ANS-C01 Network Design Practice Question
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?
⚠ Common exam trap
The ANS-C01 exam often tests the misconception that multiple connections from the same Direct Connect location provide sufficient redundancy, but the trap here is that a single location is a common failure domain, so you must use different locations to achieve true high availability.
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.
It provides true high availability by using two Direct Connect connections from different geographic locations, each with a private virtual interface (VIF) attached to the same virtual private gateway (VGW). This configuration ensures that if one connection fails, BGP sessions automatically withdraw the affected routes, and traffic is rerouted over the remaining connection via the VGW's active/active or active/passive routing behavior.
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.
Why this is correct
Different locations provide physical diversity; BGP routing handles failover automatically.
- ✗
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.
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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.