Networking & Connectivity in Hybrid Cloud: Connecting On-Premises with AWS

Hybrid cloud adoption is on the rise as organizations aim to balance on-premises control with the scalability of public clouds like AWS. A critical component of a successful hybrid cloud strategy is networking and connectivity. This blog explores how to design a robust hybrid network between an on-premises data center and AWS, focusing on secure VPNs, Direct Connect, routing, load balancing, failover, and performance tuning.

1. Secure Connectivity Between On-Premises and AWS

When connecting your on-premises environment to AWS, the two primary options are:

A. VPN (Virtual Private Network)

• Advantages: Quick setup, cost-effective, encrypted traffic over the public internet.
• Use case: For workloads that don’t require low-latency or high bandwidth.
• Implementation Tips:
  1. Use IPSec VPN for secure tunneling.
  2. Enable redundant VPN connections for high availability.
  3. Monitor VPN tunnels regularly for latency or packet loss.

B. AWS Direct Connect

• Advantages: Dedicated private connection, lower latency, consistent performance.
• Use case: For critical applications requiring high throughput and predictable performance.
• Implementation Tips:
  1. Pair Direct Connect with a Virtual Private Gateway or Transit Gateway.
  2. Combine with VPN for backup connectivity.
  3. Choose the connection speed based on your workload needs (1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, etc.).

2. Hybrid Cloud Network Design

A robust hybrid network requires careful planning of routing, load balancing, and failover.

A. Routing

• Use AWS Transit Gateway to centralize traffic from multiple VPCs.

• Implement BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) for dynamic routing between on-premises and AWS.

• Ensure subnet overlap is avoided to prevent routing conflicts.

B. Load Balancing

• Use AWS Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) for cloud workloads.
• Consider Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) to distribute traffic across on-premises and cloud environments.
• Monitor load and optimize health checks for both environments.

C. Failover

• Implement active-active or active-passive connectivity between on-premises and AWS.
• Use Route 53 DNS failover or dynamic routing protocols to automatically switch traffic during outages.
• Regularly test failover scenarios to ensure reliability.

3. Performance Tuning for Cross-Cloud Applications

Even with a robust connection, latency and bandwidth can impact application performance. Consider the following:

• Application-aware routing: Use tools like AWS Global Accelerator or SD-WAN for optimal traffic paths.
• TCP window tuning: Adjust TCP parameters for high-latency links.
• Caching and CDN: Reduce cross-cloud requests using AWS CloudFront or on-premises caching.
• Monitoring: Continuously monitor throughput, latency, and packet loss using CloudWatch, NetFlow, or third-party tools.

Conclusion

Networking is the backbone of any hybrid cloud strategy. A well-designed connection between on-premises data centers and AWS ensures secure, reliable, and performant communication, enabling organizations to leverage the best of both worlds. Whether through VPNs, Direct Connect, or hybrid load balancing strategies, focusing on connectivity and performance tuning will maximize the efficiency of your hybrid cloud deployments.

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The Blog is written by Numan Gharte ( Cloud Engineer, Cloud.in)