Create a VPC network in seconds
Create or update resources to operate within the VPC of your choice. Droplets, Kubernetes, Load Balancers, and Databases all run within VPC.
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Secure
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a logically isolated network for cloud resources. VPC gives you more control over how your resources communicate, with isolation reminiscent of what you might achieve running systems on premises.
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Simple
Easily create multiple VPCs through our developer-friendly dashboard, CLI, and API. We automatically create VPCs for your resources when you don’t want to customize network settings.
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Customizable
Configure your VPC to meet your precise requirements. Specify an IP address range to interconnect another network. Or configure Firewalls to control traffic in and out.
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VPC pricing
Transfer to and within VPCs is free, and you can create as many VPCs as you want for no additional cost.
What is a virtual private cloud (VPC)?
A virtual private cloud (VPC) is a secure, isolated private cloud hosted within a public cloud. VPC customers can run code, store data, host websites, and do anything else they could do in an ordinary private cloud, but the private cloud is hosted remotely by a public cloud provider. (Not all private clouds are hosted in this fashion.) VPCs combine the scalability and convenience of public cloud computing with the data isolation of private cloud computing.
Imagine a public cloud as a crowded restaurant, and a virtual private cloud as a reserved table in that crowded restaurant. Even though the restaurant is full of people, a table with a "Reserved" sign on it can only be accessed by the party who made the reservation. Similarly, a public cloud is crowded with various cloud customers accessing computing resources – but a VPC reserves some of those resources for use by only one customer.
What is a public cloud? What is a private cloud?
A public cloud is shared cloud infrastructure. Multiple customers of the cloud vendor access that same infrastructure, although their data is not shared – just like every person in a restaurant orders from the same kitchen, but they get different dishes. Public cloud service providers include AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure, among others.
A private cloud, however, is single-tenant. A private cloud is a cloud service that is exclusively offered to one organization. A virtual private cloud (VPC) is a private cloud within a public cloud; no one else shares the VPC with the VPC customer.
How is a VPC isolated within a public cloud?
A VPC isolates computing resources from the other computing resources available in the public cloud. The key technologies for isolating a VPC from the rest of the public cloud are:
Subnets: A subnet is a range of IP addresses within a network that are reserved so that they're not available to everyone within the network, essentially dividing part of the network for private use. In a VPC these are private IP addresses that are not accessible via the public Internet, unlike typical IP addresses, which are publicly visible.
VLAN: A LAN is a local area network, or a group of computing devices that are all connected to each other without the use of the Internet. A VLAN is a virtual LAN. Like a subnet, a VLAN is a way of partitioning a network, but the partitioning takes place at a different layer within the OSI model (layer 2 instead of layer 3).
VPN: A virtual private network (VPN) uses encryption to create a private network over the top of a public network. VPN traffic passes through publicly shared Internet infrastructure – routers, switches, etc. – but the traffic is scrambled and not visible to anyone.
What are the advantages of using a VPC instead of a private cloud?
Scalability: Because a VPC is hosted by a public cloud provider, customers can add more computing resources on demand.
Easy hybrid cloud deployment: It's relatively simple to connect a VPC to a public cloud or to on-premises infrastructure via the VPN. (Learn about hybrid clouds and their advantages.)
Better performance: Cloud-hosted websites and applications typically perform better than those hosted on local on-premises servers.
Better security: The public cloud providers that offer VPCs often have more resources for updating and maintaining the infrastructure, especially for small and mid-market businesses. For large enterprises or any companies that face extremely tight data security regulations, this is less of an advantage.