The recommended action to troubleshoot asymmetric routing with NAT gateways is to ensure route tables point to the NAT gateway in the same subnet’s Availability Zone. This is correct because asymmetric routing occurs when outbound traffic leaves through one NAT gateway in one AZ but return traffic enters through a different NAT gateway in another AZ, breaking stateful packet tracking. On the AWS Certified Advanced Networking Specialty ANS-C01 exam, this concept tests your understanding of how VPC route tables and AZ affinity must align to maintain symmetric flows; a common trap is assuming any NAT gateway in the VPC will work, but the key is per-AZ routing. A helpful memory tip is “same AZ, same path”—always match your subnet’s route table entry to the NAT gateway deployed in that subnet’s own Availability Zone to prevent asymmetric routing.
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.
Which TWO actions are recommended to troubleshoot asymmetric routing in a VPC with multiple NAT gateways?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Use a single NAT gateway per Availability Zone
Asymmetric routing occurs when traffic takes different paths. Using a single NATgateway per AZ and ensuring route tables point to the NAT gateway in the same subnet's AZ can prevent this. Additionally, disabling source/destination check on instances that do not need it can help, but for NAT gateways, this is not configurable.
Key principle: Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Enable source/destination check on all EC2 instances
Why it's wrong here
Enabling it would cause dropped packets for instances that act as NAT; it should be disabled for NAT instances.
✗
Use a Network Load Balancer to distribute traffic
Why it's wrong here
NLB does not solve asymmetric routing in this context.
Common exam trap: usable hosts are not the same as total addresses
Subnetting questions often tempt you into counting all addresses. In normal IPv4 subnets, the network and broadcast addresses are not usable host addresses.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Subnetting questions test whether you can identify the network, broadcast address, usable range, mask and correct subnet. Slow down enough to calculate the block size correctly.
KKey Concepts to Remember
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
Block size helps identify subnet boundaries.
Network and broadcast addresses are not usable hosts in normal IPv4 subnets.
The required host count determines the smallest suitable subnet.
TExam Day Tips
→Write the block size before choosing the subnet.
→Check whether the question asks for hosts, subnets or a specific address range.
→Do not confuse /24, /25, /26 and /27 host counts.
Key takeaway
Count usable hosts — not total addresses — and remember that the network and broadcast addresses are not available to hosts in standard IPv4 subnets.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related ANS-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
Network Management and Operations — This question tests Network Management and Operations — CIDR notation defines the prefix length..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Use a single NAT gateway per Availability Zone — Asymmetric routing occurs when traffic takes different paths. Using a single NAT gateway per AZ and ensuring route tables point to the NAT gateway in the same subnet's AZ can prevent this. Additionally, disabling source/destination check on instances that do not need it can help, but for NAT gateways, this is not configurable.
What should I do if I get this ANS-C01 question wrong?
Review block sizes, usable host formulas (2^n − 2), and how to find network and broadcast addresses for /24 through /30. Then practise related ANS-C01 subnetting questions on CIDR, address ranges, and subnet selection.
What is the key concept behind this question?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
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Question Discussion
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