AZ-400 Practice Questions & Exam Prep — Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
Get exam-ready for AZ-400 (Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions) — the single exam that earns the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert credential — on iPhone or iPad. Azure Mastery ships 470 AZ-400 practice questions across all five domains, the largest single-cert bank in our library. AI-driven readiness prediction targets the 50–55% pipelines domain first.
The exam
What is the AZ-400 exam?
AZ-400 is the expert-level exam for the Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert credential — Microsoft's senior DevOps certification spanning both Azure DevOps and GitHub. Microsoft currently also accepts either Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate. Azure Developer Associate retires on 31 July 2026, and Microsoft has not yet announced its replacement in the AZ-400 prerequisite list; new candidates should use AZ-104 unless the official credential page changes.
AZ-400 is the broadest exam in the Azure family by service surface — you'll be tested across five DevOps domains, with the build/release pipelines domain alone weighted at 50–55% of the exam. Expect dual coverage of Azure Pipelines AND GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps Repos AND GitHub repositories, Bicep AND ARM templates, plus security scanning (Microsoft Defender for DevOps, GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot, CodeQL), monitoring (Azure Monitor, Application Insights, KQL queries), and progressive deployment patterns (blue-green, canary, ring, feature flags via Azure App Configuration).
Microsoft updated the AZ-400 skills outline on 24 April 2026 with minor updates across all five domains — branching strategies, package management, deployments, IaC, auth/secrets, and monitoring. Every question in Azure Mastery's AZ-400 bank is mapped to the current outline. Read the official outline at learn.microsoft.com.
Questions40–60 multiple choice
Duration100 minutes (120 min seat)
Pass score700 / 1000
CostUSD $165 (≈ £128 UK)
ValidityRenew annually (Expert)
PrerequisiteAZ-104 or AZ-204
Skills measured · April 2026
AZ-400 exam objectives
Five DevOps domains, with weights set by Microsoft's April 2026 update. The build/release pipelines domain alone is weighted at 50–55% — more than the other four combined. Every domain summary below is paraphrased from the official skills outline.
Azure skill mapIdentityComputeNetworkOperations
Design and implement processes and communications10–15%
Explore key topics
Traceability and flow of work — GitHub Flow, feedback cycles, GitHub Issues, GitHub Projects integration with Azure Boards. Metrics and queries for the full DevOps lifecycle (cycle time, time to recovery, lead time) plus project planning, development, testing, security, delivery, and operations. Configure collaboration: wikis with Markdown and Mermaid syntax, release notes, automated docs from Git history, webhook integrations, Microsoft Teams integration. Around 4–9 questions.
Design and implement a source control strategy10–15%
Explore key topics
Branching strategies — trunk-based, feature branch, release branch — plus pull request workflows, branch policies and protection rules. Repository management at scale — Git Large File Storage (LFS), Scalar, cross-repository sharing, permissions, tags. Recovering specific data via Git commands and removing data from history. Around 4–9 questions.
Design and implement build and release pipelines50–55%
Explore key topics
The largest domain by far. Package management (GitHub Packages, Azure Artifacts, SemVer, CalVer); testing strategy (unit, integration, load, code coverage, quality gates); pipeline implementation (YAML in Azure Pipelines AND GitHub Actions, agent/runner infrastructure, triggers, multi-stage pipelines, reusable templates, environment checks/approvals); deployment strategies (blue-green, canary, ring, progressive exposure, feature flags via Azure App Configuration, A/B testing, hotfix paths, deployment slots); IaC (Bicep, ARM, Azure Automation State Configuration, Azure Machine Configuration, Azure Deployment Environments); pipeline maintenance (health, optimisation, classic-to-YAML migration). Around 20–33 questions per sitting.
Develop a security and compliance plan10–15%
Explore key topics
Authentication and authorisation — service principals vs Managed Identities (system-assigned vs user-assigned), GitHub Apps, GITHUB_TOKEN, personal access tokens, Azure DevOps service connections, GitHub permissions and roles, Azure DevOps permissions and security groups. Sensitive information management — Azure Key Vault, GitHub Secrets, OpenID Connect / workload identity federation. Security and compliance scanning — Microsoft Defender for Cloud DevOps Security, GitHub Advanced Security, container scanning, CodeQL, Dependabot. Around 4–9 questions.
Implement an instrumentation strategy5–10%
Explore key topics
The smallest domain. Configure Azure Monitor and Azure Monitor Logs to integrate with DevOps tools; collect telemetry via Application Insights, VM Insights, Container Insights, and storage/network monitoring. Configure GitHub monitoring (insights, charts, alerts on Actions and Pipelines events). Analyse metrics — infrastructure indicators (CPU, memory, disk, network), application performance, distributed tracing, and basic Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries. Around 2–6 questions.
Designed for AZ-400
How Azure Mastery helps you pass AZ-400
Azure Mastery ships with 470 AZ-400 practice questions — the largest single-cert bank in our library, sized to match AZ-400's enormous service surface. Every question is mapped to the current (April 2026) skills outline, with domain tags across all five DevOps areas. Around half the questions exercise the build/release pipelines domain, matching its 50–55% exam weighting. YAML pipeline snippets (both Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions), Bicep templates, and KQL queries appear throughout — practising the same artefacts you'll see in the live exam.
The on-device Exam IQ engine predicts your AZ-400 score before you sit the exam. After roughly 30 questions it has enough signal to give a confidence-scored prediction (e.g. "786 ±37, 68% confidence") — and tells you the specific topics that are dragging your readiness down. No vague "study more" advice; just a ranked list of objectives where improvement would move your score the furthest.
The adaptive study plan rebuilds itself from your answer history. Get a release-gate or deployment-strategy scenario wrong? You'll see another build-and-release-pipeline question in the next session. Master "branch-protection vs PR validation" three sessions running and the engine backs off, surfacing fresh security-and-compliance or instrumentation scenarios. The plan optimises for the gap between where you are and the 700 pass score, not for blind volume.
Knowledge decay tracking matters more for AZ-400 than for foundational exams — five domains is a lot to retain, and the topic you mastered three weeks into your study window is the topic you'll forget by exam day if you stop revising. Azure Mastery tracks every topic's decay curve and flags topics approaching expiry. The padlock icon on the Today screen is your "revisit before you forget" cue, and weak-spot drills automatically pull from decayed topics first.
Real exam simulation mode runs at AZ-400's actual length and time pressure: a randomised 40–60-question set drawn from the full 470-question bank, weighted by domain percentages from the April 2026 outline, with the 100-minute timer running and no jumping back to flag-and-review. It's the closest you can get to the live Pearson VUE / online-proctored experience without sitting the exam.
Answer Coach turns each missed answer into a private, grounded lesson: the misconception, key distinction, and rule to remember. It always uses authored certification guidance; on supported devices, an optional on-device model may rewrite the note only when it passes grounding checks.
During your first week, Aura adapts the next step as you go. Every session ends with a concise recap of what changed, what to focus on, and the best follow-up.
Everything essential runs on-device. Your answer history, readiness gauge, and coaching stay private. Optional sync uses your private iCloud account; there is no Azure Mastery account, tracking, or external processing server.
10-week study plan
Suggested AZ-400 study plan
AZ-400 has the broadest service surface of any Azure exam. Plan eight to twelve weeks even if you already hold AZ-104 or AZ-204. The ten-week plan below front-loads the small process and source-control domains, then spends three full weeks on the 50–55% build/release pipelines domain, before security and instrumentation in the second half.
Process, communications, source control
Week 1: GitHub Flow, Azure Boards, dashboards, DevOps metrics (cycle time, lead time, time to recovery), wikis (Markdown + Mermaid), webhook integrations, Microsoft Teams hooks.
Week 2: Branching strategies (trunk-based, feature, release), pull request workflow, branch protection rules, Git LFS, repo scaling, recovering data via Git commands, removing data from history.
Week 7: IaC — Bicep, ARM templates, Azure Automation State Configuration, Azure Machine Configuration, Azure Deployment Environments. Plus pipeline maintenance — health monitoring, optimisation for cost/time/performance, retention strategy, classic-to-YAML migration.
Security and compliance
Week 8: Auth — service principals vs Managed Identities (system vs user), GitHub Apps + GITHUB_TOKEN + PATs, Azure DevOps service connections, GitHub permissions and roles, Azure DevOps permissions/security groups, projects/teams configuration. Sensitive info — Azure Key Vault for secrets/keys/certs, OpenID Connect/workload identity federation in GitHub Actions and Azure Pipelines, secure files. Scanning — Microsoft Defender for DevOps, GitHub Advanced Security, Dependabot, container scanning, CodeQL.
Instrumentation + sharpen + simulate
Week 9: Azure Monitor + Logs integration with DevOps tools, Application Insights, VM/Container/Storage/Network Insights, GitHub Insights, alerts on Actions/Pipelines events. Analyse infra metrics, distributed tracing, basic KQL queries.
Week 10: Focus Weak Spots in the first half (decay alerts pull older topics back); two full-length 100-minute Exam Simulator runs in the second half. Schedule the exam when scoring 730+ consistently.
Inside the app
Every Microsoft question type, on iPhone
AZ-400's question bank uses the same formats Microsoft puts on the live exam — not just multiple choice. Each visualisation below is a faithful mock of how the type renders inside Azure Mastery on iPhone and iPad. Exam-simulator mode runs all of them at full 100-minute length with no flag-and-review jumps, mirroring Pearson VUE.
In Azure DevOps, which process template includes work item types for Epics, Features, User Stories, and Tasks?
Basic
Agile
Scrum
CMMI
Multiple choice
A real AZ-400 question-bank example with one correct answer. The app explains every option after you answer.
Exam-specific sample
Which package types does GitHub Packages support as registries? (Select all that apply)
Npm
NuGet
Maven
Docker/Container images
Cargo (Rust)
Multi-select
A real AZ-400 multi-select item. Every required selection must be correct to earn the mark.
All-or-nothing
Arrange the steps in the correct order to set up end-to-end traceability from a user story to a production deployment in Azure DevOps.
⋮⋮1Create a user story work item in Azure Boards
⋮⋮2Link the commit or pull request to the work item
⋮⋮3Build the code change through a CI pipeline linked to the repository
⋮⋮4Configure the release pipeline to report deployment status back to…
Drag-and-drop
A real AZ-400 interactive-format prompt, rendered for touch on iPhone and iPad.
Interactive item
You need to configure a service hook in Azure DevOps to send a notification to Microsoft Teams when a work item is updated. Select the correct navigation path in the…
Hotspot
A real AZ-400 prompt that tests recognition inside a visual or contextual interface.
Tap target
Pipeline Secret Exposure Incident
1Solution: Move the connection string to a pipeline variable marked as secret in…
2Solution: Store the connection string in Azure Key Vault, create a variable…
3Solution: Replace the connection string with an Azure Managed Identity for the…
Case studies
A real AZ-400 case-study scenario with linked questions that share the same requirements and environment.
Multi-question
✕Your answer: Basic
✨ Answer Coach:The Basic process is the lightweight default, offering only Epics, Issues, and Tasks. It deliberately omits Features and User Stories, so it does not provide the full hierarchy listed.
— grounded in authored certification guidance
Answer Coach
Answer Coach uses the bank's authored rationale to explain the misconception, key distinction, and rule to remember. On supported devices, an optional on-device model may rewrite the note only when it passes grounding checks.
App exclusive
Frequently asked
AZ-400 FAQs
What prerequisite do I need for AZ-400?
Microsoft currently accepts either Azure Administrator Associate (AZ-104) or Azure Developer Associate (AZ-204) alongside AZ-400. Azure Developer Associate retires on 31 July 2026, and Microsoft has not yet announced a replacement AZ-400 prerequisite, so new candidates should choose AZ-104 unless Microsoft updates the official credential page.
How much does the AZ-400 exam cost?
The AZ-400 voucher is USD $165 in the United States. Pricing varies by region — in the UK it's typically around £128. Microsoft sometimes runs free-voucher promotions during Microsoft Build or Microsoft Ignite — worth checking your Microsoft Learn profile for active offers. The DevOps Engineer Expert tier also requires annual renewal (free, online via Microsoft Learn) once earned.
Does the AZ-400 certification expire?
Yes. Microsoft Expert certifications — including DevOps Engineer Expert (which AZ-400 unlocks) — expire annually. Renewal is free: a 25–30 question online assessment on Microsoft Learn within the six-month window before your expiration date. The renewal targets recent skills outline updates, so staying current is straightforward if you remain broadly active in DevOps work.
What is the AZ-400 retake policy if I fail?
The first retake is allowed after 24 hours. Later attempts require longer waits under Microsoft's exam retake policy, with a maximum of five attempts in a 12-month period. Each attempt requires a new voucher purchase.
How long should I study for AZ-400?
Plan eight to twelve weeks for AZ-400, even if you already hold AZ-104 or AZ-204. AZ-400 covers an enormous service surface — Azure Pipelines AND GitHub Actions, both Azure DevOps AND GitHub repositories, Bicep AND ARM templates, Azure Key Vault AND GitHub Secrets, plus security scanning, monitoring, branching strategies, and progressive deployment patterns. The build/release pipelines domain alone is 50–55% of the exam. Don't book until Azure Mastery's readiness gauge shows roughly 730 or higher with reasonable confidence.
AZ-400 vs AZ-305 — which Expert cert should I take?
Pick the one that matches your role. AZ-400 is for SREs, platform engineers, and developers who own CI/CD; AZ-305 is for architects designing the systems those pipelines deploy. They are complementary and both can use Azure Administrator Associate as a prerequisite. AZ-305 does not accept Azure Developer Associate as an alternative.
Where AZ-400 fits
Certification path that includes AZ-400
AZ-400 is the expert-level exam for Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert. Microsoft currently accepts Azure Administrator Associate or the retiring Azure Developer Associate. AZ-204's credential retires on 31 July 2026; Microsoft has not yet published a replacement prerequisite for this path.
AZ-400 sits at the Expert tier and currently accepts Azure Administrator Associate or the retiring Azure Developer Associate credential. New candidates should use AZ-104 unless Microsoft announces an updated prerequisite. Architects often add the sibling AZ-305 exam.
Ready to pass AZ-400?
Download Azure Mastery free. 470 AZ-400 practice questions — the largest single-cert bank in our library — across all five DevOps domains, AI score prediction, full-length exam simulator, adaptive study plan that targets the 50–55% pipelines domain first. iPhone & iPad.
