Quick Answer
The answer is the Customer Gateway, Virtual Private Gateway, and VPN Tunnel. These three components are required for an AWS Site-to-Site VPN because the Customer Gateway represents the on-premises router or firewall, the Virtual Private Gateway serves as the AWS-side VPN concentrator attached to your VPC, and the VPN Tunnel provides the encrypted IPsec link between them—without all three, no secure communication path exists. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this question tests your understanding of the foundational building blocks of hybrid networking; a common trap is confusing the VPN Connection object itself with the tunnel, or forgetting that the Customer Gateway is a distinct resource you must define. Remember the mnemonic “C-V-T” (Customer, Virtual, Tunnel) to recall that each Site-to-Site VPN requires these three specific components, not just the connection configuration.
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 setting up a Site-to-Site VPN connection between their on-premises network and AWS. Which THREE components are required for a VPN connection?
VPN Tunnel
Encrypted connection.
Transit Gateway
Why wrong: Optional, not required for basic VPN.
Internet Gateway
Why wrong: Not needed for VPN.
Virtual Private Gateway
Required on AWS side.
Customer Gateway
Represents on-premises device.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
VPN Tunnel
A VPN tunnel is a required component for an AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection because it provides the encrypted, secure communication channel between the on-premises customer gateway and the AWS virtual private gateway. Each VPN connection consists of two tunnels for high availability, each using IPsec (IKEv1 or IKEv2) to encrypt traffic. Without at least one VPN tunnel, no encrypted data can traverse the VPN connection.
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.
VPN Tunnel
Why this is correct
Encrypted connection.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Transit Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Optional, not required for basic VPN.
Internet Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Not needed for VPN.
Virtual Private Gateway
Why this is correct
Required on AWS side.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Customer Gateway
Why this is correct
Represents on-premises device.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Common exam traps
AWS often tests the misconception that a Transit Gateway is a required component for a Site-to-Site VPN, but the correct required components are only the VPN Tunnel, Virtual Private Gateway, and Customer Gateway.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, each VPN tunnel uses IPsec in tunnel mode with ESP (Encapsulating Security Payload) for encryption and authentication, typically supporting AES-128/256 and SHA-1/256. The VPN connection requires both the Virtual Private Gateway (VPG) on the AWS side and the Customer Gateway (CGW) on the on-premises side, which must be configured with matching pre-shared keys and IKE parameters. In a real-world scenario, if a company uses a Transit Gateway, the VPG is still required as the attachment point for the VPN, but the Transit Gateway itself is not a mandatory component.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
An e-commerce site experiences heavy traffic on Black Friday and near-zero traffic during off-peak weeks. Rather than provisioning permanent large VMs, the team uses auto-scaling groups that add capacity automatically under load and reduce it overnight. Questions like this test whether you understand elasticity, availability zones, and cloud compute scaling patterns.
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: VPN Tunnel — A VPN tunnel is a required component for an AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection because it provides the encrypted, secure communication channel between the on-premises customer gateway and the AWS virtual private gateway. Each VPN connection consists of two tunnels for high availability, each using IPsec (IKEv1 or IKEv2) to encrypt traffic. Without at least one VPN tunnel, no encrypted data can traverse the VPN connection.
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 30, 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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