Question 1hardmultiple choice
Full question →hardmultiple choiceObjective-mapped
Exhibit
VPC: vpc-0a1b2c3d Private subnets: 10.0.10.0/24, 10.0.11.0/24 Route tables: 10.0.10.0/24 -> 0.0.0.0/0 -> nat-07fabc123 10.0.11.0/24 -> 0.0.0.0/0 -> nat-07fabc123 VPC Flow Logs (sample): 10.0.10.45 -> 52.216.23.11 ACCEPT 10.0.10.45 -> 54.239.28.85 ACCEPT 10.0.11.18 -> 52.94.76.21 ACCEPT Cost Explorer last 30 days: NATGateway-Hours: $31.20 NATGateway-Bytes: $614.80 App requirement: no internet access is needed; only AWS service access is required.
Based on the exhibit, your application runs entirely in private subnets and only needs to reach Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, AWS Secrets Manager, and CloudWatch Logs. The monthly bill is dominated by NAT Gateway charges. Which change most directly reduces cost while preserving private connectivity to these AWS services?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Good practice is not just finding the correct option. The wrong answers often show the exact trap the exam wants you to fall into.
A
Distractor review
Replace the NAT Gateway with an Internet Gateway and keep the current private subnet routes unchanged.
An Internet Gateway would expose instances to the public internet unless the design is changed substantially. It does not reduce cost safely for private-only workloads.
B
Distractor review
Add a second NAT Gateway in another Availability Zone to reduce cross-AZ data transfer charges.
A second NAT Gateway can improve availability, but it usually increases fixed hourly cost. It does not solve the core problem of paying for internet egress to AWS services.
C
Distractor review
Create only interface endpoints for all four services and keep the NAT Gateway for fallback.
Interface endpoints are not the cheapest or always the correct choice for S3 and DynamoDB. Keeping the NAT Gateway preserves unnecessary cost and the fallback is not required by the scenario.
D
Best answer
Create S3 and DynamoDB gateway endpoints, create interface endpoints for Secrets Manager and CloudWatch Logs, update route tables, and remove the NAT Gateway.
S3 and DynamoDB use gateway endpoints, which are the cost-effective private path for those services. Secrets Manager and CloudWatch Logs require interface endpoints for private access. Once these are in place, the NAT Gateway is no longer needed for this workload, eliminating the hourly and per-GB NAT charges while keeping traffic on the AWS network.
Common exam trap
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.
Technical deep dive
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.
Related practice questions
Related SAA-C03 practice-question pages
Use these pages to review the topic behind this question. This is how one missed question becomes focused revision.
SAA-C03 VPC practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC.
SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 S3 lifecycle policy questions.
SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 RDS Multi-AZ questions.
SAA-C03 IAM policy practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 IAM policy.
SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 Route 53 failover questions.
SAA-C03 CloudFront practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 CloudFront.
SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 NAT gateway questions.
SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 VPC endpoint questions.
SAA-C03 Auto Scaling practice questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 Auto Scaling.
SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 disaster recovery questions.
SAA-C03 high availability questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 high availability questions.
SAA-C03 cost optimization questions
Practise SAA-C03 questions linked to SAA-C03 cost optimization questions.
More questions from this exam
Keep practising from the same exam bank, or move into a focused topic page if this question exposed a weak area.
Question 1
A team needs to distribute TCP traffic (not HTTP) across multiple services. The services must see the original client source IP for auditing. Which AWS load balancer is the best fit?
Question 2
A team wants to run containerized services with AWS-managed orchestration and autoscaling. They do NOT require Kubernetes compatibility. Which AWS service choice is most appropriate to meet these goals?
Question 3
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a IoT ingestion API. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure? The design must avoid adding custom operational scripts.
Question 4
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a claims portal. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
Question 5
A team wants to delegate IAM management to developers, but must ensure developers can never grant themselves permissions beyond a specific limit. Which AWS mechanism best matches this requirement?
Question 6
A solutions architect is designing an S3 bucket for a healthcare document service. The objects must never be publicly accessible, even if a developer later adds an overly broad bucket policy. What should the architect configure?
FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this SAA-C03 question test?
CIDR notation defines the prefix length.
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create S3 and DynamoDB gateway endpoints, create interface endpoints for Secrets Manager and CloudWatch Logs, update route tables, and remove the NAT Gateway. — The most cost-effective fix is to replace internet-based AWS service access with the correct VPC endpoints. S3 and DynamoDB should use gateway endpoints because they are free to use and integrate directly with route tables. Secrets Manager and CloudWatch Logs require interface endpoints. With those endpoints in place, the instances can stay in private subnets and the NAT Gateway can be removed, which eliminates the largest recurring cost in the exhibit. An Internet Gateway would undermine the private-subnet design and does not address the cost problem safely. Adding another NAT Gateway increases spend and is only justified for availability, not service access. Using interface endpoints for everything is technically incomplete and leaves the NAT Gateway cost in place; S3 and DynamoDB should use gateway endpoints instead.
What should I do if I get this SAA-C03 question wrong?
Then try more questions from the same exam bank and focus on understanding why the wrong options are tempting.
Discussion
Loading comments…
Sign in to join the discussion.