Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect Expert AZ-305 Practice Question

An Azure DevOps multi-stage YAML pipeline is defined entirely as code in the repository, so every new microservice repo can reuse or extend the same pipeline file and gain identical automation. YAML pipelines support multiple named stages that map to environments such as dev, staging, and production, and each environment can be configured with manual approval gates through Azure DevOps Environments. Because the pipeline itself is stored and versioned with the application code, no separate GUI release definition needs to be managed.

Classic release pipelines can model stages and approvals but are not defined in the repo as code, so they require additional maintenance. Azure Automation DSC targets VM configuration drift, not application code deployment. Azure Deployment Manager coordinates ARM template rollouts, not App Service code deployments, and still needs separate scripts or pipelines for application release logic. Therefore, the multi-stage YAML pipeline with environment approvals is the most appropriate recommendation.