ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company has an Amazon Route 53 private hosted zone associated with a VPC. The company wants to resolve custom domain names for resources within that VPC. Which configuration is required for EC2 instances in the VPC to resolve these private hosted zone records?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers assume a private hosted zone automatically works for all instances in the VPC, overlooking the mandatory VPC DNS attributes (`enableDnsHostnames` and `enableDnsSupport`) that must be enabled for the VPC's DNS resolver to query the private hosted zone.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Ensure that the VPC has the enableDnsHostnames and enableDnsSupport attributes set to true
For EC2 instances in a VPC to resolve records in a Route 53 private hosted zone, the VPC must have both the `enableDnsHostnames` and `enableDnsSupport` attributes set to `true`. These settings enable the VPC's built-in DNS resolver (the Amazon-provided DNS server at the VPC's base CIDR +2 address) to query the private hosted zone and return the custom domain names to instances. Without these attributes, the VPC DNS resolver cannot perform resolution for private hosted zones, even if the zone is associated with the VPC.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a Route 53 Resolver inbound endpoint in the VPC
Why it's wrong here
An inbound endpoint allows on-premises resolvers to forward queries to the VPC, not for instances within the VPC to resolve private zones.
- ✗
Create a Route 53 Resolver outbound endpoint in the VPC
Why it's wrong here
An outbound endpoint is used to forward DNS queries to on-premises resolvers, not for resolving private hosted zones within the VPC.
- ✓
Ensure that the VPC has the enableDnsHostnames and enableDnsSupport attributes set to true
Why this is correct
These settings enable DNS resolution within the VPC using the Route 53 Resolver, allowing instances to resolve private hosted zone records.
- ✗
Establish a VPC peering connection with the Route 53 hosted zone
Why it's wrong here
VPC peering is not required for private hosted zones; the zone is already associated with the VPC.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on ANS-C01
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Variation 1. A network engineer runs the AWS CLI command shown in the exhibit. The VPC has an Amazon Route 53 private hosted zone associated. What is the impact of this setting?
easy- ✓ A.No instances in the VPC can resolve DNS records from the private hosted zone.
- B.Only instances in public subnets can resolve private hosted zone records.
- C.The DHCP option set must be updated to provide DNS resolution.
- D.The private hosted zone is automatically deleted.
Why A: The AWS CLI command shown in the exhibit sets the `enableDnsHostnames` and `enableDnsSupport` attributes to `false` for the VPC. When `enableDnsSupport` is false, Amazon Route 53 private hosted zones cannot be resolved by instances within that VPC because the VPC's DNS resolution is disabled entirely. This means no instances in the VPC can query the Route 53 Resolver for private hosted zone records, making option A correct.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This ANS-C01 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Amazon Web Services certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ANS-C01 exam.