ANS-C01 Private Hosted Zone Association Practice Question
A company uses AWS Direct Connect with a private VIF to connect to a VPC. They have an on-premises application that needs to resolve private hosted zone names in Amazon Route 53. The on-premises DNS server forwards queries for the private domain to the VPC's DNS resolver. However, resolution fails. What is the most likely cause?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap is that candidates often overlook the necessity of associating a private hosted zone with the VPC, and instead focus on DNS forwarding configurations like inbound/outbound endpoints. While an inbound endpoint is needed for on-premises resolution, the fundamental requirement is that the zone is associated with the VPC.
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
✓
The private hosted zone is not associated with the VPC.
The most likely cause is that the private hosted zone is not associated with the VPC. For Route 53 private hosted zones, the zone must be explicitly associated with the VPC in which the DNS resolver operates. If the zone is not associated, the VPC's DNS resolver (Route 53 Resolver) will not respond to queries for that domain, even if queries are forwarded from on-premises. The on-premises DNS server forwards queries to the VPC's DNS resolver, but without zone association, the resolver has no knowledge of the private hosted zone. Options B and C are incorrect because DHCP option sets and security groups do not directly affect the VPC DNS resolver's ability to resolve private hosted zones. Option D is incorrect because an outbound endpoint is used to forward queries from the VPC to on-premises, not to accept inbound queries; the correct component would be an inbound endpoint, but the primary issue here is zone association.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The private hosted zone is not associated with the VPC.
Why this is correct
Correct. If the private hosted zone is not associated with the VPC, the VPC's DNS resolver will not have the zone's records, causing resolution failure even when queries are forwarded from on-premises.
- ✗
The VPC's DHCP option set is not configured to use the Route 53 Resolver.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The VPC's DHCP option set configures DNS servers for instances within the VPC, but it does not affect the VPC DNS resolver's ability to resolve private hosted zones. The resolver is always the same (the Route 53 Resolver) regardless of DHCP options.
- ✗
The security group for the VPC DNS resolver is blocking inbound UDP port 53 from the on-premises network.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. The VPC DNS resolver (Route 53 Resolver) is a managed service and does not have a security group. Network ACLs could potentially block traffic, but they are not mentioned in the scenario, and this is not the most likely cause.
- ✗
A Route 53 Resolver outbound endpoint is not configured to forward queries from on-premises to the VPC.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. An outbound endpoint forwards queries from the VPC to on-premises DNS servers, not the reverse. To accept inbound queries from on-premises, an inbound endpoint is required. However, even with an inbound endpoint, the private hosted zone must still be associated with the VPC.
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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.