A company has an on-premises data center and wants to connect it to Azure to extend their network. They require a dedicated, private, high-bandwidth connection that is not routed over the public internet. They also want a lower-cost backup connection for redundancy in case the primary connection fails. Which combination of connectivity options should they implement?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
Best answer
ExpressRoute as the primary connection and a Site-to-Site VPN as the backup connection.
ExpressRoute provides a private, dedicated circuit with high bandwidth and low latency. A Site-to-Site VPN over the internet is a cost-effective backup that can be activated if ExpressRoute fails.
Distractor review
Two ExpressRoute circuits from different service providers, both active.
While this provides high availability, it is not a 'lower-cost' backup. Both circuits are premium and typically have similar costs.
Distractor review
Site-to-Site VPN as the primary connection and Point-to-Site VPN as the backup.
Point-to-Site VPN is client-to-Azure, not site-to-site. It would not connect the entire on-premises data center. Also, Site-to-Site VPN does not meet the requirement for high bandwidth and private connectivity.
Distractor review
Azure VPN Gateway with active-passive mode and a second VPN Gateway for failover.
A single VPN Gateway with active-passive mode provides redundancy within Azure, but it still uses the public internet and does not meet the 'private, dedicated' requirement.
Common exam trap
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Technical deep dive
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
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More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A company is designing hub-and-spoke networking. Spoke VNets must use a central Azure Firewall for outbound internet traffic. Which two configurations are required?
Question 2
A company is designing private access to a PaaS database from workloads in a VNet. The database should not be reachable over its public endpoint. What should be recommended?
Question 3
A data platform must support analytical queries over petabytes of files in a data lake, while preserving hierarchical namespaces and fine-grained ACLs. Which storage service should you design around?
Question 4
A database workload has an RPO of 15 minutes and an RTO of 4 hours. Cost is more important than near-zero data loss. Which design is usually more appropriate than synchronous multi-region replication?
Question 5
A hub-and-spoke Azure network must centralize outbound inspection and still allow spokes to resolve private endpoint DNS names. Which two components are commonly required? (Choose 2.)
Question 6
A multinational company uses Microsoft Entra ID and several Azure subscriptions. Security administrators need to review privileged role assignments every month and require justification for continued access. Which design should be recommended?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-305 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: ExpressRoute as the primary connection and a Site-to-Site VPN as the backup connection. — The optimal solution is to use Azure ExpressRoute as the primary connection for dedicated, private, high-bandwidth connectivity. For a backup connection, a Site-to-Site VPN over the internet provides a lower-cost alternative that can automatically failover if ExpressRoute fails. ExpressRoute with different providers can also be used but is not lower-cost.
What should I do if I get this AZ-305 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
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