Quick Reference Cheatsheet

Section 1 — Azure Pipelines YAML Structure

trigger:
  branches:
    include: [main, release/*]

pr:
  branches:
    include: [main]

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest          # Microsoft-hosted
  # name: MyAgentPool             # Self-hosted

variables:
  - group: MyKeyVaultGroup        # Variable group (Key Vault linked)
  - name: buildConfiguration
    value: Release

stages:
  - stage: Build
    jobs:
      - job: BuildAndTest
        steps:
          - template: templates/build-steps.yml@SharedPipelines
            parameters:
              project: src/MyApp

  - stage: Deploy_Staging
    dependsOn: Build
    jobs:
      - deployment: Deploy
        environment: staging
        strategy:
          runOnce:
            deploy:
              steps:
                - script: echo "deploy"

Trigger Types

Section 2 — Template Types

Cross-Repository Template Reference

resources:
  repositories:
    - repository: SharedPipelines
      type: git
      name: MyOrg/SharedPipelines
      ref: refs/tags/v2.1.0      # Pin to a tag, not refs/heads/main

stages:
  - template: templates/deploy-stage.yml@SharedPipelines
    parameters:
      environment: production
      serviceConnection: prod-sc

Section 3 — Agents

Section 4 — Deployment Strategies

Section 5 — Secret Management

The Correct Chain

# Pipeline route
Secret → Azure Key Vault → Variable Group (Key Vault linked)
       → Pipeline variable (masked) → App

# Application runtime route  
Secret → Azure Key Vault → Managed Identity
       → Application code (runtime retrieval) → No credential in code

Key Vault + Pipeline Variable Groups

variables:
  - group: ProductionSecrets    # Variable group linked to Key Vault

steps:
  - script: echo "$(DatabasePassword)"   # Value masked in logs

Managed Identity (application runtime)

// No credential in code — identity authenticates automatically
var client = new SecretClient(
    new Uri("https://myvault.vault.azure.net/"),
    new DefaultAzureCredential()   // Uses managed identity in Azure
);
var secret = await client.GetSecretAsync("DatabasePassword");

Key Vault Reference (App Service / Function)

@Microsoft.KeyVault(VaultName=myVault;SecretName=ConnectionString)

Wrong Patterns (Exam Traps)

Section 6 — Security Scan Reference

Section 7 — Branching Strategies

Section 8 — Pull Request Policy Stack

Section 9 — SRE Formulae and Definitions

Error Budget Calculation

Error budget = (1 − SLO) × measurement period

Examples:
99.0% SLO, 30 days → 0.010 × 43,200 min = 432 min  (7.2 hours)
99.5% SLO, 30 days → 0.005 × 43,200 min = 216 min  (3.6 hours)
99.9% SLO, 30 days → 0.001 × 43,200 min =  43 min
99.95% SLO, 30 days →                        21.6 min
99.99% SLO, 30 days →                         4.3 min

Burn Rate

Burn rate = current consumption rate / sustainable rate

Burn rate 1×  → budget exhausted exactly at period end (normal)
Burn rate 2×  → budget exhausted in half the period
Burn rate 6×  → budget exhausted in 1/6th of the period (~5 days monthly)

High burn rate → freeze risky releases → prioritise reliability work
Low burn rate  → safe to increase release velocity

DORA Metrics

Toil Characteristics

Section 10 — Azure Boards Reference

Work Item Hierarchy

Process Templates

Work Item State Flow (Agile)

Section 11 — Scrum Ceremonies Reference

Section 12 — KQL Reference

-- Filter rows
requests
| where resultCode == "500"
| where timestamp > ago(24h)

-- Count by status code
requests
| summarize count() by resultCode
| order by count_ desc

-- Average duration by hour
requests
| summarize avg(duration) by bin(timestamp, 1h)

-- 99th percentile latency
requests
| summarize percentile(duration, 99) by bin(timestamp, 1h)

-- Error rate as percentage
requests
| summarize
    total = count(),
    failures = countif(success == false)
  by bin(timestamp, 1h)
| extend errorRate = (failures * 100.0) / total

-- Failed requests with details
requests
| where success == false
| project timestamp, name, resultCode, duration, url
| order by timestamp desc
| take 50

-- Join requests with exceptions
requests
| where success == false
| join kind=leftouter (exceptions | project operation_Id, type, outerMessage)
    on operation_Id
| project timestamp, name, type, outerMessage

Key Fields in the requests Table

Section 13 — The Answer Selection Hierarchy

When choosing between two plausible answers, apply these preferences in order: