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. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 GitHub Enterprise with a monorepo containing multiple microservices. Developers work on feature branches and create pull requests to merge into main. You need to implement a policy that ensures all pull requests have at least one review from a code owner, pass required status checks (CI build and unit tests), and are up-to-date with the latest main branch before merging. Additionally, you want to prevent direct pushes to main. Which combination of branch protection rules should you configure?
Clue words in this question
Noticing these words before you look at the options changes how you read each choice.
Clue: "least"
Why it matters: You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict who can push to matching branches.
Option D is correct because it includes all required elements: require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict direct pushes. Option A lacks the up-to-date requirement. Option B does not require pull requests. Option C lacks status checks.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, and restrict who can push to matching branches.
Why it's wrong here
Missing up-to-date requirement.
✗
Require pull request reviews before merging, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict push access to admins only.
Why it's wrong here
Missing required status checks.
✗
Require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and include administrators.
Why it's wrong here
Does not require pull request reviews.
✓
Require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict who can push to matching branches.
Why this is correct
Includes all required protections.
Clue confirmation
The clue word "least" in the question point toward this answer.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this AZ-400 question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-400 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design and implement a source control strategy — This question tests Design and implement a source control strategy — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict who can push to matching branches. — Option D is correct because it includes all required elements: require pull request reviews before merging, require status checks, require branches to be up-to-date, and restrict direct pushes. Option A lacks the up-to-date requirement. Option B does not require pull requests. Option C lacks status checks.
What should I do if I get this AZ-400 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related AZ-400 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Are there clue words in this question I should notice?
Yes — watch for: "least". You want the option with minimum overhead, fewest steps, or lowest impact — not the most feature-rich or comprehensive answer.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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