AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse pre-deployment vs. post-deployment conditions and misinterpreting the 'All' vs. 'Any one' policy, leading candidates to select an option that allows a single approver or applies the gate after deployment.
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
✓
Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'All' policy and set timeout to 480 minutes
It configures a pre-deployment approval gate requiring both user1 and user2 to approve (the 'All' policy) before the production stage proceeds, and sets the timeout to 480 minutes (8 hours) to expire the approval request. This matches the requirement for two specific users to approve and an 8-hour expiration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'All' policy and set timeout to 480 minutes
Why this is correct
Setting pre-deployment approvers to user1 and user2 with the 'All' policy requires both users to explicitly approve the release before deployment proceeds. The 480-minute timeout ensures that if either approver does not respond within 8 hours, the approval process times out, preventing indefinite blocking of the pipeline. This satisfies the requirement that both specific individuals must approve, with an 8-hour window.
- ✗
Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'Any one' policy
Why it's wrong here
Using the 'Any one' policy allows only a single approver to authorize the deployment, meaning user1 or user2 alone can trigger the release. This fails the requirement that both user1 and user2 must approve, as the policy explicitly permits one approver to bypass the other. Therefore, this configuration is incorrect for ensuring dual approval.
- ✗
Pre-deployment conditions: Add approvers (user1, user2) with 'All' policy and set 'Allow deployment without approval' to true
Why it's wrong here
Setting 'Allow deployment without approval' to true effectively bypasses the approval gate entirely, so even though user1 and user2 are listed as approvers, the release can proceed without any of them actually approving. This contradicts the requirement that both users must approve before deployment. The 'All' policy becomes irrelevant because the approval step is skipped, making this option invalid.
- ✗
Post-deployment conditions: Add approvers (team) with 'All' policy
Why it's wrong here
Post-deployment conditions occur after the deployment has already executed, so approving there does not gate or prevent the deployment from happening. Additionally, specifying a team as approver with 'All' policy requires all members of the team to approve, which is not the same as requiring the two specific individuals (user1 and user2) to approve pre-deployment. This option misplaces the approval stage and the approver identity, so it does not meet the stated control requirements.
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Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
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.
Key term
Release pipeline
A Release pipeline is an automated sequence of steps that takes software from code commit to production deployment, ensuring quality and consistency.
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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.