CLF-C02 Cloud Technology and Services Practice Question
Which type of Elastic Load Balancer routes HTTP/HTTPS traffic based on content such as URL path, hostname, and HTTP headers, enabling advanced request routing rules?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse the Network Load Balancer (NLB) with the Application Load Balancer (ALB) because both can handle HTTPS traffic, but NLB cannot inspect HTTP/HTTPS content for routing decisions—it only forwards TCP traffic, making ALB the only correct answer for content-based routing.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
The Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at Layer 7 of the OSI model and can route HTTP/HTTPS traffic based on request-level attributes such as URL path, hostname, HTTP headers, and query strings. This enables advanced routing rules like path-based routing (e.g., /api to one target group, /images to another) and host-based routing (e.g., app1.example.com vs app2.example.com). ALB also supports features like WebSocket, HTTP/2, and AWS WAF integration, making it the correct choice for content-based routing.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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Network Load Balancer (NLB)
Why it's wrong here
Network Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 of the OSI model, handling millions of requests per second by forwarding TCP and UDP traffic based on connection-level information such as IP addresses and port numbers without inspecting the HTTP payload. Because it does not parse HTTP headers, URLs, or hostnames, it cannot implement content-based routing rules that depend on application-layer data. While it is excellent for extreme performance and static IP addresses, it is not the correct service for routing web traffic based on content, making it unsuitable for this microservices use case.
- ✓
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
Why this is correct
Application Load Balancer is the correct choice because it operates at Layer 7 and natively inspects HTTP/HTTPS traffic to route requests based on sophisticated rules involving URL paths, hostnames, HTTP headers, query parameters, and request methods. This fits microservices and container-based architectures perfectly, as each service can be exposed under a different path or domain while the single ALB distributes traffic accordingly. Its tight integration with target groups, container orchestration platforms (like ECS and EKS), and path-based routing gives it the precise content-aware control needed for this scenario.
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Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB)
Why it's wrong here
Gateway Load Balancer is designed to act as a transparent inline gateway for third-party virtual appliances such as firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, and other network security tools. It forwards packets at Layer 3/4 based on network-level metadata and does not evaluate HTTP content or implement application-layer routing rules for hosts, URLs, or headers. Therefore, it is not meant for web application content routing; its purpose is to scale and manage traffic going through security appliances, not to route HTTP requests between application services.
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Classic Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Classic Load Balancer is a legacy Elastic Load Balancing option that predates modern Layer 7 feature sets, offering only basic request routing (such as simple path-based and host-based rules) but lacking native support for advanced conditions like HTTP headers, query strings, or HTTP methods in its routing decisions. While it can perform some Layer 7 duties, AWS now recommends ALB for HTTP/HTTPS content-based routing because CLB does not integrate as deeply with target group health checks, container services, or weighted routing. Therefore, choosing Classic Load Balancer would not align with current best practices for URL or hostname routing.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CLF-C02 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CLF-C02 exam.