ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company is designing a hybrid network architecture that connects its on-premises data center to AWS via AWS Direct Connect. The on-premises network uses BGP to advertise routes to AWS. The company wants to ensure that if the Direct Connect connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to a VPN connection. Which configuration ensures this failover behavior?
⚠ Common exam trap
The ANS-C01 exam often tests the misconception that local preference can be used to influence inbound traffic from AWS, but local preference is an outbound attribute that only affects route selection within your own AS, not how AWS selects the path back to you.
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
✓
Advertise the on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a lower MED value than over the VPN.
BGP uses the Multi-Exit Discriminator (MED) value to influence inbound path selection, where a lower MED is preferred. By advertising on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a lower MED than over the VPN, AWS will prefer the Direct Connect path under normal conditions. If the Direct Connect fails, the routes are withdrawn, and the VPN routes (with higher MED) become active, providing automatic failover.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Advertise the on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a higher AS path prepend than over the VPN.
Why it's wrong here
Higher AS path prepend makes Direct Connect less preferred.
- ✗
Advertise the on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a specific BGP community to influence path selection.
Why it's wrong here
BGP community tags do not directly influence path selection without additional policy.
- ✓
Advertise the on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a lower MED value than over the VPN.
Why this is correct
Lower MED makes Direct Connect preferred.
- ✗
Advertise the on-premises prefixes over Direct Connect with a higher local preference than over the VPN.
Why it's wrong here
Local preference is not exchanged between ASes.
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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.