SOA-C02 Networking and Content Delivery Practice Question
A company has an on-premises data center connected to AWS via an AWS Direct Connect connection. The SysOps administrator needs to ensure high availability for the connectivity. Which configuration provides the highest availability for the Direct Connect connection?
⚠ Common exam trap
Test-takers frequently assume multiple connections to the same location provide redundancy, but AWS Direct Connect locations are single points of failure; true high availability requires geographic diversity across different locations.
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
✓
Establish two Direct Connect connections to different AWS Direct Connect locations.
Establishing two Direct Connect connections to different AWS Direct Connect locations provides geographic redundancy. If one AWS Direct Connect location experiences an outage, the other connection remains operational, ensuring high availability. This configuration eliminates single points of failure at the facility level, which is the most resilient design for hybrid connectivity.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Establish a single Direct Connect connection with a VPN backup.
Why it's wrong here
While a VPN over the public internet can serve as a failover path, it introduces variable latency, jitter, and throughput because it traverses the public internet. The primary Direct Connect remains a single point of failure at the physical connection level, and the VPN does not meet the same SLA or consistent performance expected for critical workloads. For high availability, dedicated redundant connections are preferred.
- ✗
Establish two Direct Connect connections to the same AWS Direct Connect location.
Why it's wrong here
Establishing two connections at the same Direct Connect location provides device-level redundancy (e.g., different routers or ports) but still creates a single point of failure at the facility level. If the location experiences an outage due to power loss, fiber cut, or provider failure, both connections become unavailable simultaneously. AWS advises diverse locations to achieve true resilience.
- ✓
Establish two Direct Connect connections to different AWS Direct Connect locations.
Why this is correct
By connecting to two separate Direct Connect locations, you eliminate the facility as a single point of failure. If one location goes down, BGP routing automatically directs traffic over the surviving connection, assuming appropriate routing policies. This configuration meets AWS's recommendation for redundant connections with diverse paths, achieving high availability for hybrid networking.
- ✗
Use multiple virtual interfaces on a single Direct Connect connection.
Why it's wrong here
Multiple virtual interfaces (VIFs) on a single Direct Connect connection provide logical segmentation for different services or VPCs, but they all rely on the same physical infrastructure. If the connection suffers a cable cut, hardware failure, or facility outage, every VIF becomes unavailable simultaneously. This configuration offers no physical resilience, making it unsuitable for high-availability requirements.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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