Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are three of the leading cloud service providers in the market. It is more important to understand the Networking concepts.
- A virtual networking service allows users to provision a logically isolated section of the cloud where they can launch resources in a virtual network.
- A virtual network is similar to a traditional network that you’d operate in your own data center.
- They are named as AWS’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Azure’s Virtual Network (VNET), and Google Cloud’s VPC.
- The VNET/VPC allows cloud resources like VMs, and apps to communicate with the internet and on-premise networks.
- They are flexible, scalable, and easily isolated from other networks.
What are the key scenarios that you can achieve with VPC or VNETs?
- Communication of cloud resources with the internet.
- Communication between Cloud resources.
- Communication with on-premises resources.
- Filtering of network traffic.
- Routing of network traffic.
- Integration with other Cloud services.
Comparison of those three cloud networks:
- AWS VPC: Allows users to provision a logically isolated section of the AWS Cloud where they can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that they define.
- Azure VNET: Provides an isolated, private environment in Azure. It’s the networking layer for Azure virtual machines (VMs) and databases.
- Google Cloud VPC: Provides networking functionality for the resources in the virtual network. It offers global, regional, and zonal resources to ensure optimal latency.
To effectively understand the concepts of VPC/VNET you need to check the below:
- Support of CIDR blocks using IPv4 and IPv6 addressing
- The boundary of VPC is region-specific (e.g. US EAST) or global (tied to any region)
- Any restrictions in using the private IP ranges as primary or secondary
- Spanning of the network across Regions or Availability Zones
| Feature | AWS VPC | Azure VNET | Google Cloud VPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) | VNET (Virtual Network) | VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) |
| Network boundary | Region | Region | Global |
| CIDR attached | Yes | Yes | Not directly to VPC |
| IPv4 & IPv6 support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple CIDR attached | Yes | Yes | Not directly to VPC |
| # of CIDR attached | 5 | Multiple, but associated limitations | Attached to subnets |
| Allowed IPv4 CIDR as per RFC 1918 | /28 to /16 range | IPv4: /29 to /8 | IPv4: /29 to /8 |
| Unicast | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Broadcast/Multicast | No | No | No |
Private IP address ranges allowed as per RFC 1918:
- 10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
- 172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix)
- 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)
Below IP address ranges cannot be used:
- 224.0.0.0/4 (Multicast)
- 255.255.255.255/32 (Broadcast)
- 127.0.0.0/8 (Loopback)
- 169.254.0.0/16 (Link-local)
- 168.63.129.16/32 (Only in Azure used for Azure Internal DNS)
Components of a Virtual Network VPC/VNET:
- Subnets
- Route tables
- Security Groups
- Internet Gateway
- NAT Gateway
- Dedicated private connection
- VPN Connection
- Peering
- Public IP address