Free ITIL4-PDM sample questions

Correct answer: Change failure rate

The change failure rate is the most direct measure of deployment success. It calculates the percentage of deployments that result in a degradation of service or require remediation (e.g., a hotfix, rollback, or patch). While deployment frequency measures speed and lead time for changes measures efficiency, the change failure rate specifically quantifies the quality and success of the deployments themselves.

Correct answer: Remediation

Remediation involves the actions taken to recover after a failed deployment. This includes executing a rollback or back-out plan to restore the service to a functional state. Deployment verification is the testing done after deployment, phased deployment is a deployment strategy, and deployment authorization is a preceding step.

Correct answers: The ability to rapidly provision a complete, identical production environment.; A mechanism to switch user traffic between the two environments seamlessly.

Blue-green deployment relies on two identical production environments: 'blue' (current live) and 'green' (new version). Success hinges on the ability to create this identical 'green' environment quickly (often via Infrastructure as Code) and a reliable mechanism (like a load balancer or router) to switch traffic from blue to green. Manual testing and separate release schedules are important for the overall process but are not the core technical prerequisites for the blue-green mechanism itself.

Correct answer: False

According to ITIL 4, the Deployment Management practice is responsible for moving new or changed components to ALL environments, including live production, testing, and staging. A consistent and controlled deployment process across all environments is crucial for ensuring quality and reducing risks.

Correct answer: Phased deployment

Phased deployment is an approach where the new service or component is deployed to a subset of users or environments first, and then gradually rolled out to the rest. Deploying department by department is a classic example of a phased approach based on user groups. This allows for focused training, feedback collection, and risk mitigation.

Correct answer: Establish and document a standardized deployment process and define clear roles.

According to the ITIL maturity model, foundational steps (Level 1 to 2) involve establishing basic, repeatable processes and defining roles and responsibilities. Before investing heavily in automation (a characteristic of higher maturity levels), the organization must first address the lack of a standardized process. Documenting the process and clarifying roles provides the necessary foundation upon which further improvements, like automation, can be built.

Correct answer: Supplier Management

The Supplier Management practice is responsible for ensuring that the organization's suppliers and their performances are managed appropriately to support the seamless provision of quality products and services. This includes ensuring that suppliers deliver all agreed-upon components, documentation, and support as stipulated in their contracts. The Deployment Manager would collaborate with Supplier Management to resolve this issue.

Correct answer: Adopt a canary release model for each microservice, using the CI/CD pipeline to automate the gradual rollout and integrate with the CMDB via API to update configuration items in real-time.

This approach directly addresses all requirements. A canary release model is ideal for microservices as it allows independent deployment and limits the blast radius by exposing new code to a small subset of users first. Automating this via the CI/CD pipeline meets the operations team's needs. Critically, integrating the pipeline with the CMDB via an API ensures configuration data remains accurate despite frequent changes, which is a key challenge in such dynamic environments.

Correct answer: To establish and maintain an effective deployment capability and perform deployments.

The primary responsibility of the Deployment Manager is to establish and maintain the overall capability to deploy components successfully. This includes defining processes, selecting tools, and overseeing the execution of deployments to ensure they are efficient, reliable, and controlled. Approving changes is the role of a change authority, and bundling changes is part of Release Management.

Correct answer: Think and work holistically

'Think and work holistically' is the most relevant principle. A deployment plan must consider the entire system and its dependencies. This includes not just copying files, but also performing pre-checks, handling configurations, and conducting post-deployment verification. This holistic view ensures that all aspects of the service delivery are considered, leading to a successful outcome.