Quick Answer
The answer is AWS Direct Connect, as it provides a dedicated private connection that bypasses the internet entirely, ensuring low-latency, high-throughput connectivity between an on-premises data center and an AWS VPC. This service uses a physical cross-connect or hosted virtual interface over a private circuit, making it ideal for latency-sensitive or high-volume workloads that cannot tolerate the variability of internet-based connections. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this scenario tests your understanding of when to choose Direct Connect over VPN or Site-to-Site VPN, with a common trap being to select a VPN solution for dedicated private connectivity—remember that VPNs still traverse the public internet, even if encrypted. A key memory tip is to think of Direct Connect as the “dedicated lane” on a highway, bypassing all internet traffic jams, while VPNs are like a secure tunnel through a congested public road.
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company is migrating an on-premises application to AWS. The application requires low-latency, high-throughput connectivity between the on-premises data center and the AWS VPC. The company wants a dedicated, private connection that bypasses the internet. Which AWS service should they use?
AWS Direct Connect
Dedicated, private, high-bandwidth connection.
AWS Transit Gateway
Why wrong: Central hub, but requires a connection type like Direct Connect.
AWS Site-to-Site VPN
Why wrong: Uses the internet; not dedicated.
VPC Peering
Why wrong: Connects VPCs, not on-premises.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
AWS Direct Connect
AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated, private network connection from an on-premises data center to AWS, bypassing the internet entirely. This ensures low-latency, high-throughput connectivity ideal for latency-sensitive or high-volume workloads, as it uses a physical cross-connect or hosted virtual interface over a private circuit.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
AWS Direct Connect
Why this is correct
Dedicated, private, high-bandwidth connection.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Transit Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Central hub, but requires a connection type like Direct Connect.
AWS Site-to-Site VPN
Why it's wrong here
Uses the internet; not dedicated.
VPC Peering
Why it's wrong here
Connects VPCs, not on-premises.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse AWS Transit Gateway as a connectivity method itself, when it is actually a hub that requires an underlying connection (Direct Connect or VPN) to reach on-premises networks.
Detailed technical explanation
AWS Direct Connect operates over 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps dedicated Ethernet circuits (or 100 Gbps with MACsec), using 802.1Q VLANs to separate public and private virtual interfaces (VIFs). A common real-world scenario is a financial trading application requiring sub-millisecond latency; Direct Connect can achieve this by bypassing internet routing and using BGP for dynamic route exchange over the private VIF.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
What to study next
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FAQ
Network Design — This question tests Network Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: AWS Direct Connect — AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated, private network connection from an on-premises data center to AWS, bypassing the internet entirely. This ensures low-latency, high-throughput connectivity ideal for latency-sensitive or high-volume workloads, as it uses a physical cross-connect or hosted virtual interface over a private circuit.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 2026
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.
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