Contents
What Is A VPC?
A virtual private cloud (VPC) is an open cloud solution that allows a company to create its own private cloud-like computing environment on shared public cloud infrastructure.
By defining and managing a virtual network that is conceptually separate from all other public cloud tenants, a VPC enables an organisation to establish a private, secure area on the cloud.
How a Virtual Private Cloud Works?
In a virtual private cloud architecture, the public VPC provider is in charge of making sure that the data of each cloud client is kept separate from the data of every other customer while it is in transit and within the network of the cloud provider. This is achieved by using security policies that call for any or all of the following components: assigning each client a distinct virtual local area network (VLAN), offering a subnet, or setting up a virtual private network (VPN).
- One kind of local area network is VLAN. Devices that share a physical LAN can be grouped together using VLANs, which are logical overlay networks that isolate traffic for each group. A VLAN separates the network for private usage within a VPC.
- A subnet is a divided section of a wider network. An IP network may be logically divided into several smaller network pieces using subnets. These serve as private IP addresses in a VPC that are not available to the general public online.
- VPNs offer tunneling to a virtual private cloud in addition to encryption. VPNs are commonly used in VPCs to protect tenant data as it enters and exits the VPC.
- IP addresses, subnets, network gateways, and access control rules are just a few of the network components that a user of a virtual private cloud may directly design and administer.
- Compute, storage, and networking resources are among the deployable cloud resources in a separate virtual network.
Virtual Private Cloud Security
The layers of VPC security are made up of two kinds of network access controls:
- Access control lists (ACLs) restrict VPC subnet access. As said, your VPC has a subnet, and the ACL determines which IP addresses or programs may access it.
- Security team: You may assign consistent access restrictions to groups of resources (which may be located in many subnets) by using a security group. For instance, you may put three apps in three distinct subnets into the same security group if you want them to all be accessible from the public Internet. Regardless of the subnet in which your virtual servers are located, security groups function as virtual firewalls, regulating the flow of traffic to them.
VPC Architecture
Cloud resources known as logical instances can be deployed into your own separate virtual network within a VPC. These cloud resources may be divided into three groups:
- Compute: The user is shown virtual server instances (VSIs, sometimes called virtual servers) as CPUs (vCPUs) with a preset amount of memory, processing power, and other specifications.
- Storage: Each account of a VPC client is normally allotted a specific block storage quota, with the option to purchase additional. This pricing structure is similar to buying more hard drive space. Storage suggestions are determined by the type of job you do.
- Networking: To allow or limit access to your virtual private cloud account’s resources, you can install virtual versions of a number of networking features, such as:
- Public gateways: These are set up to allow all or a portion of your VPC environment to be accessible via the public Internet.
- Load balancers: To maximize performance and availability, load balancers split network traffic among many VSIs.
- Routers: Routers provide communication between network parts and guide traffic.
- Direct or dedicated links: These network connections allow you to communicate quickly and securely between your private cloud or on-premises business IT environment and your public cloud VPC resources.
Features Of VPC
A “best of both worlds” approach to cloud computing is offered by VPCs. They provide users the savings and numerous benefits of private clouds while utilising public cloud resources. Some of the VPC model’s salient characteristics are as follows.
Quickness
Manage the scale of your virtual network and make use of cloud resources as needed by your company. These resources may be scaled in real time and flexibly.
Accessibility
Your workloads and applications are highly available with to highly fault-tolerant availability zone topologies and redundant resources.
Safety
Your data and apps won’t mingle or share space with those of the other clients of the cloud provider since a VPC is a logically isolated network. You are in total control of who has access to resources and responsibilities.
Cost-effectiveness
Customers of VPC can benefit from the cost-effectiveness of the public cloud by saving money on labour, hardware, and other resources.
Virtual Private Cloud Vs Private Cloud
Here is a table summarizing the differences between a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and a Private Cloud:
| Feature | Private Cloud (On-Premises) | Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) |
|---|---|---|
| Control Over IT Resources | Business units maintain more control over resources. | Control is shared with the public cloud provider; less direct. |
| Provider/Tenant Relationship | Internal IT acts as the service provider. | Public cloud provider is the service provider; IT is a tenant. |
| Isolation | Fully isolated environment within the organization. | Isolation is virtualized and slightly more porous. |
| Deployment of Applications | Business units deploy resources through internal IT or self-service portal. | Applications and services are deployed through the cloud provider. |
| Self-Service Capability | Often includes a self-service portal for quick deployment. | May have less self-sufficiency due to layers of isolation. |
| IT’s Role | IT acts as a gatekeeper for resources and services. | IT department may no longer act as the sole gatekeeper. |
| Infrastructure Location | Located within the organization’s on-premises environment. | Hosted on a shared public cloud infrastructure with virtual isolation. |
| Scalability | Limited by on-premises infrastructure capacity. | Highly scalable, leveraging public cloud resources. |
| Cost | Requires significant upfront investment in hardware. | Typically operates on a pay-as-you-go model. |
| Management | Managed internally by the organization. | Managed by the public cloud provider with input from IT. |