📖 About this Domain
This domain focuses on automating your software delivery lifecycle using Azure Pipelines. You will learn to construct CI/CD workflows that build, test, and deploy applications. The core is designing and implementing robust build and release automation.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn to design and implement a pipeline strategy using YAML and the classic UI editor.
- You will learn to integrate source control systems like Azure Repos and GitHub to trigger automated builds.
- You will learn to configure and manage build infrastructure, including Microsoft-hosted and self-hosted agents.
- You will learn to implement advanced release strategies like canary and blue-green deployments using release pipelines and deployment groups.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to author complex, multi-stage CI/CD pipelines using YAML syntax.
- You will build skills in managing build artifacts and implementing a package management strategy with Azure Artifacts.
- You will build the ability to integrate security and quality validation into your pipelines using release gates and static code analysis tools.
- You will build the skill to orchestrate complex deployments across multiple environments with approvals and automated checks.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Focus on hands-on labs creating both YAML and classic release pipelines in an Azure DevOps organization.
- Master the YAML pipeline schema, including triggers, variables, stages, jobs, and steps.
- Understand the technical implementation of deployment patterns like blue-green, canary, and rolling deployments within Azure Pipelines.
- Differentiate between Microsoft-hosted and self-hosted agents, including their use cases, capabilities, and configuration.
📖 About this Domain
This domain focuses on configuring project tracking and team communication within Azure DevOps. You will learn to manage work items using Azure Boards and integrate collaboration tools to streamline development workflows.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Configure Azure Boards to manage backlogs, sprints, and work items using Agile, Scrum, and CMMI process templates.
- Create and configure dashboards and wikis to provide project visibility and centralized documentation.
- Set up notifications and subscriptions to keep stakeholders informed about project events and pipeline status.
- Integrate external communication tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack using service hooks for real-time updates.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- Ability to customize process templates and configure team backlogs, boards, and sprints for effective work management.
- Proficiency in creating shared team dashboards with configurable widgets for monitoring project health and progress.
- Skill in configuring service hooks to automate communication between Azure DevOps and third-party services.
- Competence in managing project wikis to foster a collaborative knowledge-sharing environment.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Practice creating and customizing work items, queries, and backlogs in an Azure DevOps organization.
- Master the configuration of service hooks by connecting Azure DevOps to a Microsoft Teams or Slack channel.
- Build complex dashboards using various widgets like query results, burndown charts, and pipeline overviews.
- Understand the differences between the Agile, Scrum, and CMMI process templates and when to use each.
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers the implementation of DevSecOps to embed security and compliance into the CI/CD pipeline. It focuses on managing sensitive information, automating security validation, and ensuring governance. The core objective is to shift security left in the development lifecycle.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn to design and implement a strategy for managing secrets, keys, and certificates using Azure Key Vault.
- You will learn to integrate open-source software security analysis using tools like WhiteSource Bolt or GitHub Dependabot.
- You will learn to implement static application security testing (SAST) and dynamic application security testing (DAST) in the pipeline.
- You will learn to configure pipelines to enforce security and compliance checks using release gates and Azure Policy.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to configure Azure Pipelines to securely access secrets from Azure Key Vault during runtime.
- You will build the ability to integrate and automate security scanning tools for code and dependencies within a YAML pipeline.
- You will build proficiency in configuring security and compliance validation as a quality gate in a release pipeline.
- You will build the capability to design a holistic DevSecOps strategy that includes threat modeling and infrastructure compliance.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Gain hands-on experience by creating a pipeline that uses a variable group linked to Azure Key Vault to manage secrets.
- Practice integrating a security scanner extension like SonarCloud or Mend Bolt from the Azure DevOps Marketplace into a build pipeline.
- Review the Microsoft Learn modules on implementing security in DevOps and understand the role of Azure Security Center.
- Understand the difference between SAST, DAST, and Software Composition Analysis (SCA) and where each fits in the pipeline.
📖 About this Domain
This domain covers designing and implementing feedback mechanisms for development teams. It focuses on configuring monitoring services and telemetry collection to analyze application performance, system health, and user behavior.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- You will learn to configure monitoring and logging using Azure Monitor and Application Insights for comprehensive telemetry.
- You will learn to analyze telemetry data to create dashboards and reports for stakeholder feedback.
- You will learn to implement routing for crash report data from client-side applications using services like App Center.
- You will learn to design and implement a logging strategy using structured logging and log aggregation techniques.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to instrument an application with the Application Insights SDK to capture custom events and metrics.
- You will build the skill to query log data using Kusto Query Language (KQL) within a Log Analytics workspace.
- You will build the skill to create and share dashboards in the Azure Portal to visualize application health and performance.
- You will build the skill to configure alert rules in Azure Monitor based on specific metrics or log search queries.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Focus on the practical implementation of Application Insights, including its SDK, codeless attachment, and availability tests.
- Master Kusto Query Language (KQL) as it is essential for analyzing logs and creating alerts in Azure Monitor.
- Understand the differences and use cases for Azure Monitor metrics versus logs for effective alerting and monitoring strategies.
- Practice configuring App Center diagnostics to handle crash reporting and analytics for client applications.
📖 About this Domain
This domain focuses on designing and implementing source control strategies using Git within Azure Repos. You will learn how to structure repositories and manage branching workflows to support enterprise DevOps practices.
🎓 What You Will Learn
- Learn to develop a modern source control strategy, including selecting between centralized and distributed version control systems like Git.
- Understand how to plan and implement branching strategies such as GitFlow, GitHub Flow, and release flow for your source code.
- Discover how to configure and manage repositories in Azure Repos, including setting up branch policies and permissions.
- Explore methods to integrate source control with external tools and manage large binary files using Git LFS.
🛠️ Skills You Will Build
- You will build the skill to design a scalable Git branching model that enforces code quality through pull requests and branch policies.
- You will be able to structure monorepos and multiple repositories to optimize build pipelines and manage dependencies.
- You will gain proficiency in securing repositories by configuring branch policies, permissions, and requiring signed commits.
- You will learn to handle large files in Git repositories efficiently by implementing and configuring Git LFS.
💡 Top Tips to Prepare
- Master Git commands and concepts, especially branching, merging, and rebasing, through hands-on practice in a local environment and Azure Repos.
- Focus on understanding the pros and cons of different branching strategies like GitFlow versus Trunk-Based Development for various project types.
- Practice configuring branch policies in Azure Repos, including setting up required reviewers, build validation, and status checks.
- Review Microsoft Learn modules on managing source control with Git and Azure Repos to understand best practices for repository structure and security.
