NAT Gateway for private subnet internet in AWS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

NAT Gateway for Private Subnet Internet Access

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a simple cloud network for a small company. The company wants to keep some servers private, so they are in a private subnet. These servers need to access the internet to download updates, but no one from the internet should connect directly to them.To do this, you will create a NAT Gateway in a public subnet. The private subnet will use this NAT Gateway to reach the internet safely.

🎯 Goal: Build a basic AWS VPC with one public subnet and one private subnet. Create a NAT Gateway in the public subnet. Configure the private subnet's route table to send internet traffic through the NAT Gateway.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a VPC with CIDR block 10.0.0.0/16

Create a public subnet with CIDR block 10.0.1.0/24

Create a private subnet with CIDR block 10.0.2.0/24

Create an Internet Gateway and attach it to the VPC

Create a NAT Gateway in the public subnet

Create route tables for public and private subnets

Configure the public route table to route 0.0.0.0/0 to the Internet Gateway

Configure the private route table to route 0.0.0.0/0 to the NAT Gateway

Associate the public subnet with the public route table

Associate the private subnet with the private route table

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Many companies use private subnets to protect sensitive servers while still allowing them to access the internet safely through a NAT Gateway.

💼 Career

Understanding how to set up NAT Gateways and route tables is essential for cloud network engineers and architects to design secure and functional cloud networks.

1

Create VPC and Subnets

Create a VPC with CIDR block 10.0.0.0/16. Then create a public subnet with CIDR block 10.0.1.0/24 and a private subnet with CIDR block 10.0.2.0/24 inside this VPC. Use resource names MyVPC, PublicSubnet, and PrivateSubnet respectively.

AWS

# Your code here to create VPC and subnets

Need a hint?

Start by defining the VPC resource with the correct CIDR block. Then add two subnet resources inside this VPC with the specified CIDR blocks.

2

Create Internet Gateway and NAT Gateway

Create an Internet Gateway named MyIGW and attach it to the VPC MyVPC. Then create an Elastic IP named NatEIP and a NAT Gateway named MyNAT in the public subnet PublicSubnet using this Elastic IP.

AWS

# Your code here to create Internet Gateway, Elastic IP, and NAT Gateway

Need a hint?

Attach the Internet Gateway to the VPC. Create an Elastic IP for the NAT Gateway. Then create the NAT Gateway in the public subnet using the Elastic IP.

3

Create Route Tables and Routes

Create a public route table named PublicRT for the VPC MyVPC. Add a route to 0.0.0.0/0 that points to the Internet Gateway MyIGW. Create a private route table named PrivateRT for the same VPC. Add a route to 0.0.0.0/0 that points to the NAT Gateway MyNAT.

AWS

# Your code here to create route tables and routes

Need a hint?

Create two route tables for the VPC. Add a default route to the Internet Gateway in the public route table. Add a default route to the NAT Gateway in the private route table.

4

Associate Subnets with Route Tables

Associate the public subnet PublicSubnet with the public route table PublicRT. Associate the private subnet PrivateSubnet with the private route table PrivateRT.

AWS

# Your code here to associate subnets with route tables

Need a hint?

Use route table association resources to link each subnet to its route table.