VPCs: An Introduction to Secure Business Networking

You’ve heard of cloud computing and how businesses use it, but do you know about virtual public clouds? VPCs are designed to give users a private cloud experience on a public cloud. For many, this is the best of both worlds when it comes to cloud storage: you get the benefits of a private cloud with the resources available on the public cloud.

What Is a Virtual Private Cloud?

A virtual private cloud is hosted on a public cloud but kept isolated. Consider it like this: If a public cloud is an apartment building, the VPC is a condominium with its own separate space.

Once you have a VPC, you can create a subnet. This is a range of IP addresses that pertain to your VPC. You’ll find examples of this on AWS, where you can create your own IP address for your cloud.

Some of the top features you’ll experience from a virtual private cloud provider include:

Security

Since VPCs are separated from the rest of the public server, it has higher levels of network security than many other options. This cloud service can be set up with access control lists to prevent unauthorized people from getting into your part of the cloud.

Agility

The resources can easily scale to suit your needs on demand and in real time. Whenever you need more resources, you can have access to them, which allows your business to fluctuate naturally as it grows.

Availability

Through the use of fault-tolerant availability zones, VPCs can keep their applications and resources functioning constantly. They also tend to have redundancy built in so workloads aren’t interrupted at any point. This is a big advantage for any business that will lose large amounts of money with any downtime.

Cost

You will pay more for a virtual private cloud than you would for a public cloud. However, it’s still far less costly than hosting your own on-premises software. It’s a good idea to check with different companies before you commit to one since pricing can vary drastically. This is often due to the resources on offer, so if you only need a couple of basic options, you’ll usually spend less.

These features make VPCs quite useful for companies of all sizes.

Why Use a VPC?

You choose which cloud resources to use in your isolated virtual network. The resources included with the VPC are also referred to as logical instances and they can be sorted into three categories. These include:

Cloud Storage

When you talk about the cloud, you may think first of data storage because this is why many people use the public cloud. With VPCs, you’ll receive space, too. It is essentially virtual hard drive space, which can be used to save backups, photos, media, and text files as needed.

VPCs will usually come with a set block storage quota. If you need more storage or feel you’re going to in the near future, you can generally add space for a fee.

Cloud Computing

Why not run a virtual CPU on your VPC? A virtual computer gives you the opportunity to install software or apps and manage your computing on the cloud. There are a few reasons you might want to do this. For one, it’s a good way to test software on multiple operating systems. A virtual machine can also let you access data in older formats or data that may be infected with malware.

Just like a physical computer, you can install an OS, software, etc. You’ll have memory, computing power, and everything else. However, you don’t need to own the hardware for it since it is housed in a data center.

Cloud Networking

While your PVC is private, you don’t have to keep it that way. It’s possible to create public internet gateways, which present areas of the VPC environment to the world. This is what people will access when they reach out to you. Load balancers help optimize traffic as it passes through virtual server instances (VSIs). Routers direct that same traffic while allowing network segments to communicate with each other.

The point of all this networking infrastructure is to allow all your systems to talk to each other. If you have on-premises computing and a private cloud, as well as a VPC, they can all communicate securely via the network interface. You can also set it up with network access control to allow other users to access your VPC if desired or leave it as a private network.

As a business leader, you’ll find that there are many use cases for a VPC network. If you already know how you intend to use a VPC, you can talk to the service provider to learn more about which resources you require. You may want it mostly for the storage of confidential materials, or you may need to set up a few virtual computers for software testing. Take some time to narrow down what you’re looking for and then find a service that can help you.

How Is a VPC Different From a Private Cloud?

At first glance, it may seem like the two are quite similar, but there is one big difference: the cloud infrastructure.

A private cloud is a dedicated cloud for a specific company or organization. The infrastructure is just for that client, and no one else can use it. The isolation makes it far more secure than the public cloud.

A virtual private cloud is hosted on a public cloud, isolated, but still in the cloud and sharing the space and resources with other cloud users. It uses a private IP subnet to create segmentation so the virtual private clouds are kept apart and made more secure. With this option, you still have all the benefits of the public cloud, without the downsides.

The Benefits of a VPC

There’s a very good reason many companies are turning to virtual private clouds for their data storage needs. Here are some of the main benefits you can expect from a VPC.

Scalability: As with all cloud services, a VPC is almost infinitely scalable. You can build your business and use more resources on the cloud as needed, paying for the expansion as you require more space. However, if your business decreases at some point, you’ll also pay less. The VPC is flexible and works with you.

Reduced Downtime: Most people are used to everything working all the time. The internet never sleeps, after all. This means that any downtime can have a severely negative impact on your business. When you use a VPC, you should see improved uptime and very few problems with downtime overall.

Lower Security Risk: The risks tend to be lower with a VPC, thanks to a higher level of cloud security and high availability. The subnets tend to be even more secure, and you can use a firewall to help add more protection to your data. Each subnet has its own IP address range and will use virtualized security features such as access control lists and security groups for additional security.

Additional Resources: Public clouds generally have more resources on offer. These include IT infrastructure elements like load balancers, virtual machines, apps, storage, management tools, and firewalls, among others. You’ll usually find platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) provided as well.

No IT Team Necessary: The cloud provider is responsible for all the things an IT team would usually handle. This includes replacing and repairing hardware, upgrading software, and ensuring the entire server is running properly. This saves you time and money since you won’t need IT staff. Instead, the money you would have spent on the staff members can go toward expanding your business.

With all these benefits, it makes sense to use a virtual private cloud in nearly all cases. You can easily add your own apps, store any sensitive data, and even increase security with your own software. The possibilities are endless for any company.

Who Should Use a VPC?

If you’ve considered using a private cloud, but can’t quite justify the expense yet, a VPC may be a good alternative. Of course, the cost may not be an issue, and you may simply want the resources that are available on a private server. This way, your company has all the benefits of a public server, but with the privacy necessary for your particular data needs. From data transfer to permissions, VPCs can work for a variety of tasks.

Any business can benefit from using a VPC, particularly with all the resources available. If you’re interested in learning more about how to connect virtual software via API, contact DreamFactory. They offer a free 14-day trial you can access here.

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