Understanding how to build a Virtual Private Cloud shouldn't be complicated for professionals or students. Build a VPC Labs ensures this. Build a VPC Labs facilitates learning right from the starting point. Users practically go through different stages — with understanding customization as the first step. While the default AWS VPC, an acronym for Virtual Private Cloud, is widely available and accessible; architecting a tailored solution gives a more liberated feel. Users, in Build a VPC Labs, also learn to create public and private subnets across different Availability Zones. Hands-on experience further covers configuration of an Internet Gateway, creation of route tables, and associating subnets appropriately to build a secure & scalable network architecture. The lab then goes a step further — deploying a Bastion Host, Backend Server, and Database Server into the network, complete with least-privilege Security Groups and a NAT Gateway for controlled outbound access, so users see the VPC actually put to work rather than left empty. Start right away to gain practical understanding and earn a certificate at the end.
You are a cloud network engineer at an organization which is migrating its applications to AWS. Instead of relying on the default VPC, your team requires a custom network architecture that follows industry best practices for security, scalability, and high availability. The architecture must separate internet-facing resources from internal services while supporting future application growth. Your task is to create a custom Amazon VPC, design public & private subnets across multiple Availability Zones, configure an Internet Gateway for external connectivity, create route tables, and associate them with the appropriate subnets. Once the network foundation is in place, you must also deploy the organization's first workloads onto it — a Bastion Host for secure administrative access, a Backend Server to run the application layer, and a Database Server to hold internal data — each locked down with tightly scoped Security Groups and routed correctly between public and private layers.
By the end of this lab, you will be able to:
You learnt about VPC into a working three-tier network by deploying a Bastion Host in the Public Subnet, and a Backend Server and Database Server in the Private Subnets. You created dedicated Security Groups scoped to least-privilege access (SG-to-SG references instead of open CIDR ranges), added a NAT Gateway so private resources retain outbound-only internet access, and verified end-to-end connectivity by hopping from the Bastion Host into your private instances. This setup reflects a production-style AWS architecture: internet-facing components isolated in the Public Subnet, sensitive application and data layers locked away in Private Subnets, and all administrative access funnelled securely through a single hardened entry point.