Course Description: AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions

This course provides the knowledge and skills to design and implement DevOps processes and practices. Students will discover how to plan 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, configure a release management workflow, implement a deployment pattern, and optimize feedback mechanisms.

Audience profile

Students in this course are interested in designing and implementing DevOps processes or passing the Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions certification exam.

Items in this collection

• Development for enterprise DevOps (8 modules)

• Implement CI with Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions (8 modules)

• Design and implement a release strategy (5 modules)

• Implement a secure continuous deployment using Azure Pipelines (6 modules)

• Manage infrastructure as code using Azure and DSC (6 modules)

• Design and implement a dependency management strategy (5 modules)

• Implement continuous feedback (5 modules)

• Implement security and validate code bases for compliance (4 modules)

Course outline

1. Implementing development for enterprise DevOps

Lessons:

• Introduction to DevOps.
• Agile Planning with GitHub Projects and Azure Boards.
• Design and implementation of branch strategies and workflows.
• Collaborate on change requests in Azure Repos.
• Exploring Git links.
• Planning for the promotion of an internal origin.
• Repository administration and configuration.
• Identifying technical debt.
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Agile planning and portfolio management with Azure Boards
• Version control with Git in Azure Repos

2. Deploying CI with Azure Pipelines and GitHub Actions

Lessons:

• Exploring Azure Pipelines.
  
• Managing Azure Pipeline Groups and Agents.
  
• Description of pipelines and simultaneity.
  
• Design and implementation of a channeling strategy.
  
• Integration with Azure Pipelines.
  
• Introduction to GitHub Actions.
  
• Information about continuous integration with GitHub Actions.
  
• Designing a container build strategy.
  
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Setting up agent groups and describing pipeline styles
• Enabling Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines
• Enabling Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines
• Implementing GitHub Actions for CI/CD
• Deploying Docker containers to Azure App Service web apps

3. Design and implementation of a versioning strategy

Lessons:

• Creating a release pipeline.
• Exploring version recommendations.
  
• Provisioning and testing environments.
• Administration and modularization of tasks and templates.
  
• Multi-phase YAML.
  
• Automation of state inspection.
  
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Configuring Pipelines as Code with YAML
  
• Controlling deployments with version gates
  
• Setting up and running functional tests

4. Create a secure continuous deployment using Azure Pipelines

Lessons:

• Introduction to implementation patterns.
• Blue-green implementation and enabling/disabling functionality.
• Implementation of controlled versions and dark boot.
• Implementation of A/B and progressive exposure testing.
• Integration with identity management systems.
• Managing application configuration data.
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Azure Key Vault integration with Azure DevOps
• Enabling feature flags and dynamic configuration

5. Managing Infrastructure as Code Using Azure and DSC

Lessons:

• Exploring configuration management and infrastructure as code.
• Creating Azure resources using Azure Resource Manager templates.
• Bicep Implementation.
• Creating Azure Resources with the Azure CLI
• Exploring Azure Automation with DevOps.
• Implementation of Desired State Configuration (DSC).
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Deployments with Azure Bicep templates

6. Implementing security and validating compliance of code bases

Lessons:

• Introduction to Secure DevOps
• Implementing open source software
• Software composition analysis
• Security oversight and governance.
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

7. Design and implementation of a dependency management strategy

Lessons:

• Exploring package dependencies.
  
• Description of package management.
  
• Migrate, consolidate and protect artifacts.
  
• Implement a version control strategy.
  
• Introduction to GitHub packages.
  
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Package management with Azure Artifacts

8. Implementation of continuous feedback

• Implementing tools to track usage
  and the flow
  
• Development of monitoring and status panels
• Sharing knowledge in teams
• Process design to automate application analysis
  
• Alert management, blame-free retrospectives, and a fair culture
  
• Review and key points of laboratories and learning path.

Laboratories:

• Monitoring application performance with Azure Load Testing
• Sharing team knowledge with Azure project wikis

Prerequisites

Students who pass the test will have prior knowledge and understanding of:

• Cloud computing concepts, including an understanding of PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS implementations.

• Azure Administration and Azure Development with proven experience in at least one of these areas.

• Version control, Agile Software Development and basic software development principles. Experience in an organization that delivers software would be helpful.

Language

• Course: English / Spanish
• Labs: English

Related Certification

Complete a prerequisite:

To become a Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert , you must earn at least one of the following certificates:

• Option 1: Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate ( AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator )
• Option 2: Microsoft Certification: Azure Developer Associate ( AZ-204: Developing solutions for Microsoft Azure )

Take the exam:

• AZ-400: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps solutions

Get certified:

Microsoft Certified: DevOps Engineer Expert

As a DevOps engineer, you are a developer or infrastructure administrator who also has experience working with people, processes, and products to enable continuous delivery of value across organizations.

• Job Title: DevOps Engineer