- A
Azure Application Gateway
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that supports SSL offloading, cookie-based session affinity (sticky sessions), and HTTP-based routing.
- B
Azure Load Balancer
Why wrong: Azure Load Balancer operates at layer-4 and can distribute traffic based on IP and port. It does not offload SSL or provide application-layer session persistence.
- C
Azure Traffic Manager
Why wrong: Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic routing service that directs traffic to endpoints based on performance or geographic location. It does not offload SSL or provide sticky sessions.
- D
Azure Front Door
Why wrong: Front Door is a global layer-7 load balancer with SSL offload and session affinity, but it is designed for global multi-region deployments and includes additional features like WAF. Application Gateway is the correct choice for a region-specific load balancer.
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. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. 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 multiple Azure VMs. They need to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across the VMs, offload SSL/TLS termination, and maintain session persistence (sticky sessions) so that all requests from a user session go to the same backend VM. Which Azure load balancing solution should they use?
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 a Layer 7 load balancer that can route HTTP/HTTPS traffic, offload SSL/TLS termination, and support session persistence using cookie-based affinity. This makes it the correct choice for distributing incoming HTTP traffic across multiple VMs while maintaining sticky sessions and handling SSL termination at the gateway.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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
Why this is correct
Application Gateway is a layer-7 load balancer that supports SSL offloading, cookie-based session affinity (sticky sessions), and HTTP-based routing.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Azure Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Azure Load Balancer operates at layer-4 and can distribute traffic based on IP and port. It does not offload SSL or provide application-layer session persistence.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Front Door is a global layer-7 load balancer with SSL offload and session affinity, but it is designed for global multi-region deployments and includes additional features like WAF. Application Gateway is the correct choice for a region-specific load balancer.
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), forgetting that SSL termination and cookie-based sticky sessions require Layer 7 capabilities, not just Layer 4 load balancing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Application Gateway uses a dedicated SSL/TLS termination endpoint, allowing backend VMs to communicate over HTTP without encryption overhead. It supports cookie-based session affinity by injecting an Application Gateway affinity cookie ("ApplicationGatewayAffinity") into the client's response, ensuring all subsequent requests from that client are routed to the same backend server. Under the hood, the gateway maintains a routing table that maps session IDs to backend pools, and it can also support URL path-based routing and WebSocket traffic.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
- Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
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
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
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.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
- →
Design infrastructure solutions — study guide chapter
Learn the concepts, then practise the questions
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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 — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
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 can route HTTP/HTTPS traffic, offload SSL/TLS termination, and support session persistence using cookie-based affinity. This makes it the correct choice for distributing incoming HTTP traffic across multiple VMs while maintaining sticky sessions and handling SSL termination at the gateway.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
About these practice questions
Courseiva creates original exam-style practice questions with explanations and wrong-answer analysis. It does not publish real exam questions, exam dumps, or protected exam content. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
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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