Quick Answer
The answer is an internet-facing Elastic Load Balancer and an Internet Gateway. These two services provide inbound internet connectivity to VPC resources by acting as the entry points for traffic from the public internet. An Internet Gateway is a horizontally scaled, redundant VPC component that performs network address translation for instances with public IPs and serves as the target in route tables for internet-bound traffic, while an internet-facing load balancer distributes incoming traffic across multiple targets and handles connection termination. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how to architect public-facing applications within a VPC, often appearing in scenario-based questions where you must distinguish between inbound and outbound connectivity options. A common trap is confusing a NAT Gateway or NAT Instance with an Internet Gateway—remember that NAT devices only enable outbound traffic, not inbound. For a quick memory tip: think of the Internet Gateway as the door that opens both ways, while a NAT Gateway is a one-way exit.
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network design. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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.
Which TWO AWS services can be used to provide inbound internet connectivity to resources in a VPC? (Select TWO.)
VPC Endpoint
Why wrong: Private access to AWS services.
Internet Gateway
Direct inbound access.
Elastic Load Balancer (internet-facing)
Accepts internet traffic.
Amazon CloudFront
Why wrong: CDN, not direct access.
NAT Gateway
Why wrong: Outbound only.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Internet Gateway
An Internet Gateway (IGW) is a horizontally scaled, redundant VPC component that provides a target in VPC route tables for internet-routable traffic and performs network address translation (NAT) for instances with public IPs. It enables inbound internet connectivity by allowing traffic from the internet to reach resources in the VPC, provided the resources have public IPs and the route table directs 0.0.0.0/0 traffic to the IGW.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
VPC Endpoint
Why it's wrong here
Private access to AWS services.
Internet Gateway
Why this is correct
Direct inbound access.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Elastic Load Balancer (internet-facing)
Why this is correct
Accepts internet traffic.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Amazon CloudFront
Why it's wrong here
CDN, not direct access.
NAT Gateway
Why it's wrong here
Outbound only.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse NAT Gateway with providing inbound internet access, but NAT Gateway is strictly one-way (outbound only) and cannot initiate or forward unsolicited inbound connections from the internet.
Detailed technical explanation
An Internet Gateway actually performs both source/destination NAT for instances with public IPs and acts as a bridge between the VPC and the internet, supporting IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. For internet-facing Elastic Load Balancers, they use public IPs on their nodes and rely on the VPC's Internet Gateway to route traffic from the internet to the load balancer's listeners, which then forward requests to targets in the VPC. A subtle behavior: even with an IGW, an instance must have a public IP (or an Elastic IP) and a route to the IGW for inbound traffic to reach it; otherwise, the IGW drops the traffic.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
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
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FAQ
Network Design — This question tests Network Design — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Internet Gateway — An Internet Gateway (IGW) is a horizontally scaled, redundant VPC component that provides a target in VPC route tables for internet-routable traffic and performs network address translation (NAT) for instances with public IPs. It enables inbound internet connectivity by allowing traffic from the internet to reach resources in the VPC, provided the resources have public IPs and the route table directs 0.0.0.0/0 traffic to the IGW.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 24, 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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