AWS Global Accelerator and Route 53 Configuration
Short answer
CDE Create an alias record for the accelerator in Amazon Route 53 for the new domain. Create a standard accelerator in AWS Global Accelerator. Configure a listener for TCP traffic. Add all the ALBs as targets for the listener. Use ACM to create an SSLITLS certificate for each Region. Configure all the ALBs to use the certificate in their respective Regions.
Question
Key Takeaways
The exam tests the distinction between DNS-based routing (Route 53) and network-layer acceleration (Global Accelerator), highlighting the trap that Global Accelerator requires TCP/TLS listeners rather than HTTP/HTTPS termination at the accelerator level for ALBs.
This question tests the integration of AWS Global Accelerator with Application Load Balancers to provide a single domain entry point while minimizing latency. The community consensus is that Global Accelerator is superior to Route 53 for latency-sensitive applications due to its Anycast IP network, requiring specific listener configurations and alias records.
Common mistake: Candidates often choose ACD because they assume ACM certificates must be created in us-east-1 for global services or confuse API Gateway certificate requirements with Global Accelerator's behavior, failing to realize GA passes traffic through to regional ALBs which hold their own certs.
Expert Analysis
Why the Answer Is Correct
The correct combination is CDE. AWS Global Accelerator (GA) uses Anycast IPs to route traffic to the optimal AWS endpoint based on latency and health, making it ideal for multi-region apps where minimizing latency is critical (Option D). GA does not terminate TLS by default for ALB endpoints; instead, it listens on TCP or TLS pass-through, forwarding encrypted traffic to the regional ALBs which handle the actual SSL termination using their local ACM certificates (Option E). To expose this single global entry point, you must create a Route 53 Alias record pointing to the Global Accelerator DNS name (Option C).
Why the Other Options Are Wrong
Option A is incorrect because ACM certificates used directly by Global Accelerator are rare and typically only for CloudFront or API Gateway; for ALBs behind GA, regional certificates are standard. Option B is incorrect because while Route 53 Latency Routing works, it relies on DNS resolution and client-side retry logic, offering higher latency and less robust failover compared to GA’s persistent TCP connections. Option F is not listed but would be wrong if it suggested terminating TLS at GA for ALBs without proper configuration.
Community Comment Notes
Comment [1] correctly identifies that GA acts as the front door and ALBs remain the back-end endpoints. Comment [2] mistakenly applies API Gateway certificate rules to GA, leading to the wrong answer ACD. Comment [4] highlights the key differentiator: GA improves latency more than Route 53 due to its network layer advantages.
Community Votes
75% of anonymous learners picked answer CDE. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.
Discussion 4 contributions
Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.
From public community threads 4
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djangoGroup 👍 2(C) Create an alias record for the accelerator in Route 53 for the new domain • This step stays the same. You want your users to resolve a single domain that leads to Global Accelerator. • (D) Create a standard accelerator in AWS Global Accelerator, configure a listener for TCP (or TLS pass-through), and add all the ALBs as endpoints • Also unchanged. A standard accelerator is how you route traffic at the edge into the correct Region. • (E) Use ACM to create an SSL/TLS certificate for each Region. Configure all the ALBs to use the certificate in their respective Regions • This step is correct if the Region supports ACM for requesting or importing a cert. • If not, you do manual certificate handling (import or direct upload).
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youonebe 👍 1For edge-optimized services like Global Accelerator, ACM certificates must be created in the us-east-1 Region. This certificate will be used for the single domain that will front all regional deployments. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/apigateway/latest/developerguide/how-to-specify-certificate-for-custom-domain-name.html
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secdaddy 👍 1Accelerator better than Route 53 as anycast and not dependent on DNS and delay measurement. (A) GA uses single certificate that must be in us-east-1. Need the alias (C) for GA to work. (F) Custom accelerator terminates TLS using the new certificate from (A).
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c1193d4 👍 1F: NO HTTPS listener available with GA A: NO global certificate is necessary is this case (see CloudFront) B: Could be a solution but GA improves latency more than Route53
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