VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
A private network only your servers can see.
By default every server has a public address, and everything you run on it is one firewall rule away from the open internet. A VPC gives your machines a second network — private addresses that exist only between your own servers, that nobody outside can route to at all.
- Private subnets
- addresses only your servers hold
- Not routable
- no path to it from outside
- Internal traffic
- stays inside the platform
- Dhaka
- one region, one network
What it is
The usual shape of a small application is a web server and a database. If both have public addresses, the database is exposed to the whole internet and is being kept safe by a password and a firewall rule — which works right up until one of those is wrong.
Inside a VPC, the database has no public address at all. The web server reaches it on a private one, and there is no route from anywhere else. A misconfiguration stops being a breach and starts being a service that simply cannot be reached.
What it does for you
Six things VPC changes about how your infrastructure behaves.
Your database off the internet
The machine that holds your data need not be reachable from outside at all. That is a stronger statement than any firewall rule.
Servers talk on private addresses
Application to database, application to cache, worker to queue — all over addresses that exist only within your own network.
One way in, chosen by you
Give a public address only to the machines that need one. Everything else is reached through them, or through a bastion you control.
Separate what should be separate
Production in one network, staging in another. A mistake in staging cannot reach a production database it has no route to.
Traffic that does not leave the platform
Internal traffic stays on the internal network rather than going out and back, which is both faster and one fewer place for it to be seen.
It works with the firewall
The VPC decides what can be reached at all; the cloud firewall decides who may reach the parts that are public. Two different jobs, and you want both.
What people use it for
- Application server and database
- The most common shape, and the one that most often has a database on a public address for no reason.
- Several servers, one application
- Web servers, workers, a cache and a queue that all need to talk to each other and none of which the public needs to reach.
- Keeping staging away from production
- Separate networks mean a test run cannot connect to live data by accident — not because a rule forbids it, but because there is no route.
What it costs
A VPC is configured with your servers rather than bought separately. Tell us what you are running and we will set it up with the network already in place.
We would rather quote you than publish a number we have not checked. Everything on the pricing page is a figure the order form actually charges — this will join it the day the same is true here.
Questions
Do I need a VPC for one server?
Not really. A VPC is about how your servers talk to each other, so it starts earning its keep at the second machine — typically when the database moves off the web server.
Can I still reach my servers to administer them?
Yes. Either one machine keeps a public address and you go through it, or you reach the network over a VPN. Both are normal; which is right depends on how many people need access.
Is traffic inside the VPC encrypted?
It is private, which is not the same as encrypted. It cannot be routed to from outside, but if you are moving something that must be encrypted in transit, encrypt it at the application — use TLS between your services as well.
Can a VPC span two providers?
No. A VPC is a network within one platform. Servers with different providers reach each other over the public internet, which is one of several reasons to keep a single application on one platform.
Something not answered here? Ask us — it is a short answer or it is a phone call, and either is fine.
The rest of the cloud range
These are built to be used together — a server inside a private network, behind a firewall, with its data on a volume and its history in backups.
Cloud Server (VM)
Scalable Linux and Windows instances
See sizes and pricesBare Metal
A whole physical machine, for demanding workloads
Learn moreLoad Balancers
One address in front of many servers
Learn moreCloud Firewall
Control incoming and outgoing network traffic
Learn moreBlock Storage
High-performance storage you mount to a server
Learn moreObject Storage
Scalable, S3-compatible storage
Learn moreSnapshot
On-demand disk images of a server
Learn moreBackup
Automated data protection and recovery
Learn moreNot sure whether you need this?
Tell us what you are running and what is going wrong with it. We will say which of these actually helps — including when the answer is none of them.