ALB vs NLB decision in AWS - Practice Questions

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Choosing Load Balancer for HTTP Traffic with Advanced Routing

You have a web application that requires routing requests based on URL paths and host headers. Which load balancer type is best suited for this?

A Network Load Balancer (NLB) because it handles TCP traffic efficiently.

B Gateway Load Balancer because it is designed for third-party virtual appliances.

C Classic Load Balancer because it supports both HTTP and TCP protocols.

D Application Load Balancer (ALB) because it supports path-based and host-based routing.

💡 Hint

Think about which load balancer can inspect HTTP headers to route traffic.

ALB operates at the application layer and supports advanced routing like path and host-based rules, making it ideal for HTTP traffic that requires such routing.

❓ service_behavior

intermediate

Load Balancer Choice for High Throughput TCP Traffic

Your application requires handling millions of TCP connections with very low latency. Which load balancer should you choose?

A Network Load Balancer (NLB) because it operates at the connection level and handles millions of connections efficiently.

B Application Load Balancer (ALB) because it supports HTTP/2 and WebSocket.

C Classic Load Balancer because it supports both HTTP and TCP protocols.

D Gateway Load Balancer because it is optimized for third-party appliances.

💡 Hint

Consider which load balancer works best at the transport layer for TCP traffic.

NLB works at the transport layer (Layer 4) and is designed to handle millions of TCP connections with low latency, making it suitable for high throughput TCP workloads.

❓ Architecture

advanced

Designing a Highly Available Web Application with SSL Termination

You want to design a highly available web application that terminates SSL connections at the load balancer and supports sticky sessions. Which load balancer type should you use?

A Classic Load Balancer because it does not support SSL termination.

B Application Load Balancer (ALB) because it supports SSL termination and sticky sessions at the application layer.

C Network Load Balancer (NLB) because it supports SSL termination and sticky sessions.

D Gateway Load Balancer because it is designed for routing traffic to virtual appliances.

💡 Hint

Think about which load balancer can handle SSL termination and session stickiness at the application layer.

ALB supports SSL termination and sticky sessions (session affinity) at the application layer, which is essential for web applications requiring these features.

❓ security

advanced

Load Balancer Choice for Protecting Against DDoS Attacks on TCP Ports

Your application needs protection against DDoS attacks on TCP ports and requires static IP addresses for firewall whitelisting. Which load balancer fits these requirements?

A Classic Load Balancer because it supports static IP addresses.

B Application Load Balancer (ALB) because it provides static IP addresses and DDoS protection.

C Network Load Balancer (NLB) because it provides static IP addresses and integrates with AWS Shield for DDoS protection.

D Gateway Load Balancer because it is designed for third-party firewall appliances.

💡 Hint

Consider which load balancer provides static IPs and integrates with AWS Shield.

NLB provides static IP addresses and integrates with AWS Shield for DDoS protection, making it suitable for TCP port protection and firewall whitelisting.

✅ Best Practice

expert

Optimizing Cost and Performance for Mixed HTTP and TCP Workloads

You have a mixed workload: HTTP traffic requiring advanced routing and TCP traffic requiring high throughput. You want to optimize cost and performance. What is the best architecture?

A Use a Network Load Balancer (NLB) for TCP traffic and an Application Load Balancer (ALB) for HTTP traffic to optimize performance and cost.

B Use two Network Load Balancers (NLBs), one for HTTP and one for TCP traffic, to maximize throughput.

C Use a single Application Load Balancer (ALB) for both HTTP and TCP traffic to reduce cost.

D Use a Classic Load Balancer to handle both HTTP and TCP traffic in one place.

💡 Hint

Think about which load balancer is best for each protocol and how to combine them efficiently.

Using NLB for TCP traffic and ALB for HTTP traffic allows each load balancer to handle the traffic type it is optimized for, balancing cost and performance effectively.