Networking Basics
Before diving into AWS (Amazon Web Services), it's important to have a solid understanding of key
networking concepts. Networking is a fundamental part of how AWS operates, and understanding
the basics will help you work with AWS services more effectively. Here's a list of the core
networking topics you should be familiar with:
1. IP Addressing and Subnetting
• IP Addressing: Understand the difference between 1Pv4 and 1Pv6, public vs. private IPs, and the concept of IP
address classes (Class A, B, C, etc.).
• Subnetting: Learn how to subnet a network, calculate subnet masks, and understand CIDR (Classless Inter
Domain Routing) notation. This is crucial for managing Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) in AWS.
• Private vs. Public IPs: Know how to assign IPs to devices on your network and what the limitations are in
private vs. public IP ranges.
2. Routing and Routing Tables
• Static vs. Dynamic Routing: Understand how routers direct traffic, and the difference between static routes
(manually configured) and dynamic routes (automatically learned via routing protocols).
• Routing Tables: Learn how routing tables are used to define the path that network traffic should take,
including default routes, and how to configure them in a cloud environment like AWS.
3. Network Devices and their Functions
• Routers, Switches, and Gateways: Learn the role of network devices like routers (direct traffic between
networks), switches (connect devices on the same network), and gateways (connect networks of different
protocols).
• Firewalls: Understand the basic operation of firewalls and security groups, which are crucial for controlling
traffic into and out of your network.
4. DNS (Domain Name System)
• DNS Resolution: Learn how DNS works to resolve domain names to IP addresses, which is essential for
setting up services that users can access via a domain name.
• DNS Management: In AWS, you will use Route 53 for DNS management, so understanding how DNS works at
a high level will be very helpful.
5. VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks)
• VLAN Basics: Learn how VLANs work to segment networks logically within a physical network.
• VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) in AWS: In AWS, a VPC functions similarly to a VLAN, as it is a logically isolated
network. Understanding VLAN concepts will make it easier to grasp VPC setup and management.
6. NAT (Network Address Translation)
• NAT Basics: Understand the concept of NAT, which is used to translate private IP addresses to public IPs (and
vice versa) in order to allow devices within a private network to access the internet.
• NAT Gateways and NAT Instances: In AWS, you'll work with NAT gateways to allow private subnets in your
VPC to access the internet without exposing them directly.
7. VPNs (Virtual Private Networks)
• VPN Types: Understand the basic concepts of site-to-site and client-to-site VPNs, and how they are used to
securely connect networks over the internet.
• VPN in AWS: Learn how AWS supports VPN connections via AWS VPN Gateway, enabling you to connect
your on-premises network to your AWS VPC securely.
8. Security Basics (Firewalls, Security Groups, NACLs)
• Security Groups: In AWS, security groups are used to control inbound and outbound traffic for instances.
Understanding how to configure and manage security groups is crucial.
• Network Access Control Lists (NACLs): Learn how NACLs provide a layer of security for your VPC by
controlling traffic at the subnet level.
• Firewalls: General firewall concepts (stateful vs. stateless) will be helpful as they relate to security group and
NACL configuration in AWS.
9. Load Balancing
• Load Balancer Concepts: Learn how load balancers distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers or
instances to ensure reliability and scalability.
• Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) in AWS: AWS provides different types of load balancers (Classic, Application,
and Network Load Balancers), and understanding how they work is essential for deploying scalable, fault
tolerant applications.
10. Cloud Networking Basics
• Cloud vs. On-Premise Networking: Understand the differences between traditional on-premises networking
and cloud networking, including the idea of virtual networks and services provided by cloud providers like AWS.
• Hybrid Cloud Networking: Learn how hybrid cloud environments work, and how on-premise and cloud-based
networks can be connected, such as through Direct Connect or VPN.
11. High Availability and Fault Tolerance
• High Availability (HA): Learn about designing networks and systems that ensure service uptime, such as
multi-AZ (Availability Zone) and multi-region configurations in AWS.
• Failover and Redundancy: Understanding how to implement failover mechanisms in networking, such as
redundant network links, is critical in both traditional and cloud environments.
12. Bandwidth and Latency
• Network Bandwidth: Understand the concepts of network throughput, bandwidth limitations, and how they
can impact application performance.
• Latency: Learn the importance of network latency and how it affects performance in cloud-based applications.
How These Topics Relate to AWS:
• VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) is one of the most fundamental networking concepts in AWS, which is essentially
a virtual network you create in the cloud.
• Security Groups and NACLs in AWS act as firewalls at the instance and subnet levels, respectively.
• Route Tables within AWS VPC control how traffic is routed between subnets and to/from the internet (via
Internet Gateways or NAT).
• Elastic Load Balancing and Auto Scaling allow for high availability and fault tolerance in distributed systems.
Learning Path:
1. Start with IP addressing, subnetting, and routing basics.
2. Move on to understanding VPNs, NAT, and VLANs.
3. Study DNS and load balancing.
4. Learn cloud-specific networking with a focus on AWS VPC and its associated components (Security Groups,
NACLs, Route Tables, etc.).
5. Familiarize yourself with AWS networking services like Direct Connect, Transit Gateway, and VPN Gateway.
