AWS Client VPN is a managed client-based VPN service that enables you to securely access your AWS resources and resources in your on-premises network. With Client VPN, you can access your resources from any location using an OpenVPN-based VPN client.
Features of Client VPN
Client VPN offers the following features:
- Secure — It provides a secure TLS connection from any location using the OpenVPN client.
- Managed service — It is an AWS managed service, so it removes the operational burden of deploying and managing a third-party remote access VPN solution.
- Highly available and elastic — It automatically scales to the number of users connecting to your AWS resources and on-premises resources.
- Authentication — It supports client authentication using Active Directory and certificate-based authentication.
- Granular control — It enables you to implement custom security controls by defining network-based access rules. These rules can be configured at the granularity of Active Directory groups. You can also implement access control using security groups.
- Ease of use — It enables you to access your AWS resources and on-premises resources using a single VPN tunnel.
- Manageability — It enables you to view connection logs, which provide details on client connection attempts. You can also manage active client connections, with the ability to terminate active client connections.
- Deep integration — It integrates with existing AWS services, including AWS Directory Service and Amazon VPC.
Components of Client VPN
The following are the key concepts for Client VPN:Client VPN endpoint
The Client VPN endpoint is the resource that you create and configure to enable and manage client VPN sessions. It is the resource where all client VPN sessions are terminated.Target network
A target network is the network that you associate with a Client VPN endpoint. A subnet from a VPC is a target network. Associating a subnet with a Client VPN endpoint enables you to establish VPN sessions. You can associate multiple subnets with a Client VPN endpoint for high availability. All subnets must be from the same VPC. Each subnet must belong to a different Availability Zone.Route
Each Client VPN endpoint has a route table that describes the available destination network routes. Each route in the route table specifies the path for traffic to specific resources or networks.Authorization rules
An authorization rule restricts the users who can access a network. For a specified network, you configure the Active Directory group that is allowed access. Only users belonging to this Active Directory group can access the specified network. By default, there are no authorization rules and you must configure authorization rules to enable users to access resources and networks.Client
The end user connecting to the Client VPN endpoint to establish a VPN session. End users need to download an OpenVPN client and use the Client VPN configuration file that you created to establish a VPN session.
Accessing Client VPN
You can work with Client VPN in any of the following ways:Amazon VPC console
The Amazon VPC console provides a web-based user interface for Client VPN. If you’ve signed up for an AWS account, you can sign into the Amazon VPC console and select Client VPN in the navigation pane.AWS Command Line Interface (CLI)
The AWS CLI provides direct access to the Client VPN public APIs. It is supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux. For more information about getting started with the AWS CLI, see the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide. For more information about the commands for Client VPN, see the AWS CLI Command Reference.AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell
AWS provides commands for a broad set of AWS offerings for those who script in the PowerShell environment. For more information about getting started with the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell, see the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide. For more information about the cmdlets for Client VPN, see the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell Cmdlet Reference.
The Client VPN HTTPS Query API gives you programmatic access to Client VPN and AWS. The HTTPS Query API lets you issue HTTPS requests directly to the service. When you use the HTTPS API, you must include code to digitally sign requests using your credentials. For more information, see the Client VPN API Reference.
Limitations of Client VPN
Client VPN has the following limitations:
- Client CIDR ranges cannot overlap with the local CIDR of the VPC in which the associated subnet is located, or any routes manually added to the Client VPN endpoint’s route table.
- The Client VPN endpoint and the VPC in which the associated subnet is located must belong to the same account.
- The subnets associated with a Client VPN endpoint must be in the same VPC.
- You cannot associate multiple subnets from the same Availability Zone with a Client VPN endpoint.
- Client VPN supports IPv4 traffic only.
- Client VPN is not Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliant.
- Client VPN does not natively support Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
