ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
A company wants to connect its on-premises network to AWS using AWS Direct Connect. The company has two data centers, each with a redundant connection to an AWS Direct Connect location. The company wants to ensure high availability and failover capability. Which THREE steps should be taken?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates assume multiple virtual interfaces on a single connection provide redundancy, but they fail to recognize that the underlying physical link is a single point of failure, so true high availability requires physically diverse connections.
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
✓
Order at least two Direct Connect connections from different providers or locations.
Ordering at least two Direct Connect connections from different providers or locations ensures physical diversity, eliminating single points of failure. This aligns with AWS best practices for high availability, as a single connection or provider can fail due to outages or maintenance. Redundant connections from separate providers or locations provide independent failure domains.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Configure a VPN connection as a backup in case Direct Connect fails.
Why it's wrong here
VPN is optional but not a required step for Direct Connect high availability.
- ✓
Order at least two Direct Connect connections from different providers or locations.
Why this is correct
Multiple connections ensure redundancy if one fails.
- ✓
Configure BGP sessions over each Direct Connect connection.
Why this is correct
BGP is used to exchange routing information and enable failover.
- ✓
Use a Direct Connect gateway to connect to multiple VPCs.
Why this is correct
A Direct Connect gateway allows a single Direct Connect connection to reach multiple VPCs.
- ✗
Provision multiple virtual interfaces on a single Direct Connect connection.
Why it's wrong here
Multiple virtual interfaces on one connection do not provide connection-level redundancy.
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Variation 1. A company has a Direct Connect connection with a private VIF to a VPC. They want to add redundant connectivity using a second Direct Connect connection from a different provider. They need to ensure that if the primary connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to the secondary. Which THREE components are required?
hard- A.An AWS Site-to-Site VPN as a backup
- B.A second private VIF on the same Direct Connect connection
- ✓ C.A second Direct Connect connection from a different provider
- ✓ D.A Direct Connect Gateway
- ✓ E.BGP sessions on both connections advertising the same prefixes
Why C: The requirement specifies redundant connectivity using a second Direct Connect connection from a different provider. This ensures diverse physical paths and provider independence, which is essential for true high availability. A single provider or connection cannot provide the required fault isolation.
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.