Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-304) Practice Test

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Prepare for the Microsoft Azure Architect Design (AZ-304) Exam with comprehensive quiz questions designed to enhance your understanding and confidence. Master essential Azure concepts and strategies to excel on your test day!

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Which load balancing option offers SSL offloading in Azure?

  1. Azure Load Balancer

  2. Azure Traffic Manager

  3. Azure Internal Load Balancer (ILB)

  4. Azure Application Gateway

The correct answer is: Azure Application Gateway

The Azure Application Gateway is the load balancing option that offers SSL offloading. SSL offloading refers to the process of handling SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption and decryption at the load balancer rather than at the backend servers. This offloading reduces the SSL processing burden on the application servers, allowing them to dedicate more resources to application logic and improving overall performance. Azure Application Gateway operates at layer 7 of the OSI model, which allows it to inspect application traffic and support features like URL-based routing, cookie-based session affinity, and more. Because of its ability to terminate SSL sessions and manage SSL certificates effectively, it is ideal for applications that require secure communications over the internet. Other options, such as Azure Load Balancer and Internal Load Balancer, primarily operate at layer 4 and do not provide SSL offloading features. Azure Traffic Manager is a DNS-based traffic load balancer that directs traffic but doesn't handle SSL termination or application-level load balancing itself. Therefore, the Azure Application Gateway stands out as the solution that provides comprehensive load balancing capabilities along with SSL offloading.