- A
Azure Application Gateway v2 with cookie-based affinity
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that provides SSL offload, cookie-based session affinity, and can distribute traffic across VMs in different availability zones.
- B
Azure Load Balancer Standard with source IP affinity
Why wrong: Load Balancer is layer-4 and does not offload SSL/TLS termination. Source IP affinity is not as reliable as cookie-based affinity for session persistence, and there is no SSL offload.
- C
Azure Traffic Manager with performance routing
Why wrong: Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global load balancer. It does not provide SSL offload or session persistence at the application layer.
- D
Azure Front Door with session affinity
Why wrong: Azure Front Door is a global application delivery service. For a single-region deployment, it adds unnecessary complexity and latency compared to Application Gateway.
AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design infrastructure solutions. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. A key principle to apply: application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS).. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
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?
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 v2 with cookie-based affinity
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.
Key principle: Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS).
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 v2 with cookie-based affinity
Why this is correct
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that provides SSL offload, cookie-based session affinity, and can distribute traffic across VMs in different availability zones.
- ✗
Azure Load Balancer Standard with source IP affinity
Why it's wrong here
Load Balancer is layer-4 and does not offload SSL/TLS termination. Source IP affinity is not as reliable as cookie-based affinity for session persistence, and there is no SSL offload.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager with performance routing
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global load balancer. It does not provide SSL offload or session persistence at the application layer.
- ✗
Azure Front Door with session affinity
Why it's wrong here
Azure Front Door is a global application delivery service. For a single-region deployment, it adds unnecessary complexity and latency compared to Application Gateway.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Azure Load Balancer (Layer 4) with Application Gateway (Layer 7), assuming that 'session persistence' alone is enough, but they overlook the explicit requirement for SSL termination, which only a Layer 7 solution like Application Gateway can provide.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Application Gateway v2 uses a cookie named 'ApplicationGatewayAffinity' (or 'ApplicationGatewayAffinityCORS' for CORS scenarios) to maintain session stickiness. Under the hood, the gateway terminates the SSL connection, decrypts the traffic, and then re-encrypts it (if backend HTTPS is configured) or forwards it as HTTP to the backend pool. This allows the backend VMs to be freed from SSL processing overhead, which is critical for high-throughput web applications. In a real-world scenario, if the application uses WebSocket or requires URL-based routing (e.g., /api vs /images), Application Gateway also supports path-based rules, which Load Balancer cannot.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS).
- It provides SSL/TLS termination (offload) at the gateway.
- Cookie-based affinity ensures session persistence to the same backend server.
- Application Gateway is a regional service, supporting multiple availability zones.
TExam Day Tips
- Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
- Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS).
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS)., then practise related AZ-305 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
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Design infrastructure solutions — study guide chapter
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Design infrastructure solutions — This question tests Design infrastructure solutions — Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS)..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Application Gateway v2 with cookie-based affinity — 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.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Review application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS)., then practise related AZ-305 questions on the same topic to reinforce the concept.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Application Gateway operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS).
About these practice questions
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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.
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