Infrastructure Design

Hybrid Cloud with AWS Outposts - Extending AWS to On-Premises

Compare rack and server form factors, and learn about hybrid cloud design for running EC2, ECS, and RDS on-premises.

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Outposts Form Factors and Supported Services

Outposts Rack is a form factor where an AWS-designed 42U rack is installed in your on-premises data center. You can run AWS services including EC2 instances, EBS volumes, S3 on Outposts, RDS, ECS, and EKS on-premises. AWS handles hardware installation, maintenance, and software updates. Outposts Servers are provided in 1U or 2U server units, suited for use cases that place AWS compute at small-scale locations such as retail stores, factories, and hospitals. A subset of EC2 and EBS is available.

Network Connectivity and Operations

Outposts requires a service link connection to the parent Region, connected via Direct Connect or VPN. The control plane (instance start/stop, CloudWatch metrics submission, etc.) is managed through the Region, making service link availability critical. The Local Gateway (LGW) controls routing between the on-premises network and Outposts subnets, providing a path for on-premises applications to access resources on Outposts. Outposts VPC subnets are created as extensions of the Region's VPC, enabling communication with Regional subnets within the same VPC.

Local Gateway and Data Residency

The Local Gateway (LGW) controls routing between Outposts and the on-premises network. LGW route tables define routes to on-premises CIDR blocks, establishing communication between EC2 instances on Outposts and on-premises systems. Using CoIP (Customer-Owned IP) pools, you can assign existing on-premises IP address schemes to instances on Outposts, minimizing firewall rule changes. For data residency requirements, S3 on Outposts keeps data on-premises while allowing operations via the S3 API. EBS local snapshots retain backups on Outposts, enabling configurations where data is never transferred to an AWS Region. For more details on hybrid architectures, related books on Amazon are also available.

Outposts Cost Structure

Outposts is offered as a 3-year subscription with three payment options: all upfront, partial upfront, and no upfront. The rack form factor has a fixed monthly fee that includes EC2 and EBS capacity, with the same unit pricing as equivalent resources in the Region. The server form factor (1U/2U) is designed for small-scale edge environments and can be deployed at lower cost than the rack form factor. Power, cooling, physical security, and network connectivity are the customer's responsibility. The bandwidth requirements for the service link connection (minimum 1 Gbps, recommended 10 Gbps) and the cost of Direct Connect or VPN to meet them should also be considered. Monitor resource utilization on Outposts with CloudWatch and periodically evaluate capacity adequacy.

Summary

Outposts extends AWS infrastructure and services to on-premises, addressing data residency and latency requirements. The Local Gateway controls connectivity with the on-premises network, and S3 on Outposts keeps data on-premises while enabling operations via the S3 API. The choice between rack and server form factors supports a wide range of scales from data centers to edge environments.

Related Services

AWS OutpostsA hybrid cloud service that extends AWS infrastructure and services to on-premises locationsAWS Direct ConnectA service that provides a dedicated network connection between on-premises and AWS for stable, low-latency connectivityAmazon VPCBuild a logically isolated virtual network on AWS

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