VPC Components: Part II

NAT gateways

A subnet associated with a route table that doesn’t have a route to the internet gateway is called a private subnet. Instances in private subnets have no direct connection to or from the internet. What if we want to update the software of an instance in a private subnet? Or a private application needs access to the internet? This is where NAT gateways come into play.

NAT gateways allow instances in private subnets to connect to the internet while still being inaccessible from the internet. Let’s see how this works.