AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
Which THREE of the following are true about GitHub Actions self-hosted runners?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often assume self-hosted runners are entirely free and automatically managed by GitHub, overlooking the operational overhead and infrastructure costs, while also forgetting that GitHub does not handle scaling for self-hosted runners.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
They can have custom software installed.
GitHub Actions self-hosted runners are machines you manage, allowing you to install any custom software, libraries, or tools required by your workflows. Unlike GitHub-hosted runners, which have a fixed set of pre-installed software, self-hosted runners give you full administrative control over the environment, enabling you to meet specific build or test dependencies.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
They can have custom software installed.
Why this is correct
Self-hosted runners are machines you control, so you can pre-install any custom software, tools, or libraries required by your workflows, unlike GitHub-hosted runners which have a fixed set of pre-installed software.
- ✗
They are automatically scaled by GitHub.
Why it's wrong here
GitHub does not automatically scale self-hosted runners; you must manually add or remove runner machines or implement custom auto-scaling solutions, such as scripts or cloud infrastructure features.
- ✗
They are free and do not incur any costs.
Why it's wrong here
Although GitHub Actions itself does not charge for self-hosted runners, you incur all infrastructure costs for the machines you provide, including compute, storage, and network, so they are not free overall.
- ✓
They can run on Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Why this is correct
Self-hosted runners can be installed on Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems, giving you flexibility to run jobs on any OS that matches your application or infrastructure needs.
- ✓
They can access on-premises resources.
Why this is correct
Because self-hosted runners are deployed within your own network, they can access on-premises services, databases, and other internal resources that are not publicly exposed, enabling integration with your private infrastructure.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Source Control Strategy Design
Key term
GitHub
GitHub is a cloud-based platform for storing, tracking, and collaborating on code using Git version control.
Key term
Environment
An environment is a dedicated set of computing resources, configurations, and services used to develop, test, or host software applications in a controlled and repeatable way.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-400 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the AZ-400 exam.