ANS-C01 Network Management and Operations Practice Question
A company is deploying a hybrid network using AWS Direct Connect and a VPN backup. The Direct Connect connection is established, and BGP is running over the private VIF. The company wants to use the VPN as a backup only when Direct Connect fails. The network engineer configures BGP communities on the Direct Connect VIF to influence route preference. However, during a Direct Connect failure, failover to VPN takes several minutes. What can the engineer do to reduce failover time?
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
✓
Enable Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) on the Direct Connect VIF
BFD provides sub-second failure detection, which significantly reduces failover time compared to BGP timers. Option A is wrong because AS path prepending influences route preference and does not affect failover detection speed. Option B is wrong because static routes do not provide dynamic failover and increase administrative overhead. Option D is wrong because while decreasing BGP timers can reduce failover time, BFD is much faster and is the recommended approach.
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 AS path prepending on the VPN BGP session to deprioritize it
Why it's wrong here
AS path prepending deprioritizes the VPN route but does not speed up failure detection; it only affects route selection.
- ✗
Use static routes instead of BGP for the Direct Connect VIF
Why it's wrong here
Static routes would not dynamically failover; they require manual intervention and do not improve failover time.
- ✓
Enable Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) on the Direct Connect VIF
Why this is correct
BFD provides fast failure detection (sub-second) and is commonly used with BGP to accelerate failover.
- ✗
Decrease the BGP keepalive and hold timers on both the Direct Connect and VPN BGP sessions
Why it's wrong here
Decreasing BGP timers can reduce detection time, but BFD is even faster and is the preferred method.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on ANS-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A company uses AWS Direct Connect and VPN as backup. The network team notices that during a VPN failover, traffic drops for several minutes. The VPN tunnels are configured with BGP dynamic routing. Which configuration change would MOST likely reduce failover time?
medium- A.Configure static routes over the VPN instead of BGP
- B.Increase the BGP keepalive interval and decrease the hold timer
- ✓ C.Enable BFD on the VPN BGP sessions
- D.Decrease the BGP keepalive interval and increase the hold timer
Why C: BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection) provides sub-second failure detection for BGP sessions, significantly reducing failover time. Option A is wrong because static routes do not dynamically adapt to failures and would require manual intervention. Option B is wrong because increasing the BGP keepalive interval (making it longer) and decreasing the hold timer (making it shorter) would actually slow down failure detection or cause flapping; the opposite would be needed. Option D is wrong because decreasing the keepalive interval and increasing the hold timer would also not be as fast as BFD; BFD is the optimal solution for fast failover.
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.