If you’re a software developer or an IT professional who works with Azure DevOps, then you know how important it is to stay on top of the latest trends and techniques. Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) is a comprehensive certification that covers everything from planning and designing DevOps strategies to implementing and managing them. It’s important to note that Microsoft offers a learning path for the AZ-400 certification exam, aiming to assist you in devising and executing strategies for application code and infrastructure that support continuous integration, testing, delivery, monitoring, and feedback.
- Firstly, subject matter expertise working with people, processes, and technologies to continuously deliver business values
- Secondly, you should have the capacity to create and put into action approaches related to collaboration, code, infrastructure, source control, security, compliance, continuous integration, testing, delivery, monitoring, and feedback.
- Lastly, you should be proficient in both Azure administration and development and possess expertise in at least one of these domains.
However, studying for the AZ-400 exam can be overwhelming, especially if you’re new to the platform or if you have a busy schedule. That’s why we’ve created this cheat sheet to help you prepare for the exam quickly and efficiently. In this blog post, we’ll provide you with a handy AZ-400 cheat sheet that covers the most important topics you need to know to pass the exam. Our cheat sheet includes a concise summary of each topic, along with tips and tricks to help you remember the key concepts. Whether you’re a seasoned Azure DevOps pro or a newcomer to the platform, our cheat sheet will help you study smarter, not harder. So, let’s dive in and start preparing for the AZ-400 exam!
Glossary for Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions Terminology
Here’s a glossary of some common terminology related to Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions:
- Azure DevOps: A cloud-based collaboration and software development platform from Microsoft.
- Continuous Integration (CI): The practice of automatically constructing and evaluating code modifications as they are added to a shared repository.
- Continuous Deployment (CD): The practice of automatically deploying code changes to a production environment once they have passed automated testing.
- Build Pipeline: A series of steps that automate the process of building and testing software code.
- Release Pipeline: A series of steps that automate the process of deploying software code to production environments.
- Agile: A software development methodology that emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and incremental progress.
- Scrum: An agile framework that emphasizes iterative development, cross-functional teams, and frequent communication.
- Kanban: An agile framework that emphasizes visualizing and managing work in progress, and optimizing workflow.
- Sprint: A time-boxed period of work in agile development, typically lasting 1-4 weeks.
- Backlog: A prioritized list of features or tasks to be completed in a software project.
How to prepare your own Microsoft Azure (AZ-400) Cheat Sheet?
Preparing a cheat sheet for the Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) exam can be helpful in organizing your study materials and quickly reviewing key concepts before the exam. Here are some tips on how to prepare and what to include in your cheat sheet:
- Organize the exam objectives: The AZ-400 exam covers a wide range of topics related to DevOps practices and Azure DevOps solutions. Make sure to review the exam objectives and organize them into categories, such as planning and implementing DevOps practices, implementing continuous integration and delivery, and implementing dependency management.
- Include key concepts: Identify the key concepts and technologies that you need to know for the exam. These may include Git, Jenkins, Azure Pipelines, YAML, Docker, Kubernetes, and more. Include the basic syntax and commands for each of these technologies.
- List common scenarios and use cases: Think about common scenarios and use cases that you may encounter in the exam. For example, how to set up a CI/CD pipeline for a .NET application, how to deploy an application to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), or how to troubleshoot a build or release pipeline.
- Add examples: Add examples to help you remember key concepts and scenarios. For example, provide examples of YAML syntax for a build pipeline, or provide a step-by-step guide for deploying an application to AKS.
- Use diagrams and visuals: Use diagrams and visuals to help you visualize key concepts and scenarios. For example, draw a diagram of a typical CI/CD pipeline, or create a flowchart for a release pipeline.
- Review regularly: Review your cheat sheet regularly to keep the information fresh in your mind. Try to use active recall techniques, such as practicing with flashcards or quizzing yourself on key concepts.
Overall, creating a cheat sheet for the AZ-400 exam can be a useful tool for studying and reviewing key concepts. Make sure to organize the information in a way that makes sense to you, and include plenty of examples and visuals to help you remember the material.
Preparation resources for Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) Exam
Here are some exam preparation resources for the Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) exam:
- Microsoft’s official AZ-400 Exam page: This page provides a detailed overview of the exam, including the skills measured, exam format, and resources for preparation. It also includes links to Microsoft Learn modules that cover the exam topics.
Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-400
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft Learn offers free self-paced courses and learning paths that cover the skills measured in the AZ-400 exam. You can take these courses to prepare for the exam and earn certifications.
Link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-devops
3. Practice tests: Practice tests are a great way to evaluate your knowledge and identify areas where you need to improve. You can find several practice tests for the AZ-400 exam online.
Link: https://www.testpreptraining.com/microsoft-azure-devops-solutions-az-400-free-practice-test
- Exam Ref AZ-400 Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions: This is a book by Sjoukje Zaal that covers all the topics required for the AZ-400 exam. It is available in print and e-book formats.
Quick Cheat Sheet for Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions (AZ-400)
Once you’ve absorbed all the essential information, it’s time to consider the study materials you’ll utilize to prepare for the exam. Succeeding in such exams can be challenging, but with the appropriate resources, it becomes manageable. Careful selection of your study materials is crucial, as they significantly impact your exam performance. It’s essential to not only grasp the concepts but also understand how they operate in real-world scenarios. Here’s a compilation of valuable resources:
1. Review the AZ-400 Course Outline
Getting familiar with the main objectives of the AZ-400 exam is very important. Knowing the exam objectives will provide you an insight into the exam. Moreover, a review of the exam guide will let you align yourself more deeply with the major objectives of the exam. And, you will also be able to mark the sections and topics you find difficult for preparing it later. However, the AZ-400 exam topics are provided below:
1. Design and implement processes and communications (10–15%)
Design and implement traceability and flow of work
- Design and implement a structure for the flow of work, including GitHub Flow
- Design and implement a strategy for feedback cycles, including notifications and issues
- Design and implement integration for tracking work, including GitHub projects, Azure Boards, and repositories
- Design and implement source, bug, and quality traceability
Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for DevOps
- Design and implement a dashboard, including flow of work, such as cycle times, time to recovery, and lead time
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for project planning
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for development
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for testing
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for security
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for delivery
- Design and implement appropriate metrics and queries for operations
Configure collaboration and communication
- Document a project by configuring wikis and process diagrams, including Markdown and Mermaid syntax (Microsoft Documentation: Create a wiki for your project)
- Configure release documentation, including release notes and API documentation (Microsoft Documentation: Releases, Releases – List)
- Automate creation of documentation from Git history (Microsoft Documentation: Understand Git history simplification)
- Configure notifications by using webhooks (Microsoft Documentation: Set up notifications for changes in resource data)
- Configure integration between Azure Boards and GitHub repositories
- Configure integration between GitHub or Azure DevOps and Microsoft Teams
2. Design and implement a source control strategy (10–15%)
Plan and implement branching strategies for the source code
- Design a branch strategy, including trunk-based, feature branch, and release branch (Microsoft Documentation: Adopt a Git branching strategy)
- Design and implement a pull request workflow by using branch policies and branch protections (Microsoft Documentation: Branch policies and settings)
- Implement branch merging restrictions by using branch policies and branch protections (Microsoft Documentation: About branches and branch policies)
Configure and manage repositories
- Design and implement a strategy for managing large files, including Git Large File Storage (LFS) and git-fat
- Design a strategy for scaling and optimizing a Git repository, including Scalar and cross-repository sharing
- Configure permissions in the source control repository (Microsoft Documentation: Set Git repository permissions)
- Configure tags to organize the source control repository (Microsoft Documentation: Set Git repository settings and policies)
- Recover data by using Git commands (Microsoft Documentation: Git command reference)
- Remove specific data from source control
3. Design and implement build and release pipelines (50–55%)
Design and implement a package management strategy
- Recommend package management tools including GitHub Packages registry and Azure Artifacts
- Design and implement package feeds and views for local and upstream packages (Microsoft Documentation: Upstream sources)
- Design and implement a dependency versioning strategy for code assets and packages, including semantic versioning (SemVer) and date-based (CalVer) (Microsoft Documentation: Implement a versioning strategy, Package versioning)
- Design and implement a versioning strategy for pipeline artifacts (Microsoft Documentation: Implement a versioning strategy)
Design and implement a testing strategy for pipelines
- Design and implement quality and release gates, including security and governance
- Design a comprehensive testing strategy, including local tests, unit tests, integration tests, and load tests
- Implement tests in a pipeline, including configuring test tasks, configuring test agents, and integration of test results
- Implement code coverage analysis
Design and implement pipelines
- Select a deployment automation solution, including GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines (Microsoft Documentation: Deploy to App Service using GitHub Actions)
- Design and implement a GitHub runner or Azure DevOps agent infrastructure, including cost, tool selection, licenses, connectivity, and maintainability
- Design and implement integration between GitHub repositories and Azure Pipelines
- Develop and implement pipeline trigger rules (Microsoft Documentation: Trigger one pipeline after another)
- Develop pipelines by using YAML (Microsoft Documentation: Create your first pipeline)
- Design and implement a strategy for job execution order, including parallelism and multi-stage pipelines (Microsoft Documentation: Task Parallel Library (TPL), jobs.job.strategy definition)
- Develop and implement complex pipeline scenarios, such as hybrid pipelines, VM templates, and self-hosted runners or agents
- Create reusable pipeline elements, including YAML templates, task groups, variables, and variable groups (Microsoft Documentation: Define variables)
- Design and implement checks and approvals by using YAML-based environments (Microsoft Documentation: Release deployment control using approvals)
Design and implement deployments
- Design a deployment strategy, including blue/green, canary, ring, progressive exposure, feature flags, and A/B testing (Microsoft Documentation: Progressive experimentation with feature flags)
- Design a pipeline to ensure that dependency deployments are reliably ordered (Microsoft Documentation: Add stages, dependencies, & conditions)
- Plan for minimizing downtime during deployments by using virtual IP address (VIP) swap, load balancing, rolling deployments, and deployment slot usage and swap (Microsoft Documentation: Swap or switch deployments in Azure Cloud Services)
- Design a hotfix path plan for responding to high-priority code fixes (Microsoft Documentation: Using a hotfix production environment)
- Design and implement a resiliency strategy for deployment
- Implement feature flags by using Azure App Configuration Feature Manager (Microsoft Documentation: Manage feature flags in Azure App Configuration)
- Implement application deployment by using containers, binaries, and scripts (Microsoft Documentation: App Service overview)
- Implement a deployment that includes database tasks
Design and implement infrastructure as code (IaC)
- Recommend a configuration management technology for application infrastructure (Microsoft Documentation: Configuration Manager)
- Implement a configuration management strategy for application infrastructure
- Define an IaC strategy, including source control and automation of testing and deployment (Microsoft Documentation: infrastructure as code (IaC))
- Design and implement desired state configuration for environments, including Azure Automation State Configuration, Azure Resource Manager, Bicep, and Azure Automanage Machine Configuration
- Design and implement Azure Deployment Environments for on-demand self-deployment
Maintain pipelines
- Monitor pipeline health, including failure rate, duration, and flaky tests (Microsoft Documentation: Manage flaky tests)
- Optimize pipelines for cost, time, performance, and reliability (Microsoft Documentation: Tradeoffs for performance efficiency)
- Optimize pipeline concurrency for performance and cost
- Design and implement a retention strategy for pipeline artifacts and dependencies (Microsoft Documentation: Set retention policies for builds, releases, and tests)
- Migrate a pipeline from classic to YAML in Azure Pipelines
4. Develop a security and compliance plan (10—15%)
Design and implement authentication and authorization methods
- Choose between Service Principals and Managed Identity (including system-assigned and user-assigned)
- Implement and manage GitHub authentication, including GitHub Apps, GITHUB_TOKEN, and personal access tokens
- Implement and manage Azure DevOps service connections and personal access tokens
- Design and implement permissions and roles in GitHub
- Design and implement permissions and security groups in Azure DevOps
- Recommend appropriate access levels, including stakeholder access in Azure DevOps and outside collaborator access in GitHub
- Configure projects and teams in Azure DevOps
Design and implement a strategy for managing sensitive information in automation
- Implement and manage secrets, keys, and certificates by using Azure Key Vault (Microsoft Documentation: Use Azure Key Vault secrets in Azure Pipelines)
- Implement and manage secrets in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
- Design and implement a strategy for managing sensitive files during deployment, including Azure Pipelines secure files (Microsoft Documentation: Azure data security and encryption best practices)
- Design pipelines to prevent leakage of sensitive information (Microsoft Documentation: Design a data loss prevention policy)
Automate security and compliance scanning
- Design a strategy for security and compliance scanning, including dependency, code, secret, and licensing scanning
- Configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud DevOps Security
- Configure GitHub Advanced Security for both GitHub and Azure DevOps
- Integrate GitHub Advanced Security with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Automate container scanning, including scanning container images and configuring an action to run CodeQL analysis in a container
- Automate analysis of licensing, vulnerabilities, and versioning of open-source components by using Dependabot alerts
5. Implement an instrumentation strategy (5–10%)
Configure monitoring for a DevOps environment
- Configure Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to integrate with DevOps tools
- Configure collection of telemetry by using Application Insights, VM Insights, Container Insights, Storage Insights, and Network Insights
- Configure monitoring in GitHub, including enabling insights and creating and configuring charts
- Configure alerts for events in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines (Microsoft Documentation: Azure Monitor Alerts task)
Analyze metrics from instrumentation
- Inspect infrastructure performance indicators, including CPU, memory, disk, and network (Microsoft Documentation: Supported metrics with Azure Monitor)
- Analyze metrics by using collected telemetry, including usage and application performance
- Inspect distributed tracing by using Application Insights
- Interrogate logs using basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries (Microsoft Documentation: Log queries in Azure Monitor)
Check out the AZ-400 study guide to speedup your exam preparation!
2. Instructor Led Training
Microsoft provides you with both online as well as instructor-led training that are basically on-demand classroom sessions that you can easily arrange anywhere and anytime according to your convenience. Moreover, these training sessions help you gain an upper hand in the AZ-400 exam. The course for the AZ-400 exam includes:
3. Reference Books
Books help you acquire knowledge in a clear and detailed manner which helps you understand the basics of the exam topics. Moreover, they are the best-valued resources that come to mind for having better preparation. For AZ-400 books, you can prefer according to your level of understanding and other requirements.
- Firstly, The DevOps Adoption Playbook: A Guide to Adopting DevOps in a Multi-Speed IT Enterprise by Sanjeev Sharma
- Secondly, DevOps: A Software Architect’s Perspective (SEI Series in Software Engineering) by Lenn Bass, Ingo Weber, and Liming Zhu.
4. Assess yourself using Practice Tests
Practice tests are crucial because they help you identify your areas of strength and weakness. Engaging in practice allows you to enhance your ability to answer questions efficiently, ultimately saving valuable time during the exam. It’s advisable to commence AZ-400 exam sample tests after completing an entire topic, as this serves as a helpful revision exercise. Therefore, thorough revision followed by self-assessment is the key to success in cracking the exam.
