Microsoft AZ-400 – Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions

Module 1: Planning for DevOps

Lessons

• Transformation Planning
• Project Selection
• Team Structures
• Migrating to Azure DevOps

Lab : Agile Planning and Portfolio Management with Azure Boards

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Plan for the transformation with shared goals and timelines
• Select a project and identify project metrics and KPIs
• Create a team and agile organizational structure
• Design a tool integration strategy
• Design a license management strategy (e.g. VSTS 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 2: Getting started with Source Control

Lessons

• What is Source Control
• Benefits of Source Control
• Types of Source Control Systems
• Introduction to Azure Repos
• Introduction to GitHub
• Migrating from Team Foundation Version Control (TFVC) to Git in Azure Repos
• Authenticating to Git in Azure Repos

Lab : Version Controlling with Git

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Describe the benefits of using Source Control
• Describe Azure Repos and GitHub
• Migrate from TFVC to Git

Module 3: Scaling Git for enterprise DevOps

Lessons

• How to Structure your Git Repo
• Git Branching Workflows
• Collaborating with Pull Requests in Azure Repos
• Why care about GitHooks
• Fostering Inner Source

Lab : Code Review with Pull Requests

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• 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

Module 4: Consolidating Artifacts & Designing a Dependency Management Strategy

Lessons

• Packaging Dependencies
• Package Management
• Migrating and Consolidating Artifacts

Lab : Updating Packages

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Recommend artifact management tools and practices
• Abstract common packages to enable sharing and reuse
• Migrate and consolidate artifacts
• Migrate and integrate source control measures

Module 5: Implementing Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines

Lessons

• The concept of pipelines in DevOps
• Azure Pipelines
• Evaluate use of Hosted vs Private Agents
• Agent Pools
• Pipelines and Concurrency
• Azure DevOps and Open Source Projects (Public Projects)
• Azure Pipelines YAML vs Visual Designer
• Continuous Integration Overview
• Implementing a Build Strategy
• Integration with Azure Pipelines
• Integrate External Source Control with Azure Pipelines
• Set Up Private Agents
• Analyze and Integrate Docker Multi-Stage Builds

Lab : Enabling Continuous Integration with Azure Pipelines

Lab : Integrating External Source Control with Azure Pipelines

Lab : Integrate Jenkins with Azure Pipelines

Lab : Deploying a Multi-Container Application

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Implement and manage build infrastructure
• Explain why continuous integration matters
• Implement continuous integration using Azure DevOps

Module 6: Managing Application Config and Secrets

Lessons

• Introduction to Security
• Implement secure and compliant development process
• Rethinking application config data
• Manage secrets, tokens, and certificates
• Implement tools for managing security and compliance in a pipeline

Lab : Integrating Azure Key Vault with Azure DevOps

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Manage application config and secrets

Module 7: Managing Code Quality and Security Policies

Lessons

• Managing Code Quality
• Managing Security Policies

Lab : Managing Technical Debt with Azure DevOps and SonarCloud

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Manage code quality including: technical debt SonarCloud, and other tooling solutions
• Manage security policies with open source and OWASP

Module 8: Implementing a Container Build Strategy

Lessons

• Implementing a Container Build Strategy

Lab : Modernizing Existing ASP.NET Apps with Azure

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Implement a container strategy including how containers are different from virtual machines and how microservices use containers
• Implement containers using Docker

Module 9: Manage Artifact versioning, security & compliance

Lessons

• Package security
• Open source software
• Integrating license and vulnerability scans
• Implement a versioning strategy (git version)

Lab : Manage Open Source Security and License with WhiteSource

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Inspect open source software packages for security and license compliance to align with corporate standards
• Configure build pipeline to access package security and license rating
• Configure secure access to package feeds
• Inspect codebase to identify code dependencies that can be converted to packages
• Identify and recommend standardized package types and versions across the solution
• Refactor existing build pipelines to implement version strategy that publishes packages
• Manage security and compliance

Module 10: Design a Release Strategy

Lessons

• Introduction to Continuous Delivery
• Release strategy recommendations
• Building a High-Quality Release pipeline
• Choosing a deployment pattern
• Choosing the right release management tool

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Differentiate between a release and a deployment
• Define the components of a release pipeline
• Explain things to consider when designing your release strategy
• Classify a release versus a release process and outline how to control the quality of both
• Describe the principle of release gates and how to deal with release notes and documentation
• Explain deployment patterns, both in the traditional sense and in the modern sense
• Choose a release management tool

Module 11: Set up a Release Management Workflow

Lessons

• Create a Release Pipeline
• Provision and Configure Environments
• Manage and Modularize Tasks and Templates
• Integrate Secrets with the release pipeline
• Configure Automated Integration and Functional Test Automation
• Automate Inspection of Health

Lab : Configuring Pipelines as Code with YAML

Lab : Setting up secrets in the pipeline with Azure Key vault

Lab : Setting up and Running Functional Tests

Lab : Using Azure Monitor as release gate

Lab : Creating a release Dashboard

After completing this module, students will 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
• Classify an Agent, Agent Queue, and Agent Pool
• Explain why you sometimes need multiple release jobs in one release pipeline
• Differentiate between multi-agent and multi-configuration release job
• Use release variables and stage variables in your release pipeline
• Deploy to an environment securely using a service connection
• Embed testing in the pipeline
• List the different ways to inspect the health of your pipeline and release by using alerts, service hooks, and reports
• Create a release gate

Module 12: Implement an appropriate deployment pattern

Lessons

• Introduction to Deployment Patterns
• Implement Blue Green Deployment
• Feature Toggles
• Canary Releases
• Dark Launching
• AB Testing
• Progressive Exposure Deployment

Lab : Feature Flag Management with LaunchDarkly and Azure DevOps

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Describe deployment patterns
• Implement Blue Green Deployment
• Implement Canary Release
• Implement Progressive Exposure Deployment

Module 13: Implement process for routing system feedback to development teams

Lessons

• Implement Tools to Track System Usage, Feature Usage, and Flow
• Implement Routing for Mobile Application Crash Report Data
• Develop Monitoring and Status Dashboards
• Integrate and Configure Ticketing Systems

Lab : Monitoring Application Performance

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Configure crash report integration for client applications
• Develop monitoring and status dashboards
• Implement routing for client application crash report data
• Implement tools to track system usage, feature usage, and flow
• Integrate and configure ticketing systems with development team’s work management

Module 14: Implement a mobile DevOps strategy

Lessons

• Introduction to Mobile DevOps
• Introduction to Visual Studio App Center
• Manage mobile target device sets and distribution groups
• Manage target UI test device sets
• Provision tester devices for deployment
• Create public and private distribution groups

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Implement a mobile DevOps strategy

Module 15: Infrastructure and Configuration Azure Tools

Lessons

• Infrastructure as Code and Configuration Management
• Create Azure Resources using ARM Templates
• Create Azure Resources using Azure CLI
• Create Azure Resources by using Azure PowerShell
• Desired State Configuration (DSC)
• Azure Automation with DevOps
• Additional Automation Tools

Lab : Azure Deployments using Resource Manager Templates

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Apply infrastructure and configuration as code principles
• Deploy and manage infrastructure using Microsoft automation technologies such as ARM templates, PowerShell, and Azure CLI

Module 16: Azure Deployment Models and Services

Lessons

• Deployment Modules and Options
• Azure Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Services
• Azure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) services
• Serverless and HPC Computer Services
• Azure Service Fabric

Lab : Azure Automation – IaaS or PaaS deployment

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Describe deployment models and services that are available with Azure

Module 17: Create and Manage Kubernetes Service Infrastructure

Lessons

• Azure Kubernetes Service

Lab : Deploying a multi-container application to Azure Kubernetes Service

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Deploy and configure a Managed Kubernetes cluster

Module 18: Third Party Infrastructure as Code Tools available with Azure

Lessons

• Chef
• Puppet
• Ansible
• Terraform

Lab : Infrastructure as Code

Lab : Automating Your Infrastructure Deployments in the Cloud with Terraform and Azure Pipelines

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Deploy and configure infrastructure using 3rd party tools and services with Azure, such as Chef, Puppet, Ansible, SaltStack, and Terraform

Module 19: Implement Compliance and Security in your Infrastructure

Lessons

• Security and Compliance Principles with DevOps
• Azure security Center

Lab : Implement Security and Compliance in an Azure DevOps Pipeline

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Define an infrastructure and configuration strategy and appropriate toolset for a release pipeline and application infrastructure
• Implement compliance and security in your application infrastructure

Module 20: Recommend and design system feedback mechanisms

Lessons

• The inner loop
• Continuous Experimentation mindset
• Design practices to measure end-user satisfaction
• Design processes to capture and analyze user feedback
• Design process to automate application analytics

Lab : Integration between Azure DevOps and Teams

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Design practices to measure end-user satisfaction
• Design processes to capture and analyze user feedback from external sources
• Design routing for client application crash report data
• Recommend monitoring tools and technologies
• Recommend system and feature usage tracking tools

Module 21: Optimize feedback mechanisms

Lessons

• Site Reliability Engineering
• Analyze telemetry to establish a baseline
• Perform ongoing tuning to reduce meaningless or non-actionable alerts
• Analyze alerts to establish a baseline
• Blameless Retrospectives and a Just Culture

After completing this module, students will be able to:

• Analyze alerts to establish a baseline
• Analyze telemetry to establish a baseline
• Perform live site reviews and capture feedback for system outages
• Perform ongoing tuning to reduce meaningless or non-actionable alerts