AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
A company deploys a multi-tier web application on Azure VMs across availability zones. The web tier must have SSL termination, session persistence, and health probe monitoring. Additionally, all traffic must be inspected by a central firewall for compliance. The solution must be highly available. Which combination of Azure services should they implement?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Azure Load Balancer (Layer 4) with Application Gateway (Layer 7), assuming the Load Balancer can handle SSL termination and session persistence, or they overlook that Azure Front Door lacks session persistence and central inspection capabilities.
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
✓
Azure Application Gateway (WAF) in front of web VMs, with Azure Firewall in a hub VNet for central inspection
Azure Application Gateway provides SSL termination, session persistence (via cookie-based affinity), and health probes at Layer 7, which are required for a web tier. Placing Azure Firewall in a hub VNet for central inspection ensures all traffic is inspected for compliance, and deploying the web VMs across availability zones meets the high-availability requirement.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Azure Application Gateway (WAF) in front of web VMs, with Azure Firewall in a hub VNet for central inspection
Why this is correct
Application Gateway (WAF) is an L7 load balancer that terminates TLS, provides web application firewall rules (SQL injection, XSS), and supports cookie-based session affinity at the HTTP layer. By placing it in front of the web VMs, you get protocol-aware routing and protection. Azure Firewall in a hub VNet then serves as the centralized inspection point for all east-west and outbound traffic via UDR or forced tunneling, enabling consistent security policy enforcement without separate L4/L7 devices. This hub-spoke design is the industry-standard pattern for multi-tier web workloads.
- ✗
Azure Load Balancer (Standard) in front of web VMs, with a third-party Network Virtual Appliance (NVA) for inspection
Why it's wrong here
Azure Load Balancer (Standard) is an L4 load balancer that only routes traffic based on IP/port and performs no TLS termination, application-aware routing, or cookie-based session persistence. A third-party NVA for inspection would need to be deployed inline, requiring custom routing, manual scaling, and additional licensing/ops overhead; it also often becomes a single point of failure unless you build your own HA cluster. This option lacks the integrated WAF and tightly managed inspection capabilities that Azure-native services provide, making it less suitable for a secure, multi-tier web application.
- ✗
Azure Front Door in front of web VMs, with Azure Firewall for inspection
Why it's wrong here
Azure Front Door is a global, anycast-based L7 load balancer that excels at CDN, SSL acceleration, and DDoS/WAF at the edge. However, its traffic path bypasses a VNet—requests go from the edge to the backend directly, so Azure Firewall placed in a hub VNet cannot inspect those connecting flows unless you force traffic through the hub with explicitly configured routes. Since Front Door operates outside the VNet boundary, it does not route traffic through a central firewall, meaning internal inspection and east-west filtering are absent. It is best for global distribution and edge WAF, not for centralized VNet-based inspection.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager + Azure Application Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Manager is a DNS-based routing service that only resolves the client to an endpoint based on priority/performance/geographic rules; it does not inspect, protect, or modify the traffic itself. Adding Application Gateway, while good for L7 load balancing and WAF, still leaves the design without a central firewall to inspect traffic crossing VNet boundaries. The combination also introduces two layers of DNS/load-balance redirection without any security inspection at the network layer, so it would not meet a requirement for central inspection. This option conflates availability routing with security, and is therefore incomplete for the stated need.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Designing Application Architecture
Key term
Application Gateway Design
Application Gateway Design is the process of planning and configuring a layer 7 load balancer in Azure that routes web traffic based on URL paths, hostnames, or other HTTP rules for secure, scalable, and high-performance application delivery.
Key term
Azure Firewall Design
Azure Firewall Design is the process of planning and configuring a cloud-based network security service that controls and monitors traffic in and out of Azure virtual networks.
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Same concept, more angles
8 more ways this is tested on AZ-305
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company is deploying a web application that must be accessible from the internet. The application is hosted on Azure virtual machines in a virtual network. The solution must provide SSL termination, web application firewall (WAF) protection, and URL path-based routing (e.g., /api/* to one backend pool, /app/* to another). The web tier must not be directly exposed to the internet. Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
easy- ✓ A.Azure Application Gateway v2
- B.Azure Front Door
- C.Azure Load Balancer
- D.Azure Traffic Manager
Why A: Azure Application Gateway v2 is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 load balancer that provides SSL termination, a web application firewall (WAF), and URL path-based routing. It can route traffic to different backend pools based on URL paths (e.g., /api/* and /app/*) while keeping the web tier isolated within the virtual network, as the gateway itself is exposed to the internet.
Variation 2. A company plans to deploy a web application on Azure VMs across multiple availability zones. They need to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across the VMs and provide health probes. Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
easy- A.Azure Load Balancer
- ✓ B.Azure Application Gateway
- C.Azure Traffic Manager
- D.Azure Front Door
Why B: Azure Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) and is designed for web applications, offering application-level routing, SSL termination, and HTTP health probes. While Azure Load Balancer also supports HTTP health probes and can distribute TCP traffic, it does not provide Layer 7 features such as URL-based routing, cookie affinity, or WAF. For a web application that may need these capabilities, Application Gateway is the recommended solution.
Variation 3. A company deploys a web application on Azure VMs across multiple availability zones in a region. They need to distribute incoming traffic across VMs in all zones, maintain session persistence, and support SSL offloading and URL-based routing (e.g., /api/* to one pool, /app/* to another). Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
medium- A.Azure Load Balancer
- ✓ B.Azure Application Gateway
- C.Azure Traffic Manager
- D.Azure Front Door
Why B: Azure Application Gateway is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) load balancer that supports SSL offloading, URL-based routing (e.g., /api/* and /app/* to different backend pools), and session persistence (cookie-based affinity). It can distribute traffic across VMs in multiple availability zones within a region, meeting all stated requirements.
Variation 4. A company deploys a web application on Azure VMs across multiple availability zones in the East US region. They need to distribute incoming HTTPS traffic across the VMs, offload SSL termination, and ensure that client requests from the same user session are sent to the same backend VM (session persistence). Which Azure load balancing solution should they choose?
medium- ✓ A.Azure Application Gateway v2 with cookie-based affinity
- B.Azure Load Balancer Standard with source IP affinity
- C.Azure Traffic Manager with performance routing
- D.Azure Front Door with session affinity
Why A: Azure Application Gateway v2 is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 load balancer that can offload SSL termination, distribute HTTPS traffic, and support cookie-based session affinity (also known as sticky sessions). Cookie-based affinity ensures that all requests from the same user session are routed to the same backend VM by injecting an Application Gateway-managed cookie into the client's response. This meets all three requirements: HTTPS traffic distribution, SSL offloading, and session persistence.
Variation 5. A company deploys a web application on Azure VMs across availability zones. They need to distribute HTTPS traffic, offload SSL termination, and maintain session persistence. They do not require traffic inspection. Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
easy- ✓ A.Azure Application Gateway v2.
- B.Azure Load Balancer (Standard).
- C.Azure Traffic Manager.
- D.Azure Front Door.
Why A: Azure Application Gateway v2 is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 load balancer that supports HTTPS traffic distribution, SSL termination (offloading the decryption burden from backend VMs), and session persistence via cookie-based affinity. It meets all requirements without needing traffic inspection, which is optional and can be disabled.
Variation 6. A company deploys a web application on Azure virtual machines (VMs) across multiple availability zones. The application needs to automatically distribute incoming HTTPS traffic, offload SSL/TLS termination, and provide session persistence. Additionally, the solution must include a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect against common web vulnerabilities. Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
medium- A.Azure Load Balancer
- B.Azure Traffic Manager
- ✓ C.Azure Application Gateway
- D.Azure Front Door
Why C: Azure Application Gateway is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 load balancer that can route HTTPS traffic, offload SSL/TLS termination, and provide session persistence (cookie-based affinity). It also natively integrates a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect against common web vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting.
Variation 7. A company deploys a web application on Azure virtual machines (VMs) across multiple availability zones in the East US region. The application receives HTTPS traffic. They need to distribute incoming traffic across the VMs, offload SSL/TLS termination, and ensure that client requests from the same user session are always sent to the same backend VM (session persistence). Which Azure load balancing solution should they choose?
medium- A.Azure Load Balancer
- ✓ B.Azure Application Gateway
- C.Azure Traffic Manager
- D.Azure Front Door
Why B: Azure Application Gateway is the correct choice because it is a Layer 7 load balancer that supports SSL/TLS termination, cookie-based session persistence (affinity), and can distribute HTTPS traffic across VMs in multiple availability zones. These features directly match all three requirements: SSL offloading, session persistence, and cross-zone traffic distribution.
Variation 8. A company deploys a web application across multiple Azure VMs in a single region. They need to distribute incoming HTTP traffic, offload SSL termination, and perform URL-based routing to different backend pools (e.g., /images to one pool, /api to another). Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
medium- ✓ A.Azure Application Gateway
- B.Azure Load Balancer
- C.Azure Traffic Manager
- D.Azure Front Door
Why A: Azure Application Gateway is a Layer 7 load balancer that can distribute HTTP traffic, offload SSL termination, and perform URL-based routing to different backend pools. This directly matches the requirements for routing /images and /api traffic to separate pools while handling SSL termination at the gateway.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-305 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Microsoft 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 AZ-305 exam.