AZ-305 ExpressRoute Direct Practice Question
A company is designing a hybrid network solution connecting an on-premises data center to Azure. They require high availability with active-active routing and need to support up to 10 Gbps throughput. Which Azure service should they include in the design?
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mistake is assuming that ExpressRoute FastPath is a standalone service that can provide active-active routing and 10 Gbps throughput. In reality, FastPath is a feature that enhances performance but must be used with an existing ExpressRoute circuit. For dedicated bandwidth and native active-active routing, ExpressRoute Direct is the appropriate service.
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
✓
ExpressRoute Direct
ExpressRoute Direct provides dedicated, private connections from on-premises to Azure, supporting bandwidths up to 100 Gbps (10 Gbps easily). It enables active-active routing by using two circuits with BGP, meeting high availability and throughput requirements. ExpressRoute FastPath is a performance feature that reduces latency but is not a standalone service and does not itself provide active-active routing or guaranteed throughput; it requires an ExpressRoute circuit and does not replace the need for Direct when dedicated throughput is required.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Site-to-Site VPN Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Site-to-Site VPN Gateway establishes IPsec tunnels over the public internet, and the commonly deployed SKUs (e.g., VpnGw3) offer only up to 1.25 Gbps aggregate throughput. Additionally, the standard configuration is active-passive, meaning only one tunnel carries traffic at a time; while active-active is possible, the solution still depends on internet-based connectivity and does not provide the dedicated 10 Gbps private bandwidth required.
- ✗
Azure Virtual WAN
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Azure Virtual WAN aggregates multiple connection types but does not itself provide dedicated 10 Gbps throughput; it is a networking service that can use ExpressRoute or VPN, but not a standalone solution for the specified requirements.
- ✗
ExpressRoute FastPath
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. ExpressRoute FastPath is a feature that improves performance by bypassing the gateway, but it is not a standalone service. It requires an ExpressRoute circuit and does not inherently provide active-active routing or guarantee 10 Gbps throughput. The question asks for a service, not a feature.
- ✓
ExpressRoute Direct
Why this is correct
ExpressRoute Direct provides a dedicated, private Layer-2 connection between your on-premises network and Microsoft's edge at a peering location, with port pairs available at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps, or 100 Gbps. Since it delivers physical port-level bandwidth rather than a VPN gateway's aggregate limit, it easily satisfies the 10 Gbps throughput requirement. It also supports active-active routing by default through dual routers and BGP sessions, giving the required high availability with an SLA-backed redundant path.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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