Question 1mediummultiple choice
Full question →mediummultiple choiceObjective-mapped
A company runs a web application on two Azure virtual machines (VMs) in different availability zones within the same region. The application maintains user session state in memory on the VMs. The company needs a load balancing solution that distributes incoming HTTP requests across both VMs, ensures all requests from a specific user session are routed to the same VM (session persistence), and terminates SSL/TLS to offload encryption from the VMs. Which Azure service should the company use?
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.
A
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Azure Load Balancer (Standard)
Azure Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and does not support SSL/TLS termination. It offers session persistence based on source IP affinity, but not cookie-based persistence, and cannot offload SSL encryption. Therefore, it does not meet the SSL termination requirement.
B
Best answer
Azure Application Gateway v2
Azure Application Gateway is a Layer 7 load balancer that includes built-in SSL termination (offload), cookie-based session affinity, and HTTP request routing. It is designed to distribute web traffic and maintain user session stickiness, making it the correct choice for this scenario.
C
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Azure Traffic Manager
Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based global traffic routing service. It directs clients to endpoints based on DNS resolution but does not inspect HTTP requests, terminate SSL, or provide session persistence. It is unsuitable for per-request load balancing or SSL offload.
D
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Azure Front Door
Azure Front Door is a global Layer 7 service that offers SSL termination and session affinity, but it is optimized for multi-region deployments. In this scenario, the VMs are in different availability zones within a single region, so Front Door is more complex and costly than needed. Azure Application Gateway is the appropriate regional solution.
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 developer is building a serverless application that requires integration with an on-premises SQL Server database for real-time data processing. The on-premises network is connected to Azure via a site-to-site VPN. Which Azure service would allow the function to securely access the on-premises database without exposing it to the public internet?
Question 2
A solutions architect is designing a storage solution for a large media company. The company needs to store video files that are accessed infrequently but must be retained for several years for compliance. Which two Azure storage options meet these requirements? (Select two.)
Question 3
A company deploys a multi-tier application using Azure virtual machines. The web tier VMs must be evenly distributed across two distinct data centers within an Azure region to avoid a single point of failure from an infrastructure outage. Which Azure construct should they use to meet this requirement?
Question 4
A company wants to enforce a set of security policies across all their Azure subscriptions. They have created several individual policy definitions. Which Azure construct should they use to group these policies together and assign them as a single package?
Question 5
A company deploys a line-of-business application on an Azure virtual machine. The IT team wants to ensure the application remains secure. According to the shared responsibility model, which of the following security tasks is the sole responsibility of the customer (the company)?
Question 6
A company develops a web API that runs on Azure App Service. The development team wants to deploy a new version of the API to a staging environment, run integration tests against it, and then gradually shift production traffic to the new version. If any issues are detected, they want to immediately roll back to the previous version without redeploying. Which Azure App Service feature should the team use to meet these requirements?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this AZ-900 question test?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Azure Application Gateway v2 — The scenario requires a regional Layer 7 load balancer with SSL termination and cookie-based session persistence. Azure Application Gateway is built for this purpose. Azure Load Balancer operates at Layer 4 and cannot terminate SSL. Azure Traffic Manager is DNS-based and does not handle SSL or provide per-request session persistence. Azure Front Door is a global service intended for multi-region scenarios; while it supports SSL offload and session affinity, it is overkill and not the optimal choice for a single-region deployment.
What should I do if I get this AZ-900 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
Discussion
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