Question 657 of 161
AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
A company deploys a web application on multiple Azure virtual machines (VMs) in a single region. The application receives HTTP and HTTPS traffic. They need to distribute the 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). Additionally, they need to route requests based on URL paths (e.g., /api/* to one pool, /images/* to another). Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers confuse Azure Load Balancer (layer 4) with Application Gateway (layer 7), assuming any load balancer can handle SSL termination and URL routing, but only layer-7 solutions like Application Gateway provide these application-level features.
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
Azure Application Gateway is the correct choice because it is a layer-7 load balancer that supports SSL/TLS termination, URL path-based routing, and session persistence (sticky sessions) via cookies. These features directly match the requirements for distributing HTTP/HTTPS traffic, offloading SSL, routing requests based on URL paths, and maintaining user session affinity to the same backend VM.
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 Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Azure Load Balancer is a layer-4 (TCP/UDP) service that forwards traffic without inspecting HTTP payloads. It cannot perform SSL termination, URL path-based routing, or cookie-based session affinity, and its only persistence mechanism is source IP (5-tuple) hashing, which breaks if clients change IPs. For a web application requiring these L7 features, it is fundamentally misaligned, even though it provides high availability and scale at the network layer.
- ✓
Azure Application Gateway
Why this is correct
Azure Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer specifically designed for HTTP(S) traffic. It supports SSL termination (and end-to-end SSL), cookie-based session affinity, URL path-based routing to different backend pools, and integrates with the Web Application Firewall (WAF). This makes it the correct choice for the company's stated requirements, as it directly handles application-level routing and persistence without the complexity of a global service.
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Front Door is a global layer-7 load balancer and CDN. While it supports SSL offload and session affinity, it is designed for multi-region distribution and may introduce unnecessary latency for single-region use. It is not the optimized choice for a single-region scenario.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Azure Traffic Manager operates at the DNS level, routing clients to endpoints based on DNS resolution policies (e.g., priority, geographic, round-robin) and endpoint health checks. It does not inspect HTTP packets, so it cannot terminate SSL, route by URL path, or maintain application session affinity. Traffic Manager is only a global traffic distribution service, not a substitute for an in-front-of-the-application load balancer, and it is incorrect for these specific application-layer needs.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
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