AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement a source control strategy
This AZ-400 practice question tests your understanding of design and implement a source control strategy. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
Your development team uses GitHub Enterprise and wants to automatically synchronize code from a public GitHub repository to their private repository every morning. What feature should they use?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
A scheduled GitHub Actions workflow that fetches from the public repo and pushes to the private repo.
B is correct because a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow can periodically fetch changes from the public repository (using `git fetch` or `git pull`) and push them to the private repository. This approach avoids the need for external triggers and works even when the public repo does not send webhooks to your private environment. The schedule is defined using cron syntax in the workflow YAML, ensuring automatic daily synchronization.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Webhooks from the public repository to trigger a sync pipeline.
Why it's wrong here
Webhooks require an event in the public repo, not a schedule.
✓
A scheduled GitHub Actions workflow that fetches from the public repo and pushes to the private repo.
Why this is correct
Scheduled workflows can run at a specified time using cron syntax.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Git submodules to link the public repository as a subdirectory.
Why it's wrong here
Submodules point to a commit, not automatically sync.
✗
GitHub repository mirroring to automatically mirror the public repo.
Why it's wrong here
Mirroring is a one-time or continuous sync but cannot be scheduled for specific times without additional tooling.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often assume webhooks (Option A) are the only way to trigger automation, forgetting that webhooks require external network access and cannot be sent from a public repo to a private GitHub Enterprise instance without a proxy or custom relay.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the scheduled workflow uses the `schedule` event with POSIX cron syntax (e.g., `0 6 * * *` for daily at 6 AM). The workflow must authenticate to both the public repo (via HTTPS or SSH) and the private repo (using a GitHub token with write access). A common subtlety is that the workflow must handle merge conflicts if the private repo has diverged—this can be managed by using `git pull --rebase` or a force push strategy, but force pushing can lose history, so a merge commit approach is safer in production.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A cloud solutions architect for a retail company is evaluating services for a new workload. The correct answer here reflects best practice for the specific scenario described — not a general cloud recommendation. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Cloud exam questions reward reading the constraint carefully: the same technology can be right or wrong depending on the use case.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-400 question in full detail.
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: A scheduled GitHub Actions workflow that fetches from the public repo and pushes to the private repo. — B is correct because a scheduled GitHub Actions workflow can periodically fetch changes from the public repository (using `git fetch` or `git pull`) and push them to the private repository. This approach avoids the need for external triggers and works even when the public repo does not send webhooks to your private environment. The schedule is defined using cron syntax in the workflow YAML, ensuring automatic daily synchronization.
What should I do if I get this AZ-400 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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