Direct Connect BGP Peering Configuration — Required Info
A network engineer is configuring a new AWS Direct Connect connection and needs to establish BGP peering with the AWS side. The engineer has received the BGP configuration from the AWS Direct Connect endpoint. Which information is required to complete the BGP configuration on the on-premises router?
Quick Answer
The answer is the AWS BGP peer IP address and the BGP ASN. BGP peering requires these two critical pieces of information because the Border Gateway Protocol establishes a TCP connection between two routers using the remote peer’s IP address, and the Autonomous System Number (ASN) identifies each routing domain, enabling the exchange of routing prefixes. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of the foundational BGP configuration steps for Direct Connect, often appearing in scenario-based questions where you must identify missing parameters from a provided configuration. A common trap is confusing the on-premises router’s own ASN with the AWS peer ASN—remember, you need the remote peer’s IP and ASN, not your own. Memory tip: “Peer IP and Peer ASN—without both, BGP won’t begin.”
⚠ Common exam trap
A common mix-up: candidates confuse Layer 2 parameters (VLAN ID, VIF ID) with Layer 3 BGP requirements, or assume authentication is mandatory, when in fact only the BGP peer IP and ASN are essential to establish the BGP session.
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
✓
The AWS BGP peer IP address and the BGP ASN
B is correct because BGP peering requires the remote peer's IP address and Autonomous System Number (ASN) to establish a TCP connection and exchange routing information. AWS provides these two values in the Direct Connect endpoint configuration, and the on-premises router must use them to configure the BGP neighbor statement. Without both, the BGP session cannot be established.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
The AWS Side BGP password and MD5 hash
Why it's wrong here
BGP authentication is optional.
- ✓
The AWS BGP peer IP address and the BGP ASN
Why this is correct
These are the key BGP parameters.
- ✗
The Amazon side routing table and prefix list
Why it's wrong here
These are learned via BGP, not configured.
- ✗
The Direct Connect virtual interface ID and VLAN ID
Why it's wrong here
VLAN ID is for the virtual interface, not BGP.
Visual reference
Go deeper
Related to this question
About these practice questions
This ANS-C01 question is part of Courseiva's 1,621-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on ANS-C01
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A network engineer is configuring an AWS Site-to-Site VPN with dynamic routing (BGP). The customer gateway device is a Cisco router. The VPN tunnel is established, but BGP is not forming. Which configuration on the Cisco router is most likely missing?
hard- A.The VPN connection's local IP address.
- B.The correct IP address for the tunnel interface.
- C.The pre-shared key for IKE phase 1.
- ✓ D.The BGP neighbor statement with the correct Amazon ASN (64512).
Why D: The VPN tunnel is established, indicating IKE phase 1 and IPsec are functioning, so options A, B, and C are not the issue. For BGP to form, the Cisco router must have a BGP neighbor statement pointing to the correct Amazon ASN (64512) and the tunnel interface IP. Without this, BGP will not establish a session. Options A, B, and C are incorrect because the tunnel is up, so local IP, tunnel interface IP, and pre-shared key are properly configured.
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.