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Network DesignmediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question

A company is designing a multi-Region application with an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in each Region fronting an Auto Scaling group of EC2 instances. The application must be accessible via a single DNS name, and traffic should be routed to the closest healthy Region using a latency-based routing policy. Which AWS service should be used as the DNS endpoint to achieve this?

⚠ Common exam trap

The ANS-C01 exam often tests the distinction between DNS-based routing (Route 53) and network-layer traffic steering (Global Accelerator), where candidates mistakenly choose Global Accelerator because they think of 'lowest latency' as a network-layer feature, but the question specifically requires a single DNS name with latency-based routing policy, which is a Route 53 feature.

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

Amazon Route 53

Amazon Route 53 is the correct choice because it supports latency-based routing policies, which direct traffic to the AWS Region that provides the lowest latency for the end user. By configuring a single DNS name with latency records pointing to the ALB endpoints in each Region, Route 53 can automatically route requests to the closest healthy Region, meeting the requirement for a single DNS name and latency-based routing.

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

  • Amazon Route 53

    Why this is correct

    Route 53 latency-based routing sends traffic to the AWS endpoint with the lowest latency.

  • Amazon CloudFront

    Why it's wrong here

    CloudFront is a CDN and does not provide latency-based routing to ALBs across Regions.

  • AWS Global Accelerator

    Why it's wrong here

    Global Accelerator uses static IPs and traffic distribution via Anycast, not DNS latency-based routing.

  • AWS Network Load Balancer

    Why it's wrong here

    NLB operates at Layer 4 and does not provide DNS routing policies.

Visual reference

Client Recursive Resolver Root DNS (13 root servers) TLD DNS (.com, .org, …) Authoritative example.com query IP addr answer

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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 is designing a multi-region application with an Application Load Balancer (ALB) in us-east-1 and us-west-2. They want to route traffic to the nearest region using latency-based routing. Which AWS service should they use to achieve this?

medium
  • A.AWS Global Accelerator
  • B.AWS Transit Gateway
  • C.Amazon CloudFront with multiple origins
  • D.Amazon Route 53 with latency routing policy

Why D: Route 53's latency routing policy directs traffic to the region with the lowest network latency for the end user, based on measurements between AWS regions and the client's DNS resolver. This directly meets the requirement to route traffic to the nearest region without adding any additional infrastructure or cost beyond DNS queries.

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.