ANS-C01 Network Management and Operations Practice Question
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network management and operations. 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 network engineer is troubleshooting a Site-to-Site VPN connection between an on-premises network and AWS. The VPN tunnel is up, but traffic is not flowing from the on-premises network to a VPC. The VPC has a virtual private gateway attached, and the route table has a route pointing to the virtual private gateway for the on-premises CIDR (192.168.0.0/16). The on-premises firewall shows that traffic is being sent to the VPN tunnel. What should the engineer check next?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Verify that the on-premises route table has a route to the VPC CIDR via the VPN tunnel.
Since the VPN tunnel is up and the on-premises firewall confirms traffic is being sent to the tunnel, the issue is likely on the on-premises routing side. For traffic to flow from on-premises to the VPC, the on-premises router must have a route pointing to the VPC CIDR via the VPN tunnel interface. Without this route, packets will not be forwarded into the tunnel, even though the tunnel itself is operational.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Verify that the virtual private gateway is attached to the VPC.
Why it's wrong here
It is already attached as stated.
✓
Verify that the on-premises route table has a route to the VPC CIDR via the VPN tunnel.
Why this is correct
Without a return route, traffic from on-premises may not reach the VPC.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Verify that the on-premises firewall is not blocking UDP port 500 for IKE.
Why it's wrong here
If the tunnel is up, IKE is working.
✗
Verify that the VPN tunnel's pre-shared key matches on both sides.
Why it's wrong here
If the tunnel is up, the pre-shared key is correct.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
The trap here is that candidates assume a 'tunnel up' status guarantees traffic flow, but the ANS-C01 exam tests the distinction between control plane (tunnel establishment) and data plane (routing) issues.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
In a Site-to-Site VPN, the tunnel being up (Phase 1 and Phase 2 complete) only confirms the control plane is functional. Data plane traffic requires correct routing on both ends: the VPC route table must point the on-premises CIDR to the virtual private gateway, and the on-premises router must have a route for the VPC CIDR (e.g., 10.0.0.0/16) pointing to the tunnel interface (e.g., ip route 10.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 Tunnel1). Without this symmetric routing, packets are dropped even though the tunnel is established.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A healthcare organisation deploys an application with a public-facing web tier and a private database tier. The database subnet has no public IP and only accepts connections from the web tier's security group. Questions like this test whether you can design cloud network isolation using VNets/VPCs, subnets, and security group rules.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Network Management and Operations — This question tests Network Management and Operations — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Verify that the on-premises route table has a route to the VPC CIDR via the VPN tunnel. — Since the VPN tunnel is up and the on-premises firewall confirms traffic is being sent to the tunnel, the issue is likely on the on-premises routing side. For traffic to flow from on-premises to the VPC, the on-premises router must have a route pointing to the VPC CIDR via the VPN tunnel interface. Without this route, packets will not be forwarded into the tunnel, even though the tunnel itself is operational.
What should I do if I get this ANS-C01 question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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