ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company is deploying a web application in a VPC. They need to ensure that the web servers can be accessed from the internet and that traffic is encrypted. Which TWO services should they use?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often select CloudFront (Option E) thinking it is required for encryption, but the ALB with ACM directly provides TLS termination and internet-facing access without needing a CDN, and the question specifically asks for two services that ensure encrypted internet access, not content delivery optimization.
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
✓
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
The Application Load Balancer (ALB) is correct because it can terminate TLS connections, offloading encryption from the web servers, and it distributes incoming internet traffic across multiple targets in a VPC. Combined with AWS Certificate Manager (ACM), the ALB can use a managed SSL/TLS certificate to encrypt traffic between clients and the load balancer, meeting the requirement for encrypted internet access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
AWS WAF
Why it's wrong here
WAF provides security filtering, not encryption.
- ✓
Application Load Balancer (ALB)
Why this is correct
ALB can terminate SSL/TLS and route traffic to targets.
- ✗
NAT Gateway
Why it's wrong here
NAT Gateway is for outbound internet access, not inbound encryption.
- ✓
AWS Certificate Manager (ACM)
Why this is correct
ACM provides SSL/TLS certificates for the ALB.
- ✗
Amazon CloudFront
Why it's wrong here
Amazon CloudFront is incorrect because it is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) primarily for caching and distributing content, not for directly enabling web servers within a VPC to be internet-accessible or providing their primary encryption. While CloudFront handles encryption between clients and edge locations, it doesn't establish the initial internet gateway for the web servers themselves. It is tempting as it provides global internet access and SSL/TLS encryption. CloudFront would be the correct choice if the requirement was to accelerate content delivery, reduce latency, or improve the global performance and security of an already internet-facing web application.
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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.