What does the AZ-400 syllabus cover?

The official AZ-400 syllabus covers the domains and topics that Microsoft lists in the current exam guide for Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions.

Where can I verify the latest AZ-400 skills measured?

Use the official source links on this page to verify the latest AZ-400 skills measured, topic areas, and outline updates before exam day.

Microsoft Exam Syllabus

AZ-400 syllabus, skills measured, and exam topics

The AZ-400 exam measures Design and implement processes and communications, Design and implement a source control strategy, and Design and implement build and release pipelines. Use this page to review the current official syllabus, major domains, and source links before exam day.

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Domain	Weight
Design and implement processes and communications	10–15%
Design and implement a source control strategy	10–15%
Design and implement build and release pipelines	50–55%
Develop a security and compliance plan	10–15%
Implement an instrumentation strategy	5–10%

Purpose of this document

This study guide should help you understand what to expect on the exam and includes a summary of the topics the exam might cover and links to additional resources. The information and materials in this document should help you focus your studies as you prepare for the exam.
Useful links: Description
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Take a free Practice Assessment: Test your skills with practice questions to help you prepare for the exam.

Updates to the exam

Our exams are updated periodically to reflect skills that are required to perform a role. We have included two versions of the Skills Measured objectives depending on when you are taking the exam.
We always update the English language version of the exam first. Some exams are localized into other languages, and those are updated approximately eight weeks after the English version is updated. While Microsoft makes every effort to update localized versions of exams as noted, there may be times when localized versions of an exam are not updated on this schedule. Other available languages are listed in the Schedule Exam section of the Exam Details webpage. If the exam isn't available in your preferred language, you can request an additional 30 minutes to complete the exam.
The bullets that follow each of the skills measured are intended to illustrate how we are assessing that skill. Related topics may be covered in the exam.
Most questions cover features that are general availability (GA). The exam may contain questions on Preview features if those features are commonly used.

Audience profile

As a DevOps engineer, you’re a developer or infrastructure administrator who also has subject matter expertise in working with people, processes, and products to enable continuous delivery of value in organizations.
Your responsibilities for this role include delivering Microsoft DevOps solutions that provide continuous security, integration, testing, delivery, deployment, monitoring, and feedback. You design and implement flow of work, collaboration, communication, source control, and automation.
As a DevOps engineer, you work on cross-functional teams that include:
Developers
Site reliability engineers
Azure administrators
Security engineers
You must have experience both administering and developing in Azure, with strong skills in at least one of these areas. You should also have experience implementing both GitHub and Azure DevOps solutions.

Design and implement processes and communications (10–15%)

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
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
Document a project by configuring wikis and process diagrams, including Markdown and Mermaid syntax

Design and implement a source control strategy (10–15%)

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
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

Design and implement build and release pipelines (50–55%)

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
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
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 a security and compliance plan (10–15%)

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
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
Design a strategy for security and compliance scanning, including dependency, code, secret, and licensing scanning