A bank moves several terabytes a day between its own data centre and AWS. It needs bandwidth and latency that do not vary with internet conditions, and traffic that never traverses the public internet. It has accepted both the monthly cost and a lead time of several weeks. Which connectivity option is being described?
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02), objective 3. Cloud technology and services medium
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The options
Correct AWS Direct Connect
Correct. It is a dedicated physical connection from the data centre into AWS, which is what makes the performance consistent and keeps the traffic off the public internet. The weeks of lead time are the circuit being provisioned.
Not correct An AWS Site-to-Site VPN
Wrong for these requirements, and the right answer to a slightly different question. A VPN is encrypted and can be up in under an hour for very little money, but it rides the public internet, so its throughput and latency are only as steady as that path.
Not correct VPC peering
Wrong. Peering connects one VPC to another VPC, including across accounts and Regions. It has no concept of a data centre outside AWS.
Not correct AWS Transit Gateway
Wrong on its own. A transit gateway is a hub that simplifies connecting many VPCs and on-premises links to each other; it still needs a Direct Connect or a VPN underneath it to reach the data centre at all.
Why
The two ways into a VPC from outside answer different worries. A Site-to-Site VPN buys privacy — the traffic is encrypted — quickly and cheaply, over whatever path the internet gives you. Direct Connect buys predictability — a dedicated circuit with consistent bandwidth and latency — at a fixed monthly cost and weeks of lead time. A common production pattern is both, with the VPN standing by as the backup for the Direct Connect link.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- AWS exam guide task statement 3.5
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