Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions (AZ-400) Exam Blueprint

AZ-400

Microsoft

700 (1-1000)Passing Score

Practice Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions on QuizForge

Credential type: certification examination · verified on the issuer's site September 19, 2026 issuer page

Exam Domains

1.0 Design and implement processes and communications 10-15%

1.1Design 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 GitHub Issues; Design and implement integration for tracking work, including GitHub projects, Azure Boards, and repositories; Design and implement source, bug, and quality traceability
1.2Design 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
1.3Configure collaboration and communication
Document a project by configuring wikis and process diagrams, including Markdown and Mermaid syntax; Configure release documentation, including release notes and API documentation; Automate creation of documentation from Git history; Configure integration by using webhooks; Configure integration between Azure Boards and GitHub repositories; Configure integration between GitHub or Azure DevOps and Microsoft Teams

2.0 Design and implement a source control strategy 10-15%

2.1Design and implement branching strategies for the source code
Design a branch strategy, including trunk-based, feature branch, and release branch; Design and implement a pull request workflow by using branch policies and branch protection rules; Implement branch merging restrictions by using branch policies and branch protection rules
2.2Configure 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; Configure tags to organize the source control repository; Recover specific data by using Git commands; Remove specific data from source control

3.0 Design and implement build and release pipelines 50-55%

3.1Design and implement a package management strategy
Recommend package management tools including GitHub Packages and Azure Artifacts; Design and implement package feeds and views for local and upstream packages; Design and implement a dependency versioning strategy for code assets and packages, including semantic versioning (SemVer) and date-based (CalVer); Design and implement a versioning strategy for pipeline artifacts
3.2Design 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
3.3Design and implement pipelines
Select a deployment automation solution, including GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines; 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; Develop pipelines by using YAML; Design and implement a strategy for job execution order, including parallelism and multi-stage pipelines; 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; Design and implement checks and approvals by using YAML-based environments
3.4Design and implement deployments
Design a deployment strategy, including blue-green, canary, ring, progressive exposure, feature flags, and A/B testing; Design a pipeline to ensure that dependency deployments are reliably ordered; Plan for minimizing downtime during deployments by using load balancing, rolling deployments, and deployment slot usage and swap; Design a hotfix path plan for responding to high-priority code fixes; Design and implement a resiliency strategy for deployment; Implement feature flags by using Azure App Configuration Feature Manager; Implement application deployment by using containers, binaries, and scripts; Implement a deployment that includes database tasks
3.5Design and implement infrastructure as code (IaC)
Recommend a configuration management technology for application infrastructure; Implement a configuration management strategy for application infrastructure; Define an IaC strategy, including source control and automation of testing and deployment; Design and implement desired state configuration for environments, including Azure Automation State Configuration, Azure Resource Manager, Bicep, and Azure Machine Configuration; Design and implement Azure Deployment Environments for on-demand self-deployment
3.6Maintain pipelines
Monitor pipeline health, including failure rate, duration, and flaky tests; Optimize a pipeline for cost, time, performance, and reliability; Optimize pipeline concurrency for performance and cost; Design and implement a retention strategy for pipeline artifacts and dependencies; Migrate a pipeline from classic to YAML in Azure Pipelines

4.0 Develop a security and compliance plan 10-15%

4.1Design and implement authentication and authorization methods
Choose between Microsoft Entra service principals and managed identities for Azure resources (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
4.2Design and implement a strategy for managing sensitive information in automation
Implement and manage secrets, keys, and certificates by using Azure Key Vault; Implement and manage secrets and secretless authentication (for example, workload identity federation/OpenID Connect) in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines; Design and implement a strategy for managing sensitive files during deployment, including Azure Pipelines secure files; Design pipelines to prevent leakage of sensitive information
4.3Automate 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 GitHub and GitHub Advanced Security for 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 vulnerabilities of open-source components by using Dependabot alerts

5.0 Implement an instrumentation strategy 5-10%

5.1Configure monitoring for a DevOps environment
Configure Azure Monitor and Azure Monitor Logs to integrate with DevOps tools; Configure collection of telemetry by using Azure Monitor Application Insights, Azure VM Insights, Azure Container Insights, Azure Monitor for Storage, and Azure Monitor for Networks; Configure monitoring in GitHub, including enabling insights and creating and configuring charts; Configure alerts for events in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
5.2Analyze metrics from instrumentation
Inspect infrastructure performance indicators, including CPU, memory, disk, and network; Analyze metrics by using collected telemetry, including usage and application performance; Inspect distributed tracing by using Azure Monitor Application Insights; Interrogate logs using basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries

Exam Details

Online ProctoringAvailable

RenewalRequired -- Microsoft certifications (Associate/Expert/Specialty) are renewed annually for free via a short renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn. Renewal assessment available 6 months before expiry. Fundamentals certifications do not expire.

PrerequisitesExperience administering and developing in Azure, with strong skills in GitHub and Azure DevOps solutions (recommended)

Retake PolicyAfter the first failure, wait 24 hours. Wait 14 days between later attempts. At most five attempts in the 12 months starting with the first attempt; after five failures, wait until that period ends. Retake fees apply. See Microsoft's policy for exceptions.

Official Study Resources

official documentationChoose from self-paced learning paths and modules or take an instructor-led course

official documentationDevOps resource center

official documentationAzure DevOps documentation

official documentationAzure Boards

official documentationAzure Key Vault Keys, Secrets, and Certificates Overview

official documentationAzure Monitor

official documentationAzure Pipelines

official documentationAzure Repos

official documentationWork with Azure DevOps and GitHub

official documentationMicrosoft Q&A | Microsoft Docs

official documentationExam Readiness Zone

official documentationMicrosoft Learn Shows

Source review and study planning

Source checked 2026-09-04. Objectives effective 2026-07-27.

Official-source reconciliation with automated hierarchy checks; not an endorsement by Microsoft.

Reconciled domain ranges and objective hierarchy against the dated official guide; local objective numbers are navigation aids.
Corrected first and subsequent retake waiting periods; removed the unsupported score threshold.
Removed unsupported fixed question count, duration, price, language list and testing rules. Consult the official exam page for booking details; the audience profile describes recommended experience, not mandatory prerequisites.

Official objectives | Official retake policy

Plan against this version

Check the official revision history before planning study: Compare the effective date with your exam language and appointment. Use changed objectives to revisit earlier preparation.
Use the guide's learning and documentation map: For each objective, record a task you can perform and the official reference used. Prioritize gaps; the published ranges are not predicted question counts.
Atlas study exercise: Review a delivery pipeline: Sketch the path from a source change to production. Mark artifact handling, secrets, approvals and feedback. Explain one failure at each stage and the signal that would reveal it; map gaps to the pipeline and instrumentation objectives. This is a study aid, not an official exam question or a prediction of your result.