- A
Azure Application Gateway
Why wrong: Application Gateway provides layer-7 load balancing, SSL termination, and URL routing, but it does not include API management features such as OAuth2 authentication, subscription-based rate limiting, or API gateway policies.
- B
Azure API Management
Azure API Management is a full-featured API gateway that supports OAuth2, rate limiting, caching, CORS, and many other policies. It can be deployed with a public endpoint to securely expose APIs to external partners.
- C
Azure Front Door
Why wrong: Azure Front Door is a global load balancer and CDN that provides SSL offload and caching, but it does not include API management capabilities like OAuth2 or subscription-based throttling.
- D
Azure Traffic Manager
Why wrong: Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic distributor that routes users to different endpoints based on priority or performance. It does not provide API gateway functionality.
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 has an Azure API Management instance deployed in the internal virtual network (VNet) mode. They want to securely expose their backend APIs to external partners over the internet. External partners need to authenticate using OAuth2 tokens. The company also wants to enforce rate limits (throttling) per subscription, cache responses, and enable CORS. Which Azure service should they use to expose the APIs?
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 API Management
Azure API Management (APIM) in internal VNet mode can securely expose backend APIs to external partners over the internet by using its built-in OAuth2 token validation, per-subscription rate limiting (throttling), response caching, and CORS support. APIM acts as the API gateway that handles authentication, policy enforcement, and traffic management, making it the correct choice for this scenario.
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 it's wrong here
Application Gateway provides layer-7 load balancing, SSL termination, and URL routing, but it does not include API management features such as OAuth2 authentication, subscription-based rate limiting, or API gateway policies.
- ✓
Azure API Management
Why this is correct
Azure API Management is a full-featured API gateway that supports OAuth2, rate limiting, caching, CORS, and many other policies. It can be deployed with a public endpoint to securely expose APIs to external partners.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Azure Front Door is a global load balancer and CDN that provides SSL offload and caching, but it does not include API management capabilities like OAuth2 or subscription-based throttling.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates often confuse Azure API Management with Azure Application Gateway or Azure Front Door, but only APIM provides the comprehensive API gateway features (OAuth2, throttling, caching, CORS) required for this scenario.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Azure API Management in internal VNet mode allows the gateway to be accessible only within the VNet, but you can expose it to external partners by placing an Azure Application Gateway or Azure Front Door in front of it for internet-facing access. APIM's policy engine uses XML-based policies to validate OAuth2 JWT tokens via the validate-jwt policy, enforce rate limits with the rate-limit-by-key policy, cache responses with the cache-store and cache-lookup policies, and enable CORS via the cors policy. This layered approach ensures that the backend APIs remain isolated while the APIM gateway handles all security and traffic management.
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
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
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 API Management — Azure API Management (APIM) in internal VNet mode can securely expose backend APIs to external partners over the internet by using its built-in OAuth2 token validation, per-subscription rate limiting (throttling), response caching, and CORS support. APIM acts as the API gateway that handles authentication, policy enforcement, and traffic management, making it the correct choice for this scenario.
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
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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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