Score Higher on Verified ITIL-4-Practitioner-Deployment-Management | ITIL 4 Practitioner: Deployment Management Exam Questions with Answers

Continuous deployment (CD) in ITIL 4 is the most advanced stage of the CI/CD pipeline, where every validated change is automatically deployed to production without manual intervention. The key feature unique to continuous deployment, not found in continuous integration or continuous delivery, is that it enables users to benefit immediately from changes (Option B), as changes reach production instantly after passing automated tests.

Option A (It automatically tests software code):Incorrect, as automated testing is a feature of continuous integration and continuous delivery, not unique to continuous deployment.

Option B (It enables users to benefit immediately from changes):Correct, as continuous deployment automatically pushes validated changes to production, delivering value to users without delay, unlike other CI/CD stages.

Option C (It predominantly uses staging environments):Incorrect, as continuous deployment minimizes reliance on staging environments, deploying directly to production.

Option D (It allows individual decisions about software releases):Incorrect, as continuous deployment eliminates manual release decisions, relying on automation for consistency.

The issue of errors and delays due to unplanned manual configuration of target environments points to inconsistent or poorly managed environments. ITIL 4 recommends leveraging Infrastructure as Code (IaC) (Option A) to address this, as IaC automates and standardizes environment provisioning, ensuring consistency and reducing manual errors.

Option A (Leverage Infrastructure as Code):Correct, as IaC (e.g., using tools like Terraform or Ansible) defines environments in code, enabling repeatable, error-free setups and directly addressing the problem of manual configuration errors.

Option B (Use incremental deployments):Incorrect, as incremental deployments focus on releasing smaller changes but do not address the root cause of environment configuration issues.

Option C (Integrate build, test, and deployment activities):Incorrect, as while integration improves pipeline flow, it does not specifically resolve manual configuration errors in target environments.

Option D (Automate the CI/CD pipeline):Incorrect, as automating the pipeline is a broader solution that may include IaC, but it is not specific enough to address the environment configuration issue directly.

Continuous delivery (CD) in ITIL 4 extends continuous integration (CI) by ensuring that every validated change is ready for deployment to production, enabling smaller and more frequent releases. The key benefit for users is that they experience changes which are smaller and more frequent (Option D), reducing risk, improving feedback cycles, and delivering value faster.

Option A (Developers spend less time fixing issues in their code):Incorrect, as while CD may reduce some issues through automation, this is not its primary benefit, and CI already includes frequent testing to catch issues early.

Option B (Code is tested iteratively and frequently):Incorrect, as iterative and frequent testing is a feature of continuous integration, not a new benefit introduced by continuous delivery.

Option C (Deployments of software builds are scripted to allow for automation):Incorrect, as scripting and automation are part of both CI and CD pipelines, not a unique benefit of introducing CD.

Option D (Users experience changes which are smaller and more frequent):Correct, as CD enables rapid, incremental releases to production, directly benefiting users with faster and less disruptive updates.