VPC with a single public subnet
The configuration for this scenario includes a virtual private cloud (VPC) with a single public subnet, and an internet gateway to enable communication over the internet. We recommend this configuration if you need to run a single-tier, public-facing web application, such as a blog or a simple website.
This scenario can also be optionally configured for IPv6. Instances launched into the public subnet can receive IPv6 addresses, and communicate using IPv6. For more information about IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, see IP addressing.
For information about managing your EC2 instance software, see Managing software on your Linux instance in the Amazon EC2 User Guide for Linux Instances.
Overview
The following diagram shows the key components of the configuration for this scenario.
The configuration for this scenario includes the following:
-
A virtual private cloud (VPC) with a size /16 IPv4 CIDR block (example: 10.0.0.0/16). This provides 65,536 private IPv4 addresses.
-
A subnet with a size /24 IPv4 CIDR block (example: 10.0.0.0/24). This provides 256 private IPv4 addresses.
-
An internet gateway. This connects the VPC to the internet and to other AWS services.
-
An instance with a private IPv4 address in the subnet range (example: 10.0.0.6), which enables the instance to communicate with other instances in the VPC, and an Elastic IPv4 address (example: 198.51.100.2), which is a public IPv4 address that enables the instance to connect to the internet and to be reached from the internet.
-
A custom route table associated with the subnet. The route table entries enable instances in the subnet to use IPv4 to communicate with other instances in the VPC, and to communicate directly over the internet. A subnet that's associated with a route table that has a route to an internet gateway is known as a public subnet.
For more information, see Subnets. For more information about internet gateways, see Connect to the internet using an internet gateway.
IPv6 configuration
You can optionally enable IPv6 for this scenario. In addition to the components listed above, the configuration includes the following:
-
A size /56 IPv6 CIDR block associated with the VPC (example: 2001:db8:1234:1a00::/56). Amazon automatically assigns the CIDR; you cannot choose the range yourself.
-
A size /64 IPv6 CIDR block associated with the public subnet (example: 2001:db8:1234:1a00::/64). You can choose the range for your subnet from the range allocated to the VPC. You cannot choose the size of the subnet IPv6 CIDR block.
-
An IPv6 address assigned to the instance from the subnet range (example: 2001:db8:1234:1a00::123).
-
Route table entries in the custom route table that enable instances in the VPC to use IPv6 to communicate with each other, and directly over the internet.
Routing
Your VPC has an implied router (shown in the configuration diagram above). In this scenario, Amazon VPC creates a custom route table that routes all traffic destined for an address outside the VPC to the internet gateway, and associates this route table with the subnet.
The following table shows the route table for the example in the configuration diagram
above. The first entry is the default entry for local IPv4 routing in the VPC; this
entry enables the instances in this VPC to communicate with each other. The second entry
routes all other IPv4 subnet traffic to the internet gateway (for example,
igw-1a2b3c4d).
| Destination | Target |
|---|---|
10.0.0.0/16
|
local |
| 0.0.0.0/0 | igw-id |
Routing for IPv6
If you associate an IPv6 CIDR block with your VPC and subnet, your route table must include separate routes for IPv6 traffic. The following table shows the custom route table for this scenario if you choose to enable IPv6 communication in your VPC. The second entry is the default route that's automatically added for local routing in the VPC over IPv6. The fourth entry routes all other IPv6 subnet traffic to the internet gateway.
| Destination | Target |
|---|---|
10.0.0.0/16
|
local |
2001:db8:1234:1a00::/56
|
local |
| 0.0.0.0/0 | igw-id |
| ::/0 | igw-id |
Security
AWS provides features that you can use to increase security for the resources in your VPC. Security groups allow inbound and outbound traffic for associated resources, such as EC2 instances. Network ACLs allow or deny inbound and outbound traffic at the subnet level. In most cases, security groups can meet your needs. However, you can use network ACLs if you want an additional layer of security. For more information, see Compare security groups and network ACLs.
For this scenario, you use a security group but not a network ACL. If you'd like to use a network ACL, see Recommended network ACL rules for a VPC with a single public subnet.
Your VPC comes with a default security group. An instance that's launched into the VPC is automatically associated with the default security group if you don't specify a different security group during launch. You can add specific rules to the default security group, but the rules may not be suitable for other instances that you launch into the VPC. Instead, we recommend that you create a custom security group for your web server.
For this scenario, create a security group named WebServerSG. When you
create a security group, it has a single outbound rule that allows all traffic to leave
the instances. You must modify the rules to enable inbound traffic and restrict the
outbound traffic as needed. You specify this security group when you launch instances
into the VPC.
The following are the inbound and outbound rules for IPv4 traffic for the WebServerSG security group.
| Inbound | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Protocol | Port range | Comments |
|
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
80 |
Allow inbound HTTP access to the web servers from any IPv4 address. |
|
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
443 |
Allow inbound HTTPS access to the web servers from any IPv4 address |
|
Public IPv4 address range of your network |
TCP |
22 |
(Linux instances) Allow inbound SSH access from your network over
IPv4. You can get the public IPv4 address of your local computer
using a service such as http://checkip.amazonaws.com |
|
Public IPv4 address range of your network |
TCP |
3389 |
(Windows instances) Allow inbound RDP access from your network over IPv4. |
| The security group ID (sg-xxxxxxxx) | All | All | (Optional) Allow inbound traffic from other instances associated with this security group. This rule is automatically added to the default security group for the VPC; for any custom security group you create, you must manually add the rule to allow this type of communication. |
| Outbound (Optional) | |||
| Destination | Protocol | Port range | Comments |
| 0.0.0.0/0 | All | All | Default rule to allow all outbound access to any IPv4 address. If you remove this rule, your web server can't initiate outbound traffic, for example, to get software updates. If you remove this rule, your web server can still send response traffic to requests, because security groups are stateful. |
Security group rules for IPv6
If you associate an IPv6 CIDR block with your VPC and subnet, you must add separate rules to your security group to control inbound and outbound IPv6 traffic for your web server instance. In this scenario, the web server will be able to receive all internet traffic over IPv6, and SSH or RDP traffic from your local network over IPv6.
The following are the IPv6-specific rules for the WebServerSG security group (which are in addition to the rules listed above).
| Inbound | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Source | Protocol | Port range | Comments |
|
::/0 |
TCP |
80 |
Allow inbound HTTP access to the web servers from any IPv6 address. |
|
::/0 |
TCP |
443 |
Allow inbound HTTPS access to the web servers from any IPv6 address. |
|
IPv6 address range of your network |
TCP |
22 |
(Linux instances) Allow inbound SSH access over IPv6 from your network. |
|
IPv6 address range of your network |
TCP |
3389 |
(Windows instances) Allow inbound RDP access over IPv6 from your network |
| Outbound (Optional) | |||
| Destination | Protocol | Port range | Comments |
| ::/0 | All | All | Default rule to allow all outbound access to any IPv4 address. If you remove this rule, your web server can't initiate outbound traffic, for example, to get software updates. If you remove this rule, your web server can still send response traffic to requests, because security groups are stateful. |
Recommended network ACL rules for a VPC with a single public subnet
The following table shows the rules that we recommend. They block all traffic except that which is explicitly required.
| Inbound | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rule # | Source IP | Protocol | Port | Allow/Deny | Comments |
|
100 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
80 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound HTTP traffic from any IPv4 address. |
|
110 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
443 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound HTTPS traffic from any IPv4 address. |
|
120 |
Public IPv4 address range of your home network |
TCP |
22 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound SSH traffic from your home network (over the internet gateway). |
|
130 |
Public IPv4 address range of your home network |
TCP |
3389 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound RDP traffic from your home network (over the internet gateway). |
|
140 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
32768-65535 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound return traffic from hosts on the internet that are responding to requests originating in the subnet. This range is an example only. For information about choosing the correct ephemeral ports for your configuration, see Ephemeral ports. |
|
* |
0.0.0.0/0 |
all |
all |
DENY |
Denies all inbound IPv4 traffic not already handled by a preceding rule (not modifiable). |
| Outbound | |||||
| Rule # | Dest IP | Protocol | Port | Allow/Deny | Comments |
|
100 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
80 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound HTTP traffic from the subnet to the internet. |
|
110 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
443 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound HTTPS traffic from the subnet to the internet. |
|
120 |
0.0.0.0/0 |
TCP |
32768-65535 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound responses to clients on the internet (for example, serving webpages to people visiting the web servers in the subnet). This range is an example only. For information about choosing the correct ephemeral ports for your configuration, see Ephemeral ports. |
|
* |
0.0.0.0/0 |
all |
all |
DENY |
Denies all outbound IPv4 traffic not already handled by a preceding rule (not modifiable). |
Recommended network ACL rules for IPv6
If you implemented IPv6 support and created a VPC and subnet with associated IPv6 CIDR blocks, you must add separate rules to your network ACL to control inbound and outbound IPv6 traffic.
The following are the IPv6-specific rules for your network ACL (which are in addition to the preceding rules).
| Inbound | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rule # | Source IP | Protocol | Port | Allow/Deny | Comments |
|
150 |
::/0 |
TCP |
80 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound HTTP traffic from any IPv6 address. |
|
160 |
::/0 |
TCP |
443 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound HTTPS traffic from any IPv6 address. |
|
170 |
IPv6 address range of your home network |
TCP |
22 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound SSH traffic from your home network (over the internet gateway). |
|
180 |
IPv6 address range of your home network |
TCP |
3389 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound RDP traffic from your home network (over the internet gateway). |
|
190 |
::/0 |
TCP |
32768-65535 |
ALLOW |
Allows inbound return traffic from hosts on the internet that are responding to requests originating in the subnet. This range is an example only. For information about choosing the correct ephemeral ports for your configuration, see Ephemeral ports. |
|
* |
::/0 |
all |
all |
DENY |
Denies all inbound IPv6 traffic not already handled by a preceding rule (not modifiable). |
| Outbound | |||||
| Rule # | Dest IP | Protocol | Port | Allow/Deny | Comments |
|
130 |
::/0 |
TCP |
80 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound HTTP traffic from the subnet to the internet. |
|
140 |
::/0 |
TCP |
443 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound HTTPS traffic from the subnet to the internet. |
|
150 |
::/0 |
TCP |
32768-65535 |
ALLOW |
Allows outbound responses to clients on the internet (for example, serving webpages to people visiting the web servers in the subnet). This range is an example only. For information about choosing the correct ephemeral ports for your configuration, see Ephemeral ports. |
|
* |
::/0 |
all |
all |
DENY |
Denies all outbound IPv6 traffic not already handled by a preceding rule (not modifiable). |
