Cloud Networking Essentials

Hi Inner Circle,

If you've been looking to start your cloud journey and are unsure whether to focus on certifications or building a few projects first, here’s my two cents: start with free newsletters that help introduce key concepts and guide your learning process.

Knowing what concepts to focus on will definitely help you build a strong foundation. anddd you're in the right place at the right time!

Welcome to Week 1 – today, we’ll explore Cloud Networking Essentials.

Let’s dive into the core topics:

1. Network Isolation (VPC & Subnets)

   • Default vs Custom VPCs: In cloud environments, a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a virtual network dedicated to your resources. A Default VPC is automatically created when you set up your cloud account, whereas a Custom VPC lets you configure your own network architecture.

   • Multi-tier Architecture Design: This involves creating different layers of network infrastructure (e.g., web, application, and database layers) to separate traffic, improve security, and enhance scalability.

   • Subnet CIDR Planning: CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) notation defines IP address ranges for subnets. Proper subnet planning helps to allocate IPs effectively, ensuring network resources are optimized.

   • Real Scenario: "How would you isolate prod/dev environments?" This involves designing network boundaries between production and development environments for security and resource management.

2. Access Controls

   • Security Groups vs NACLs: Security Groups are virtual firewalls that control inbound and outbound traffic at the instance level. NACLs (Network Access Control Lists) are used to control traffic at the subnet level and can allow or deny traffic from specified IP ranges.

   • Cloud-native Firewalls: These are built-in firewall services provided by cloud providers that help protect your infrastructure from unauthorized access or cyber-attacks.

   • Real Scenario: "Design security for a public-facing API" involves setting up access control measures (like security groups or firewalls) to ensure that your API is secure from malicious actors.

3. DNS & Name Resolution

   • Private vs Public Zones: DNS (Domain Name System) resolves domain names into IP addresses. Public DNS zones handle internet-facing domains, while Private DNS zones are used for internal network resources.

   • Custom Routing Policies: This allows you to define specific rules for how DNS queries are resolved, such as routing traffic to different endpoints based on factors like user location.

   • Real Scenario: "Design global DNS failover" involves setting up DNS so that if one region fails, traffic can be rerouted to a working region, ensuring minimal downtime.

4. Load Balancing

   • Application vs Network Level: Application Load Balancing works at the application layer (Layer 7) of the OSI model, distributing traffic based on HTTP/HTTPS requests. Network Load Balancing works at the transport layer (Layer 4) and routes traffic based on IP and TCP/UDP protocols.

   • Global Load Balancing Patterns: This involves directing traffic between multiple data centers or cloud regions, ensuring that users are routed to the nearest or healthiest resource available.

   • Real Scenario: "Handle traffic spikes across regions" means configuring a load balancer to efficiently distribute traffic even during sudden surges in demand.

5. NAT & Internet Access

   • NAT Gateway vs Instances: NAT Gateways provide managed, scalable network address translation for instances in private subnets, enabling them to access the internet. NAT Instances offer a similar function but are managed manually.

   • Internet Gateway Design: An Internet Gateway connects your VPC to the internet, allowing resources in your VPC to communicate with the outside world.

   • Real Scenario: "Secure outbound traffic flows" involves configuring the proper setup to ensure secure communication from your private instances to the internet without exposing them directly.

6. Hybrid Connectivity

   • VPN vs Direct Connect: A VPN (Virtual Private Network) provides a secure connection between on-premises networks and cloud environments over the internet, while Direct Connect offers a dedicated, private connection for more reliable and lower-latency communication.

   • Transit Gateway Architecture: A Transit Gateway allows multiple VPCs to communicate with each other and with on-premises networks through a central hub, simplifying network architecture.

   • Real Scenario: "Connect legacy datacenter to cloud" involves setting up a hybrid connection so that an on-premises data center can communicate with cloud resources securely.

7. Interconnect Architecture

   • VPC Peering Strategies: VPC Peering enables direct communication between two VPCs, allowing resources in different VPCs to communicate as if they are within the same network.

   • Hub-Spoke Models: A Hub-Spoke model is a network design where multiple VPCs (spokes) are connected to a central VPC (hub), streamlining traffic flow and making it easier to manage communication.

   • Real Scenario: "Design multi-region connectivity" involves configuring a network that spans multiple regions to ensure efficient communication between resources located in different geographic locations.

8. Private Service Access

   • PrivateLink/Endpoints: PrivateLink allows secure, private connectivity to services hosted in the cloud without using public IPs. Private Endpoints provide private access to cloud services within a VPC.

   • Service Discovery Patterns: This refers to the automatic detection of services and their endpoints within a network, allowing dynamic connections to cloud resources as they scale.

   • Real Scenario: "Secure access to managed databases" involves setting up private access to databases in the cloud to avoid exposing them to the public internet.

9. IP Management

   • IPv4/IPv6 Strategy: An IP Addressing Strategy ensures that both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses are managed correctly, as IPv6 is the future-proof solution to address the growing demand for IP addresses.

   • BYOIP Implementation: Bring Your Own IP (BYOIP) allows you to use your own IP address ranges in the cloud, giving you more control over your network.

   • Real Scenario: "Plan IP addressing at scale" involves creating a long-term strategy for managing a large number of IP addresses as your cloud resources grow.

10. Traffic Control

    • Route Tables: Route tables define the paths that network traffic will take through your cloud infrastructure, determining how packets are forwarded.

    • BGP Routing Patterns: BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is used for dynamic routing between networks, allowing for automatic routing adjustments based on network conditions.

    • Real Scenario: "Optimize application routing" involves configuring routing to ensure that traffic flows in the most efficient manner, reducing latency and improving performance.

11. Network Monitoring

    • Flow Logs: Flow Logs capture metadata about network traffic and help identify traffic patterns, detect anomalies, and troubleshoot connectivity issues.

    • Packet Analysis: Packet Analysis involves inspecting the actual data packets flowing through your network to identify issues such as dropped connections or unauthorized access.

    • Real Scenario: "Debug cross-region connectivity" refers to troubleshooting and resolving network connectivity issues between different geographic regions.

12. High Availability

    • Multi-AZ Design: Multi-AZ (Availability Zone) design involves spreading resources across different AZs to improve fault tolerance and ensure availability if one zone fails.

    • Failover Strategies: These strategies ensure that if one resource or service fails, traffic is rerouted to a backup or secondary resource, minimizing downtime.

    • Real Scenario: "Design for 99.99% availability" involves ensuring that your systems are resilient, and set up in a way that minimizes downtime, achieving near-perfect uptime.

Each of these topics is essential to understanding how cloud networking works, or at least the concepts you should be familiar with.

Now, you're not fully ready to dive into building scalable, highly performant cloud infrastructure just yet.

Whichever cloud provider you’ve chosen, try looking for services that map to each of these network components. Get a general understanding of how they work (also understand the trade-offs)

Free Resources:

1. GCP - Cloud Engineering Learning Path 

2. AWS Skill Builder

3. Azure Learning Path

4. Google Cloud Skills Boost

5. AWS Builder Labs

No need for projects just yet (can get some exposure via labs) — but know that networking is a major piece of any cloud-native application. Think about how you would design a public-facing web app with a private database, and what configurations you would need to adjust (example scenario).

That’s it for today! Next week, we’ll dive into Cloud Compute Essentials.

By the end, we’ll complement these topics with crucial cloud projects that you can build to showcase your cloud skills on your resume.

See you next Thursday!