Cloud architects looking to leverage the cloud for their inter-region architectures can benefit from utilizing the services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). This blog will cover the basics of networking, VPC, Cloud WAN, Transit Gateway, and VPC peering and explain how they can be used to successfully set up an inter-region architecture.
Using AWS for inter-region architectures can provide many benefits such as lower costs, improved scalability, and increased availability and reliability. To understand how to make use of these benefits, it is important to have a basic understanding of networking components and concepts. The main component of a network is the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) which provides a secure and isolated environment within the cloud where resources can be hosted. A VPC consists of subnets, route tables, network gateways, security groups, and other elements that are used to set up and manage a network.
Cloud WAN (Wide Area Network) is a cloud-specific network designed to connect multiple AWS regions. It allows customers to easily and securely connect their applications across multiple regions while reducing latency due to proximity between regions. Additionally, Cloud WAN can provide increased bandwidth for large workloads and improved scalability for global workloads. However, there are some limitations on the type of workloads Cloud WAN can support and potentially higher costs due to increased bandwidth.
VPC peering is a connection between two VPCs that enables resources in each VPC to communicate with each other as if they were within the same network. It provides customers with an easier and more secure way to communicate between applications hosted in different VPCs. VPC peering also offers improved scalability when resources are spread across multiple networks. However, there are some limitations with VPC peering such as limited support for resources across different accounts and potentially higher costs due to increased traffic.
Transit Gateway is a managed service that enables customers to connect VPCs and on-premises networks across multiple AWS accounts into a single gateway. It provides customers with reduced complexity as all connections between multiple networks are managed in one place. Additionally, Transit Gateway offers improved scalability with support for up to 500 VPCs and 5,000 virtual interfaces per Transit Gateway. However, there may be additional costs due to increased traffic when utilizing Transit Gateway.
In conclusion, AWS offers many services that can be used to successfully set up an inter-region architecture. Networking components such as subnets, route tables, security groups, and VPCs should be understood before attempting to set up an architecture. Additionally, Cloud WAN, VPC peering, and Transit Gateway are all useful services that should be considered in order to benefit from the advantages of an inter-region architecture. By leveraging these services, cloud architects can reduce latency, increase bandwidth for large workloads, improve scalability for global workloads, and simplify complex network connections between multiple networks.