Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions Training (AZ-400)

Course 8523

  • Duration: 4 days
  • Exam Voucher: Yes
  • Language: English
  • Level: Advanced

This course provides the knowledge and skills to design and implement DevOps processes and practices. Students will learn how to plan for DevOps, use source control, scale Git for an enterprise, consolidate artifacts, design a dependency management strategy, manage secrets, implement continuous integration, implement a container build strategy, design a release strategy, set up a release management workflow, implement a deployment pattern, and optimize feedback mechanisms.

AZ-400 Delivery Methods

  • In-Person

  • Online

AZ-400 Course Benefits

In this course, you will learn how to:

  • Plan for the transformation with shared goals and timelines.
  • Select a project and identify project metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPI's).
  • Create a team and agile organizational structure.
  • Design a tool integration strategy.
  • Design a license management strategy (e.g. Azure DevOps and GitHub users).
  • Design a strategy for end-to-end traceability from work items to working software.
  • Design an authentication and access strategy.
  • Design a strategy for integrating on-premises and cloud resources.
  • Describe the benefits of using Source Control.
  • Describe Azure Repos and GitHub.
  • Migrate from TFVC to Git.
  • Manage code quality including technical debt SonarCloud, and other tooling solutions.
  • Build organizational knowledge on code quality.
  • Explain how to structure Git repos.
  • Describe Git branching workflows.
  • Leverage pull requests for collaboration and code reviews.
  • Leverage Git hooks for automation.
  • Use Git to foster inner source across the organization.
  • Explain the role of Azure Pipelines and its components.
  • Configure Agents for use in Azure Pipelines.
  • Explain why continuous integration matters.
  • Implement continuous integration using Azure Pipelines.
  • Define Site Reliability Engineering.
  • Design processes to measure end-user satisfaction and analyze user feedback.
  • Design processes to automate application analytics.
  • Manage alerts and reduce meaningless and non-actionable alerts.
  • Carry out blameless retrospectives and create a just culture
  • Define an infrastructure and configuration strategy and appropriate toolset for a release pipeline and application infrastructure.
  • Implement compliance and security in your application infrastructure.
  • Describe the potential challenges with integrating open-source software.
  • Inspect open-source software packages for security and license compliance.
  • Manage organizational security and compliance policies.
  • Integrate license and vulnerability scans into build and deployment pipelines.
  • Configure build pipelines to access package security and license ratings.

Prerequisites

Successful learners will have prior knowledge and understanding of the following:

  • Cloud computing concepts, including an understanding of PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS implementations.
  • Both Azure administration and Azure development with proven expertise in at least one of these areas.
  • Version control, Agile software development, and core software development principles. It would be helpful to have experience in an organization that delivers software.

If you are new to Azure Administration, consider taking Course 8542, Microsoft Azure Administrator Training (AZ-104).

If you are new to Azure Developer, consider taking Course 8538, Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Training (AZ-204).

Exam Information

Students in this course are interested in designing and implementing DevOps processes or in passing the AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions exam, part of the path towards the Microsoft role-based certification exam — Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert.

AZ-400 Training Outline

Module 1: Introduction to DevOps 

This module explores the key areas organizations must apply to start their DevOps transformation Journey, change the team's mindset, and define timelines and goals. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand what DevOps is and the steps to accomplish it 
  • Identify teams to implement the process 
  • Plan for the transformation with shared goals and timelines 
  • Plan and define timelines for goals 

Module 2: Choose the right project 

This module helps organizations decide on the projects to start applying the DevOps process and tools to minimize initial resistance. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand different projects and systems to guide the Journey 
  • Select a project to start the DevOps transformation 
  • Identify groups to minimize initial resistance 
  • Identify project metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) 

Module 3: Describe team structures 

This module explores agile development practices and helps define and configure teams and collaboration tools. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand agile practices and principles of agile development 
  • Create a team and agile organizational structure 
  • Identify ideal DevOps team members 
  • Select and configure tools for collaboration 

Module 4: Choose the DevOps tools 

This module explores Azure DevOps and GitHub tools and helps organizations define their work management tool and licensing strategy. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Design a tool integration strategy 
  • Design a license management strategy (e.g., Azure DevOps and GitHub users) 
  • Design a strategy for end-to-end traceability from work items to working software 
  • Design an authentication and access strategy 
  • Design a strategy for integrating on-premises and cloud resources 

Module 5: Plan Agile with GitHub Projects and Azure Boards 

This module introduces you to GitHub Projects, GitHub Project Boards and Azure Boards. It explores ways to link Azure Boards and GitHub, configure GitHub Projects and Project views, and manage work with GitHub Projects. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe GitHub Projects and Azure Boards 
  • Link Azure Boards and GitHub 
  • Configure and Manage GitHub Projects and boards 
  • Customize Project views 

Module 6: Introduction to source control 

This module introduces you to the basics of source control, exploring benefits and best practices. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand source control 
  • Apply best practices for source control 
  • Describe the benefits of using source control 

Module 7: Describe types of source control systems 

This module describes different source control systems, such as Git and TFVC and helps with the initial steps for Git utilization. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Apply source control practices in your development process 
  • Explain the differences between centralized and distributed version control 
  • Understand Git and TFVC 
  • Develop using Git 

Module 8: Work with Azure Repos and GitHub 

This module introduces you to Azure Repos and GitHub and explores ways to migrate from TFVC to Git and work with GitHub Codespaces for development. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe Azure Repos and GitHub 
  • Migrate from TFVC to Git 
  • Work with GitHub Codespaces 

Module 9: Structure your Git Repo 

This module examines Git repositories structure, explains the differences between mono versus multiple repos, and helps you create a changelog. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand Git repositories 
  • Implement mono repo or multiple repos 
  • Explain how to structure Git Repos 
  • Implement a change log 

Module 10: Manage Git branches and workflows 

This module explores Git branching types, concepts, and models for the continuous delivery process. It helps companies define their branching strategy and organization. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe Git branching workflows 
  • Implement feature branches 
  • Implement GitHub Flow 
  • Fork a repo 

Module 11: Collaborate with pull requests in Azure Repos 

This module presents pull requests for collaboration and code reviews using Azure DevOps and GitHub mobile for pull request approvals. It helps understand how pull requests work and configure them. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Leverages pull requests for collaboration and code reviews 
  • Give feedback using pull requests 
  • Configure branch policies 
  • Use GitHub mobile for pull requests approvals 

Module 12: Identify technical debt 

This module examines technical debt, complexity, quality metrics, and plans for effective code reviews and code quality validation. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Identify and manage technical debt 
  • Integrate code quality tools 
  • Plan code reviews 
  • Describe complexity and quality metrics 

Module 13: Explore Git hooks 

This module describes Git hooks and their usage during development, implementation, and behavior. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand Git hooks 
  • Identify when used Git hooks 
  • Implement Git hooks for automation 
  • Explain Git hooks' behavior 

Module 14: Plan to foster inner source 

This module explains using Git to foster inner sources across the organization and implement Fork and its workflows. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Use Git to foster inner source across the organization 
  • Implement fork workflow 
  • Choose between branches and forks 
  • Share code between forks 

Module 15: Manage Git repositories 

This module explores how to work with large repositories, purge repository data and manage and automate release notes using GitHub. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand large Git repositories 
  • Explain VFS for Git 
  • Use Git Large File Storage (LFS) 
  • Purge repository data 
  • Manage and Automate Release Notes with GitHub 

Module 16: Explore Azure Pipelines 

This module introduces Azure Pipelines concepts and explains key terms and components of the tool, helping you decide your pipeline strategy and responsibilities. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe Azure Pipelines 
  • Explain the role of Azure Pipelines and its components 
  • Decide Pipeline automation responsibility 
  • Understand Azure Pipeline key terms 

Module 17: Manage Azure Pipeline agents and pools 

This module explores the differences between Microsoft-hosted and self-hosted agents, details job types, and configures agent pools. Understand typical situations to use agent pools and how to manage their security. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Choose between Microsoft-hosted and self-hosted agents 
  • Install and configure Azure Pipelines Agents 
  • Configure agent pools 
  • Make the agents and pools secure 
  • Explore communication to deploy using Azure Pipelines 

Module 18: Describe pipelines and concurrency 

This module describes parallel jobs and how to estimate their usage. Also, it presents Azure Pipelines for open-source projects and explores Visual Designer and YAML pipelines. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Use and estimate parallel jobs 
  • Use Azure Pipelines for open-source or private projects 
  • Use Visual Designer 
  • Work with Azure Pipelines and YAML 

Module 19: Explore continuous integration 

This module details continuous integration practice and the pillars for implementing it in the development lifecycle, its benefits, and its properties. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain why continuous integration matters 
  • Implement continuous integration using Azure Pipelines 
  • Explain the benefits of continuous integration 
  • Describe build properties 

Module 20: Implement a pipeline strategy 

This module describes pipeline strategies, configuring them, implementing multi-agent builds, and what source controls Azure Pipelines supports. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Define a build strategy 
  • Explain and configure demands 
  • Implement multi-agent builds 
  • Use different source control types available in Azure Pipelines 

Module 21: Integrate with Azure Pipelines 

This module details Azure Pipelines anatomy and structure, templates, YAML resources, and how to use multiple repositories in your pipeline. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe advanced Azure Pipelines anatomy and structure 
  • Detail templates and YAML resources 
  • Implement and use multiple repositories 

Module 22: Introduction to GitHub Actions 

In this module, you will learn what GitHub Actions, action flow, and its elements are. Understand what events are, explore jobs and runners, and how to read console output from actions. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain GitHub Actions and workflows 
  • Create and work with GitHub Actions and Workflows 
  • Describe Events, Jobs and Runners 
  • Examine output and release management for actions 

Module 23: Learn continuous integration with GitHub Actions 

This module details continuous integration using GitHub Actions and describes environment variables, artifacts, best practices, and how to secure your pipeline using encrypted variables and secrets. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement Continuous Integration with GitHub Actions 
  • Use environment variables 
  • Share artifacts between jobs and use Git tags 
  • Create and manage secrets 

Module 24: Design a container build strategy 

This module helps you plan a container build strategy, explains containers and their structure, and introduces Docker, microservices, Azure Container Registry, and related services. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Design a container strategy 
  • Work with Docker Containers 
  • Create an Azure Container Registry 
  • Explain Docker microservices and containers 

Module 25: Introduction to continuous delivery 

This module introduces continuous delivery concepts and their implementation in a traditional IT development cycle. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain continuous delivery (CD) 
  • Implement continuous delivery in your development cycle 
  • Understand releases and deployment 
  • Identify project opportunities to apply CD 

Module 26: Create a release pipeline 

This module describes Azure Pipelines capabilities, build and release tasks. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain the terminology used in Azure DevOps and other Release Management Tooling 
  • Describe what a Build and Release task is, what it can do, and some available deployment tasks 
  • Implement release jobs 

Module 27: Explore release recommendations 

This module explores the critical release strategy recommendations organizations must consider when designing automated deployments. It explains how to define components of a release pipeline and artifact sources, create approves, and configure release gates. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain things to consider when designing your release strategy 
  • Define the components of a release pipeline and use artifact sources 
  • Create a release approval plan 
  • Implement release gates 

Module 28: Provision and test environments 

This module details target environment provisioning, service connections creation process, and test infrastructure setup. Learn how to configure functional test automation and run availability tests. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Provision and configure target environment 
  • Deploy to an environment securely using a service connection 
  • Configure functional test automation and run availability tests 
  • Setup test infrastructure 

Module 29: Manage and modularize tasks and templates 

This module describes the creation of task and variable groups and using release variables and stage variables in your pipeline. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Use and manage task and variable groups 
  • Use release variables and stage variables in your release pipeline 
  • Use variables in release pipelines 

Module 30: Automate inspection of health 

This module describes how to automate the inspection of health events, configure notifications in Azure DevOps and GitHub, set up service hooks to monitor pipelines, measure the quality of your release process, and detail release gates for quality purposes. You'll examine release management tools and details about them. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  1. Implement automated inspection of health 
  2. Create and configure events 
  3. Configure notifications in Azure DevOps and GitHub 
  4. Create service hooks to monitor the pipeline 
  5. Classify a release versus a release process, and outline how to control the quality of both 
  6. Choose a release management tool 

Module 31: Introduction to deployment patterns 

This module introduces deployment patterns and explains microservices architecture to help improve the deployment cycle and examine classical and modern deployment patterns. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to:

  • Describe deployment patterns 
  • Explain microservices architecture 
  • Understand classical and modern deployment patterns 
  • Plan and design your architecture 

Module 32: Implement blue-green deployment and feature toggles 

This module describes the blue-green deployment process and introduces feature toggle techniques to implement in the development process. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Explain deployment strategies 
  • Implement blue green deployment 
  • Understand deployment slots 
  • Implement and manage feature toggles 

Module 33: Implement canary releases and dark launching 

This module describes deployment strategies around canary releases and dark launching and examines traffic managers. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Describe deployment strategies 
  • Implement canary release 
  • Explain traffic manager 
  • Understand dark launching 

Module 34: Implement A/B testing and progressive exposure deployment 

This module introduces A/B test and progressive exposure deployment concepts and explores CI/CD with deployment rings -- ring-based deployment. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement progressive exposure deployment 
  • Implement A/B testing 
  • Implement CI/CD with deployment rings 
  • Identify the best deployment strategy 

Module 35: Integrate with identity management systems 

This module describes the integration with GitHub and single sign-on (SSO) for authentication, service principals, and managed service identities. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Integrate Azure DevOps with identity management systems 
  • Integrate GitHub with single sign-on (SSO) 
  • Understand and create a service principal 
  • Create managed service identities 

Module 36: Manage application configuration data 

This module explores ways to rethink application configuration data and the separation of concerns method. Explore Azure App Configuration, details Key-value pairs, App Configuration feature management, and integrate Azure Key Vault with Azure Pipelines. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Rethink application configuration data 
  • Understand the separation of concerns 
  • Integrate Azure Key Vault with Azure Pipelines 
  • Manage secrets, tokens and certificates 
  • Describe Azure App Configuration 
  • Understand Key-value pairs 
  • Understand app configuration feature management 
  • Implement application configuration 

Module 37: Explore infrastructure as code and configuration management 

This module describes key infrastructure concepts as code and environment deployment creation and configuration. Also, understand the imperative, declarative, and idempotent configuration and how it applies to your company. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand how to deploy your environment 
  • Plan your environment configuration 
  • Choose between imperative versus declarative configuration 
  • Explain idempotent configuration 

Module 38: Create Azure resources using Azure Resource Manager templates 

This module explores Azure Resource Manager templates and their components, details dependencies, and modularized templates with secrets. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Create Azure resources using Azure Resource Manager templates 
  • Understand Azure Resource Manager templates and template components 
  • Manage dependencies and secrets in templates 
  • Organize and modularize templates 

Module 39: Create Azure resources by using Azure CLI 

This module explains Azure CLI to create Azure resources, run templates, and detail Azure CLI commands. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Create Azure resources using Azure CLI 
  • Understand and work with Azure CLI 
  • Run templates using Azure CLI 
  • Explains Azure CLI commands  

Module 40: Explore Azure Automation with DevOps 

This module describes Azure Automation with Azure DevOps, using runbooks, webhooks, and PowerShell workflows. You'll learn how to create and manage automation for your environment. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement automation with Azure DevOps 
  • Create and manage runbooks 
  • Create webhooks 
  • Create and run a workflow runbook and PowerShell workflows 

Module 41: Implement Desired State Configuration (DSC) 

This module describes Desired State Configuration (DSC) and its components for implementation. You can exercise how to import, compile and automate your environment creation and use DSC for Linux automation on Azure. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement Desired State Configuration (DSC) 
  • Describe Azure Automation State Configuration 
  • Implement DSC and Linux Automation on Azure 
  • Plan for hybrid management 

Module 42: Implement Bicep 

This module explains Bicep and how it integrates with different tools, such as Azure CLI and Visual Studio Code, for environment deployment configuration. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Learn what Bicep is 
  • Learn how to install it and create a smooth authoring experience 
  • Use Bicep to deploy resources to Azure 
  • Deploy Bicep files in Cloud Shell and Visual Studio Code 

Module 43: Introduction to Secure DevOps 

This module introduces DevSecOps concepts, SQL injection attacks, threat modeling, and security for continuous integration. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Identify SQL injection attack 
  • Understand DevSecOps 
  • Implement pipeline security 
  • Understand threat modeling  

Module 44: Implement open-source software 

This module explores open-source software and corporate concerns with software components. Also, it explains standard open-source licenses, license implications, and ratings. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement open-source software 
  • Explain corporate concerns for open-source components 
  • Describe open-source licenses 
  • Understand the license implications and ratings 

Module 45: Software Composition Analysis 

This module explains Composition Analysis, inspecting and validating code bases for compliance, integrating with security tools, and integrating with Azure Pipelines. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Inspect and validate code bases for compliance 
  • Integrate security tools like WhiteSource with Azure DevOps 
  • Implement pipeline security validation 
  • Interpret alerts from scanning tools 
  • Configure GitHub Dependabot alerts and security 

Module 46: Static Analyzers 

This module introduces the static analyzers SonarCloud and CodeQL in GitHub. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand Static Analyzers 
  • Work with SonarCloud 
  • Work with CodeQL in GitHub 
  • Interpret alerts from scanning tools 

Module 47: OWASP and Dynamic Analyzers 

This module explores OWASP and Dynamic Analyzers for penetration testing, results, and bugs. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Understand OWASP and Dynamic Analyzers 
  • Implement OWASP Security Coding Practices 
  • Understand compliance for code bases 

Module 48: Security Monitoring and Governance 

This module describes security monitoring and governance with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and its usage scenarios, Azure Policies, Microsoft Defender for Identity, and security practices related to the tools. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud 
  • Understand Azure policies 
  • Describe initiatives, resource locks and Azure Blueprints 
  • Work with Microsoft Defender for Identity 

Module 49: Explore package dependencies 

This module explores dependency management concepts and helps to identify project dependencies. You will learn to decompose your system, identify dependencies, and package componentization. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Define dependency management strategy 
  • Identify dependencies 
  • Describe elements and componentization of a dependency management 
  • Scan your codebase for dependencies 

Module 50: Understand package management 

This module describes package feeds, familiar public package sources, and how to create and publish packages. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement package management 
  • Manage package feed 
  • Consume and create packages 
  • Publish packages 

Module 51: Migrate, consolidate and secure artifacts 

This module details package migration, consolidation, and configuration to secure access to package feeds and artifact repositories. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Identify artifact repositories 
  • Migrate and integrate artifact repositories 
  • Secure package feeds 
  • Understand roles, permissions and authentication 

Module 52: Implement a versioning strategy 

This module explains versioning strategies for packaging, best practices for versioning, and package promotion. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement a versioning strategy 
  • Promote packages 
  • Push packages from the pipeline 
  • Describe semantics and explore best practices for versioning 

Module 53: Introduction to GitHub Packages 

This module introduces you to GitHub Packages. It explores ways to control permissions and visibility, publish, install, delete and restore packages using GitHub. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Publish packages 
  • Install packages 
  • Delete and restore packages 
  • Configure access control and visibility 

Module 54: Implement tools to track usage and flow 

This module introduces you to continuous feedback practices and tools to track usage and flow, such as Azure Logs Analytics, Kusto Query Language (KQL), and Application Insights. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Implement tools to track feedback 
  • Plan for continuous monitoring 
  • Implement Application Insights 
  • Use Kusto Query Language (KQL) 

Module 55: Develop monitor and status dashboards 

This module explains steps to develop monitoring with Azure Dashboards, work with View Designer and Azure Monitor, and create Azure Monitor Workbooks. Also, explore tools to support monitoring with Power BI. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Configure Azure Dashboards 
  • Work with View Designer in Azure Monitor 
  • Create Azure Monitor Workbooks 
  • Monitor with Power BI 

Module 56: Share knowledge within teams 

This module helps design the process for Application Insights and explores telemetry and monitoring tools and technologies. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Automate application analytics 
  • Assist DevOps with rapid responses and augmented search 
  • Integrate telemetry 
  • Implement monitoring tools and technologies 

Module 57: Design processes to automate application analytics 

This module helps design processes for Application Insights and explores telemetry and monitoring tools and technologies. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Automate application analytics 
  • Assist DevOps with rapid responses and augmented search 
  • Integrate telemetry 
  • Implement monitoring tools and technologies 

Module 58: Manage alerts, blameless retrospectives and a just culture 

This module examines alerts and blameless retrospectives and creates a just culture. It helps improve application performance, reduces meaningless and non-actionable alerts and explains server response-time degradation. 

By the end of this module, you'll be able to: 

  • Carry out blameless retrospectives and create a just culture 
  • Improve application performance 
  • Explain server response time degradation 
  • Reduce meaningless and non-actionable alerts 

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AZ-400 Course FAQs

To achieve the role-based certification, you must:

Yes, this course is eligible for 8 DevOps Institute Continuing Education Units. Learning Tree offers a variety of DOI CEU-eligible training to help you maintain your certification. View the list of DOI CEU-eligible training courses.

Please reach out to info@learningtree.com after your course to obtain your exam voucher.
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