AWS (Amazon Web Services) Certification Practice Exam

What is the relationship between Internet Gateways and VPCs?

1. They restrict traffic between public and private subnets

2. They function as a gateway for zonal restrictions

3. They act as a bridge to connect VPCs with the internet

4. They manage user identities within the VPC

The correct answer is: They act as a bridge to connect VPCs with the internet

The relationship between Internet Gateways and Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) is best understood through the role that Internet Gateways play in facilitating communication. An Internet Gateway is a horizontally scaled, redundant, and highly available VPC component that allows instances in the VPC to access the internet. It effectively acts as a bridge, enabling the routing of outbound traffic from the VPC to the internet and handling incoming traffic from the internet to the VPC. When an Internet Gateway is attached to a VPC, it provides a target in the route tables for internet-routable traffic. This means that instances within public subnets of that VPC can communicate with Internet hosts directly, allowing for services such as web applications to be publicly accessible. Hence, the correct answer emphasizes this connectivity aspect, portraying the Internet Gateway as a crucial link between the VPC and the broader internet. In contrast, other choices focus on attributes that do not align with the primary role of an Internet Gateway. For example, the mention of restricting traffic or managing identities within the VPC does not capture the essence of what an Internet Gateway is designed to do. Its primary purpose, connecting the VPC to the internet, is what makes option C accurate.