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Virtual Private Clouds: Weighing Benefits, Drawbacks for Your Cloud Strategy
This guide explores the advantages and disadvantages of using a virtual private cloud, or VPC, and provides instructions for setting one up.
6 Min Read
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At first glance, virtual private clouds, or VPCs, may sound like the best of both worlds: They give you the control and security that comes with a private cloud, combined with the simplicity and scalability of the public cloud.
Yet, despite these benefits, VPCs aren't always the best approach to hosting workloads in the cloud. They have some distinct drawbacks, and in some cases, VPCs are more trouble than they're worth.
Keep reading for tips on how to decide whether to make a VPC part of your cloud strategy.
What Is a VPC?
A virtual private cloud is an environment within a public cloud platform that is segmented at the network level from other parts of the public cloud. This means that workloads hosted inside a VPC are only reachable from outside the VPC if you explicitly configure them to be accessible.
Put another way, a VPC lets you set up an isolated cloud environment within a larger public cloud — giving you something akin to a cloud within a cloud. You're still sharing the underlying cloud infrastructure with other users or organizations, but at the network level, your workloads are isolated.
VPCs vs. Private Clouds
It's important to understand that VPCs are not private clouds in the traditional sense. A "true" private cloud is a single-tenant cloud environment that is fully controlled and used by just one organization. In the past, private clouds were the go-to solution for businesses that wanted the scalability of a cloud infrastructure but didn't want to commit their workloads to a shared public cloud environment.
In contrast, a VPC only isolates or segments workloads at the network level within a multi-tenant cloud. It doesn't give you dedicated cloud infrastructure for your use alone. Thus, while a VPC provides some of the benefits of a traditional private cloud, it doesn't come close to delivering an equivalent level of control or privacy.
How to Set Up a VPC
The process for setting up and using a VPC varies a bit from one cloud platform to the next. But in general, the steps boil down to:
Creating a new VPC in the cloud console (or using a cloud provider's CLI tool, if you prefer to work that way).
Configure networking rules to control when and how workloads hosted inside the VPC can interface with external resources.
Deploy workloads inside the VPC. The process here depends on which type of workload you're deploying (running a cloud server inside a VPC is a bit different from setting up object storage, for instance) but in most cases, you'll work through steps in the cloud console to set up your desired configuration.
The Advantages of VPCs
You don't strictly need to set up a VPC to deploy most workloads in the cloud (although some types of cloud services may require a VPC). But opting for a VPC provides a number of advantages:
Security and privacy: The most obvious benefit is that VPCs increase security and privacy. By segmenting workloads from the rest of the internet, VPCs reduce the risk of unauthorized access or data exfiltration.
Greater visibility: In some cases, VPCs may help with monitoring and observability because they make it easier to track network traffic flowing into and out of workloads.
More simplicity than private cloud: Compared with traditional private clouds, VPCs are much easier to set up and manage. You don't need to acquire or maintain your own cloud infrastructure; you can use infrastructure provided by a public cloud.
Access to multiple cloud services: Most VPCs provide access to the same suite of cloud services — such as cloud servers, databases, and object storage — that cloud providers offer. This means they can host the same types of workloads as you'd run in a standard public cloud environment, but they give you more privacy and security than you'd get without using a VPC.
The Limitations and Drawbacks of VPCs
On the other hand, VPCs are subject to some distinct challenges and disadvantages.
The biggest, arguably, is the added complexity that comes with using a VPC. Cloud providers have done a good job of making it relatively easy to set up VPCs, but adding a VPC (or several VPCs) to your cloud environment still increases the number of points of failure that you have to monitor and manage.
For example, if an application hosted inside a VPC experiences a latency problem, you'll need to determine whether the issue is caused by the way you've configured networking for the VPC or if it's because of a broader networking problem linked to your cloud platform as a whole.
VPCs may also lead to higher cloud costs. It's free to set up a basic VPC on most public cloud platforms, but extra features, like the ability to share IP address pools across cloud accounts and assign them to resources in a VPC, often incur additional charges.
Finally, the fact that VPCs don't deliver the same depth of control and visibility as traditional private clouds means that they are not ideal for circumstances where you truly want to own your entire cloud environment. A VPC provides more control at the network level than you'd get in a standard public cloud environment, but you have no control over the underlying infrastructure, which you would get on a full-blown private cloud.
When — and When Not — to Use a VPC
Ultimately, the question of whether to use a VPC boils down to the following factors:
Is a VPC specifically required for your cloud service or workload? Typically, the answer is no, but some types of workloads — like most modern cloud server instances running on Amazon EC2 — require VPCs.
Do you need network isolation for your workload? If you're hosting a public-facing website or app, there's probably no need to run it inside a VPC, and doing so would unnecessarily complicate your setup.
Do you need full control over your cloud? If you want ultimate control, consider setting up a traditional private cloud instead of a VPC.
Can you effectively monitor and troubleshoot your VPC? As noted above, VPCs complicate network management, monitoring, and troubleshooting a bit, so be sure you're prepared for the added complexity.
Will added VPC costs be worth the benefits? If your VPC will increase your cloud bill, be sure the added fees are worth whatever benefits they bring you.
If you can answer these questions definitely, you'll know whether a VPC is right for your workloads.A final note: There's no reason why you can't host some workloads in a VPC while running others outside it, even on the same public cloud platform. In many cases, you may find that it makes sense to use a VPC in some situations but not others — and doing so is perfectly viable.
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