Introduction to VPC
Learn about Virtual Private Cloud, a core component of the AWS networks.
Virtual Private Cloud
As the name suggests, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a private, virtual network in AWS dedicated to an account. VPC is logically isolated from all other VPCs (in the same or different accounts) in the AWS network.
- VPC is a region-specific service (i.e., a VPC is limited to one AWS Region).
- A VPC spans all AZs in its region.
- Each VPC can have its own network configuration.
CIDRs and IPs
Before we dive into AWS networking and VPC, it’s crucial to understand Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), a way to represent IP address ranges. CIDR consists of 32 bits and is usually represented as four dots (.) separating numbers (octets), followed by a suffix. The suffix, also called a subnet mask, defines the total number of bits in the address.
Let’s look at an example. The following illustration shows four numbers, their binary representations, and a range of their bits.
The subnet mask in the CIDR range specifies the number of fixed bits in an IP address range. CIDR range 182.228.169.61/32 implies that all 32 bits in the IP address range are fixed, which means that CIDR 182.228.169.61/32 specifies one IP address, 182.228.169.61.
Similarly, CIDR range 182.228.169.61/16 implies that the first 16 bits in the IP address range are fixed. This means that CIDR 182.228.169.61/16 specifies an IP address range from 182.228.0.0 to ...