Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions AZ-400 Exam Guide: Prepare for the certification exam and successfully apply Azure DevOps strategies with practical labs, 2nd Edition

Description

Written by Microsoft MVPs and Azure experts, this comprehensive guide comes with self-study exercises to help you understand the concepts better and move closer to becoming a skilled Azure DevOps engineer Key FeaturesExplore a step-by-step approach to designing and creating a successful DevOps environmentUnderstand how to implement continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines on AzureIntegrate and implement security, compliance, containers, and databases in your DevOps strategiesBook Description The AZ-400 Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions certification helps DevOps engineers and administrators get to grips with practices such as continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), containerization, and zero downtime deployments using Azure DevOps Services. This new edition is updated with advanced topics such as site reliability engineering (SRE), continuous improvement, and planning your cloud transformation journey. The book begins with the basics of CI/CD and automated deployments, and then moves ahead to show you how to apply configuration management and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) along with managing databases in DevOps scenarios. As you make progress, you'll explore fitting security and compliance with DevOps and find out how to instrument applications and gather metrics to understand application usage and user behavior. This book will also help you implement a container build strategy and manage Azure Kubernetes Services. Lastly, you'll discover quick tips and tricks to confidently apply effective DevOps practices and learn to create your own Azure DevOps organization. By the end of this DevOps book, you'll have gained the knowledge needed to ensure seamless application deployments and business continuity. What you will learnGet acquainted with Azure DevOps Services and DevOps practicesDiscover how to efficiently implement CI/CD processesBuild and deploy a CI/CD pipeline with automated testing on AzureIntegrate security and compliance in pipelinesUnderstand and implement Azure Container ServicesEffectively close the loop from production back to developmentApply continuous improvement strategies to deliver innovation at scaleWho this book is for The book is for anyone looking to prepare for the AZ-400 certification exam. Software developers, application developers, and IT professionals who want to implement DevOps practices for the Azure cloud will also find this book helpful. Familiarity with Azure DevOps basics, software development, and development practices is recommended but not necessary. Table of ContentsIntroduction to DevOpsSite Reliability EngineeringGetting the Best Out of DevOps ToolsEverything Starts with Source ControlMoving to Continuous IntegrationContinuous DeploymentDependency ManagementInfrastructure and Configuration as CodeDealing with Databases in DevOps ScenariosContinuous TestingSecurity and ComplianceApplication MonitoringGathering User FeedbackAdopting a Culture of Continuous ImprovementAccelerate Cloud Adoption through DevOpsLeveraging the value of Containers in DevOpsPlanning Your Azure DevOps OrganizationAZ-400 Mock Exam Cover Title Page Copyright and Credits Contributors Table of Contents Preface Part 1 – Digital Transformation through DevOps Chapter 1: Introduction to DevOps Technical requirements What is DevOps? The relationship between DevOps and Agile Goals and benefits of a DevOps culture Creating your ideal DevOps organization Exploring DevOps practices and habits DevOps practices DevOps habits The five stages of the DevOps evolution Normalizing the technology stack Standardizing and reducing variability Expanding DevOps practices Automating infrastructure delivery Providing self-service capabilities Summary Self-practice exercise Questions Further reading Chapter 2: Site Reliability Engineering Fundamentals Technical requirements Introduction to SRE Why is reliability so important? What is availability? Reliability challenges and SRE Key principles and practices Implementing SLOs and SLIs Establishing an error budget policy Reducing toil Summary Self-practice exercises Questions Further reading Chapter 3: Getting the Best Out of DevOps Tools SDLC and DevOps tools Key activities in a DevOps life cycle Tools for your DevOps needs Azure DevOps and GitHub Azure DevOps GitHub Azure DevTest Labs Azure Monitor Azure Monitor Logs Azure Monitor Metrics Application Insights Visual Studio Code Summary Self-practice exercises Questions Further reading Part 2 – Getting to Continuous Delivery Chapter 4: Everything Starts with Source Control Technical requirements Types of source control in Azure DevOps Centralized source control Decentralized source control Source control systems Migrating between control systems Selecting a branching and merging strategy Branching strategies Merging strategies Managing repositories Monorepo or multi-repo Creating and removing repositories Securing repositories Branch policies Other tools for source control GitHub GitLab Subversion Summary Questions Exercises Further reading Chapter 5: Moving to Continuous Integration Technical requirements Introducing continuous integration The four pillars of continuous integration Creating a build definition in Azure DevOps Connecting to source control Configuring a job Adding tasks to your job Publishing build artifacts Creating variables and variable groups Running a build Viewing the build results Building a pull request Accessing build artifacts Working with YAML pipelines The reason for using build definitions as code Writing a basic YAML pipeline Multi-job pipelines Variables Pipeline artifacts Tips for writing YAML pipelines Agents and agent queues Built-in agent pools Creating a private agent pool Agent selection Finding agent capabilities The benefits of self-hosted agent pools Automating CI builds using GitHub Actions Other tools GitLab CI Jenkins Summary Questions Exercises Further reading Chapter 6: Implementing Continuous Deployment and Release Management Technical requirements Continuous delivery and continuous deployment Working with Azure DevOps releases Creating artifacts and release triggers Specifying the stages to deploy the release Working with deployment groups Writing multi-stage YAML pipelines Adding stages to YAML pipelines Downloading artifacts Approvals Implementing CD strategies Blue-green deployments Progressive exposure Blue-green versus canary deployments Feature flags Roll back or fail forward Deploying mobile applications Connecting to the app store Using distribution groups Publishing an app App Center via Azure Pipelines Automating release notes Other tools Octopus Deploy Summary Questions Exercises Further reading Part 3 – Expanding Your DevOps Pipeline Chapter 7: Dependency Management Technical requirements Identifying shared components Types of feeds Creating a feed Setting up a feed Managing views on a feed Configuring upstream sources Publishing packages Publishing packages manually Publishing packages from a pipeline Version basics Restoring packages Restoring packages from Visual Studio Restoring packages from a pipeline Working with Universal Packages Uploading and downloading Universal Packages from Azure Pipelines Uploading and downloading Universal Packages using the Azure CLI Exploring other tools MyGet Artifactory Azure Container Registry Summary Questions Exercises  Further reading Chapter 8: Implement Infrastructure and Configuration as Code Technical requirements Having everything as code Working with ARM templates Parameters Variables Functions Comments and metadata Resources Dependent resources Nested templates Outputs Deploying ARM templates PowerShell The Azure CLI Azure Pipelines ARM REST API Azure Cloud Shell Reverse engineering a template Using Export template Using Resource Explorer Subscription-level templates Azure Blueprints Bicep Using Azure Automation Automation account resources Runbooks PowerShell DSC Managing application settings Azure App Service settings from an ARM template Loading settings at runtime from a key vault Azure App Configuration Other tools CloudFormation Chef Puppet Ansible Terraform Summary Activity  Questions Further reading Chapter 9: Dealing with Databases in DevOps Scenarios Technical requirements Managing a database schema as code Migrations End state Applying database schema changes Upgrading as part of the release Upgrading with the application code Adding a process Going schema-less Writing objects to the database Reading objects from the database Other approaches and concerns Minimizing the influence of databases Full side-by-side deployment Testing database changes Summary Questions Further reading Chapter 10: Integrating Continuous Testing Technical requirements Defining quality Metrics for quality Technical debt Understanding test types Types of automated functional tests Types of manual functional tests Strategies for deciding which types of functional tests you need Types of non-functional tests Executing tests in a pipeline Running unit tests Running integration tests Running external tests Maintaining quality Code reviews Automatically gathering quality metrics Visualizing quality Quality gates Summary Questions Self exercise Further reading Chapter 11: Managing Security and Compliance Technical requirements Applying DevOps principles to security and compliance Bringing developers and security engineers together Security concerns Working with secrets Storing secrets in service connections Storing secrets in variable groups Detecting application code vulnerabilities OWASP Top 10 Implementing automated vulnerability scanning The OWASP ZAP Working with dependencies Working with WhiteSource Bolt Ensuring infrastructure compliance Assigning an Azure policy or initiative Writing an Azure Policy Initiatives Fetching audit results Monitoring and detecting runtime security risks and threats Other tools you can use Summary Questions Further reading Part 4 – Closing the Loop Chapter 12: Application Monitoring Technical requirements Investigating application crashes Gathering crash reports for mobile applications Gathering crash reports for desktop applications Instrumenting web applications Logging Emitting logs Metrics Investigating requests Optimizing alerting Having an on-call schedule Live site reviews Integrating with other tools IT service management applications Azure Boards Grafana Summary Questions Further reading Chapter 13: Gathering User Feedback Understanding continuous feedback Asking for direct feedback Advantages of in-product feedback Having a public roadmap Using interviews or focus groups Gathering indirect feedback Sentiment analysis Support requests Implementing hypothesis-driven development Summary Questions Further reading Part 5 – Advanced Topics Chapter 14: Adopting the Culture of Continuous Improvement Measuring your DevOps success Value stream mapping A data-driven approach Operationalizing the feedback loop Implementing effective feedback loops Summary Activity Further reading Chapter 15: Accelerate Cloud Adoption through DevOps The role of DevOps in digital transformation Modernization and cloud adoption DevOps is the foundation of modernization DevOps drives cloud adoption Managing software delivery modernization Software life cycle management Solution architecture Automation practices Cloud platform adoption Agile transformation and iterative planning Roadmap for transformation Integrating DevOps in your cloud adoption plan Case study Usual challenges and DevOps to the rescue Summary Additional reading Chapter 16: Containers Technical requirements An introduction to containers DevOps and containers Hosting options Building a container image Creating an application Adding Docker support to an existing application Creating an image with the application Running the container image Building images in Azure DevOps and running them in Azure Creating a service endpoint Creating a new pipeline An introduction to Kubernetes The functionalities of Kubernetes Kubernetes core components and services Operation of Kubernetes Azure Kubernetes Service Kubernetes in action Creating a Kubernetes cluster Kubernetes infrastructure Managing Kubernetes Deploying a container image Upgrading containers Scaling containers and Kubernetes Scaling Pods manually Scaling nodes Autoscaling nodes Deploying to Kubernetes with Azure DevOps Summary Questions Exercises Further reading Chapter 17: Planning Your Azure DevOps Organization Technical requirements Setting up an Azure DevOps organization How Azure DevOps is organized Creating an Azure DevOps organization and project Azure DevOps security model Azure DevOps licensing Ensuring traceability Consolidating tools Standardizing tools Migration strategies Accepting there is no end state Summary Questions Activity Further reading Chapter 18: AZ-400 Mock Exam Designing a DevOps Strategy Implementing DevOps Development Processes Implementing Continuous Integration Implementing Continuous Delivery Implementing Dependency Management Implementing Application Infrastructure Implementing Continuous Feedback Answers Assessments Chapter 1, Introduction to DevOps Chapter 2, Site Reliability Engineering Fundamentals Chapter 3, Getting the Best Out of DevOps Tools Chapter 4, Everything Starts with Source Control Chapter 5, Moving to Continuous Integration Chapter 6, Implementing Continuous Deployment and Release Management Chapter 7, Dependency Management Chapter 8, Implement Infrastructure and Configuration as Code Chapter 9, Dealing with Databases in DevOps Scenarios Chapter 10, Integrating Continuous Testing Chapter 11, Managing Security and Compliance Chapter 12, Application Monitoring Chapter 13, Gathering User Feedback Chapter 16, Containers Chapter 17, Planning Your Azure DevOps Organization Index Other Books You May Enjoy