Two Actions That Implement a Gated Deployment in Azure Pipelines
Which TWO actions should you take to implement a gated deployment strategy in Azure Pipelines?
Quick Answer
Deployment gates evaluate external health signals — error rates from Azure Monitor or Application Insights, for example — before letting a release proceed to the next stage automatically. Manual approval checks add the human half of a gated strategy, pausing the pipeline for an explicit sign-off before deployment continues. Together, automated gates and manual approvals are what make a deployment gated.
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse monitoring (dashboard) or pipeline structure (multi-stage YAML) with the actual gating mechanism, forgetting that gates require explicit evaluation of health metrics or approvals to block or allow the release.
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
✓
Use deployment gates to evaluate metrics like error rate before allowing the next stage.
Deployment gates in Azure Pipelines allow you to define pre-deployment or post-deployment conditions that evaluate external metrics (e.g., error rate from Azure Monitor, Application Insights, or other monitoring systems) before allowing the release to proceed to the next stage. This is a core mechanism for implementing a gated deployment strategy, as it automatically pauses the pipeline until the specified health criteria are met, ensuring that only healthy releases progress. Option E is correct because manual approval checks act as a human-driven gate, requiring explicit sign-off before a deployment proceeds to production, which is a common pattern in gated deployments to add oversight.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Use deployment gates to evaluate metrics like error rate before allowing the next stage.
Why this is correct
Metrics-based gates are a key part of gated deployment.
- ✗
Configure a dashboard to monitor application health.
Why it's wrong here
Monitoring is important but not a deployment gate.
- ✗
Use a multi-stage YAML pipeline.
Why it's wrong here
Multi-stage pipelines are not inherently gated.
- ✗
Configure a rollback strategy if deployment fails.
Why it's wrong here
Rollback is a recovery action, not a gate.
- ✓
Add manual approval checks before deployment to production.
Why this is correct
Manual approval is a form of gate.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
Key term
Stage
A stage is a discrete phase in a software development or deployment pipeline where code is built, tested, integrated, or released in a controlled environment.
Key term
Azure Pipelines
Azure Pipelines is a cloud-based CI/CD service from Microsoft that automatically builds, tests, and deploys code to any platform or cloud.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on AZ-400
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. Which TWO conditions must be met to use the 'Approvals and gates' feature in a release pipeline? (Choose two.)
medium- A.A manual intervention task must be added.
- B.A post-deployment approval must be configured.
- ✓ C.A pre-deployment approval must be configured.
- D.A variable group must be linked to the pipeline.
- ✓ E.The pipeline must use a service connection.
Why C: The prerequisite for using approvals and gates is that you must configure at least one approval (pre-deployment or post-deployment) for a stage. If you intend to use gates, you also need a service connection to query the external service. However, the available options do not include 'an approval must be configured' as a single choice; instead, they split it into two specific types, neither of which is individually required. The correct answer cannot be determined from the provided options.
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.