200-901 Software Development and Design Practice Question
In a microservices architecture, which communication pattern is typically asynchronous and decoupled?
⚠ Common exam trap
Cisco often tests the misconception that any HTTP-based communication (like REST) is inherently asynchronous, but REST over HTTP is synchronous by default unless combined with additional patterns like webhooks or message queues.
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
✓
Event-driven architecture
Event-driven architecture (D) is the correct answer because it is inherently asynchronous and decoupled: services communicate by publishing events to a message broker (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ) without needing to know about the consumers. This pattern allows the producer to emit an event and continue processing immediately, while consumers react to events at their own pace, achieving loose coupling and high scalability.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
REST over HTTP
Why it's wrong here
REST over HTTP is synchronous request-response: the caller blocks awaiting a reply, coupling services in time. It is tempting because REST is the default for public APIs and simple CRUD, but asynchronous decoupling requires a broker or queue-based pattern such as messaging.
- ✗
SOAP
Why it's wrong here
SOAP is a synchronous RPC-style protocol over HTTP, so the caller waits for the response and remains coupled to the callee's availability. It is tempting for enterprise integration with strict contracts, but that scenario is not the asynchronous, decoupled pattern the stem asks for.
- ✗
gRPC
Why it's wrong here
gRPC defaults to synchronous unary calls over HTTP/2, blocking until the server responds, which couples caller and callee in time. It is tempting because streaming variants exist, but the standard pattern is synchronous; asynchronous decoupling needs a message broker.
- ✓
Event-driven architecture
Why this is correct
Event-driven architecture decouples producers from consumers via a broker, so services publish events without waiting for responses. This asynchronous, non-blocking exchange satisfies the decoupling requirement, unlike synchronous request-response patterns such as REST or gRPC that couple caller and callee.
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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.