NSE7 Advanced Networking and SD-WAN Practice Question
An administrator wants to load balance traffic across two WAN links by session count. Which SD-WAN load balancing algorithm should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
It's easy for candidates to confuse 'session count' with 'volume' or 'spillover,' assuming that any load balancing algorithm that distributes traffic equally must use data volume or bandwidth thresholds, rather than recognizing that Sessions is the explicit algorithm for session-based distribution.
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
✓
Sessions
The Sessions algorithm distributes new sessions across WAN links based on the current session count, ensuring each link handles a roughly equal number of active sessions. This directly matches the administrator's requirement to load balance by session count, as it uses the session counter as the metric for link selection.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Sessions
Why this is correct
The Sessions algorithm distributes traffic by tracking active session counts per WAN link, directly satisfying the requirement to load balance by session count. Unlike weighted or spillover methods, which use bandwidth ratios or thresholds, it dynamically assigns new sessions to the link with the fewest active sessions, achieving even per-session distribution.
- ✗
Spillover
Why it's wrong here
Spillover sends traffic to the secondary link only after the primary reaches a bandwidth threshold, so it balances on volume, not session count. Session-count balancing is what weighted round-robin or least-sessions algorithms provide when the requirement is distributing sessions evenly.
- ✗
Lowest-cost
Why it's wrong here
Lowest-cost selects the link with the cheapest configured cost value, not the one carrying fewest sessions, so it cannot balance by session count. It suits scenarios where monetary or path cost must be minimised, such as preferring a cheaper circuit over a metered link.
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Volume
Why it's wrong here
Volume balances by measured traffic throughput or bytes, so a link with few sessions but heavy flows still absorbs load, defeating session-count balancing. It is the right choice when the goal is equalising bandwidth utilisation across links rather than connection distribution.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This NSE7 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Fortinet 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 NSE7 exam.