AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question
Which Azure service provides a content delivery network (CDN) to cache static content at edge locations close to users?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often confuse Azure Front Door (which also provides edge caching) with Azure CDN, but Front Door is primarily an application delivery controller with global load balancing and WAF, whereas Azure CDN is the dedicated, purpose-built service for static content caching at edge locations.
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 CDN
Azure CDN (Content Delivery Network) is the dedicated Azure service designed to cache static content—such as images, CSS, JavaScript files, and videos—at strategically placed edge nodes (Points of Presence, or PoPs) around the world. By serving content from the edge location closest to the user, Azure CDN reduces latency, offloads origin server traffic, and improves load times for global audiences. This directly matches the question's requirement for a service that caches static content at edge locations.
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 Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that distributes incoming requests across global endpoints using routing methods such as performance, weighted, or failover. It operates at the DNS layer and does not store or cache any content, so it cannot reduce latency by serving cached static files from edge nodes. As a result, it lacks the core content delivery and caching functionality that defines a CDN service.
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Azure Front Door is a global HTTP(S) load balancer that provides application-layer acceleration, SSL offload, and web application firewall (WAF) capabilities, and it does include some edge caching as a supporting feature. However, it is primarily an entry point for routing and securing traffic, not a dedicated content delivery network optimized for caching large volumes of static assets. Azure CDN is the specific service designed purely for distributing and caching static content at edge locations.
- ✓
Azure CDN
Why this is correct
Azure CDN is a dedicated content delivery network that caches static resources—such as images, CSS, JavaScript, and videos—at strategically located edge nodes around the world. By serving cached copies from the closest point of presence to the user, it dramatically reduces latency, decreases origin server load, and improves overall page load performance. This global edge caching behavior is the core functionality that directly fulfills the description of a CDN.
- ✗
Azure Application Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Azure Application Gateway is a regional layer-7 load balancer that routes HTTP/HTTPS traffic, performs URL-based routing, SSL termination, and session affinity within a single Azure region. It does not maintain a global network of edge nodes or cache static content globally, as its scope is confined to the region where it is deployed. Therefore, it cannot provide the global content delivery and edge caching required for a CDN.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Azure Regions and Geographies
Key term
Edge location
An edge location is a site deployed by a content delivery network that caches copies of data closer to users to reduce latency and improve access speed.
Key term
User
A user is any person, system, or device that interacts with an IT service, resource, or identity system, typically authenticated through credentials and authorized to perform specific actions.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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