Introduction
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, database storage, content delivery, and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow. It is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers. AWS provides a broad set of cloud computing services, including computing, storage, databases, analytics, networking, mobile, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security, and enterprise applications. These services help organizations move faster, lower IT costs and scale applications.
In managing AWS infrastructure, cloud networking is highly important. AWS offers an extensive range of networking services that provide a powerful way to connect users to compute resources, storage, and other applications. Cloud networking increases the scalability, performance, and reliability of applications, enabling businesses to quickly scale up or down as needed. Additionally, cloud networking products, such as Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), help businesses securely isolate AWS resources and control network traffic within the cloud environment. By leveraging cloud networking, businesses can ensure that their applications are highly available, cost-efficient, and secure.
Understanding Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs)
AWS Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) are virtual networks used within the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform. They provide the capability to launch AWS resources into a virtual network that closely resembles a traditional network that you would operate in your own data center. VPCs are used to secure AWS resources, isolate applications, and to create a network that can span multiple availability zones for high availability.
Creating and configuring VPCs in AWS is a process that enables the user to define the IP address range, create subnets, associate network gateways, configure route tables, and configure network access control lists (NACLs). When creating a VPC, the user must first specify the CIDR block which is the range of IP addresses used for the VPC network.
Subnets within this network can be created by dividing the IP address range of the VPC into smaller blocks, which are referred to as CIDR blocks. Each subnet will have its own restrictions on IP addressing, and the user will require a unique IP address range for each subnet created.
Network Access Control Lists (NACLs) and Security Groups within the VPC are used to control inbound and outbound traffic flow within the VPC. NACLs work at the subnet level to either allow or deny traffic to or from a particular IP address or CIDR block. Security Groups control access to specific AWS resources such as EC2 instances, RDS databases, or other AWS services. Security Groups also allow rules to be set at the protocol and port level, giving greater control over who is allowed to access what.
Transit Gateway (TGW) in AWS
Transit Gateway (TGW) is a service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables customers to connect their Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networks to other AWS Regions and other VPCs. TGW simplifies the networking process in a large enterprise cloud environment and enables customers to better manage their workloads. It provides customers with a managed hub-and-spoke network topology to simplify connectivity between AWS resources, on-premises networks, and remote offices, and for easy access to the AWS Cloud.
TGW provides a single AWS-managed network connection, offering a reliable and secure connection structure that scales to meet customer demand. It allows customers to manage all the networking for their resources in one central place. TGW also offers additional benefits such as reduced complexity, improved security, and easier compliance.
Setting up and managing Transit Gateways:
Setting up a TGW requires customers to first assign the TGW to an AWS account then create a gateway route table and configure it with subnets and routing information. Customers must also configure an Elastic Network Interface (ENI) for the TGW, allocate a static IP address, and configure DNS settings. After the TGW is up and running, customers can set up rules for controlling traffic throughout their network.
Transit VPC Architectures and Best Practices:
Transit VPC architectures are designed to provide connectivity between multiple VPCs and on-premises networks for the purpose of routing traffic between them. TGW offers the ability to create transit architectures in AWS, allowing customers to connect multiple VPCs and other VPCs in a central hub and spoke topology.
Peering and Hybrid Connectivity in AWS
VPC Peering: VPC peering is a networking feature of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to connect two separate virtual private clouds (VPCs) with each other. This allows for resources in each VPC to securely communicate with each other as if they were part of the same network. AWS also provides mechanisms to route traffic between VPCs when they are peered together, allowing for even more flexibility in network design.
Transit Gateway Peering: Transit Gateway Peering allows you to seamlessly extend your Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network from a single VPC or across multiple VPCs in different regions, and across multiple AWS accounts, into a transit gateway. This allows you to easily manage, secure, and scale routing for your network traffic within AWS.
Direct Connect: AWS Direct Connect is a dedicated, high-bandwidth connection between your on-premises data center or office and an AWS Direct Connect location. Through this connection, you can establish private connectivity between the on-premises environment and the AWS cloud.
Configuring and Managing Peering Connections: To establish a VPC peering connection, you must be the owner of both VPCs that you want to establish a connection between. You can then choose which resources to make available across the connection and the security settings you’d like to apply. To manage peering connections, you can choose to enable or disable a connection, delete a connection, accept or reject connection requests, add or remove IP addresses, and update the name or description of a connection.
Hybrid Connectivity Options for Connecting On-Premises Networks to AWS: To enable a hybrid environment for your organization, there are a variety of solutions and services available from AWS.
AWS PrivateLink and Endpoints
AWS PrivateLink provides private connectivity between VPCs, AWS services, and other AWS accounts. Basically, it allows users to privately access services over a secure connection, without the traffic going over the Internet.
Setting up and using Interface and Gateway endpoints:
To create an interface endpoint, the user needs to open the VPC console and select Endpoints.
From there, the user can select “Create Endpoint”, which will open the VPC dashboard.
Here, the user will select “Create Interface Endpoint”.
Next, the user will select the service they wish to connect to and enter the subnet or subnets for the endpoint to be created.
Once done, confirm that all the information is correct and click “Create Endpoint.”
For a gateway endpoint, the user needs to first create a new virtual private gateway to connect to the service they wish to access. After this, they will need to create a VPC route table and add a new route that points to the gateway endpoint.
Benefits of using PrivateLink for secure and private communication:
Increased Security — PrivateLink ensures that communication is always secure since traffic is routed through AWS private networks.
Improved Performance — PrivateLink eliminates the need for connections over the public internet, which reduces latency and improves performance.
Increased Privacy — PrivateLink offers a high level of privacy since the data is never exposed to the public internet.
Routing in AWS
Routing in AWS: Routing in the AWS cloud involves directing network traffic to desired endpoints across multiple services. The key components used to do this are virtual private clouds (VPCs) and route tables. Depending on the type of traffic and where it is going, AWS can also employ internet gateways and Elastic IP Addresses. Additionally, AWS Route 53 provides DNS-based routing and health checks that utilize both regional and global routing policies.
Overview of routing tables and internet gateways: Route tables contain the routing rules that identify where network traffic is directed within and between VPCs. Internet gateways provide a secure connection from a VPC to the public internet, allowing outbound access and inbound access from known sources.
Routes tables in VPCs: When creating a VPC, a route table is automatically associated with it. This route table provides default routes for traffic to and from the VPC. Modifying the route table is how users adjust the directions for their traffic and propagate routes across different VPCs.
Implementing route prioritization and redundancy using BGP and VPN connections: BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) connections enable customers to advertise their own network from the public internet gateway, and customers can also use BGP connections to use AWS as a transit gateway. Additionally, customers can use VPN connections to enter their traffic onto their AWS VPC for redundancy and prioritization.
Using AWS Route 53 for DNS-based routing and health checks: AWS Route 53 provides a powerful Domain Name System (DNS) that customers can use to route and manage different types of traffic. Customers can create multiple DNS records that can be TTL-based (time-to-live), or route based on the type of request. Additionally, Route 53 offers health checks to track the availability of endpoints, helping to ensure high availability and improved site performance.
BGP Configuration in AWS
Step 1: Configure VPC Connections
Before you can start configuring BGP, you need to establish a virtual private cloud (VPC) connection and set up route 53 Resolver endpoints. To configure the VPC connection, you will need to access the AWS console and create a VPC. A VPC is a private cloud environment that runs on the AWS network. It provides your applications with an isolated network, where they can communicate with other AWS services and resources securely.
Once you have created the VPC, you will have to configure route 53 Resolver endpoints. The Resolver endpoints are what allow the BGP routing of traffic between your VPC and other external networks. To configure an endpoint, you will need to select “Create and Register Endpoint” on the AWS console. Enter the details, such as the IP address of the remote BGP peer, and then click “Create Endpoint”.
Step 2: Configure BGP
Now that your environment is set up, you can start configuring BGP. To do this, you will need to set up route tables for each VPC. The route tables define how network traffic should be routed between different networks. For each of the route tables you create, you will need to specify the Autonomous System (AS) number of your AWS account as well as a range of IP addresses.
Next, you will have to configure the BGP attributes. BGP attributes are the rules your router uses to determine which route should be taken when forwarding or receiving traffic.
IAM Roles for Cloud Networking
IAM roles can be used to restrict access and control network traffic in AWS Cloud Networking. For instance, an IAM role can be used to limit access to a specific VPC to a certain set of users and control network traffic flows between different subnets in a VPC. Additionally, an IAM role can be used to set up unique security credentials for different users or groups to allow them access to resources in different VPCs in a secure manner.
An example of how an IAM role could be used to restrict access to a specific VPC is to create an IAM role with specific policies to limit which users, groups, and IP addresses are allowed to connect to or traverse that VPC. Additionally, an IAM role could be used to control network traffic flows between different subnets in a VPC, setting up access rules, such as allowing traffic only from specific subnets, or connecting Security Groups for further filtering and specific routing.
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