Resources in a public subnet need a path to the public internet for inbound and outbound internet routing. Which VPC component enables that connectivity?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
An internet gateway is the front door between your VPC and the public internet—public subnets use it so web servers can talk to the world. EBS snapshots, Storage Gateway, and DynamoDB Streams solve storage or change-data problems, not that front door.
Full Explanation
Resources in a public subnet need a path to the public internet for inbound and outbound internet routing through an internet gateway attached to the VPC. An internet gateway is the horizontally scaled, highly available VPC component that enables connectivity between resources in the VPC and the public internet when route tables direct traffic to it. Public subnets are defined operationally by that route—not merely by a name tag.
An Amazon EBS snapshot is a backup of a volume; it is not an HTTP internet router. AWS Storage Gateway connects on-premises environments to cloud storage and is not the default internet router for VPC subnets. Amazon DynamoDB Streams capture table item changes; they do not substitute for an internet gateway.
Exam caveat: Internet connectivity for public subnets → internet gateway + route table entries. NAT gateways enable outbound-only internet from private subnets. Virtual private gateways relate to VPN/Direct Connect hybrid paths.
Operational check: attach one internet gateway to the VPC, add a 0.0.0.0/0 route from public subnet route tables to the IGW, launch a test instance or ALB, confirm expected inbound/outbound paths, and ensure private subnet route tables do not point at the IGW unless a deliberate anti-pattern is being corrected.