- A
Establish one Direct Connect connection and one AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection as backup.
Why wrong: While this provides failover, the question asks for two Direct Connect connections for HA.
- B
Establish two Direct Connect connections from the same Direct Connect location to the same VPC.
Why wrong: Same location is a single point of failure if the location goes down.
- C
Establish two Direct Connect connections from different Direct Connect locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway.
Different locations provide physical diversity; BGP routing handles failover automatically.
- D
Establish a single Direct Connect connection with two virtual interfaces (VIFs) to the same VPC.
Why wrong: Two VIFs on the same connection share the same physical link; failure of the link affects both.
ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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 wants to connect its VPC to an on-premises data center using AWS Direct Connect. The company has two Direct Connect locations in the same AWS region. For high availability, they plan to establish two separate connections. Which configuration ensures that if one connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to the other?
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
Establish two Direct Connect connections from different Direct Connect locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway.
Option C is correct. Two Direct Connect connections from different locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway, and using BGP with ASN prepending on one path to make it less preferred, provides automatic failover. Option A is wrong because a single connection cannot provide failover. Option B is wrong because two connections to the same DX location are not fully diverse. Option D is wrong because VPN backup is not required; two DX connections can provide HA.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Establish one Direct Connect connection and one AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection as backup.
Why it's wrong here
While this provides failover, the question asks for two Direct Connect connections for HA.
- ✗
Establish two Direct Connect connections from the same Direct Connect location to the same VPC.
Why it's wrong here
Same location is a single point of failure if the location goes down.
- ✓
Establish two Direct Connect connections from different Direct Connect locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway.
- ✗
Establish a single Direct Connect connection with two virtual interfaces (VIFs) to the same VPC.
Why it's wrong here
Two VIFs on the same connection share the same physical link; failure of the link affects both.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
- Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
- PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
- Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
- NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
- Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
- Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
- Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related ANS-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this ANS-C01 question test?
Network Design — This question tests Network Design — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Establish two Direct Connect connections from different Direct Connect locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway. — Option C is correct. Two Direct Connect connections from different locations to the same VPC, each with a private VIF attached to the same virtual private gateway, and using BGP with ASN prepending on one path to make it less preferred, provides automatic failover. Option A is wrong because a single connection cannot provide failover. Option B is wrong because two connections to the same DX location are not fully diverse. Option D is wrong because VPN backup is not required; two DX connections can provide HA.
What should I do if I get this ANS-C01 question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related ANS-C01 NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Last reviewed: Jun 20, 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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