Skip to main content

Network Interfaces

Overview​

Are virtual network cards used to connect instances to a VPC (Virtual Private Cloud). They enable communication between AWS resources and external networks, including the internet and other AWS services. Network interfaces are a fundamental component of networking within a VPC, and they come in different types, each serving specific purposes.

Types of Network Interfaces​

  1. Elastic Network Interface (ENI)
  • A virtual network interface that can be attached to an instance in a VPC. It represents a virtual network card and is associated with a private IP address.
  • Best For: Flexible Network Configurations where attaching multiple ENIs to a single EC2 instance to isolate network traffic, create different network paths, or apply different security settings.
  • Typical Use Case: Set up a failover strategy where an ENI can be quickly moved to a backup instance in case of failure, ensuring minimal disruption to network connectivity.
  1. Elastic Network Adapter (ENA)
  • A network interface designed to provide high-performance networking capabilities for EC2 instances. It is aimed at enhancing network throughput and reducing latency, particularly for applications that require significant network performance.
  • Best For: General-purpose high-performance networking needs, applications requiring high bandwidth and low latency.
  • Typical Use Cases: Large-scale data processing, web servers with high network demands, and other high-throughput applications.
  1. Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA)
  • A network interface designed to accelerate high-performance computing (HPC) and machine learning (ML) workloads. It provides low-latency, high-throughput network communication within EC2 instances, and is particularly useful for tightly-coupled distributed applications.
  • Best For: HPC and ML workloads requiring ultra-low latency and high throughput for inter-node communication.
  • Typical Use Cases: Scientific simulations, financial modeling, large-scale machine learning training, and other tasks requiring tightly-coupled, low-latency network communication.

Take Note​

  • You can only attach a network interface within same Availability Zone.