ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company is designing a hybrid network architecture that requires high availability and low latency between its on-premises data center and AWS. The company currently has two Direct Connect connections from different providers terminating at two different AWS Direct Connect locations. Which solution provides the most resilient and high-performance connectivity?
⚠ Common exam trap
AWS often tests the misconception that multiple connections from the same provider or location are sufficient for high availability, but the trap here is that true resilience requires both provider and location diversity to protect against provider-specific outages and location-level disasters.
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
✓
Use two Direct Connect connections from different providers at different locations with a VPN backup.
Using two Direct Connect connections from different providers at different locations ensures physical and provider diversity, eliminating single points of failure. Adding a VPN backup provides an additional failover path over the internet, which is essential for maintaining connectivity if both Direct Connect links fail. This design meets the requirements for high availability and low latency by leveraging active/active or active/passive traffic engineering with BGP routing and AS path prepending.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Use a single Direct Connect connection with multiple VLANs.
Why it's wrong here
Single connection and same provider create single points of failure.
- ✓
Use two Direct Connect connections from different providers at different locations with a VPN backup.
Why this is correct
Provides diverse paths and high availability.
- ✗
Use Site-to-Site VPN over the internet as the primary connection.
Why it's wrong here
VPN lacks dedicated bandwidth and can be less reliable.
- ✗
Use two Direct Connect connections from the same provider at the same location.
Why it's wrong here
Same location is a single point of failure.
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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 network engineer is designing a hybrid network architecture that connects an on-premises data center to AWS using AWS Direct Connect. The company requires high availability and wants to minimize operational overhead. The on-premises network uses BGP to advertise routes to AWS. Which design meets these requirements?
medium- ✓ A.Provision two Direct Connect connections to two different Direct Connect locations, each with a private VIF to the same VPC. Use BGP over the VIFs.
- B.Provision one Direct Connect connection with a private VIF and a site-to-site VPN connection as a backup.
- C.Provision one Direct Connect connection with two virtual interfaces (VIFs) to the same AWS device.
- D.Provision two Direct Connect connections to the same Direct Connect location, both with private VIFs to the same VPC.
Why A: Provisioning two Direct Connect connections to two different Direct Connect locations ensures physical and path diversity, eliminating single points of failure. Using BGP over the private VIFs allows dynamic route advertisement and automatic failover, meeting high availability requirements while minimizing operational overhead through managed BGP sessions.
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.