AZ-900 Describe Azure architecture and services Practice Question
Which Azure service provides application-level, request-based routing with session persistence for web workloads?
⚠ Common exam trap
Watch out — candidates often confuse Azure Load Balancer (Layer 4) with Azure Application Gateway (Layer 7), assuming all load balancers provide application-level routing and session persistence, but only Layer 7 services like Application Gateway can inspect HTTP headers and manage cookie-based affinity.
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 a Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS) load balancer that provides application-level, request-based routing based on URL path, host headers, or other HTTP attributes. It also supports session persistence (also known as sticky sessions) using cookies, which ensures that all requests from a client during a session are directed to the same backend server. This makes it the correct choice for web workloads requiring request-level routing and session affinity.
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, hashing flows by IP and port, so it cannot inspect HTTP requests or route by URL path. It is tempting because it does provide session persistence, but that affinity is per-connection, not per-request; Application Gateway is the Layer 7 service for request-based routing.
- ✓
Azure Application Gateway
Why this is correct
Azure Application Gateway operates at Layer 7, routing HTTP and HTTPS requests by URL path or host and supporting cookie-based session persistence. Azure Load Balancer works at Layer 4 only, so it cannot perform request-based routing or application-level affinity.
- ✗
Azure Traffic Manager
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Manager routes at DNS level, so it cannot inspect HTTP requests or maintain session persistence via cookies; it returns an endpoint and the client connects directly. It is tempting because it distributes traffic globally, and would be correct for DNS-based failover or geographic routing rather than application-layer request routing.
- ✗
Azure Front Door
Why it's wrong here
Azure Front Door performs anycast global HTTP/HTTPS load balancing with TLS offload, path-based routing and cookie-based session affinity, so it satisfies the requirement. Azure Application Gateway provides application-level, request-based routing with session persistence for web workloads within a region, which is the scenario this option describes. Front Door is tempting because both are layer-7 load balancers, but its affinity and routing model targets global edge delivery.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This AZ-900 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-900 exam.