ANS-C01 Network Implementation Practice Question
A financial services company is migrating its on-premises data center to AWS. The company has a three-tier application that consists of web servers, application servers, and a database. The application servers must communicate with the database using a private IP address. The database is hosted on an Amazon RDS for MySQL instance in a private subnet. The application servers are in a public subnet. The company has a security requirement that all traffic between the application servers and the database must be encrypted in transit. The network engineer has created a security group for the RDS instance that allows inbound traffic on port 3306 from the security group of the application servers. The engineer has also enabled encryption at rest for the RDS instance. During a security audit, it is discovered that traffic between the application servers and the database is not encrypted. The application team confirms that the application is configured to connect to the database using standard MySQL client library without any SSL/TLS options. The network engineer must ensure that all traffic between the application servers and the database is encrypted without modifying the application code. What should the network engineer do?
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
✓
Enable the 'require_secure_transport' parameter in the RDS parameter group and set it to ON.
Enabling the 'require_secure_transport' parameter in the RDS parameter group ensures that the database only accepts encrypted connections. Although the application currently uses standard MySQL client libraries without SSL/TLS options, the connection configuration can be updated to enable SSL/TLS without modifying the application code—this is a configuration change, not a code change. Once the client is configured, all traffic is encrypted in transit. Option A is invalid because AWS Site-to-Site VPN is designed for connecting on-premises networks to a VPC, not for subnets within the same VPC. Option C would require the application to initiate a TLS connection to the NLB, which it does not support, and would not encrypt traffic between the NLB and RDS unless also configuring TLS there, adding unnecessary complexity. Option D is incorrect because security groups do not have a 'tls' protocol; they only control IP and port access.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Create an AWS Site-to-Site VPN connection between the application servers' subnet and the database subnet to encrypt all traffic.
Why it's wrong here
Correct. A Site-to-Site VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between the subnets, encapsulating all IP traffic, including MySQL, without requiring application modifications.
- ✓
Enable the 'require_secure_transport' parameter in the RDS parameter group and set it to ON.
Why this is correct
Incorrect. Enabling 'require_secure_transport' forces the MySQL client to use TLS, but the application does not support TLS, so the connection would be rejected.
- ✗
Deploy a Network Load Balancer (NLB) with a TLS listener in front of the RDS instance. Configure the NLB to terminate TLS from the application servers and forward traffic to the RDS instance using TLS.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. An NLB with a TLS listener requires the client to establish a TLS connection, but the application does not use TLS, so it cannot connect to the NLB.
- ✗
Modify the security group for the RDS instance to only allow traffic from the application servers' security group on port 3306 with the 'tls' protocol.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect. Security groups do not have a 'tls' protocol; they control traffic based on port and protocol (TCP/UDP), not encryption.
Visual reference
Quick reference
VPN Protocol Comparison
| Protocol | Port | Encryption | Authentication | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IKEv2 / IPsec | UDP 500 / 4500 | AES-256 | Certificates / PSK | Site-to-site & remote access |
| SSL / TLS VPN | TCP 443 | TLS 1.3 | Certificates / MFA | Clientless remote access |
| L2TP / IPsec | UDP 1701 | AES (IPsec) | PSK / Certificates | Legacy remote access |
| WireGuard | UDP 51820 | ChaCha20 | Public keys | Modern high-performance VPN |
| PPTP | TCP 1723 | MPPE (weak) | MS-CHAPv2 | Legacy — avoid in production |
PPTP is considered insecure. IKEv2/IPsec and SSL VPN are the current recommended options.
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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.