SAA-C03 - Design High-Performing Architectures - Section 3.8

Determine high-performing and scalable network architectures using VPC design, AWS Direct Connect and AWS Transit Gateway.

Compare VPC peering, AWS Transit Gateway, and AWS Direct Connect as network connectivity options, and explain when each is appropriate based on scale, latency, bandwidth, and management overhead. Recognise that Transit Gateway acts as a hub simplifying many-to-many VPC and on-premises connections, while Direct Connect provides dedicated private bandwidth and consistent latency over a connection that bypasses the public internet.

AWS Direct ConnectAWS Transit GatewayVPC peeringEnhanced networking

Practice question for this objective

Free sampleDesign High-Performing Architectureshard

A company has a single AWS Direct Connect connection terminating at a Direct Connect location near its head office. It runs production VPCs in eu-west-1 and ap-southeast-2 and wants the on-premises network to reach private resources in both Regions over that one dedicated connection, without ordering a separate circuit for each Region. Which approach meets this requirement with the least ongoing effort?

  • ACreate a private virtual interface for each VPC and attach every interface directly to the single physical Direct Connect connection in each Region.
  • BOrder an additional Direct Connect connection at a location near ap-southeast-2 and attach a private virtual interface for the VPCs in that Region.
  • CCreate a Direct Connect gateway, associate the virtual gateways of the VPCs in both Regions with it, and use a private virtual interface to the gateway. Correct
  • DEstablish a VPC peering connection between the eu-west-1 and ap-southeast-2 VPCs and route on-premises traffic through the peering link to the remote Region.
A Direct Connect gateway lets a single Direct Connect connection reach private VPC resources across multiple AWS Regions. A Direct Connect gateway is a globally available object that associates with virtual gateways in any Region, so one private virtual interface to the gateway can route to VPCs in several Regions, removing the need for a separate circuit per Region.

Why A is wrong: A private VIF attaches to one VPC virtual gateway in the same Region as that gateway, so a VIF cannot span Regions, and this design does not reach ap-southeast-2 over the eu-west-1 connection.

Why B is wrong: A second circuit does reach the other Region, but it is the opposite of the stated goal of avoiding a separate connection per Region and adds recurring port and cross-connect cost.

Why C is correct: A Direct Connect gateway is a global resource that lets one private VIF reach virtual gateways of VPCs in multiple Regions over a single connection, which is exactly the multi-Region private reach required.

Why D is wrong: VPC peering joins two VPCs but is non-transitive, so on-premises traffic arriving in one Region cannot be forwarded across the peering link to reach the other Region's resources.

See more SAA-C03 practice questions, answers explained.

More in this domain

Back to all Design High-Performing Architectures objectives, or the SAA-C03 cert hub.

Examworthy is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon Web Services. Original, blueprint-aligned practice material only.