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?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Distractor review
Azure Load Balancer
Azure Load Balancer works at layer-4 (TCP/UDP) and cannot offload SSL/TLS or use application-layer cookies for session persistence. It is not suitable for HTTPS traffic with session affinity.
Best answer
Azure Application Gateway
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that provides SSL termination, cookie-based session affinity, and URL-based routing. It can distribute HTTPS traffic across VMs in availability zones.
Distractor review
Azure Traffic Manager
Traffic Manager is a DNS-based load balancer for directing traffic across different endpoints (e.g., different regions). It does not handle SSL termination or session persistence for a single-region deployment.
Distractor review
Azure Front Door
Front Door is a global application delivery network with layer-7 capabilities, but it is optimized for multi-region load balancing. For a single-region, multi-zone deployment, Application Gateway is the more appropriate and cost-effective choice.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet traffic. Which two configurations are required?
Question 2
A company is designing private access to a PaaS database from workloads in a VNet. The database should not be reachable over its public endpoint. What should be recommended?
Question 3
A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?
Question 4
A database workload has an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 4 hours. Cost is more important than near-zero data loss. Which design is usually more appropriate than synchronous multi-region replication?
Question 5
A hub-and-spoke Azure network must centralize outbound inspection and still allow spokes to resolve private endpoint DNS names. Which two components are commonly required? (Choose 2.)
Question 6
A multinational company uses Microsoft Entra ID and several Azure subscriptions. Security administrators need to review privileged role assignments every month and require justification for continued access. Which design should be recommended?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Application Gateway — Azure Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that supports SSL termination, cookie-based session affinity, and can distribute traffic based on URL path or other rules. It fits all requirements: HTTPS, SSL offload, and session persistence via application-based cookies. Azure Load Balancer operates at layer-4 and does not support SSL termination or layer-7 session persistence. Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer for global traffic distribution, not local. Azure Front Door is a global layer-7 service but is designed for multi-region scenarios, not for a single-region availability zone deployment.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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