AWS Certified Advanced Networking – Specialty (ANS-C01)Network ImplementationEasy
A network engineer is designing a highly available and scalable solution for a web application deployed across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) within a single VPC. The application uses EC2 instances and needs to distribute incoming traffic evenly, while also supporting path-based routing for different microservices. Which AWS service should the engineer choose to meet these requirements?
- AApplication Load Balancer (ALB)
- BClassic Load Balancer (CLB)
- CAWS Global Accelerator
- DNetwork Load Balancer (NLB)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Application Load Balancer (ALB)
An Application Load Balancer (ALB) operates at the application layer (Layer 7) and supports advanced routing features such as path-based routing, which is essential for microservices. It also provides high availability and scalability across multiple Availability Zones.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. CLB is a legacy load balancer that does not offer the advanced routing features or performance benefits of ALB.
- C. AWS Global Accelerator improves global performance but is not a load balancer for traffic within a VPC and does not support path-based routing.
- D. NLB operates at Layer 4 and does not support path-based routing for microservices.
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
An AWS load balancing service that operates at Layer 7 (application layer) and supports advanced routing features like path-based and host-based routing.
- Operates at Layer 7 (HTTP/HTTPS)
- Supports path-based and host-based routing
- Ideal for microservices and container-based applications
- Offers advanced request routing and visibility
Memory trick: ALB routes web paths, NLB routes network ports.