EnglishDeutschFrançaisEspañolPortuguês

Microsoft · AZ-400 · Expert

Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

The AZ-400 certification validates expertise in designing and implementing DevOps practices for Microsoft Azure. 50+ AI-generated practice questions with explanations. Free trial, pass guarantee.

Start Free Trial

7-day free trial, no credit card required

50 Questions
100min Time Limit
700/ 1000 Pass Score

Overview

About the exam

The AZ-400 certification validates expertise in designing and implementing DevOps practices for Microsoft Azure. It covers development process design, source control management, CI/CD pipelines with Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions, dependency management, infrastructure as code, continuous feedback, security practices, and compliance automation across the software delivery lifecycle.

This expert-level certification is designed for DevOps engineers, platform engineers, and developers who combine development and operations expertise. Candidates should be proficient with Azure administration and development, with practical experience in Azure DevOps or GitHub for implementing end-to-end DevOps workflows.

Exam Domains

What's on the exam

The exam consists of 40–60 questions to be completed in approximately 100 minutes (120 minutes if labs are included). Question types include multiple-choice, multiple-select, drag-and-drop, hot area, and case study formats. Questions heavily test pipeline YAML syntax, GitHub Actions workflows, and infrastructure as code templates. Expect scenarios requiring you to design complete CI/CD pipelines and select appropriate DevOps tooling.

Design and implement processes and communications 13%

Design and implement traceability and flow of work (GitHub Flow, feedback cycles, GitHub projects, Azure Boards), design and implement metrics and queries for DevOps, and configure collaboration and communication (wikis, release docs, webhooks, Teams integration)

Design and implement a source control strategy 13%

Design and implement branching strategies (trunk-based, feature branch, release branch, PR workflows, branch policies/protection rules) and configure and manage repositories (large files, Git LFS, scaling, permissions, tags, data recovery)

Design and implement build and release pipelines 52%

Design and implement package management (GitHub Packages, Azure Artifacts, versioning), testing strategy (quality/release gates, comprehensive testing, code coverage), pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, YAML, multi-stage, hybrid), deployments (blue-green, canary, ring, feature flags, database tasks), IaC (ARM, Bicep, Azure Machine Configuration), and pipeline maintenance

Develop a security and compliance plan 13%

Design and implement authentication and authorization (service principals, managed identities, GitHub Apps, service connections, permissions/roles) and manage sensitive information in automation (Key Vault, secrets, workload identity federation, secure files)

Implement an instrumentation strategy 9%

Configure monitoring for DevOps environments (Azure Monitor, Application Insights, VM/Container/Storage/Network Insights, GitHub insights) and analyze metrics from instrumentation (infrastructure performance, telemetry, distributed tracing, KQL queries)

Format

What to expect

multiple choice
29%
command
13%
drag drop
13%
troubleshooting
11%
ordering
9%
multiple response
9%
dropdown selection
9%
true false
7%

Watch out

Where candidates struggle

This exam spans both Azure DevOps and GitHub. Candidates who are experienced with only one platform often struggle with questions about the other's specific features and configurations.

  1. 01
    YAML Pipeline Syntax — Not knowing Azure Pipelines YAML syntax for stages, jobs, steps, and variable groups including template references.
  2. 02
    GitHub vs Azure DevOps — Confusing equivalent features between GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps Pipelines including triggers and approval gates.
  3. 03
    IaC Tools — Struggling to differentiate when to use ARM templates, Bicep, Terraform, or Pulumi for infrastructure as code scenarios.
  4. 04
    Security Integration — Overlooking DevSecOps practices like SAST/DAST scanning, dependency scanning, and secret management in pipelines.
  5. 05
    Monitoring Strategy — Not understanding how to implement continuous feedback loops using Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and dashboards.

Details

Exam logistics

Delivered via Pearson VUE online or at testing centers. Available in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, French, German, Spanish, and more. The certification is valid for 1 year with a free renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn.

Delivery Pearson VUE online proctored or at authorized testing centers worldwide
Retake policy 24-hour wait after the first attempt, 14 days between subsequent attempts, maximum 5 attempts per exam within a 12-month period
Validity 1 year
Career outcomes DevOps Engineer, Platform Engineer, Release Manager, Site Reliability Engineer, CI/CD Pipeline Engineer
Renewal Free renewal assessment on Microsoft Learn, available starting 6 months before expiration. Must be completed before the certification expires.
Study time ~55 hours
Official guide View on vendor site

Ready to pass?

Join thousands of professionals who passed with AI-powered practice.

Start Free Trial