Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
Amazon VPC (Amazon Virtual Private Cloud) is a service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables you to create a logically isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define. Following are the key elements of Amazon vpc:
Key Features:
Isolation:
A VPC gives you a virtual network on the AWS cloud and is isolated from other virtual networks.
Customization:
You may define your IP address range, create your subnets, and configure the route tables, network gateways, and security settings.
Subnets:
These can be broken down further with subnets within your VPC. Subnets can be public (having direct access to the Internet through an Internet Gateway) or can be private.
Security:
Security Groups: Function as a virtual firewall for your EC2 instances that control inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level.
Therefore, if the first two layers are focused primarily on VPC Security, this third layer is at an even more segmented level, network ACLs (Access Control Lists) control traffic at the subnet level, providing an additional layer of security.
Connectivity:
Internet Gateway: Enables communication between your VPC and the Internet.
VP VPC Peering: This establishes a direct network route between one VPC and another.
VPN Connections: Connect your VPC to a service or on-premises network with high security.
AWS Direct Connect — A dedicated network connection from your premises to AWS.
NAT Gateways — Network Address Translation.
Lets the instances in a private subnet communicate with the Internet or other AWS services, and, from the Internet, we can’t have an initiation of connection with that instance.
Elastic Network Interfaces (ENI):
You can attach virtual network interfaces to instances in your VPC.
IPv6 Support:
You can configure your VPCs to use IPv6 along with, or as a replacement for IPv4.
Use Cases:
Web Application Hosting: Public subnets for web servers, private subnets for backend.
Data Isolation: Isolating sensitive data within secured networks for compliance or security purposes.
Hybrid Cloud Solutions: This can be done through VPN or Direct Connect for integration with your local office environment.
Best Practices:
In and out of your VPC, allow only what’s needed (Least Privilege).
Isolation: Tip: use subnets to segment workloads.
Monitorittel and Logging: AWS CloudWatch and VPC Flow Logs to monitor the traffic over the network.
Learn how to configure the VPC, its components and how we could set it up for usage with the other AWS services.
