Introduction

In today’s cloud-native world, ensuring secure and efficient communication between services is paramount. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a robust solution with AWS PrivateLink, allowing you to privately access services hosted on AWS without using public IPs. In this article, we'll walk through the process of adding additional PrivateLink services from endpoints to a Network Load Balancer (NLB) to enhance secure connection speed with whitelisted ports.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following:

• An AWS account with permissions to create NLBs and manage VPC endpoints.
• Basic understanding of AWS services, particularly VPC, NLB, and PrivateLink.

Understanding the Components

What is AWS PrivateLink?

AWS PrivateLink simplifies the security of data shared with applications by enabling private connectivity between VPCs, AWS services, and on-premises networks. PrivateLink provides private IP addresses to these services, ensuring that data doesn't traverse the public internet.

What is a Network Load Balancer (NLB)?

A Network Load Balancer is designed to handle millions of requests per second while maintaining ultra-low latencies. It operates at the connection level (Layer 4) and is ideal for TCP traffic.

Step-by-Step Guide to Adding PrivateLink Services to NLB

Step 1: Create a VPC Endpoint for the PrivateLink Service

1. Login to AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to the VPC Dashboard.
3. On the left sidebar, click on Endpoints.
4. Click on Create Endpoint.
5. Select the Service category. You can choose from the following options:
   • AWS Services: Access AWS services privately.
   • Marketplace: Access partner services.
   • Custom: For your custom services.
6. Choose the service you want to connect to and select the VPC where your NLB is located.
7. Specify the subnets where the endpoint will be created.

Step 2: Configure Security Group for the VPC Endpoint

1. Navigate to the Security Groups associated with your VPC endpoint.
2. Add an inbound rule to allow traffic from your NLB on the necessary ports.
3. Ensure the source is set to your NLB’s security group for whitelisting purposes.

Step 3: Create or Modify an Existing Network Load Balancer

1. Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard and click on Load Balancers.
2. Select Create Load Balancer and choose Network Load Balancer.
3. Configure the basic settings, such as name and scheme.
4. For Listeners, set the appropriate protocol and port (e.g., TCP on port 80).
5. In the Target Groups section, select Create a new target group or choose an existing one.

Step 4: Register Targets

1. For the target group, select Register targets.
2. Choose the VPC endpoint created in Step 1 as the target.
3. Click on Add to registered.

Step 5: Test the Configuration

1. Once everything is set up, you can test the configuration.
2. Use tools like curl or Postman to send requests to your NLB.
3. Ensure that the connections are established over the private link.

Conclusion

By integrating AWS PrivateLink services with your Network Load Balancer, you enhance the security and speed of your connections while maintaining control over your network traffic. This setup not only optimizes performance but also protects sensitive data by keeping it off the public internet.

Further Reading

• AWS PrivateLink Documentation
• Network Load Balancer Documentation