Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect ExpertDesign business continuity solutionsMedium
A global e-commerce platform relies on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) clusters deployed in multiple Azure regions for high availability. The platform needs to distribute incoming user traffic across these regionally deployed AKS clusters and ensure that users are always routed to the closest healthy cluster. Additionally, the solution must provide Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities. Which combination of Azure services should be used?
- AAzure Traffic Manager and Azure Firewall
- BAzure Traffic Manager and Azure Application Gateway
- CAzure Front Door and Azure Load Balancer
- DAzure Front Door and Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Azure Front Door and Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF)
Azure Front Door provides global traffic routing based on latency, ensuring users are routed to the closest healthy backend. It also includes integrated WAF capabilities, fulfilling both requirements for global traffic distribution and security for web applications.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Azure Firewall is a network firewall service, not designed for global HTTP/S traffic routing or WAF for web applications. Azure Traffic Manager lacks WAF.
- B. Azure Traffic Manager provides global DNS-based traffic routing but does not offer WAF capabilities directly. Azure Application Gateway provides WAF, but it's regional, not global.
- C. Azure Load Balancer is a regional service, not suitable for global traffic distribution across multiple regions. Azure Front Door handles the global routing.
Azure Front Door for Global AKS
Azure Front Door is a scalable, secure, and globally distributed entry point that uses the Microsoft global edge network to create fast, secure, and highly scalable web applications, often used for routing traffic to multi-region AKS deployments.
- Global HTTP/S load balancing
- Latency-based routing to closest backend
- Integrated Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- SSL offloading and custom domains
Memory trick: Front Door is the global gatekeeper, routing and protecting.