A Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a secure, isolated section of a cloud provider’s infrastructure. This guide explores the benefits of VPCs, including enhanced security, control over resources, and customization options.
Learn about the key components of VPC architecture and best practices for implementation. Understanding VPCs is essential for organizations looking to leverage cloud computing while maintaining security and compliance.
What Is a VPC Used For?
Virtual private clouds allow organizations to deploy cloud-based resources (like storing databases, running machine learning code, and hosting websites) within a highly scalable cloud environment hosted and maintained by a third party rather than hosting a cloud environment locally.
Hosting Private Cloud Networks
Private clouds, virtual or not, offer exclusive cloud access to a single organization. Non-virtual private cloud networks, commonly referred to as ‘on-prem,’ are hosted locally on user-maintained servers and networks, which can limit scalability and pose security threats if not properly maintained.
Scaling a Private Cloud, Virtually
Virtual private clouds, however, are maintained by large cloud providers, which give organizations more autonomy to scale within a cloud easily and quickly. For example, if a business hosting a website saw a massive spike in traffic on their on-prem cloud servers, the servers could reach capacity and slow performance.
Instead, if the company were to host their private cloud virtually, it could easily and quickly scale to meet the traffic demand. For reference, AWS has millions of servers around the globe, far exceeding any individual company’s private network scale.
Maintaining Private Control
Organizations leverage VPCs to securely deploy and manage their cloud private resources while maintaining control over the network’s configurations, security policies, access controls, and size. VPCs can even be segmented into distinct virtual networks to reduce risk and increase cloud security to prevent data breaches or unauthorized access.
In a VPC environment, the private organization is generally responsible for controlling access to the network and configurations within the network. Meanwhile, the cloud network security and infrastructure are maintained by the cloud provider.
Supplementing On-Premises Data Centers
Virtual private clouds can also be used to supplement on-prem private clouds, resulting in a hybrid cloud environment. This is particularly advantageous for companies that wish to maintain control over sensitive data and workloads by keeping them on-premises while still enjoying the benefits of a VPC. For example, a customer may wish to run their proprietary AI model training using on-prem servers but scale the model into the VPC for storage and use.
In a hybrid cloud model, companies can self-balance on-prem information while still taking advantage of the scalability and security capabilities offered by public cloud providers. This also has advantages for maintaining regulatory compliance, commonly about sensitive data storage, without sacrificing scalability or affordability.
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
A VPC can also be used to implement application or storage redundancies as a means of disaster recovery or maintaining business continuity. A company can replicate on-premises infrastructure and data within a VPC to maintain operational continuity in the event of a disaster, outage, or breach, making it particularly useful for data loss prevention (DLP).
In this scenario, a VPC serves as a secondary location where an organization’s system can failover, providing redundancy and minimizing downtime. This configuration would include automated processes for failover and failback, ensuring smooth transitions between environments in the event of a disaster. This VPC cloud configuration can be thought of less as a hybrid cloud model and more as a redundant backup private cloud model.
How Do VPCs Work?
From a technical perspective, there are several important steps for setting up a VPC. Depending on the VPC configuration an organization chooses, some of these steps can be more complex than in other configurations.
VPC Creation and Configuration
The first step for creating a VPC is the selection of a cloud provider. When setting up a VPC an organization will establish specific VPC parameters such as the network access controls, size of the VPC, subnetworks, availability zones, and more.
Network Isolation Segmentation
Once a VPC is created, the provider must isolate that network from all others in the public cloud. Once completed, a portion of the global cloud infrastructure can only be used by the purchasing organization.
In many cases, organizations prefer to keep certain resources separate from others. To do so, VPCs can be segmented into multiple isolated virtual networks within the same cloud infrastructure, with each completely segregated from the others. These isolated networks, also called ‘subnets,’ allow for different access types, efficient addressing, and intelligent network routing. Each subnet is a series of dedicated, private IP addresses within the VPC network that are only accessible to specific users or applications.
Security and Access Control
VPCs and their providers offer various security through Security Groups (SGs) and Network Access Control Lists (NACLs) to meet customer and compliance demands. NACLs act as virtual firewalls within each subnet, while security groups exist across the entire VPC. Each can be used to control inbound and outbound traffic. Configuration of security groups and NACL can be essential to VPC configuration, as they protect the organization and cloud resources against internal and external threats.
Routing and Traffic Management
By default, each VPC comes with a main route table, which is used to define the logic of how to route traffic within the VPC network. Administrators can customize routing tables to define routes into and between subnets and the internet. Route tables can direct traffic to specific destinations, such as an internet gateway or virtual private gateway for VPN connections.
Network peering, on the other hand, allows organizations to establish private connectivity between NPCs within the same or different cloud regions. This feature enables seamless and secure connections between VPCs, which can be valuable for resource sharing while still maintaining full privacy from the public cloud.
Monitoring and Logging
Many VPC providers offer tools for monitoring and logging network activity. Network traffic and performance can be utilized for optimizing VPC configuration and security auditing. These tools allow administrators to detect and respond to security incidents, optimize network performance, adjust VPC configuration, and ensure security compliance.
For example, AWS offers the ability to mirror traffic and access logs, sending this data to out-of-band security appliances for inspection. This inspection can be used to detect anomalies, gain operational insights, adjust security and compliance controls, and troubleshoot issues.
Conclusion
VPCs offer businesses a secure, scalable, and flexible infrastructure for deploying cloud workloads and resources while maintaining control, visibility, and security compliance. VPCs augment existing private cloud infrastructure and securely scale an organization’s cloud workloads. By leveraging VPCs, organizations can enhance their cloud security posture, optimize resource utilization, and achieve cost efficiencies in their cloud deployments.
Selecting a VPC provider can be a challenging task as the breadth and depth of VPC providers are dynamic. Schedule a demo today to learn how SentinelOne can be an advantageous partner in virtual private cloud provider selection, configuration, and utilization.
Virtual Private Cloud FAQs
What is a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)?
A VPC is a logically isolated section of a cloud provider’s network where you can launch resources in a private environment. It allows you to control IP address ranges, subnets, route tables, and network gateways. Think of it as your private data center in the cloud, giving you network segmentation and traffic control separate from other cloud users.
Why is a VPC Important in Cloud Computing?
A VPC gives you better control over your cloud network, isolating your resources securely from others. It lets you define firewalls, restrict access, and manage traffic flow. This isolation reduces risk of attacks from other tenants and helps meet compliance and security requirements by controlling who and what can reach your resources.
Is a VPC Private by Default?
Yes, a VPC is private by design, isolating your resources from public networks. However, you can choose to expose resources by attaching internet gateways or setting up VPNs. Without those, your resources aren’t accessible from the public internet and remain confined to your cloud environment or connected private networks.
What is the Difference Between a VPC and a VPN?
A VPC is a private cloud network inside a cloud provider, controlling how your cloud resources communicate internally. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a secure connection that links your on-premises network or users to your VPC or other networks over the internet. VPC is about where your cloud lives; VPN is about securely connecting to it.
Can a Single Cloud Account have multiple VPCs?
Yes. Most cloud providers allow you to create multiple VPCs under one account. This helps you isolate environments like development, testing, and production, or separate business units. Each VPC operates independently with its own IP ranges, subnets, and security controls.
What are Best Practices for Securing a VPC?
Start with restricting inbound and outbound traffic using security groups and network ACLs. Use private subnets for sensitive workloads and public subnets only when needed. Enable flow logs to monitor traffic, use encryption for data in transit, and limit access with IAM policies. Make sure to regularly review and update network rules to close any gaps.
Does using a VPC increase Cloud Costs?
Generally, creating a VPC itself doesn’t add significant costs. However, associated services like NAT gateways, VPN connections, data transfer between regions, and additional network monitoring can incur charges. Keeping architecture simple and monitoring network usage helps control unexpected expenses while using VPCs securely.