VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer(Avi) for Operators Skills 2024 [v2] Advanced Practice Exam: Hard Questions 2025

An enterprise deploys NSX Advanced Load Balancer (Avi) with a 3-node Controller cluster. After a WAN link flap between two data centers, the Controllers enter an unstable state where leadership changes repeatedly and configuration pushes intermittently fail. You confirm that all three Controllers are reachable, but east-west latency occasionally spikes and packet loss occurs. Which architectural change BEST prevents this condition while maintaining high availability?

A cloud admin uses a vCenter cloud in Avi with a dedicated Service Engine (SE) group configured for HA. During a maintenance window, the vSphere team enables aggressive DRS rules and moves several SE VMs to a different cluster that lacks the port group used for data NICs. Immediately, multiple Virtual Services (VS) show as UP in Avi, but clients experience intermittent connection resets and ARP failures on the VIP subnet. What is the MOST likely root cause in Avi terms?

A security team requires end-to-end encryption to back-end servers, but the application team also requires HTTP header insertion (X-Forwarded-For) and URI-based routing at the load balancer. The back-end servers present certificates issued by an internal CA and use SNI to host multiple apps on the same IP:port. What Avi configuration BEST meets these requirements with minimal operational overhead?

A retail application has two pools (blue and green) behind one VS. The team wants canary releases: 5% of NEW sessions should go to green, but once a user is pinned to a version, subsequent requests must continue to hit the same pool even if the user’s source IP changes (mobile clients). They also want an immediate rollback switch without waiting for cookie expiration. Which approach BEST satisfies these constraints?

An operator is troubleshooting a VS that intermittently returns HTTP 503. Server health monitors show UP for all pool members. Analytics shows spikes in "Pool Open Connection Failures" and "Server Connection Reset" coinciding with SE CPU saturation. The pool members are healthy and reachable. Which change is MOST likely to reduce 503s without adding additional pool servers?

A multi-tenant Avi environment uses separate tenants for different business units. A shared infrastructure team wants to centralize SSL certificate management while preventing tenants from viewing or exporting private keys of certificates they consume. Which design BEST meets this requirement while keeping VS ownership within each tenant?

After enabling HTTP/2 on a client-facing VS, some clients report sporadic slow page loads, while others are fine. Analytics shows increased "Client RTT" but stable "Server RTT" and normal pool health. Packet captures from a client show repeated TCP retransmissions to the VIP, but only when the VS is handled by one specific SE. Which is the MOST probable Avi-focused root cause?

A VS uses a pool with a mix of IPv4 and IPv6 server members (dual-stack). The VS is configured with an IPv4 VIP only. Some transactions fail intermittently after a recent change where DNS for the pool FQDN began returning both A and AAAA records. Health monitors remain UP. Which troubleshooting conclusion is MOST accurate?

During an incident, operators notice that application latency increased. Avi Analytics shows server response time increased, but only for a subset of requests matching a specific URI path. The pool contains heterogeneous servers where only some have the new feature enabled. What is the BEST next step inside Avi to quickly validate whether the latency is tied to specific pool members rather than the URI itself?

An operator must perform a planned rotation of SE images (or SE software) across a production SE group with strict uptime requirements. The VS uses SSL termination and HTTP keep-alives with long-lived client connections. The operator wants to minimize client impact and avoid mass connection drops. Which operational approach is BEST aligned with Avi behavior and best practices?