B.

Answer

1.0.0.0

Answer

1.0.0

Answer

1.0.1

Question 6

Refer to the exhibit. You have a YAML pipeline that references a repository resource with a tag. When will this pipeline trigger?

Accepted Answer

When changes are pushed to the main branch of the current repository.. By default, a YAML pipeline triggers on changes to the main branch of the repository where the pipeline definition resides, even when a repository resource with a tag is referenced. The tag in the repository resource only controls which version of the resource is used at runtime, not the trigger behavior. Without an explicit trigger section, the pipeline uses the default CI trigger on the main branch of the self-repo.

Answer

When a new tag v1.0 is pushed to the referenced repository.

Answer

When changes are pushed to any branch of the referenced repository.

Answer

The pipeline will never trigger because no trigger is defined.

Question 7

Refer to the exhibit. The pipeline uses a variable group 'ReleaseVariables' that contains a variable named 'EnvironmentName' with value 'Staging'. What environment will the deployment target?

Accepted Answer

Production. The pipeline uses a variable group 'ReleaseVariables' with a variable 'EnvironmentName' set to 'Staging', but the deployment job's environment field is explicitly set to 'Production' (as shown in the exhibit). Variable groups are used for sharing values across pipelines, but they do not override the environment specified directly in the YAML job definition. Therefore, the deployment target is 'Production'.

Answer

Staging

Answer

VirtualMachine

Answer

DeployWeb

Question 8

Which THREE components are required to implement a self-hosted agent pool in Azure Pipelines?

Accepted Answer

The Azure Pipelines agent software installed on the machine.. The Azure Pipelines agent software is the core component that executes pipeline jobs on the self-hosted machine. Without installing the agent software (via the agent configuration script), the machine cannot register with Azure Pipelines or run any tasks, making it a mandatory requirement for a self-hosted agent pool.

Answer

An Azure Resource Manager service connection.

Answer

A YAML pipeline definition.

Question 9

Which TWO strategies can you use to manage secrets in Azure Pipelines securely?

Accepted Answer

Use a variable group linked to Azure Key Vault.. Options A and C are correct. Variable groups can be linked to Azure Key Vault to fetch secrets, and you can mark variables as secret in the pipeline UI to prevent them from being displayed in logs. Option B is wrong because storing secrets in YAML files exposes them in source control. Option D is wrong because using environment variables on the build agent is not inherently secure; they can be accessed by other processes and may be logged. Option E is wrong because printing secrets in scripts exposes them in the pipeline logs, which is a security risk.

Answer

Store secrets directly in the YAML pipeline file.

Answer

Use environment variables in the build agent.

Answer

Print the secret in a script to verify it is correct.

Question 10

You are designing a build pipeline for a Java application that uses Maven. You want to publish the compiled JAR file as a build artifact. Which task should you use?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Publish Pipeline Artifact task. The Publish Pipeline Artifact task (D) is the correct choice because it is the modern, recommended way to publish artifacts from a pipeline in Azure DevOps. It stores the JAR file as a pipeline artifact, making it available for subsequent stages or releases, and it supports both file and folder paths directly without requiring an intermediate staging directory.

Answer

Publish Build Artifacts task

Answer

Copy Files task

Answer

Archive Files task

Question 11

Your release pipeline deploys a .NET Core web app to Azure App Service using a slot swap strategy. The pipeline runs acceptance tests on the staging slot before swapping. After a recent change, the acceptance tests pass but the production site becomes unresponsive after the swap. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The staging slot had different app settings that were swapped into production, causing the site to fail.. The most likely cause is that the staging slot had different app settings (e.g., connection strings, environment variables, or feature flags) that were swapped into production. During a slot swap, Azure App Service automatically moves all slot-specific configuration (app settings, connection strings, and other deployment slot settings) to the target slot. If the staging slot was configured with settings intended only for testing (like a staging database or debug mode), those settings would overwrite the production settings, causing the production site to become unresponsive. This is a common pitfall because acceptance tests may pass against the staging environment but fail when the same code runs with production configuration.

Answer

The acceptance tests are not comprehensive enough and missed a regression.

Answer

The acceptance tests should have been run after the swap.

Answer

The slot swap was not 'warm-up' and caused downtime.

Question 12

You have a multi-stage YAML pipeline that builds and deploys a Node.js application. You want to ensure that the build stage runs only when changes are made to the 'src' folder. Which trigger configuration should you use?

Accepted Answer

Trigger with 'paths' filter. Azure Pipelines supports path-based triggers that allow you to specify which file paths should trigger a pipeline run. By configuring a trigger with a 'paths' filter that includes only the 'src' folder, the build stage will only execute when changes are detected within that specific directory, ignoring changes elsewhere in the repository.

Answer

Trigger with 'batch' set to true

Answer

Trigger with 'branches' filter

Answer

Disable CI trigger and use a scheduled trigger

Question 13

Your organization uses GitHub for source control and Azure Pipelines for CI/CD. You need to implement a policy that requires all pull requests to pass a status check before merging. The status check should be provided by a pipeline that runs when a pull request is created. Which type of trigger should you configure in the pipeline YAML?

Accepted Answer

PR trigger. A PR trigger (pr:) in Azure Pipelines YAML automatically runs the pipeline when a pull request is created or updated against a specified branch. This allows the pipeline to produce a status check that GitHub enforces as a required check before merging, fulfilling the policy requirement.

Answer

Push trigger

Answer

Manual trigger

Answer

Scheduled trigger

Question 14

You are implementing a release pipeline for a containerized application using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). The pipeline should use canary deployments to gradually shift traffic from the stable version to the new version. Which strategy should you use to manage the traffic shift?

Accepted Answer

Canary deployment using a service mesh (e.g., Istio). A service mesh like Istio provides fine-grained traffic management capabilities (e.g., using VirtualService and DestinationRule resources) that allow you to route a specific percentage of traffic to the new canary version while the rest goes to the stable version. This enables gradual traffic shifting without modifying application code, and supports advanced routing rules based on headers or weights, which is essential for canary deployments in AKS.

Answer

Blue-green deployment strategy

Answer

Rolling update strategy

Answer

A/B testing with feature flags

Question 15

Your pipeline uses the DotNetCoreCLI task to build a .NET Core application. You need to ensure that the build produces a self-contained deployment (SCD) for a Linux target. Which argument should you pass to the 'arguments' input of the task?

Accepted Answer

--runtime linux-x64. The --runtime argument specifies the target runtime (linux-x64) and produces a self-contained deployment. Option A is wrong because --configuration specifies the build configuration, not the runtime. Option C is wrong because --output specifies the output directory, not the runtime. Option D is wrong because while --self-contained true is a valid argument, it does not specify the target runtime; to target Linux specifically, you must use --runtime linux-x64 (which implies self-contained) or combine --runtime with --self-contained true.

Answer

--configuration Release

Answer

--output $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)

Answer

--self-contained true