AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02)Cloud Technology and ServicesMedium
A company's EC2 instances are deployed in a public subnet and need to be reachable from the internet, and they also need to initiate outbound connections to the internet. Which VPC component must be attached to the VPC to allow this internet connectivity?
- ANAT Gateway
- BVPC Endpoint
- CInternet Gateway
- DNetwork ACL
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Internet Gateway
An Internet Gateway is a horizontally scaled, redundant VPC component that allows communication between instances in a VPC and the internet, required for public subnet connectivity.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. NAT Gateway allows private subnet instances outbound-only internet access, not inbound.
- B. VPC Endpoints provide private connectivity to AWS services, not general internet access.
- D. Network ACLs control traffic filtering at the subnet level but don't provide internet connectivity themselves.
Internet Gateway
A VPC component that enables communication between instances in a VPC and the internet for both inbound and outbound traffic.
- Must be attached to a VPC and referenced in route tables
- Enables public subnet instances to have public IP connectivity
- Highly available and horizontally scaled by AWS
Memory trick: Internet Gateway is the VPC's front door to the web.