Hi Everyone,
As there are different options for connecting to AWS VPC. Does anyone knows from the cost perspective, how these fit in the hierarchy ?
AWS Managed VPN
AWS Direct Connect
AWS Direct Connect Plus VPN
AWS VPN CloudHub
Software VPN
Transit VPC
I am under impression that DirectConnect will be the most expensive one.
2 Answers
The basic costs (data transfer, service charges, etc.) are all pretty easy to estimate. It’s just some of the less direct charges that are harder. And sometimes they vary a lot
Where there are hardware requirements, costs can appear less visibly. These could include the costs of setting up cross-connects, hardware upgrades, license upgrades (to allow your hardware to do more things), partner charges for services, costs of hosting the hardware, and the upkeep and maintenance of the hardware.
For a small startup, a Software VPN could be extremely cheap and easy. But for a large enterprise, it would just create more problems than it’s worth in terms of time lost, plus the fact they’d also have certain hardware, so DirectConnect could be cheaper when it comes to Total Cost of Ownership.
You may also have scenarios where multiple are required, such as having a Transit Gateway, plus the cost of a Direct Connect into the Transit Gateway. This can multiply the costs further.
Thanks Stephen. This helps.
In general, what you’ll see on the test is that Direct Connect should be used when you need reliability and latency, regardless of cost. You could also see a question where a public VIF needs to be created.
You can also lower costs using PrivateLink instead of letting a service, such as S3, go over the public internet. I don’t remember seeing that on the test.
Why not put these in the AWS Pricing Calculator and get an estimate? https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html