This lab is currently in Beta, content may be updated as we refine the material
LABINTERMEDIATE

VPC Endpoints and the NAT Cost Trap

Discover how VPC endpoints eliminate NAT Gateway data-processing charges and learn the cost differences that AWS exams love to test.

40 minutes
infrastructure/aws
VPC Endpoints and the NAT Cost Trap - Platform Engineering Hands-On Lab Icon

Lab Overview

Build a VPC with a NAT Gateway, then add Gateway and Interface VPC endpoints to see how they change traffic flow and cost. You will create a Gateway endpoint for S3, an Interface endpoint for SSM, and calculate the savings compared to routing everything through a NAT Gateway.

You'll learn to:

  • Build a VPC with public and private subnets and a NAT Gateway
  • Create a Gateway VPC endpoint for S3 and verify traffic bypasses NAT
  • Create an Interface VPC endpoint for SSM with private DNS
  • Connect to a private instance via SSM Session Manager without SSH or NAT
  • Compare costs: NAT Gateway vs Gateway endpoint vs Interface endpoint

Key Resources:

What You'll Learn

Create Gateway VPC endpoints to eliminate NAT data-processing fees for S3

Create Interface VPC endpoints to access AWS services privately

Verify that endpoint traffic bypasses the NAT Gateway

Compare per-GB and per-hour costs across NAT, Gateway, and Interface endpoints

Prerequisites

Basic AWS CLI familiarity

Understanding of VPC, subnets, and route tables

Technologies Covered

awsvpcvpc-endpointsnat-gateways3ssmcost-optimizationprivatelink

Part of a Course

This lab is part of the AWS Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) course

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