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. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 organization uses Azure Repos and wants to implement a Git branching strategy that supports continuous delivery with hotfix capabilities. Which THREE practices should be part of the strategy?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Release branches are used to stabilize a release before merging to main.
Option B is correct because release branches allow a team to stabilize a release candidate without disrupting ongoing development on the main branch. Once the release is fully tested and stable, it is merged into main, ensuring that main always contains production-ready code. This aligns with the continuous delivery principle of maintaining a deployable main branch.
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.
✗
Feature branches have long lifetimes and are merged to main only after full feature completion.
Why it's wrong here
Long-lived feature branches cause integration problems.
✓
Release branches are used to stabilize a release before merging to main.
Why this is correct
Release branches allow final testing and bug fixes before production.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✓
Main branch is always in a deployable state.
Why this is correct
This is a core principle of continuous delivery.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Hotfixes are merged directly to develop and then cherry-picked to main.
Why it's wrong here
This delays the hotfix deployment.
✓
Hotfix branches are created from main and merged back into main and develop.
Why this is correct
Hotfixes should be based on the production version (main) and then synced to develop.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is confusing the hotfix branching model with the incorrect practice of merging hotfixes directly to develop and cherry-picking to main, which violates the principle that main must always be in a deployable state and can lead to missing fixes in the development branch.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In Git, release branches are typically named 'release/x.y' and are created from develop when the feature set for a release is complete. During stabilization, only bug fixes are committed to the release branch, and once validated, it is merged into main (tagged with a version) and back into develop to retain the fixes. This workflow prevents the main branch from ever containing incomplete or unstable code, which is critical for automated CI/CD pipelines that deploy from main.
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: Release branches are used to stabilize a release before merging to main. — Option B is correct because release branches allow a team to stabilize a release candidate without disrupting ongoing development on the main branch. Once the release is fully tested and stable, it is merged into main, ensuring that main always contains production-ready code. This aligns with the continuous delivery principle of maintaining a deployable main branch.
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.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
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.
Question Discussion
Share a tip, memory trick, or ask about the reasoning behind this question. Do not post real exam questions, leaked content, braindumps, or copyrighted exam material. Comments are moderated and may be removed without notice.
Sign in to join the discussion.