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What is AWS Direct Connect

In This Article, we'll learn about what is AWS Direct Connect, its components, benefits, and a glimpse at how it works.

AWS Direct Connect

AWS Direct Connect is a cloud service solution that makes it simple to build up a dedicated network connection from your premises to AWS. Utilizing AWS Direct Connect, you can build up private availability among AWS and your datacenter, office, or colocation environment, which much of the time can decrease your network costs, increase bandwidth throughput, and provide a more consistent network experience than Internet-based connections.

AWS Direct Connect lets you build up a dedicated network connection between your system and one of the AWS Direct Connect locations. Utilizing industry-standard 802.1q VLANs, this dedicated connection can be partitioned into numerous virtual interfaces. This permits you to utilize the same connection to access public resources like objects stored in Amazon S3 utilizing open IP address space, and private resources, for example, Amazon EC2 instances running inside an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) utilizing private IP space, while keeping up arrange partition between people in general and private conditions. Virtual interfaces can be reconfigured whenever to meet your evolving needs.

AWS Direct Connect links your internal network to an AWS Direct Connect area over a standard Ethernet fiber-optic link. One finish of the link is associated with your switch, the other to an AWS Direct Connect switch. With this association, you can make virtual interfaces straightforwardly to open AWS administrations (for instance, to Amazon S3) or to Amazon VPC, bypassing internet service providers in your system way. An AWS Direct Connect area gives access to AWS in the region with which it is associated. You can utilize a single connection in an open Region or AWS GovCloud (US) to get to open AWS benefits in all other public Regions.

The following diagram shows how AWS Direct Connect interfaces with your network.

AWS Direct Connect components

The following are the key components that you use for AWS Direct Connect:

Connections

Create a connection in an AWS Direct Connect location to establish a network connection from your premises to an AWS Region. For more information, see AWS Direct Connect connections.

Virtual interfaces

Create a virtual interface to enable access to AWS services. A public virtual interface enables access to public services, such as Amazon S3. A private virtual interface enables access to your VPC. For more information, see AWS Direct Connect virtual interfaces and Prerequisites for virtual interfaces.

Benefits

Reduce Bandwidth Costs

If you have bandwidth-heavy workloads that you wish to run in AWS, AWS Direct Connect decreases your network costs into and out of AWS in two different ways. In the first place, by moving data to and from AWS straightforwardly, you can lessen your bandwidth speed to your Internet service provider. Second, all data moved over your dedicated connection is charged at the decreased AWS Direct Connect data transfer rate as opposed to Internet data transfer rates.

Consistent Network Performance

Network latency over the Internet can vary given that the Internet is constantly changing how data gets from point A to B. With AWS Direct Connect, you have the option to choose the data that uses the dedicated connection and how that data is routed which can give a more consistent network experience over Internet-based connections.

Compatible with all AWS Services

AWS Direct Connect is a network service and works with all AWS services that are accessible over the Internet, such as Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3), Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), and Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC).

Private Connectivity to your Amazon VPC

You can use AWS Direct Connect to establish a private virtual interface from your on-premise network directly to your Amazon VPC, giving you a private, high bandwidth network connection between your network and your VPC. With multiple virtual interfaces, you can even establish private connectivity to various different VPCs while maintaining network isolation.

Elastic

AWS Direct Connect makes it simple to scale your connection to meet your needs. AWS Direct Connect gives 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps connections, and you can easily provision various multiple connections if you need more capacity. You can also use AWS Direct Connect instead of establishing a VPN connection over the Internet to your Amazon VPC, avoiding the need to utilize VPN hardware that frequently can’t support data transfer rates above 4 Gbps.

Simple

You can sign up for the AWS Direct Connect service quickly and easily using the AWS Management Console. The console provides a single view to efficiently manage all your connections and virtual interfaces. You can also download customized router templates for your networking equipment after configuring one or more virtual interfaces.

How it works

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