The GH-100: GitHub Administration certification validates your ability to effectively manage and optimize GitHub environments. By earning this credential, you demonstrate expertise in repository management, workflow optimization, security best practices, and fostering efficient team collaboration to ensure the success of projects on GitHub. This certification remains valid for two years from the date of achievement.

Who Should Take This Exam?

This exam is designed for system administrators, software developers, application administrators, and IT professionals with intermediate-level experience in GitHub Enterprise Administration. It is especially suited for:

• GitHub Administrators responsible for managing users, repositories, and permissions.
• DevOps Engineers and System Administrators overseeing source code management and CI/CD integrations.
• Team Leads or Project Managers aiming to enhance collaboration and workflow efficiency on GitHub.
• Professionals seeking to validate and showcase their GitHub administration expertise for career growth.

Exam Details

• The GH-100: GitHub Administration exam is an intermediate-level certification tailored for professionals in roles such as Administrators, DevOps Engineers, and Technology Managers.
• It is designed to assess a candidate’s ability to manage GitHub environments, optimize workflows, and support secure and efficient collaboration.
• The exam provides 100 minutes for completion and is delivered in a proctored format to ensure integrity.
• In addition to standard questions, candidates may be required to complete interactive components that evaluate their practical knowledge of GitHub administration. At present, the exam is offered in English.

Course Outline

The exam covers the following topics:

Domain 1: Understand about supporting GitHub Enterprise for users and key stakeholders (15%)

Supporting GitHub Enterprise for users and key stakeholders

• Distinguishing problems that can be solved by an administrator from those that need GitHub Support
• Describing how to generate support bundles and diagnostics
• Describing how GitHub’s products and services are used within the enterprise to identify underutilized features, integrations in use, most active teams, and repositories
• Recommending standards for developer workflows, including code collaboration (fork-and-pull versus branching), branching, branch protection rules, code owners, the code review process, automation, and release strategy
• Explaining the tooling ecosystem at the enterprise
• Explaining the enterprise’s CI/CD strategy
• Discuss how to recommend tooling and workflows to teams within an enterprise
• Explain how GitHub APIs can be used to extend the capabilities of the administrator from the user interface, such as querying or storing the audit log
• Locate an asset from the GitHub Marketplace for a specific need (i.e., find the Azure Pipelines GitHub App in the Marketplace, install it, and configure it to deploy your code)
• Contrasting a GitHub App and an action (i.e., their permissions, how they’re built, how they’re consumed)
• List the benefits and risks of using apps and actions from the GitHub Marketplace

Domain 2: Managing user identities and GitHub authentication (20%)

Managing user identities and GitHub authentication

• Listing the implications of enabling SAML single sign-on (SSO) for an individual organization versus all organizations in an enterprise account
• Listing the steps to enable and enforce SAML SSO for a single organization and multiple organizations using enterprise accounts
• Explaining how to require two-factor authentication (2FA) for an organization
• Explain how to choose supported identity providers
• Describing how identity management and authorization works on GitHub
• List the consequences of a user’s membership in the instance, an organization, or multiple organizations
• Describing the authentication and authorization model (specifically, how users get to the system, and how they’re granted access to specific things within GitHub)
• List the supported SCIM providers (Azure, Okta, self-created)
• Describe how the SCIM protocol works and how GitHub supports it
• Describing how Team synchronization works
• Contrast team synchronization and SCIM

Domain 3: Describing how GitHub is deployed, distributed, and licensed (5%)

Contrasting the capabilities of GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES), GitHub Enterprise Cloud (GHEC), and GitHub AE (GHAE)

• Describe GitHub Enterprise Cloud (GHEC)
• Describing GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES)
• Describing GitHub AE

Differentiating how products are billed, including seat licenses, GitHub Actions, and GitHub Packages

• Describing pricing for GitHub Actions
• Describe pricing and support options for organizations
• Describing how to find statistics of license usage for a specific organization
• Describe how to find statistics of license usage for machine accounts and peripheral services
• Explaining the consumption of metered products given a report (i.e., GitHub Actions minutes or storage for GitHub Packages)

Domain 4: Managing access and permissions based on membership (20%)

Defining a GitHub organization

• Explaining the benefits and costs of deploying a single organization versus multiple organizations
• Describe how to set default read permissions versus default write permissions across organizations
• Describing Team sync through AD
• Explain maintainability; writing scripts against multiple orgs and multiple access rights
• Describing how to adjust enterprise policies and organization permissions in alignment with a company’s trust and control position

Describing enterprise permissions and policies

• Defining a GitHub organization
• List the possible roles of an organization member
• Contrasting permissions for organization members, owners, and billing managers
• Describe the difference between being an organization member and an outside collaborator
• Listing the consequences of a user’s membership in an instance or organization
• Explaining how to give a user the minimum required permissions for repository, organization, or team access.
• List the benefits and the drawbacks of creating a new organization

Describing team permissions

• Define Teams in a GitHub organization
• Listing the possible roles of a team member
• Describing the different permission models

Repository permissions

• Explaining the actions of a user given a list of their permissions, such as repository role, team membership, or organization membership (https://github.com/organizations/<ORG_NAME>/settings/member_privileges)
• Listing the repository membership options
• Explain audit access to a repository

Domain 5: Enabling secure software development and ensure compliance (15%)

Enabling secure software development and ensure compliance

• Explaining how GitHub supports the enterprise’s security posture
• Describe scrubbing sensitive data from a Git repository (filter-branch/BFG)
• Describing scrubbing sensitive data from GitHub (contacting support)
• Explaining how to choose a policy based on how much control is required
• Explaining the impacts of choosing a specific set of policies
• Define organization policies
• Defining enterprise policies

Describing how to use the audit log APIs (Rest and GraphQL) to explain a missing asset

• Defining the use case for audit logs
• Describe security and compliance concepts with GitHub
• Explaining how to provide reports for auditing

Defining and explaining the importance of the security features of a GitHub repository

• Explaining the importance of a security policy
• Define a vulnerability
• Describe a vulnerable dependency
• Explaining the importance of secret scanning
• Explain the importance of code scanning
• Describing automated code scanning (CodeQL)
• Explain the dependency graph
• Explain the importance of a security advisory
• Describing Dependabot
• Detect and fix outdated dependencies with security vulnerabilities
• Describing security vulnerability alerts
• Create and implement a security response plan that addresses sensitive data on a GitHub repository
• Describing how to use SSH keys and Deploy keys to access repository data

API access and integrations

• Listing supported access tokens (e.g. PAT, Installation Tokens, OAuth and GitHub app OAuth tokens, Device Tokens, Refresh tokens)
• Explain how to find a token’s rate limits
• Describing GitHub Apps, their repository permissions, user permissions, and event subscriptions
• Describe OAuth Apps, their permissions, and event subscriptions
• Contrasting the use of a personal access token (PAT) or a GitHub App for authenticating a machine account
• Describe the use of machine accounts versus GitHub apps
• Explaining how to approve or deny user-created GitHub Apps and OAuth apps based on a security policy
• Define an enterprise managed user (EMU)

Domain 6: Managing GitHub Actions (20%)

Distributing actions and workflows to the enterprise

• Identifying reuse templates for actions and workflows
• Define an approach for managing and leveraging reusable components (i.e., repos for storage, naming conventions for files/folders, plans for ongoing maintenance)
• Defining how to distribute actions for an enterprise
• Explaining how to control access to actions within the enterprise
• Configuring organizational use policies for GitHub Actions

Managing runners for the enterprise

• Describing the effects of configuring IP allow lists on GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners
• Configure IP allow lists on internal applications and systems to allow interaction with GitHub-hosted runners
• Listing the effects and potential abuse vectors of enabling self-hosted runners on public repositories
• Selecting appropriate runners to support workloads (i.e., using a self-hosted versus GitHub-hosted runner, choosing supported operating systems)
• Contrast GitHub-hosted and self-hosted runners
• Configuring self-hosted runners for enterprise use (i.e., including proxies, labels, networking)
• Managing self-hosted runners using groups (i.e., managing access, moving runners into and between groups)
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and update self-hosted runners

Managing encrypted secrets in the enterprise

• Identify the scope of encrypted secrets
• Explaining how to access encrypted secrets within actions and workflows
• Explaining how to manage organization-level encrypted secrets
• Describe how to manage repository-level encrypted secrets
• Describing how to use third-party vaults

Domain 7: Managing GitHub Packages (5%)

• Describing which GitHub Packages are supported
• Describe how to access, write, and share GitHub Packages
• Describing how to use GitHub Packages in workflows (i.e., with GitHub Actions or other CI/CD tools)
• Explaining the differences and use cases between GitHub Packages and releases

GH-100: GitHub Administration Exam FAQs

Check Here For FAQs!

Exam Policies

Microsoft offers various exam policies. Some of them are:

– Proctoring and Assessment Format

The GH-100: GitHub Administration exam is delivered in a fully proctored environment to ensure a secure, fair, and consistent evaluation process. The assessment may include interactive, task-based components that replicate real-world GitHub administration scenarios. These tasks are designed to measure a candidate’s ability to manage repositories, configure permissions, optimize workflows, and enforce security policies. By combining conceptual questions with practical exercises, the exam validates both theoretical knowledge and hands-on expertise in GitHub Enterprise Administration.

– Exam Duration and Experience

Candidates are allotted 100 minutes to complete the exam. It is strongly recommended that candidates review the official Exam Duration and Exam Experience guidelines in advance. These resources provide important details about the structure, types of questions, and the inclusion of interactive exercises, helping candidates better understand what to expect and how to allocate their time effectively.

– Retake Policy

Candidates who do not pass on their first attempt may retake the exam after a 24-hour waiting period. Subsequent retakes may require longer waiting periods depending on the number of prior attempts. This policy is designed to give candidates adequate time to revisit key concepts, strengthen their practical skills, and prepare thoroughly before reattempting the certification exam.

GH-100: GitHub Administration Exam Study Guide

Step 1: Review the Exam Objectives in Depth

The first step in preparing for the GH-100: GitHub Administration exam is to carefully review the official exam objectives. These objectives serve as the foundation for your study plan, as they outline the exact knowledge domains and technical skills that will be tested. The exam typically focuses on repository and branch management, user and permission configuration, workflow optimization, and security enforcement in GitHub Enterprise.

By studying the objectives in detail, you can identify the areas in which you are already confident and the ones that require additional attention. This process ensures that your preparation is targeted, allowing you to allocate more time to topics where your knowledge or practical skills are not yet strong enough.

Step 2: Follow the Microsoft Learning Path

Once you are clear on the objectives, the next step is to work through the Microsoft Learning Path for GitHub Administration. This structured resource is designed to align directly with the GH-100 exam and provides both theoretical explanations and practical labs. By completing the modules in order, you can gradually build your knowledge from intermediate concepts to advanced administrative practices.

The interactive labs are particularly valuable because they allow you to simulate real-world scenarios, such as configuring permissions, setting up automated workflows, and applying security policies within GitHub Enterprise. Unlike passive reading, the Learning Path ensures you gain hands-on experience, which is critical for performing well in both the conceptual and task-based components of the exam. The course includes:

– GitHub fundamentals – Administration basics and product features

In this course, you will be introduced to the fundamentals of GitHub and develop a solid understanding of its core features through hands-on exercises within a GitHub repository. The course emphasizes best practices for building, hosting, and maintaining secure repositories, equipping you with the skills to manage projects effectively on the platform.

This course is designed for learners who want to deepen their knowledge of GitHub and adopt industry-recommended practices. You will gain practical experience in repository management and explore the GitHub flow, including the use of branches, commits, and pull requests. Furthermore, the course highlights GitHub’s collaborative features, such as issues and discussions, while also covering how to manage notifications and subscriptions to stay organized and engaged in team projects.

Step 3: Complete Knowledge Assessments as Checkpoints

As you progress through the Learning Path, it is important to attempt the knowledge assessments provided at the end of each module. These assessments are not just simple quizzes; they are designed to reinforce your understanding, highlight areas of weakness, and mirror the style of questioning you may encounter in the actual exam. Instead of treating them as formal tests, use them as checkpoints to measure how well you have absorbed the material. Whenever you answer a question incorrectly, revisit the relevant module, review your notes, and if possible, test the concept in a live GitHub Enterprise environment. This iterative approach ensures that you build mastery over time rather than simply memorizing facts.

Step 4: Engage with Study Groups and Peer Discussions

Studying in isolation can sometimes limit your perspective, so the fourth step is to engage with study groups, online communities, or peer discussions related to GitHub and Microsoft certifications. Active participation in these groups can significantly enhance your preparation. You gain access to diverse viewpoints, practical tips, and problem-solving approaches that you might not encounter on your own. Moreover, explaining concepts to peers is one of the most effective ways to strengthen your own understanding. These groups also provide motivation and accountability, which can be particularly valuable during longer study periods.

Step 5: Take Practice Tests to Simulate the Exam Experience

The final step in your preparation is to attempt full-length practice tests. These are essential for familiarizing yourself with the exam format, time constraints, and the mix of conceptual and interactive questions you will encounter. Practice tests replicate the pressure of the real exam and help you develop strategies for pacing yourself across the 100-minute duration.

After each attempt, carefully review your performance to identify recurring mistakes or weak areas. Use this feedback to revisit the Learning Path, redo relevant labs, or seek clarification in study groups. Repeating this cycle until you achieve consistent scores above the expected passing threshold will give you the confidence and readiness required to succeed on exam day.