Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) is a web service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows you to create a logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define. With Amazon VPC, you have control over your virtual networking environment, including the selection of your IP address range, creation of subnets, and configuration of route tables and network gateways.
Key Features and Components
- Subnets: You can divide your VPC into multiple subnets, each associated with a specific Availability Zone.
- Internet Gateway: Enables communication between resources in your VPC and the Internet.
- Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): Distributes incoming application traffic across multiple instances.
- Route Tables: Control traffic between subnets and to the Internet.
- Security Groups and Network Access Control Lists (NACLs): Control inbound and outbound traffic at the instance and subnet levels.
- VPN and Direct Connect: Establish secure connections between on-premises data centers and your VPC.
- Peering: Connect VPCs to route traffic between them.
- Elastic Network Interfaces (ENIs): Attach to instances to provide networking capabilities.
- VPC Endpoints: Privately connect your VPC to supported AWS services.
Amazon VPC provides a secure and scalable environment for running AWS resources, allowing customization of network configurations and serving as a fundamental building block for complex cloud architectures.