Abstract: In this episode of The Routing Loop, we go back to basics and take a closer look at Availability Zones from a networking perspective. We'll discuss the different implications of AZ placement, explore how AZ affinity affects traffic flow, and break down the cost and latency trade-offs of cross-AZ communication. We'll also dive into how services like Transit Gateway, PrivateLink, and Elastic Load Balancers handle AZ configurations and what they require from your architecture. Whether you're optimizing for resilience, performance, or cost, this one's for you.