Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) lets you provision a logically isolated section of the AWS cloud where you can launch AWS resources in a virtual network that you define. You have complete control over your networking environment.

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Why VPC Matters

Without a VPC, your resources would be exposed to the public internet by default. VPC gives you:

• Network isolation — your resources live in a private network
• Security control — define exactly what traffic is allowed in and out
• Custom addressing — choose your own IP address ranges
• Connectivity options — connect to the internet, other VPCs, or your on-premises network

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Core Components

VPC

A VPC is your private network in AWS. Key attributes:

• Defined by a CIDR block (e.g., 10.0.0.0/16 — gives you 65,536 IP addresses)
• Spans all Availability Zones in a region
• Each AWS account has a default VPC in every region

Subnets

A subnet is a range of IP addresses within your VPC. Subnets are tied to a specific Availability Zone.