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200-901 Practice Question: A development team is implementing a…
A development team is implementing a microservices architecture. They need to ensure that services can discover each other dynamically without hardcoding IP addresses. Which technology should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the distinction between an API gateway (which handles external traffic) and a service registry (which handles internal service discovery), leading candidates to incorrectly choose the API gateway when the question focuses on inter-service communication.
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
✓
A service registry like Consul
A service registry like Consul provides a centralized directory where microservices register their network locations (IP and port) and health status. Other services query the registry to discover available instances dynamically, eliminating the need for hardcoded addresses. Consul supports health checks, multi-datacenter replication, and integrates with tools like Envoy for service mesh functionality.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
A centralized load balancer
Why it's wrong here
A load balancer distributes traffic across known backends but requires those backends to be registered with it; it does not let services locate each other's changing addresses. It is tempting because it hides individual instances, and would be correct for balancing inbound requests to a fixed pool of servers.
- ✓
A service registry like Consul
Why this is correct
Consul provides a dynamic service registry where instances register themselves and query peers by name, eliminating hardcoded IP addresses. Its health-checking and DNS/HTTP interfaces let microservices resolve current endpoints at runtime, satisfying the dynamic discovery requirement.
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An API gateway
Why it's wrong here
An API gateway routes north-south client traffic to backend services; it does not maintain a registry of service instances or resolve their current addresses for peer-to-peer calls. It is tempting because gateways do abstract endpoints, and would be correct for exposing microservices externally with routing and rate limiting.
- ✗
DNS-based service discovery
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: DNS is not dynamic enough for microservices.
About these practice questions
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 200-901 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Cisco 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 200-901 exam.