Many organizations want the security and reliability of a private cloud with the scalability benefits of the public cloud. Establishing this type of hybrid environment isn’t always easy and that is where Aviatrix can help. By utilizing their cloud computing networking services, they make it simple to set up a hybrid private-public cloud environment. In this article we’ll look at how Aviatrix works but first, a short overview of why hybrid computing is important.

How Hybrid Computing Can Help Your Business

There are 8,760 hours in a year. What are the implications of your private cloud infrastructure being offline for 10 of them? 10 hours of outage during peak demand is a crisis that no CTO wants. Yet as crucial as those 10 hours are, it doesn’t make sense to spend thousands of dollars upgrading hardware that will only get used once or twice a year. With cloud computing you don’t have to.

Cloud services can scale instantaneously to handle traffic spikes then scale back down so that you’re not paying for resources you’re not using. Ideally, the computing tasks delegated to the public cloud will be non-sensitive while sensitive data and computations are kept on the private cloud. But how to set up this type of network? With Aviatrix it’s easy.

How Aviatrix Works

Aviatrix works with all major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle. In terms of implementation, “The Aviatrix Controller and Gateways are deployed as software in your VPCs and VNETs.” Let’s break that down into two parts.  

First, the controller. The Aviatrix controller is a central console (dashboard) running in the public cloud which supports monitoring, provisioning and upgrading. The company refers to the controller as the, “brain of the Aviatrix cloud-native networking architecture.” The controller doesn’t reside in the data path, but it is aware of the network infrastructure and security protocols.

By leveraging this knowledge, the controller can provide users with programmatic control over constructs (features) native to their cloud provider. In addition, the controller, “enables you to extend the native services by adding enterprise class control for hybrid connectivity, data security, multi-cloud operations, monitoring and troubleshooting.”

The controller is at the heart of Aviatrix’s product suite. The front end presents an intuitive interface while the backend does the heavy lifting of monitoring, maintaining, and upgrading the network connection between your public and private cloud. Detailed documentation is available here.

Second, the gateway. Launched from the controller, the gateway handles the nuts and bolts of networking. IPv4 is insecure so the gateway provides IPsec encryption. Not sure where to terminate your VPN? The gateway can handle VPN termination as well as host a transit DMZ. The gateway provides these functions and more, all of which are seamlessly accessible via the controller. Detailed documentation on the gateway is available here.

The Top 5 Benefits of Aviatrix 

1 - Security

One of the most common challenges that enterprises face in the public cloud is creating and managing secure connections between all their deployments in a multicloud setting.

Aviatrix makes security simple through the use of a hub-and-spoke model. Under this model, all traffic is routed through the Aviatrix controller and gateway, allowing for strict security screening. That’s as opposed to a meshed network whereby networks connect to each other, not through a centralized hub.

2 - Connection

Whether you have a dedicated connection from your private cloud to public cloud, or you’re using a broadband connection, you can use Aviatrix to set up point-to-point VPN connections as well as point-to-multipoint connections. When using a point-to-multipoint connection, Aviatrix offers a multicloud transit networking service.

3 - Cloud Access

Aviatrix has the goal of making it simple to access public cloud applications. Through their gateway and portal, it’s possible to seamlessly interconnect various cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. Once they’re connected, you can manage all your accounts from the dashboard, significantly simplifying how you interact with the cloud.

4 - Consistent UI Across Different Cloud Providers

As mentioned, Aviatrix offers a unified UI across all your cloud providers. By creating an abstraction layer on top of native cloud networking constructs with their Controller, Aviatrix can provide a common interface for orchestration and day-two operations in a single cloud, between multiple clouds, and for on-premises connections.

Not only do they create a consistent UI, Aviatrix automates a number of otherwise complex connectivity tasks. This automation will free up your IT department allowing them to focus on more pressing problems.

5 - Compliance

Aviatrix allows you to set up egress filtering to control outbound traffic from you VPC. All security policy events can be logged to either SumoLogic, Syslog, ELK, Datadog or Splunk. If you’re using AWS, it’s possible to integrate with GuardDuty to automatically block malicious traffic at the VPC network level.

With Aviatrix, it’s easy to reduce your blast radius by implementing VPC network segmentation. You can also use tags and address ranges to implement firewall filters. Finally, it’s also possible to manage security domains like Dev or Prod.

Aviatrix is the Multi-Solution

Aviatrix takes the guesswork out of setting up a private-public-cloud hybrid connection. With their unified controller and automatic network functions, they make it easy for you to connect your local resources to a public cloud provider.

Whether it’s compliance or security, Aviatrix has a solution that will help your business scale while keeping expenses and demands on the IT team to a minimum. Aviatrix’s continued growth and their impressive portfolio of clients attests to the value that they offer. If you would like more information about Aviatrix or are interested in a consultative discussion, please reach out to info@vandis.com or 516-281-2209.