NAT Gateway or Internet Gateway?
What is the difference between a NAT gateway and an internet gateway, and when does each belong in the design?
Practical scenario
A VPC has one NAT gateway in zone A serving private subnets in all three zones. The analytics workers pull 4 TB a day from object storage through it, and last month zone A degraded for 40 minutes while every dashboard stayed green.
What it tests
Answer it out loud first. The guide below stays closed until you ask for it, on purpose.
- Whether the candidate knows the directional asymmetry between them
- Whether they can connect the choice to subnet design and route tables
- Whether they see the NAT gateway as a cost line and a failure domain
Reading a strong answer is not the same as producing one. Commit to what you would say, then compare.