Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (AZ-204) Practice Exam

Which of the following evaluates the state of a feature flag?

1. Feature flag

2. Feature manager

3. Filter

4. API gateway

The correct answer is: Filter

The feature flag mechanism is used to enable or disable certain functionality in applications without deploying new code. To determine whether a feature flag is active or inactive, a systematic evaluation process is required. The feature manager is designed to handle the complexities of feature flag evaluation, such as managing different environments, user segments, and configurations. It acts as an orchestrator, retrieving the current state of feature flags and applying any defined filters or rules to assess whether a particular flag should be enabled for a specific context. The filter serves to refine decision-making around when a feature flag should be active by applying specific criteria (for example, based on user role, geographic location, etc.). This means that while filters aid in evaluating conditions for feature flags, they don't inherently perform the complete evaluation process but rather enhance it. Therefore, while filters play an important role in determining how flags behave under specific circumstances, they do not typically evaluate the overall state of a feature flag by themselves. API gateways, on the other hand, are primarily focused on managing requests to backend services. They function as intermediaries that route client requests, enforce security policies, and manage traffic, but they are not involved in evaluating feature flags. Consequently, the feature manager is the appropriate component for evaluating the current state