AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
Your build pipeline uses a self-hosted agent that runs on a Windows machine. The pipeline fails with the error: 'The task 'DotNetCoreCLI' is not supported on this agent.' What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse a missing capability (which causes a 'not supported' error) with an authorization or connectivity issue, leading them to pick options C or D, when the real problem is the agent's software prerequisites.
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
✓
The agent does not have the required capabilities (e.g., .NET Core SDK installed).
The error 'The task 'DotNetCoreCLI' is not supported on this agent' indicates that the agent lacks the required capabilities to execute the task. In Azure Pipelines, self-hosted agents must have the necessary software (e.g., .NET Core SDK) installed and declared as capabilities for the task to be considered supported. Option B correctly identifies this missing capability as the root cause.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The agent's execution policy is restricted.
Why it's wrong here
PowerShell execution policy restrictions on a self-hosted agent typically result in errors when running scripts, such as 'File cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled', but they do not produce a 'task not supported' error, which is specifically about missing agent capabilities.
- ✓
The agent does not have the required capabilities (e.g., .NET Core SDK installed).
Why this is correct
Each task in an Azure DevOps pipeline declares required capabilities such as a specific SDK, tool, or platform version. When a self-hosted agent lacks a declared capability, such as the .NET Core SDK, the agent cannot execute the task and reports that the task is not supported, because the agent's available capabilities do not match the task's demands.
- ✗
The agent is not authorized to run the pipeline.
Why it's wrong here
Authorization problems, such as the agent pool not being granted access to a pipeline, typically produce errors like 'The agent is not authorized to run the pipeline' before a job is even dispatched. Once a job is running on a self-hosted agent, authorization has already been validated, so an error during execution referencing task support is not an authorization issue.
- ✗
The agent cannot connect to the internet to download the task.
Why it's wrong here
Self-hosted agents do need internet connectivity to download task packages, but a connectivity failure would produce errors such as 'Failed to download task' or 'The remote name could not be resolved.' The specific 'task not supported' error is emitted when the agent lacks a required capability, not when it cannot reach the network, so connectivity is not the cause.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to DevOps and Azure DevOps
Key term
Build pipeline
A build pipeline is an automated sequence of steps that compiles source code into a deployable artifact, running tests and checks along the way.
Key term
Pipeline
A pipeline is an automated series of steps that takes code from development to production, ensuring quality and speed.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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