A company uses a 1 Gbps AWS Direct Connect connection to connect its AWS environment to its on- premises data center. The connection provides…

The core problem is bandwidth saturation on the 1 Gbps Direct Connect (DX) link, affecting both on-premises and remote users. The requirements are to increase bandwidth by at least 20% (to >1.2 Gbps), add resiliency, and do so cost-effectively.

Adding a second 1 Gbps DX connection and creating a Link Aggregation Group (LAG) directly addresses all requirements. A LAG combines the two 1 Gbps connections into a single, logical 2 Gbps connection, providing the necessary bandwidth. It also offers high availability; if one connection fails, traffic automatically fails over to the remaining active connection. This is a standard, cost-effective method for scaling DX capacity and adding resiliency without over-provisioning.

B. This solution only reroutes remote employee traffic over a new VPN, leaving on-premises users to contend with the already saturated 1 Gbps Direct Connect link. It fails to solve the problem for all users.

C. Deploying Amazon Workspaces is a significant architectural change, not a network fix. It does not address the underlying network saturation on the Direct Connect link that on-premises users also experience.

D. Replacing the existing link with two 2 Gbps connections (4 Gbps total) is not cost-effective, as it provides far more bandwidth than the required 1.2 Gbps. This is an over-provisioned and more expensive solution.

1. AWS Direct Connect User Guide - Link aggregation groups (LAGs): "A link aggregation group (LAG) is a logical interface that uses the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) to aggregate multiple connections at a single AWS Direct Connect endpoint, allowing you to treat them as a single, managed connection... A LAG provides the following benefits: Increased bandwidth... Reduced risk of downtime." This directly supports using a LAG to increase bandwidth and add resiliency.

2. AWS Direct Connect User Guide - AWS Direct Connect resiliency recommendations: The "High Resiliency" model recommends "two or more connections in a link aggregation group (LAG) terminating on different devices on the customer side and on the AWS side." This confirms that using a LAG with a second connection is an official AWS best practice for achieving both resiliency and increased capacity.

3. AWS Direct Connect User Guide - Redundancy with multiple connections in a LAG: "If you have multiple connections in your LAG, and a connection fails, traffic is rerouted to the remaining connections. This failover is handled by LACP and happens automatically." This reference validates the resiliency aspect of the chosen answer.