Hiding Server Count and Addresses with Virtual IP

SY0-601 By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

D A Virtual IP allows multiple servers to share a single public IP address, hiding the true count and addresses of the individual servers.

Question

An organization plans to take online orders via a new website. Three web servers are available for this website. However, the organization does not want to reveal the network addresses or quantity of the individual servers to the general public. Which of the following would best fulfill these requirements?
  1. IPSec
  2. Explicit proxy
  3. Port security
  4. Virtual IP Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

The question tests knowledge of network abstraction techniques; the trap is confusing security protocols like IPSec with addressing mechanisms that hide topology.

A Virtual IP (VIP) allows multiple backend servers to share a single public IP address, effectively hiding the actual number and addresses of individual servers from the public.

Common mistake: IPSsec is often chosen because it provides security, but it encrypts traffic rather than hiding server quantity or addresses.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

A Virtual IP (VIP) is an address that does not belong to any physical hardware but is used by one or more devices. In this scenario, the VIP acts as a single entry point for clients, while a load balancer distributes traffic behind the scenes. This architecture ensures that the public only sees one IP address, regardless of how many web servers are actually processing the requests.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

IPSec secures communication channels through encryption but does not conceal the underlying server infrastructure or reduce the visible IP count. An Explicit Proxy requires client configuration to route traffic through a specific proxy server, which is not ideal for a general public website. Port security is a feature on switches to restrict access based on MAC addresses, which operates at Layer 2 and is irrelevant to public-facing web server visibility.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly supports Virtual IP as the correct solution. As CircaG noted, "D. Virtual IP (VIP) is a technique used to hide the network addresses and quantity of individual servers." paCer66 reinforced this by explaining that a load balancer presents a VIP representing the application to the client, hiding the backend instances.

Exam Strategy

When a question asks to hide the 'quantity' or 'details' of backend resources, look for solutions involving Load Balancers, Virtual IPs, or Reverse Proxies. These technologies abstract the backend complexity from the end user.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't IPSec the right choice here?

IPSec encrypts traffic but does not hide the number of servers or their individual IP addresses from the public.

How does a Virtual IP hide server count?

It presents a single IP to the client while a load balancer distributes traffic to multiple backend servers transparently.

More SY0-601 FAQ →

Community Votes

D
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer D. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 5 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 5

  1. izBot 👍 10 Answered D
    Just passed today (May 2024) with a 782. Only like 30 of my questions were from this set. 3 of the 4 PBQs were from here. I studied for 3 weeks by watching all of Prof Messers videos once and went through this question set once. I have zero IT experience outside of a college degree in IT. It is really important to understand what the words mean. Knowing all the answers without understanding isn’t enough. The question style is exactly like here, so this is a great study source to get accustomed to the question logic and thought process behind the answer. I thought I had a chance to fail while testing but it worked out. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck all.
  2. CircaG 👍 8 Answered D
    D. Virtual IP (VIP) is a technique used to hide the network addresses and quantity of individual servers from the public. It involves assigning a single public IP address to a group of servers behind a load balancer or proxy server.
  3. paCer66 👍 2
    D. A load balancer is a reverse proxy. It presents a virtual IP address (VIP) representing the application to the client. The client connects to the VIP and the load balancer makes a determination through its algorithms to send the connection to a specific application instance on a server.
  4. shady23 👍 1 Answered D
    Virtual IP (VIP) allows multiple servers to share a single public IP address
  5. Ravnit 👍 2
    D is correct

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