AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

Overview

The AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions course is designed to empower IT professionals with the skills needed to integrate robust DevOps practices into their organizations using Microsoft Azure. This comprehensive course provides attendees with the knowledge and expertise to design and implement DevOps processes and practices, leveraging Azure’s powerful toolset.

The course features visually rich lectures that provide a clear, detailed understanding of complex DevOps concepts, paired with hands-on demonstrations that offer practical experience. Participants will learn continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), infrastructure as code, configuration management, and release management. They will also learn about security, compliance, and monitoring practices necessary to maintain a reliable and efficient DevOps environment.

COURSE DIFFICULTY

Advanced

SKILLS LEARNED
COURSE OUTLINE

Skills Learned

After completing this online training course, students will be able to:

Design and implement logging, telemetry, and monitoring systems to ensure operational visibility and reliability
Ensure stability, reduce downtime, and automate remediation processes
Integrate secure development practices and compliance requirements into the DevOps lifecycle
Use Azure Repos for source control and practicing branching, merging, and repository management
Automate building and testing processes to enhance code quality and delivery speed
Utilize Azure Boards and other tools to enhance team collaboration and agility
Streamline and automate deployment pipelines to ensure consistent application delivery
Use tools like Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Terraform, and other IaC techniques to provision and manage infrastructure

01. Introduction

What is DevOps?
Unifying People, Process, and Technology
What is Azure DevOps
About the Exam and its Role in the Microsoft Certification Landscape

02. Configure Activity Traceability and Flow of Work

Flow of Work – Processes
Flow of Work – Basic
Flow of Work – SCRUM
Flow of Work – Agile
Flow of Work – CMMI
Configure Activity Traceability
Demo: Generating Release Notes
Demo: Repository Integration with Azure Boards
Demo: Integrate Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions
Quiz: Configure Activity Traceability and Flow of Work

03. Configure Collaboration & Communication

Activity Traceability – Dashboards, Charts and Widgets
Documentation with Azure Wikis
Demo: Creating a Wiki
Azure DevOps Boards
Using Dashboards
Demo: Creating a Dashboard
Demo: Notifications from Webhooks
Quiz: Configure Collaboration & Communication

04. Work with Azure Repos and GitHub

What is source control?
Types of source control systems
Working with Git locally
Getting Started with Azure Repos
Getting Started with GitHub
Creating Repository in Azure Repos
Transitioning from TFVC to Git
Innovating with GitHub Codespaces
Quiz: Work with Azure Repos and GitHub

05. Branching Strategies for Source Code

Comparative Analysis: Monorepo vs. Multiple Repos
Creating an Effective Change Log
Generating a Change Log
Diving into Types of Branch Workflows
Collaborate with pull requests
Azure Repos collaborating with pull requests
GitHub Mobile: Streamlining Pull Request Approvals on the Go
Demystifying Git Hooks
Embracing Inner Source with Forking Workflow
Implement fork workflow
Quiz: Branching Strategies for Source Code

06. Configuring and Managing Repositories

Introduction to managing repositories
Working with large repositories
Large repositories with Scalar
Configure Git tags to organize the source control repository
Organizing Your Repository Using Git Tags in Azure Repos
Organizing Your Repository Using Git Tags in GitHub Releases
Recovering Data by Using Git Commands
Recovering Data from Source Control Using Azure Repos
Purge Data from Source Control
Quiz: Configuring and Managing Repositories

07. Design and Implement Pipeline Automation

Dependency and Security Scanning
Integration of automated tests into pipelines
Local Tests, Unit Tests, Integration Tests, Load Tests
Understanding Code Coverage
Orchestration of GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Pipeline Automation

08. Design and Implement a Package Management Strategy

Discovering Package Management Tools
Exploring Azure Artifacts
Exploring GitHub Packages
Implementing package feeds
Versioning Strategies, Semantic Versioning, Date-Based Versioning
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement a Package Management Strategy

09. Design and Implement Pipelines

Introduction: Designing and Implementing Pipelines
Getting Started with Azure Pipelines
Demo: Azure Pipelines
Deployment Automation with GitHub Actions
Designing an Agent Infrastructure
Evaluating Cost
Tool Selection
Licensing
Connectivity
Maintainability
Pipeline triggers
Exploring Classic Pipelines
Exploring YAML Pipelines
Understanding Build Agents and Parallelism
Exploring Self-Hosted Build Agents
Building a Linux Self-Hosted Build Agent with WSL
Using Build Trigger Rules
Exploring Containerized Agents
Summary: Designing and Implementing Pipelines
Quiz: Design and Implement Pipelines

10. Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution

Introduction: Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution
Release Strategies
Stages, Dependencies, and Conditions
Implementing Release Gates
YAML Templates
Summary
Quiz: Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution

11. Design and Implement Deployments

Introduction: Designing and Implementing Deployments
Exploring Deployment Strategies
Design and implement a resiliency strategy for deployment
Implement a deployment that includes database tasks
Design a pipeline to ensure reliable order of dependency deployments
Plan for minimizing downtime during deployments
Design a hotfix path plan
Implementing Load Balancer, Traffic Manager Releases and Web Apps
Implement feature flags by using Azure App Configuration Feature Manager
Application deployment using Containers, Binaries and Scripts
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Deployments

12. Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Introduction
Exploring Configuration management technology for application infrastructure
Design and implement desired state configuration for environments
Azure Automation State Configuration
Azure Resource Manager Templates
Introduction to Bicep
Define an IaC strategy
Design and implement Azure Deployment Environments for on-demand self-deployment
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

13. Maintain Pipelines

Maintain Pipelines Introduction
Discovering Pipeline Health including monitoring Failure Rate, Duration, Flaky Tests
Optimize pipeline concurrency for performance and cost
Migrate a pipeline from classic to YAML in Azure Pipelines
Analyze pipeline load to determine agent configuration and capacity
Design and implement a retention strategy for pipeline artifacts and dependencies
Summary: Maintaining Pipelines
Quiz: Maintain Pipelines

14. Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods

Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods Introduction
Choose between Service Principals and Managed Identity
Implement and manage GitHub Authentication
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
Configure projects and teams in Azure DevOps
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods

15. Design and Implement a Strategy for Managing Sensitive Information in Automation

Introduction
Implement and manage secrets, keys, and certificates by using Azure Key Vault
Implement and manage secrets in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
Using Service Connections in Pipeline
Exploring Azure Pipelines Secrets with Azure Key Vault
Exploring GitHub Secrets
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement a Strategy for Managing Sensitive Information in Automation

16. Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance

Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance Introduction
Understand SQL Injection Attacks
Embracing DevSecOps Culture
Architecting a Secure DevOps Pipeline
Key Validation Points and Continuous Security Validation
Comprehending Threat Modeling
Introduction to OSS
Working with open source software
Review and Confirm Code Base Compliance
Delving into Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
Integrating Mend and GitHub Dependabot
Integrating SCA into Pipelines
Evaluating Tools for Package Security and License Compliance
Decoding Notifications from Scanning Instruments
Exploring SonarCloud Features
Navigating CodeQL on GitHub
Strategizing the Adoption of OWASP Secure Coding Guidelines
Investigating ZAP for Penetration Testing
Establishing Security in Development Pipelines
Exploring Use Cases for Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Delving into Azure Policy
Explore Azure Resource Locks
Quiz: Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance

17. Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment

Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment Introduction
Configure Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to integrate with DevOps tools
Configure collection of telemetry by using Azure various services
Configure monitoring in GitHub
Summary
Quiz: Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment

18. Analyze Metrics

Analyze Metrics Introduction
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 Application Insights
Interrogate logs using basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries
Summary: Analyzing Metrics

SKILLS LEARNED

Skills Learned

After completing this online training course, students will be able to:

Design and implement logging, telemetry, and monitoring systems to ensure operational visibility and reliability
Ensure stability, reduce downtime, and automate remediation processes
Integrate secure development practices and compliance requirements into the DevOps lifecycle
Use Azure Repos for source control and practicing branching, merging, and repository management
Automate building and testing processes to enhance code quality and delivery speed
Utilize Azure Boards and other tools to enhance team collaboration and agility
Streamline and automate deployment pipelines to ensure consistent application delivery
Use tools like Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Terraform, and other IaC techniques to provision and manage infrastructure

COURSE OUTLINE

01. Introduction

What is DevOps?
Unifying People, Process, and Technology
What is Azure DevOps
About the Exam and its Role in the Microsoft Certification Landscape

02. Configure Activity Traceability and Flow of Work

Flow of Work – Processes
Flow of Work – Basic
Flow of Work – SCRUM
Flow of Work – Agile
Flow of Work – CMMI
Configure Activity Traceability
Demo: Generating Release Notes
Demo: Repository Integration with Azure Boards
Demo: Integrate Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions
Quiz: Configure Activity Traceability and Flow of Work

03. Configure Collaboration & Communication

Activity Traceability – Dashboards, Charts and Widgets
Documentation with Azure Wikis
Demo: Creating a Wiki
Azure DevOps Boards
Using Dashboards
Demo: Creating a Dashboard
Demo: Notifications from Webhooks
Quiz: Configure Collaboration & Communication

04. Work with Azure Repos and GitHub

What is source control?
Types of source control systems
Working with Git locally
Getting Started with Azure Repos
Getting Started with GitHub
Creating Repository in Azure Repos
Transitioning from TFVC to Git
Innovating with GitHub Codespaces
Quiz: Work with Azure Repos and GitHub

05. Branching Strategies for Source Code

Comparative Analysis: Monorepo vs. Multiple Repos
Creating an Effective Change Log
Generating a Change Log
Diving into Types of Branch Workflows
Collaborate with pull requests
Azure Repos collaborating with pull requests
GitHub Mobile: Streamlining Pull Request Approvals on the Go
Demystifying Git Hooks
Embracing Inner Source with Forking Workflow
Implement fork workflow
Quiz: Branching Strategies for Source Code

06. Configuring and Managing Repositories

Introduction to managing repositories
Working with large repositories
Large repositories with Scalar
Configure Git tags to organize the source control repository
Organizing Your Repository Using Git Tags in Azure Repos
Organizing Your Repository Using Git Tags in GitHub Releases
Recovering Data by Using Git Commands
Recovering Data from Source Control Using Azure Repos
Purge Data from Source Control
Quiz: Configuring and Managing Repositories

07. Design and Implement Pipeline Automation

Dependency and Security Scanning
Integration of automated tests into pipelines
Local Tests, Unit Tests, Integration Tests, Load Tests
Understanding Code Coverage
Orchestration of GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Pipeline Automation

08. Design and Implement a Package Management Strategy

Discovering Package Management Tools
Exploring Azure Artifacts
Exploring GitHub Packages
Implementing package feeds
Versioning Strategies, Semantic Versioning, Date-Based Versioning
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement a Package Management Strategy

09. Design and Implement Pipelines

Introduction: Designing and Implementing Pipelines
Getting Started with Azure Pipelines
Demo: Azure Pipelines
Deployment Automation with GitHub Actions
Designing an Agent Infrastructure
Evaluating Cost
Tool Selection
Licensing
Connectivity
Maintainability
Pipeline triggers
Exploring Classic Pipelines
Exploring YAML Pipelines
Understanding Build Agents and Parallelism
Exploring Self-Hosted Build Agents
Building a Linux Self-Hosted Build Agent with WSL
Using Build Trigger Rules
Exploring Containerized Agents
Summary: Designing and Implementing Pipelines
Quiz: Design and Implement Pipelines

10. Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution

Introduction: Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution
Release Strategies
Stages, Dependencies, and Conditions
Implementing Release Gates
YAML Templates
Summary
Quiz: Implementing an Orchestration Automation Solution

11. Design and Implement Deployments

Introduction: Designing and Implementing Deployments
Exploring Deployment Strategies
Design and implement a resiliency strategy for deployment
Implement a deployment that includes database tasks
Design a pipeline to ensure reliable order of dependency deployments
Plan for minimizing downtime during deployments
Design a hotfix path plan
Implementing Load Balancer, Traffic Manager Releases and Web Apps
Implement feature flags by using Azure App Configuration Feature Manager
Application deployment using Containers, Binaries and Scripts
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Deployments

12. Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Introduction
Exploring Configuration management technology for application infrastructure
Design and implement desired state configuration for environments
Azure Automation State Configuration
Azure Resource Manager Templates
Introduction to Bicep
Define an IaC strategy
Design and implement Azure Deployment Environments for on-demand self-deployment
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

13. Maintain Pipelines

Maintain Pipelines Introduction
Discovering Pipeline Health including monitoring Failure Rate, Duration, Flaky Tests
Optimize pipeline concurrency for performance and cost
Migrate a pipeline from classic to YAML in Azure Pipelines
Analyze pipeline load to determine agent configuration and capacity
Design and implement a retention strategy for pipeline artifacts and dependencies
Summary: Maintaining Pipelines
Quiz: Maintain Pipelines

14. Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods

Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods Introduction
Choose between Service Principals and Managed Identity
Implement and manage GitHub Authentication
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
Configure projects and teams in Azure DevOps
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement Authentication and Authorization Methods

15. Design and Implement a Strategy for Managing Sensitive Information in Automation

Introduction
Implement and manage secrets, keys, and certificates by using Azure Key Vault
Implement and manage secrets in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines
Using Service Connections in Pipeline
Exploring Azure Pipelines Secrets with Azure Key Vault
Exploring GitHub Secrets
Summary
Quiz: Design and Implement a Strategy for Managing Sensitive Information in Automation

16. Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance

Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance Introduction
Understand SQL Injection Attacks
Embracing DevSecOps Culture
Architecting a Secure DevOps Pipeline
Key Validation Points and Continuous Security Validation
Comprehending Threat Modeling
Introduction to OSS
Working with open source software
Review and Confirm Code Base Compliance
Delving into Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
Integrating Mend and GitHub Dependabot
Integrating SCA into Pipelines
Evaluating Tools for Package Security and License Compliance
Decoding Notifications from Scanning Instruments
Exploring SonarCloud Features
Navigating CodeQL on GitHub
Strategizing the Adoption of OWASP Secure Coding Guidelines
Investigating ZAP for Penetration Testing
Establishing Security in Development Pipelines
Exploring Use Cases for Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Delving into Azure Policy
Explore Azure Resource Locks
Quiz: Implement Security and Validate Code Bases for Compliance

17. Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment

Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment Introduction
Configure Azure Monitor and Log Analytics to integrate with DevOps tools
Configure collection of telemetry by using Azure various services
Configure monitoring in GitHub
Summary
Quiz: Configure Monitoring for a DevOps Environment

18. Analyze Metrics

Analyze Metrics Introduction
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 Application Insights
Interrogate logs using basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries
Summary: Analyzing Metrics

AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

Overview

Skills Learned

Design and implement logging, telemetry, and monitoring systems to ensure operational visibility and reliability

Ensure stability, reduce downtime, and automate remediation processes

Integrate secure development practices and compliance requirements into the DevOps lifecycle

Use Azure Repos for source control and practicing branching, merging, and repository management

Automate building and testing processes to enhance code quality and delivery speed

Utilize Azure Boards and other tools to enhance team collaboration and agility

Streamline and automate deployment pipelines to ensure consistent application delivery

Use tools like Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Terraform, and other IaC techniques to provision and manage infrastructure

Skills Learned

Design and implement logging, telemetry, and monitoring systems to ensure operational visibility and reliability

Ensure stability, reduce downtime, and automate remediation processes

Integrate secure development practices and compliance requirements into the DevOps lifecycle

Use Azure Repos for source control and practicing branching, merging, and repository management

Automate building and testing processes to enhance code quality and delivery speed

Utilize Azure Boards and other tools to enhance team collaboration and agility

Streamline and automate deployment pipelines to ensure consistent application delivery

Use tools like Azure Resource Manager (ARM), Terraform, and other IaC techniques to provision and manage infrastructure

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