AWS Direct Connect Gateway for Inter-Region Connectivity

SAA-C03 By islever Editorial Last updated

Determine high-performing and/or scalable network architectures.

Short answer

D Connect the existing Direct Connect connection to a Direct Connect gateway and associate virtual private gateways from VPCs in each Region to it.

Question

A company has an AWS Direct Connect connection from its corporate data center to its VPC in the us-east-1 Region. The company recently acquired a corporation that has several VPCs and a Direct Connect connection between its on-premises data center and the eu-west-2 Region. The CIDR blocks for the VPCs of the company and the corporation do not overlap. The company requires connectivity between two Regions and the data centers. The company needs a solution that is scalable while reducing operational overhead. What should a solutions architect do to meet these requirements?
  1. Set up inter-Region VPC peering between the VPC in us-east-1 and the VPCs in eu-west-2.
  2. Create private virtual interfaces from the Direct Connect connection in us-east-1 to the VPCs in eu-west-2.
  3. Establish VPN appliances in a fully meshed VPN network hosted by Amazon EC2. Use AWS VPN CloudHub to send and receive data between the data centers and each VPC.
  4. Connect the existing Direct Connect connection to a Direct Connect gateway. Route traffic from the virtual private gateways of the VPCs in each Region to the Direct Connect gateway. Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

The core concept is that Direct Connect Gateways enable global connectivity, allowing a single on-premises Direct Connect connection to reach VPCs in multiple AWS Regions without complex peering or VPN meshing.

This question tests how to connect multiple VPCs across different AWS Regions to on-premises data centers using a single Direct Connect connection. The correct solution leverages the AWS Direct Connect Gateway to simplify routing and reduce operational overhead.

Common mistake: Many candidates choose Option A (Inter-Region VPC Peering) because it connects VPCs directly, but this fails to address the requirement of connecting to the on-premises data centers efficiently and adds significant management overhead for routing between regions.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option D is the correct answer because the AWS Direct Connect Gateway is specifically designed to provide global access to VPCs in multiple regions from a single on-premises Direct Connect location. By associating virtual private gateways from VPCs in both us-east-1 and eu-west-2 with the same Direct Connect Gateway, the architecture achieves scalability and reduced operational overhead. This eliminates the need for separate Direct Connect connections or complex inter-region routing for on-premises traffic.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option A (Inter-Region VPC Peering) only connects VPCs to each other; it does not facilitate traffic flow to on-premises data centers unless combined with additional complex configurations like Transit Gateway, which increases overhead. Option B is technically incorrect because a single Direct Connect connection in one region cannot directly create private virtual interfaces to VPCs in a different region without a Direct Connect Gateway. Option C (VPN CloudHub) introduces high operational overhead by requiring EC2 instances to be managed and maintained, contradicting the goal of reducing operational complexity.

Community Comment Notes

Community consensus strongly supports Option D. As user BillaRanga noted, "If you want to set up a Direct Connect to one or more VPC in many different regions (same account), you must use a Direct Connect Gateway." Another commenter, JA2018, emphasized that this approach allows for easy scaling by adding more virtual private gateways from different regions to the same gateway, eliminating manual route management per region.

Official Reference

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/directconnect/latest/UserGuide/global-access.html

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

When a question mentions 'multiple regions' and 'Direct Connect', immediately consider the Direct Connect Gateway as the primary tool for global connectivity. Always prioritize solutions that reduce operational overhead (managed services) over those requiring manual configuration (like EC2-based VPNs or extensive peering).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why can't I use Inter-Region VPC Peering for this scenario?

VPC Peering connects VPCs to each other but does not inherently route traffic to on-premises data centers. Achieving this would require additional complex routing setups, increasing operational overhead.

Does Direct Connect Gateway support different AWS accounts?

Yes, but in this scenario, since the company acquired another corporation, they may need to ensure all VPCs are associated correctly. However, the key architectural pattern for multi-region DX is the Direct Connect Gateway.

More SAA-C03 FAQ →

Community Votes

D
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer D. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 5 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 5

  1. BillaRanga 👍 4 Answered D
    "If you want to set up a Direct Connect to one or more VPC in many different regions (same account), you must use a Direct Connect Gateway."
  2. Andy_09 👍 3
    Changing to Option D for simpler implementation.
  3. JA2018 👍 1 Answered D
    Connect the existing Direct Connect connection to a Direct Connect gateway. Route traffic from the virtual private gateways of the VPCs in each Region to the Direct Connect gateway. Explanation: Scalability and Reduced Overhead: Using a Direct Connect gateway allows for easy scaling by adding more virtual private gateways from different regions to the same Direct Connect gateway, eliminating the need to manage separate connections for each region and minimizing operational overhead. Inter-Region Connectivity: A Direct Connect gateway acts as a central hub for routing traffic between VPCs in different regions through the Direct Connect connection, providing the required connectivity between the US-East-1 and EU-West-2 regions
  4. jaswantn 👍 2
    option D
  5. Andy_09 👍 2
    Option A

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