Are you familiar with the word "VPC" but unsure of its meaning? I had the same feeling the first time I explored cloud computing. My perception was that it is essentially, my own little private space in a large cloud, and in reality it is!
To keep everything in perspective, think about it as renting your own room in an apartment with all the other tenants. You have keys to the room, you let people in, and you set up your room however you would like, but still you are using and sharing the services (power/internet/security) of the building. In the cloud, VPC is doing that.
Here are benefits of a VPC:
• Privacy - Your information will remain segregated from others.
• Security - You can add firewalls, passwords, and policies to lock down the networking aspect of your system.
• Control - You can control how the system operates and who has access to it.
• Scale - If you require more storage or compute capacity, it is simple to add more to an existing system instead of creating a new one from scratch.
Have you had to deal with a spike of traffic to your site overnight? A VPC will help your systems grow or shrink automatically based on usage.
• Subnets - These are smaller sections of your private network.
• Route Tables – These tell data where to flow inside your cloud.
• Internet Gateway - Which connects your private cloud to the Internet.
• Security Groups - That acts as guards for your network only allowing the trusted users or system to access the environment.
When everything is working in harmony, your cloud is fast, secure, and operates exactly as you want it to!
A VPC provides you with that same control and privacy, without the financial burden of physical hardware.
I have done both, and trust me, you will feel like you have your own mini data center in the cloud with a VPC! You can make configuration changes, add/change servers, configure access permissions - all at the click of a button!
If you are just getting started, start small and provision a small VPC just to see how easy it is and what control you have over your own cloud infrastructure.
What is a VPC?
A VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) is simply a private space in a public cloud (e.g., AWS, Google, Microsoft Azure). It is your own private space to run your apps, store your data and manage all the connections.To keep everything in perspective, think about it as renting your own room in an apartment with all the other tenants. You have keys to the room, you let people in, and you set up your room however you would like, but still you are using and sharing the services (power/internet/security) of the building. In the cloud, VPC is doing that.
Why is it beneficial to have a VPC?
Because you don't want your valuable information sharing space with others valuable information. A VPC makes your items private and secure.Here are benefits of a VPC:
• Privacy - Your information will remain segregated from others.
• Security - You can add firewalls, passwords, and policies to lock down the networking aspect of your system.
• Control - You can control how the system operates and who has access to it.
• Scale - If you require more storage or compute capacity, it is simple to add more to an existing system instead of creating a new one from scratch.
Have you had to deal with a spike of traffic to your site overnight? A VPC will help your systems grow or shrink automatically based on usage.
How does a VPC work?
Inside your VPC you can create and manage several elements:• Subnets - These are smaller sections of your private network.
• Route Tables – These tell data where to flow inside your cloud.
• Internet Gateway - Which connects your private cloud to the Internet.
• Security Groups - That acts as guards for your network only allowing the trusted users or system to access the environment.
When everything is working in harmony, your cloud is fast, secure, and operates exactly as you want it to!
VPC versus Traditional Data Center
In the days before VPC's, organizations ran physical servers inside a physical building to support their data and occupancy needs - All expensive, and with considerable ongoing maintenance.A VPC provides you with that same control and privacy, without the financial burden of physical hardware.
I have done both, and trust me, you will feel like you have your own mini data center in the cloud with a VPC! You can make configuration changes, add/change servers, configure access permissions - all at the click of a button!
Final thoughts
A Virtual Private Cloud, or VPC, gives you the privacy, control, and flexibility that you want, along with the ease of use and security of cloud computing.If you are just getting started, start small and provision a small VPC just to see how easy it is and what control you have over your own cloud infrastructure.
