ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company is designing a hybrid network with multiple AWS Direct Connect connections to multiple on-premises data centers. They want to maximize availability and use all available bandwidth. They have two Direct Connect connections terminated at two different Direct Connect locations. They plan to use a single Virtual Private Gateway (VGW) for each VPC. Which configuration should be used to meet these requirements?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers think multiple VGWs can be attached to a single VPC (Option C) or that a single virtual interface can span multiple physical connections (Option D), but AWS enforces a one-VGW-per-VPC limit and each virtual interface is tied to a single Direct Connect connection.
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
✓
Create a Direct Connect Gateway. Attach both Direct Connect connections to the Direct Connect Gateway. Associate the Direct Connect Gateway with the VGW. Configure the on-premises routers to use BGP with equal-cost multipath (ECMP).
It uses a Direct Connect Gateway to aggregate multiple Direct Connect connections into a single logical endpoint, allowing both connections to be associated with a single VGW. By configuring BGP with ECMP on the on-premises routers, traffic is load-balanced across both connections, maximizing bandwidth utilization while providing high availability through redundant paths.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create two VGWs and attach each to a separate Direct Connect connection. Use a Transit Gateway to connect the VGWs to the VPC.
Why it's wrong here
A VPC can only have one VGW, and a Transit Gateway does not combine VGWs.
- ✓
Create a Direct Connect Gateway. Attach both Direct Connect connections to the Direct Connect Gateway. Associate the Direct Connect Gateway with the VGW. Configure the on-premises routers to use BGP with equal-cost multipath (ECMP).
Why this is correct
This configuration allows both connections to be active-active, using all bandwidth and providing redundancy.
- ✗
Create two Virtual Private Gateways, one for each Direct Connect connection. Attach each VGW to the VPC. Configure BGP on both connections for active-active.
Why it's wrong here
A VPC can only be associated with one VGW at a time.
- ✗
Create a single virtual interface and associate it with both Direct Connect connections. Attach the virtual interface to the VGW.
Why it's wrong here
A virtual interface is associated with a single Direct Connect connection.
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Same concept, more angles
3 more ways 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 is designing a Direct Connect solution with two connections to provide high availability. The company has two customer routers, each connected to a separate AWS Direct Connect location. The company uses BGP to advertise the same prefixes from both routers. What is the correct way to configure the BGP attributes to ensure that traffic uses both connections actively?
medium- ✓ A.Advertise the same AS path length from both routers.
- B.Use AS path prepending on both routers to make the paths equally long.
- C.Set a higher local preference on the primary router and lower on the secondary.
- D.Advertise a shorter AS path on the primary router and a longer AS path on the secondary router.
Why A: Advertising the same AS path length from both routers ensures that AWS Direct Connect routers see both paths as equally preferred under the BGP path selection process (which considers AS path length before MED, local preference, and IGP metric). With equal AS path length, traffic will be load-balanced across both Direct Connect connections, actively using both links for inbound traffic from AWS to the customer network.
Variation 2. A company is designing a hybrid network using AWS Direct Connect. They need to ensure high availability and failover. Which THREE components should be deployed to meet these requirements?
medium- A.A single AWS Direct Connect connection.
- ✓ B.Two Customer Gateways (CGWs).
- ✓ C.Two Virtual Private Gateways (VGWs).
- ✓ D.Two AWS Direct Connect connections.
- E.An AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection as backup.
Why B: To achieve high availability and failover with AWS Direct Connect, you need at least two Direct Connect connections (option D) to provide physical diversity and eliminate single points of failure. Additionally, you must deploy two Virtual Private Gateways (VGWs) (option C) to attach to separate Direct Connect Virtual Interfaces (VIFs) and enable active/active or active/passive routing. Finally, two Customer Gateways (CGWs) (option B) are required to terminate the BGP sessions from each Direct Connect connection, ensuring that if one CGW or connection fails, the other can take over traffic forwarding.
Variation 3. A company is designing a hybrid network using AWS Direct Connect. They want to ensure high availability and minimize downtime. Which TWO actions should they take?
medium- ✓ A.Set up a site-to-site VPN as a backup for the Direct Connect connection
- B.Use a single customer router for both connections
- C.Provision a single Direct Connect connection with two virtual interfaces
- ✓ D.Provision Direct Connect connections at two different Direct Connect locations
- E.Use the same BGP ASN on both Direct Connect connections
Why A: A site-to-site VPN provides a cost-effective, encrypted backup path over the internet if the Direct Connect connection fails. This ensures high availability by maintaining connectivity through an alternate path, which is a best practice for hybrid network designs.
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.