What is a VPC?

Although consumer VPNs are well known and have saturated the market recently, one should not forget that technology has been prevalent in the corporate sphere. As such, there are many more “virtual” products available for a business than a general user will ever come across. While some of these virtual and private products represent standalone solutions to various corporate needs, the technical ones among them rely on a stable bundle to function. One such product is a VPC or virtual private cloud.

If you are curious why a “cloud” that exists solely on the internet is called “virtual,” congratulations, you are not alone. However, before we answer this question, and you fully understand it, you must learn more about cloud, VPC, and how VPN connects to it all. Therefore, continue reading further to figure out more about VPC and how or if it is different from a VPN.

Note — In this article, the VPN we will refer to is a corporate VPN, not a consumer one. Although you can use a consumer VPN to set up a VPC, it requires in-depth technical knowledge of the security and technology in the industry and a hands-on approach, i.e., manual configuration.

What is “cloud” in networking?

First, what do you know about the term cloud and its use? The term cloud in itself doesn’t say much, except referring to a meteorology term for an aerosol. Yet in networking, the term “cloud” represents anything that doesn’t exist in reality, i.e., in a physical state. Thus, we attribute anything that exists solely on the internet instead of in a physical location as “on the cloud”. You could also say cloud is something you can access remotely over the internet.

Also known as cloud storage or cloud computing, this technology has seen a consistent demand in the past decade. It has made the internet more accessible and convenient. Many industries, be it gaming, streaming, or storage, use this tech to cut costs and render an enhanced user experience.

When we say something is on the cloud, it means that the particular data doesn’t exist on your hard drive. But it is stored on a physical server that requires a drive of some sort. This server can be anywhere in the world and is usually bundled with others for convenience and cost-efficiency. Above all, users choose cloud services for their reliability. However, it’s also well-known and widely used for:

Storing data — It is a convenient tech that can aid users with their storage needs. As long as a user has internet access, they can access the stored data from anywhere.
Sharing data — Similarly, users can use this technology to share data amongst themselves.
Backup — Most serious and organizations users upgrade their devices regularly, making it necessary to regularly back up their data to prevent its loss. With the cloud, data backup becomes easy.

Now we know that a cloud is not a physical entity but rather “virtual.” Then what is a virtual cloud? First, you have to know that the cloud has two parts: public and private. A public cloud, as the name suggests, is a service that many customers share. However, a private cloud has a single customer. Then a VPC or virtual private cloud is a private cloud within a public one. It means that, with a VPC, you don’t have to share a public cloud with anyone else. It’s like you have exclusive access to a public product or service.

A VPC is a secure, isolated private cloud hosted within a public one. VPC users can run codes, store data, host websites, and do almost anything possible in an ordinary private cloud. And, that too, without owning it, since public cloud providers host a VPC as well. This type of cloud is popular because it combines the scalability and convenience of public cloud computing with the isolation offered within a private cloud.

It is more apt to call it a “virtually private” cloud, as it executes a Private IP subnet alongside a virtual communication construct within a public cloud. A VPC’s logical isolation is subject to implementation using virtual network functions and security features. Thus, it is similar to the “friends-only” or “public/private” posts on Facebook, where you can control who can or can’t view (access) such posts.

Imagine all your Facebook posts are public. Then, you use the security feature on Facebook posts to change the alignment of some posts to be viewed only under certain conditions or by certain people. What you did was create a specific private sphere within a public one for your posts. A VPC works similarly, more or less.

How does it work?

We usually use VPCs in the context of cloud IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Thus, a provider supplies the public cloud infrastructure, and various vendors provide the VPCs. A VPC then isolates the computing resources available to the public cloud accordingly. A VPC will have a dedicated Private IP subnet and a VLAN that are only accessible by the authorized clients. This prevents anyone else within the public cloud from accessing the resources of the VPC. The clients use VPNs to connect to the VPC to ensure data secrecy.

The central technologies involved within a VPC to make it possible are as follows:

Subnets — A subnet is a range of IP addresses within a network that are reserved. They’re not available to everyone within the network. A subnet can essentially divide part of the network for private use. Thus, in a VPC, there are Private IP addresses inaccessible via the internet. It is known as the Private IP subnet. They are unlike typical IP addresses, which are publicly visible.
VLAN — A VLAN is a virtual LAN. Similar to the subnet, a VLAN is capable of dividing a network. However, the division takes place at a different layer within the OSI model — layer2 instead of layer3.
VPN — A VPN uses protocols like PPTP, IKEv2, IPsec, L2TP, OpenVPN, WireGuard, and others to create tunnels to connect two points within a network. This tunnel is capable of ensuring encrypted communication and remote access to the network.
NAT — A type of firewall that aids a public-facing website or application to run a VPC. It allows connection to a VPC via the public network by matching Private IP addresses against public ones.

Pros and cons of a VPC

Pros	Cons
A VPC provides complete control over network size along with automated scalability.	It is complex to host and manage a VPN on a VPC.
Even when hosted within a public sphere, it is isolated, making it much secure.	Businesses host VPCs outside their data centers. It can impose some strict data and application limits.
It is easy to connect a VPC to other clouds via a VPN.	Hosting it is costlier than standard cloud services.
It enhances the performance of VPC hosted apps and websites.	VPC providers may be of help to smaller companies but not so much to larger ones.
Customer satisfaction, because it offers the best of both worlds.
It is undoubtedly environmentally friendly.

Features of a VPC

A VPC has distinct features that make it much popular than conventional cloud services. Moreover, a VPC can be considered an advanced form of a VPS (VPN server). The few features that allow a VPC to stand out are as follows:

Agility — It allows you to control the size of your network and permits the allocation of resources as needed, i.e., on a case-by-case basis. These resources are dynamic and controllable in real-time.
Availability — It reduces redundant resources and offers highly fault-tolerant availability zone architecture. Consequently, your applications and workloads are highly available.
Security — Since it’s a logically isolated network, your data and applications won’t share space or mix with other resources. You can have total control over how the resources are accessed and by whom.
Affordability — It offers a private cloud’s continence at the cost of a public cloud service. Thus, you can cut costs on hardware, labor, and time.

VPC vs. VPN

VPC	VPN
It is an elastic cloud service.	It is a technology that ensures private and secure communication over any network.
VPC focuses more on hosting/providing total control over a company/ website.	It focuses more on the privacy and security of online activities.
It can scale automatically according to traffic requirements.	It uses tunnels to circumvent restrictions.
Since it exists on the internet, hardware restrictions don’t apply to it.	By using security protocols, a VPN can be versatile. You can implement it as a Gateway, server, Router, or Concentrator.
A VPC can configure and host a VPN.	A VPN must accompany a VPC.
It is not a stand-alone product.