Deciphering Network Solutions: AWS VPC Peering vs. Remote.It

In VPC to VPC communication, both VPC Peering Connection and Remote.It can provide solutions, but they have different mechanisms, benefits, and potential challenges.

VPC Peering Connection

VPC Peering Connection is an AWS service that allows direct network connectivity between two Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) in the same region or across regions. It uses the existing infrastructure of AWS, making it a seamless part of the network.

VPC Peering Benefits:

- Network Performance: As VPC Peering is a direct network route between two VPCs, it generally offers high-speed, low-latency connections.

- Security: The traffic between the peered VPCs does not traverse the public internet, which reduces exposure to data leaks and attacks.

- Ease of Setup: VPC Peering can be easily set up within the AWS Management Console.

- Integration: It's integrated with AWS services and is a native part of the AWS ecosystem.

VPC Peering Challenges:

- Overlapping IP Ranges: VPCs cannot have overlapping IP ranges for peering to work.

- Transitive Peering Limitations: If VPC A peers with VPC B, and VPC B peers with VPC C, VPC A cannot directly communicate with VPC C. You must establish a separate peering connection between VPC A and VPC C.

- Scalability: Managing peering connections can become complex as the number of VPCs increases.

Remote.It 

Remote.It offers a Zero Trust Network Connectivity as a Service. It allows users to experience private networks within the internet that only they can see, and deploys secure access to services across cloud, on-premise, and IoT devices via APIs.

Remote.It Benefits:

- Zero Trust Security: Remote.It uses a Zero Trust approach, which means that every request for network access is fully authenticated, authorized, and encrypted before being granted. Access is granted to individual services not the entire VPC subnet.

- Network Flexibility: Unlike VPC Peering, Remote.It can establish connections even when networks have overlapping IP ranges or are in different cloud providers.

- Simplified Management: Remote.It automates IP address planning, resolves subnet collisions, and simplifies routing tables, access control lists, and VLAN tags.

- Connectivity: Remote.It can establish connections even in complex network environments, including CGNAT networks (Mobile 5G, Starlink).

Remote.It Challenges:

- Dependency: As a third-party service, there's a dependency on the provider for the availability and security of the service.

- Integration: It might require additional effort to integrate Remote.It with your existing AWS services and tools compared to using AWS's native VPC Peering.

Cost Comparison

Within VPC Peering, data transfer is free within an AWS Availability Zone (AZ). Outbound is charged based on service and location. 

Remote.It doesn't impose any data transfer fees, but AWS fees for VPC to VPC traffic would apply.

AWS Peering Connection would be cheaper in this example of VPC to VPC connections within an AZ. AWS does recommend AWS Transit Gateway and AWS PrivateLink to interconnect VPCs at scale.

SETUP VPC PEERING CONNECTION

Setting up a VPC Peering Connection involves several steps. Here is a general outline of the process. The instruction applies to setting up a peering connection between two VPCs in the same AWS account. There are a few additional steps if the VPCs are in different accounts or regions.

Step 1: Open the Amazon VPC Console: You can navigate to the Amazon VPC page in your AWS Management Console.

Step 2: Create the Peering Connection:

• In the navigation pane, choose 'Peering Connections.'
• Choose 'Create Peering Connection.'
• For 'VPC (Requester),' select the ID of your VPC from which the request will be sent.
• For 'VPC (Accepter),' select the ID of the VPC with which you're creating a peering connection.
• You can optionally name your peering connection for easier management.
• Choose 'Create Peering Connection.'

Step 3: Accept the Peering Connection:

• In the navigation pane, choose 'Peering Connections.'
• Select the peering connection you just created.
• Choose 'Actions,' then 'Accept Request.'
• In the confirmation dialog box, choose 'Yes, Accept.'

Step 4: Update Route Tables:

• For each VPC in the peering connection, you need to add a route to the main route table pointing to the other VPC's CIDR block.
• In the navigation pane, choose 'Route Tables.'
• Select the route table associated with your VPC.
• In the 'Routes' tab, choose 'Edit routes.'
• Choose 'Add route.'
• For 'Destination,' type the CIDR block of the peered VPC.
• For 'Target,' select 'Peering Connection,' and then choose the ID of the peering connection.
• Choose 'Save routes.'

After these steps, instances in the two VPCs should be able to communicate as if they were within the same network. However, remember that the security groups and network access control lists (NACLs) in your VPCs still apply, so make sure your instances can communicate.

Setup Remote.It

Remote.It setup is simple, and there are multiple options for deployment based on your topology. General AWS setup instructions are available here. Docker agents and Jumpbox are also available if you deploy Docker in AWS.

Summary

In summary, the choice between VPC Peering and Remote.It will depend on your specific needs, including your network configuration, security requirements, budget, and the complexity of your environment.

Both AWS VPC Peering and Remote.It can connect multiple VPCs into a single network. Only Remote.It enables setup-free connections to VPCs and beyond without worrying about IP address overlaps, subnet collisions, maintaining route tables, updating access control lists, and more.

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