AZ-400 Multiple Select — 40 Questions

Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

Rollback strategy. A release pipeline for a critical production application must include a rollback strategy (e.g., deployment slots or redeploying a previous artifact) to recover quickly from failed releases, deployment health monitoring (e.g., Application Insights, Azure Monitor) to detect issues early and trigger rollbacks or alerts, and approval gates before production deployment to ensure manual or automated checks are passed. These three factors together minimize downtime and ensure controlled, safe releases.

Answer

Use of service principal with least privilege

Answer

Single environment deployment

Question 2

Which TWO are benefits of using deployment groups in Azure Pipelines compared to using individual virtual machines?

Accepted Answer

Simplified targeting of multiple machines with a single pipeline run.. Option D is correct because deployment groups let a single pipeline job target a logical set of machines (defined by tags), so one pipeline run can deploy to many VMs without enumerating each machine individually. Option E is correct because deployment groups natively support rolling deployments, where the agent on each target machine runs the deployment steps and the pipeline can perform health checks and stop the rollout if a machine fails. Option A is not a deployment group feature; secrets such as connection strings are handled by Azure Key Vault, variable groups, or secret variables, not by deployment groups themselves. Option B is incorrect because deployment groups do not shut down VMs to save cost; they only orchestrate deployment to registered machines. Option C is incorrect because automatic VM scaling is provided by VM scale sets or autoscale settings, not by deployment groups.

Answer

Built-in secrets management for connection strings.

Answer

Reduced cost because VMs are shut down when not in use.

Answer

Automatic scaling of virtual machines based on load.

Question 3

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

Accepted Answer

The agent software installed on the target machine. To set up a self-hosted agent pool in Azure Pipelines, you must install the agent software on the target machine (option A), which provides the listener that polls Azure DevOps for jobs and runs them locally. You also need to configure the agent with the agent pool name and the URL of the Azure DevOps organization (option C), since the agent registers itself into a specific pool under a specific organization endpoint. Authentication requires a personal access token (option E) with the appropriate scope (typically Agent Pools read/manage), which the agent uses during configuration to register with the service. Option B is incorrect because deployment groups are a separate feature for classic release pipelines targeting machines, not the mechanism for creating an agent pool. Option D is incorrect because the Azure VM extension for Azure Pipelines Agent is an optional convenience for provisioning agents on Azure VMs, not a required component of a self-hosted agent pool.

Answer

A deployment group target

Answer

Azure VM extension for Azure Pipelines Agent

Question 4

Which THREE conditions must be met for you to use the 'Approvals' feature in Azure Pipelines to control deployments to a production environment? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

The approver must have the 'Approve pipeline permissions' permission for the environment.. The 'Approvals' feature in Azure Pipelines requires an environment to be defined in the pipeline. You must add an approval check to that environment, which can be done in either a classic release pipeline or a YAML pipeline that references the environment as a resource. Additionally, the approver(s) - whether individual users or groups - must have the 'Approve pipeline permissions' permission on that environment. Without an environment resource, the approval check cannot be configured; without the permission, approval requests cannot be validated.

Answer

The approver must be an individual user, not a group.

Answer

The approval must be configured in the release pipeline's pre-deployment conditions.

Question 5

Which TWO actions should you take to implement a secure build pipeline that uses Azure Key Vault to store secrets? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Grant the Azure DevOps service principal 'Get' and 'List' permissions on the Key Vault.. The Azure DevOps service principal (the identity used by Azure Pipelines) must be granted 'Get' and 'List' permissions on the Key Vault's access policy. This allows the pipeline to retrieve secret values securely without storing credentials in the repository or pipeline configuration. Without these permissions, any attempt to read secrets from the vault will fail with an authorization error.

Answer

Store the Key Vault name and secret names in a secure file in the repository.

Answer

Define secrets as pipeline variables and mark them as secret.

Answer

Use the 'Azure CLI' task to run 'az keyvault secret show' for each secret.

Question 6

Which TWO compliance frameworks are directly supported by Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager for Azure DevOps?

Accepted Answer

ISO 27001. Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager directly supports ISO 27001 and SOC 2 as built-in compliance templates for Azure DevOps. These frameworks are pre-configured with control mappings, assessment templates, and automated testing actions that align with Azure DevOps security and audit capabilities. This allows organizations to continuously monitor and manage compliance posture against these standards without manual configuration.

Answer

HIPAA

Answer

PCI DSS

Answer

FedRAMP High

Question 7

Which TWO features in Azure Pipelines allow you to enforce separation of duties between development and operations teams? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Approvals and checks on environments. Approvals and checks on environments (B) enforce separation of duties by requiring designated approvers (e.g., operations team members) to approve a deployment before it proceeds, ensuring that development cannot directly push to production. Environment security roles (D) allow you to define who can create, view, or manage environments, restricting developers from modifying production environments without operations oversight.

Answer

Pipeline decorators

Answer

Service connections with different scopes

Answer

Branch policies on the main branch

Question 8

Which TWO benefits does using Git LFS (Large File Storage) provide? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Prevents large files from being stored in the Git history. Git LFS (Large File Storage) prevents large files from being stored directly in the Git repository history (option B). Instead, it stores a small pointer file in the repo while the actual large file content is stored externally, which reduces the size of the Git repository (option E). Options A, C, and D are incorrect because LFS does not automatically compress all files, replace .gitignore, or speed up diff operations for binary files.

Answer

Automatically compresses all files in the repository

Answer

Replaces .gitignore for excluding large files

Answer

Speeds up diff operations for binary files

Question 9

Which TWO tasks can be used to deploy an Azure Web App using YAML pipelines in Azure DevOps?

Accepted Answer

AzureWebApp. The AzureWebApp task is correct because it is the dedicated Azure DevOps YAML pipeline task for deploying code to an Azure Web App (App Service). It supports deployment methods like Web Deploy (msdeploy), Kudu REST API, and ZIP deploy, making it the standard choice for web app deployments.

Answer

CopyFilesOverSSH

Answer

AzureFunctionApp

Answer

AzureVMAppDeployment

Question 10

Your company uses Azure Key Vault to store secrets. Which TWO actions should you take to ensure secure access? (Select TWO.)

Accepted Answer

Restrict access using Key Vault access policies. Restricting access using Key Vault access policies (Option A) is correct because Azure Key Vault uses a granular permission model where you assign specific permissions (e.g., GET, LIST, SET) to individual security principals (users, groups, or service principals) at the vault level. This ensures that only authorized identities can read or manage secrets, keys, and certificates, following the principle of least privilege. Using managed identities (Option B) is correct because they provide an automatically managed identity in Microsoft Entra ID for applications to authenticate to Key Vault without storing credentials in code or configuration, eliminating the risk of secret leakage.

Answer

Enable HTTP access for performance

Answer

Disable audit logging to reduce exposure

Answer

Enable soft-delete to recover deleted secrets

Question 11

Which TWO actions should a DevOps engineer take to ensure that Azure DevOps pipelines comply with the principle of least privilege for service connections?

Accepted Answer

Create a service principal with permissions scoped to the minimum required Azure resources.. Creating a service principal with permissions scoped to the minimum required Azure resources directly implements the principle of least privilege. By assigning only the necessary roles (e.g., Contributor on a specific resource group) to the service principal used in the service connection, you ensure that the pipeline can only perform actions on those resources, reducing the attack surface. This aligns with Azure RBAC best practices for securing automated deployments.

Answer

Use the Project Collection Build Service account for all pipeline runs.

Answer

Use Workload identity federation to avoid managing secrets.

Answer

Use the same service connection for both build and release pipelines.

Question 12

Your organization is implementing a security compliance plan for Azure DevOps. Which TWO actions should you take to ensure that only authorized users can modify build pipelines?

Accepted Answer

Configure branch policies to require reviews for changes to pipeline YAML files. Branch policies in Azure Repos enforce required reviews for changes to YAML pipeline files stored in the repository. This ensures that any modification to the pipeline definition must be approved by authorized reviewers before merging, preventing unauthorized or accidental changes. Option C is correct because pipeline permissions in Azure DevOps allow you to restrict editing of a pipeline to specific security groups (e.g., 'Build Administrators'), directly controlling who can modify the pipeline through the web interface or API.

Answer

Require all users to use Personal Access Tokens (PATs)

Answer

Enable audit logging for all pipeline changes

Answer

Enable OpenID Connect (OIDC) for pipeline authentication

Question 13

Which TWO GitHub Actions features can be used to enforce deployment approvals for a production environment? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Deployment protection rules that require approval.. Deployment protection rules in GitHub Actions allow you to define required approvals before a workflow job can deploy to an environment. These rules are configured at the environment level and can mandate that a specific number of reviewers approve the deployment, effectively enforcing a manual approval gate for production environments.

Answer

The 'deployment' event trigger in a workflow.

Answer

Branch protection rules that require pull request reviews.

Answer

OpenID Connect (OIDC) for cloud provider authentication.

Question 14

Which TWO practices help improve the efficiency of code reviews? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Keep pull requests small and focused on a single change.. Keeping pull requests small and focused on a single change (Option A) improves code review efficiency because it reduces cognitive load on reviewers, allowing them to understand and evaluate the change quickly without context-switching. Smaller PRs also enable faster feedback loops and easier rollback if issues are found, which aligns with DevOps principles of continuous integration and delivery.

Answer

Include multiple unrelated changes in a single pull request to reduce the number of PRs.

Answer

Assign as many reviewers as possible to ensure thoroughness.

Answer

Require that all team members review every pull request.

Question 15

Which TWO Azure DevOps features can be used to implement change management processes?

Accepted Answer

Release approval gates.. Release approval gates (Option B) in Azure Pipelines allow you to enforce manual or automated checks before a release proceeds to a stage, implementing change management by requiring sign-offs or validation against external systems. Audit logging (Option C) captures a chronological record of changes to Azure DevOps resources, providing an immutable trail for compliance and change review processes.

Answer

Test plans.

Answer

Project wiki.

Answer

Code search.

Question 16

Which THREE measures should be implemented to protect secrets in Azure Pipelines? (Choose three.)

Accepted Answer

Restrict which pipelines can access the variable group. Restricting which pipelines can access a variable group ensures that only authorized pipelines can use secrets stored in that group, preventing unauthorized access or accidental exposure. This is a key security measure in Azure Pipelines to enforce the principle of least privilege.

Answer

Log secret values to pipeline console for debugging

Answer

Store secrets in code as environment variables

Question 17

Which TWO actions are recommended practices for improving communication within a DevOps team?

Accepted Answer

Create a shared team charter with communication norms.. A shared team charter with communication norms establishes explicit expectations for how the team interacts, reducing ambiguity and fostering a culture of transparency and accountability. Daily stand-up meetings promote regular, synchronous communication, enabling quick updates, identification of blockers, and alignment on priorities. Both practices align with DevOps principles of collaboration and shared ownership. In contrast, separate documentation repositories, monthly email reports, and removing chat channels hinder real-time collaboration and transparency.

Answer

Use separate documentation repositories for each team.

Answer

Send monthly status reports via email.

Answer

Remove team chat channels to reduce noise.

Question 18

Your team uses Azure Repos with a Git branching strategy. You need to ensure that all changes to the release branch are reviewed by at least two approvers and that builds succeed before merging. Which TWO branch policy settings should you enable?

Accepted Answer

Build validation. Option A, Build validation, is correct because it enforces that a build pipeline runs and succeeds against the pull request before the changes can be merged into the release branch, satisfying the requirement that builds succeed before merging. Option C, Minimum number of reviewers set to 2, is correct because it requires at least two approvers to sign off on each pull request targeting the release branch, satisfying the two-approver review requirement. Option B, Work item linking, only enforces association of work items to commits or PRs and does not address reviewer counts or build success. Option D, Require a clean fast-forward merge, only controls merge history shape and does not enforce reviews or builds. Option E, Require a merge commit, likewise only dictates the merge strategy and does not provide approval or build gating.

Answer

Work item linking

Answer

Require a clean fast-forward merge

Answer

Require a merge commit

Question 19

Which THREE are valid Git merge strategies available in Azure Repos pull requests?

Accepted Answer

Semi-linear merge. Among the given options, the valid merge strategies are: 'Merge commit (no fast-forward)' (Option B), 'Semi-linear merge' (Option A), and 'Squash merge' (Option D). 'Merge commit (no fast-forward)' preserves the full history of both branches. 'Semi-linear merge' rebases the source branch onto the target before creating a merge commit, ensuring linear history. 'Squash merge' combines all source branch commits into a single commit on the target. Note that Azure Repos also supports 'Rebase and fast-forward' as a valid merge strategy, but it is not among the options. Options C and E are not valid merge strategies in Azure Repos pull requests.

Answer

Fast-forward only

Answer

Rebase only

Question 20

Which TWO actions should you take to implement a secure CI/CD pipeline that uses Azure Pipelines and prevents unauthorized access to production? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

Configure deployment approvals and checks on the production stage.. Deployment approvals and checks in Azure Pipelines require manual sign-off or automated policy validation before a release proceeds to production, preventing unauthorized or unverified changes. Option D is correct because using a service connection with a managed identity eliminates the need to store static credentials, reducing the risk of credential exposure and unauthorized access to Azure resources during deployment.

Answer

Store production secrets as pipeline variables marked as 'Secret'.

Answer

Enable PR triggers for the production stage to validate changes.

Answer

Use self-hosted agents running on-premises for all pipelines.