- A
Azure Load Balancer
Why wrong: Azure Load Balancer operates at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and does not provide HTTP-level features like health probes based on HTTP status or SSL termination.
- B
Azure Application Gateway
Application Gateway is a layer 7 load balancer that supports HTTP/HTTPS, health probes, SSL offloading, and can distribute traffic across VMs in availability zones.
- C
Azure Traffic Manager
Why wrong: Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic router that directs traffic to different endpoints based on routing methods, but it does not distribute traffic to individual VMs or perform health probes at the application layer.
- D
Azure Front Door
Why wrong: Front Door is a global load balancer and CDN; while it supports health probes, it is designed for multi-region scenarios and adds unnecessary cost for a single-region deployment.
AZ-305 Design infrastructure solutions Practice Question
This AZ-305 practice question tests your understanding of design infrastructure solutions. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 plans to deploy a web application on Azure VMs across multiple availability zones. They need to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across the VMs and provide health probes. 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 the correct choice because it operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS), providing application-level routing, SSL termination, and HTTP health probes. This matches the requirement to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across VMs in multiple availability zones, whereas Azure Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and cannot inspect HTTP headers or perform URL-based routing.
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 Load Balancer
Why it's wrong here
Azure Load Balancer operates at layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and does not provide HTTP-level features like health probes based on HTTP status or SSL termination.
- ✓
Azure Application Gateway
Why this is correct
Application Gateway is a layer 7 load balancer that supports HTTP/HTTPS, health probes, SSL offloading, and can distribute traffic across VMs in availability zones.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic router that directs traffic to different endpoints based on routing methods, but it does not distribute traffic to individual VMs or perform health probes at the application layer.
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Front Door is a global load balancer and CDN; while it supports health probes, it is designed for multi-region scenarios and adds unnecessary cost for a single-region deployment.
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 any load balancer can handle HTTP traffic, but the requirement for HTTP health probes and application-level distribution specifically demands a Layer 7 solution.
Trap categories for this question
Scenario analysis trap
Front Door is a global load balancer and CDN; while it supports health probes, it is designed for multi-region scenarios and adds unnecessary cost for a single-region deployment.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure Application Gateway uses a Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect against common web exploits and supports cookie-based session affinity, URL path-based routing, and multi-site hosting. Under the hood, it leverages a set of frontend IPs, listeners, rules, and backend pools, with health probes that send HTTP GET requests to a specified path (e.g., /health) and expect a 200 OK response; if the probe fails, the backend is removed from rotation. In a real-world scenario, if the application requires sticky sessions or SSL offloading, Application Gateway is essential, whereas a Layer 4 load balancer would not suffice.
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.
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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 the correct choice because it operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS), providing application-level routing, SSL termination, and HTTP health probes. This matches the requirement to distribute incoming HTTP traffic across VMs in multiple availability zones, whereas Azure Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and cannot inspect HTTP headers or perform URL-based routing.
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 →
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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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