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?
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 does not support URL-based routing or SSL offloading.
Best answer
Azure Application Gateway
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that provides SSL offloading, URL-based routing, and session affinity, making it suitable for this requirement.
Distractor review
Azure Traffic Manager
Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global load balancer for distributing traffic across regions, not for intra-region load balancing with URL routing.
Distractor review
Azure Front Door
Front Door is a global layer-7 load balancer and CDN, designed for multi-region scenarios and not intended for routing within a single Azure region.
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 provides SSL offloading, URL path-based routing, and session affinity (stickiness). It can distribute traffic across availability zones. Azure Load Balancer operates at layer-4 and does not support URL routing or SSL offloading. Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global load balancer, and Azure Front Door is a global layer-7 service; both are for cross-region scenarios, not within a single region.
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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