Quick Answer
The answer is Amazon CloudWatch Logs and Amazon S3. VPC Flow Logs can be published directly to either destination, with CloudWatch Logs enabling real-time monitoring, metric filters, and subscription filters for third-party integrations, while S3 allows for cost-effective long-term storage and querying via Amazon Athena or other analytics tools. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how flow log destinations affect operational visibility and cost—a common trap is assuming only CloudWatch Logs is valid, but S3 is equally correct for capture and analysis. Remember the mnemonic “S3 for storage, CloudWatch for streaming” to distinguish the primary use case: S3 excels at batch analytics and archival, whereas CloudWatch Logs supports real-time alerting and log group integration.
This ANS-C01 practice question tests your understanding of network implementation. 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.
A network engineer needs to monitor network traffic in a VPC. Which TWO AWS services can capture and analyze VPC flow logs?
Amazon GuardDuty
Why wrong: GuardDuty uses flow logs for threat detection but does not capture them.
Amazon S3
Flow logs can be delivered to S3.
VPC Traffic Mirroring
Why wrong: Traffic Mirroring copies traffic, not flow logs.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Flow logs can be sent to CloudWatch Logs.
AWS Config
Why wrong: AWS Config audits resource configurations.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 is a correct destination for VPC Flow Logs because you can publish flow log data directly to an S3 bucket, where it can be stored, queried with Amazon Athena, or processed by other analytics tools. Amazon CloudWatch Logs is also a correct destination, allowing you to publish flow logs to a log group for real-time monitoring, metric filters, and integration with CloudWatch alarms or third-party solutions via subscription filters.
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.
Amazon GuardDuty
Why it's wrong here
GuardDuty uses flow logs for threat detection but does not capture them.
Amazon S3
Why this is correct
Flow logs can be delivered to S3.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
VPC Traffic Mirroring
Why it's wrong here
Traffic Mirroring copies traffic, not flow logs.
Amazon CloudWatch Logs
Why this is correct
Flow logs can be sent to CloudWatch Logs.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
AWS Config
Why it's wrong here
AWS Config audits resource configurations.
Common exam traps
AWS often tests the misconception that VPC Traffic Mirroring is a type of flow log, but it is a separate feature for capturing full packet payloads, not the aggregated metadata logs that VPC Flow Logs provide.
Detailed technical explanation
VPC Flow Logs capture IP traffic metadata (e.g., source/destination IP, ports, protocol, packet/byte counts) at the network interface level, using the AWS Nitro system for enhanced instances or the hypervisor for older ones. When publishing to S3, logs are aggregated into gzipped files in a partitioned folder structure (e.g., AWSLogs/account-id/vpcflowlogs/region/yyyy/mm/dd/), while CloudWatch Logs enables near-real-time ingestion with up to 5-minute delivery latency. A common real-world scenario is using S3 with Athena for cost-effective historical analysis versus CloudWatch Logs for immediate alerting on rejected traffic.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
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FAQ
Network Implementation — This question tests Network Implementation — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: Amazon S3 — Amazon S3 is a correct destination for VPC Flow Logs because you can publish flow log data directly to an S3 bucket, where it can be stored, queried with Amazon Athena, or processed by other analytics tools. Amazon CloudWatch Logs is also a correct destination, allowing you to publish flow logs to a log group for real-time monitoring, metric filters, and integration with CloudWatch alarms or third-party solutions via subscription filters.
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 30, 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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