AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C01)Network ImplementationEasy
A company is deploying a new web application that needs to automatically scale based on demand. The application requires high availability across multiple Availability Zones within a single region. Which AWS load balancing service should be used to distribute incoming web traffic to the EC2 instances running the application?
- AClassic Load Balancer (CLB)
- BGateway Load Balancer (GWLB)
- CApplication Load Balancer (ALB)
- DNetwork Load Balancer (NLB)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Application Load Balancer (ALB)
Application Load Balancers (ALBs) are designed for HTTP/HTTPS traffic, offer advanced routing features based on content, and are ideal for web applications requiring high availability and auto-scaling.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. CLBs are a legacy load balancer type; ALBs and NLBs offer more features and better performance for modern applications.
- B. GWLBs are used for deploying, scaling, and managing virtual network appliances, not for direct web application traffic distribution.
- D. NLBs operate at Layer 4 (TCP/UDP) and are suitable for extreme performance and static IP addresses, not specifically for web application content-based routing.
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
An Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at the application layer (Layer 7) and allows for flexible application management and content-based routing.
- Supports HTTP, HTTPS, and WebSockets
- Content-based routing (path, host header, query string)
- Integrates with AWS WAF, Cognito, and Lambda
- Ideal for microservices and container-based applications
Memory trick: ALB is for Apps, NLB for Networks, GWLB for Gateways, CLB is Classic.