VPC stands for Virtual Private Cloud.
It is a virtual network dedicated to your AWS account. With Amazon VPC, you can launch AWS resources into a virtual network that you’ve defined.
This virtual network closely resembles a traditional network that you’d operate in your own data center, with the benefits of using the scalable infrastructure of AWS.
A VPC enables you to:
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Control your network environment: You can define subnets, IP address ranges, route tables, and network gateways.
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Secure your VPC: You can use security groups and network access control lists to define network security.
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Connect to other networks: You can connect your VPC to other AWS VPCs, your own data center, or to the Internet.
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Customize network settings: You can select its own IP address range, create subnets, and configure route tables, network gateways, and security settings.
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Subnets: A subnet is a range of IP addresses within a VPC. You can divide your VPC into multiple subnets and launch instances in each subnet. This allows you to partition your network and control traffic between subnets.
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Route Tables: A route table contains a set of routes that determine where network traffic is directed. Each subnet in a VPC must be associated with a route table, which controls the traffic routing for the subnet.
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Network Access Control Lists (ACLs): An ACL is an optional layer of security for your VPC that acts as a firewall for controlling traffic in and out of a subnet.
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Security Groups: A security group acts as a virtual firewall for your instances, controlling inbound and outbound network traffic.
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Internet Gateway: An Internet Gateway is a horizontally-scaled, redundant, and highly available VPC component that allows communication between instances in your VPC and the Internet.
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Virtual Private Gateway: A Virtual Private Gateway is a VPN concentrator that enables your VPC to connect to your own data center over an IPsec VPN connection.
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NAT Gateway: A NAT Gateway allows instances in a private subnet to connect to the Internet or other AWS services, while preventing the Internet from initiating connections with those instances.
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Elastic IP Addresses: An Elastic IP address is a static IPv4 address designed for dynamic cloud computing. You can associate an Elastic IP address with a running instance in your VPC to ensure that your instance always has the same IP address even if you stop and start it.