Leanpub Header

Skip to main content
Go to Leanpub.com

Cloud Connectivity Engineering

DNS, Routing, VPNs, NAT, and Hybrid Networks for Modern Infrastructure

Cloud Connectivity Engineering
This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-10-12
Steve Publications

Cloud networks rarely fail in obvious ways. A DNS lookup breaks, a route disappears or traffic vanishes somewhere between clouds. This book shows you how to understand what is really happening, build networks that hold up under pressure and troubleshoot failures with confidence across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes and hybrid environments.

Minimum price

$19.00

$29.00

You pay

Author earns

$

Also available for 1 book credit with a Reader Membership

PDF
EPUB
WEB
APP
162
Pages
About

About

About the Book

Modern applications no longer live inside a single data center. They span multiple cloud regions, hybrid on-premises sites, container clusters, and the public Internet. When connectivity fails in this world, revenue stops, SLAs burn, and engineering teams scramble to find out why packets stopped flowing between services that were working yesterday. This book teaches you how to design, implement, troubleshoot, and operate complex cloud and hybrid networks from first principles so that failures become rare, predictable, and quickly resolved rather than mysterious emergencies. It covers DNS resolution end-to-end, routing fundamentals through BGP, NAT behavior across providers, VPN architectures including IPsec and WireGuard, VPC design patterns, Kubernetes networking, systematic troubleshooting methodology, observability practices, security controls, and real-world case studies drawn from production environments across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Linux, and common enterprise routers.

Share this book

Categories

Cloud ComputingNetworkingInfrastructure as CodeAWSMicrosoft AzureGoogle Cloud PlatformSystems AdministrationSystems Engineering

Feedback

Contact the author

Bundle

Bundles that include this book

Author

About the Author

Steve Publications

Steve is a technology professional with more than 20 years of experience spanning software development, server infrastructure, cybersecurity, vulnerability research and reverse engineering. His work focuses on understanding complex systems, uncovering security weaknesses and developing practical solutions that make technology more secure, reliable and effective.

Through Steve Publications, he collaborates with experienced researchers, engineers and industry experts to create practical, technically rigorous books on various topics not limited to self-improvement, software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, DevOps, artificial intelligence and enterprise technologies. His mission is to make complex technical subjects accessible through clear explanations, real-world examples and hands-on exercises that help IT professionals, students and technology enthusiasts build valuable, practical skills.

Steve Publications embraces AI as a supporting tool for translation, proofreading and editorial refinement, not as a substitute for original research, technical expertise, or hands-on experience. Some contributors choose to publish under pseudonyms to protect their privacy or maintain professional boundaries.

Behind every book is a commitment to technical accuracy, practical relevance and continuous improvement. Our publications are written, reviewed and maintained by experienced professionals, with support from a private community of more than 420 engineers and researchers. Rather than prioritizing volume or mass-produced AI-generated content, we focus on delivering reliable, useful resources that readers can apply in real-world environments.

We also welcome experienced professionals who want to share their knowledge by writing or reviewing books, particularly in specialized and emerging technology fields. If you have expertise to contribute, we invite you to get in touch and explore opportunities to collaborate.

Our commitment is simple: To deliver books that respect our readers' time, support their professional growth and provide lasting practical value. If a book does not meet your expectations, Leanpub offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Contents

Table of Contents

DNS, Routing, VPNs, NAT and Hybrid Networks for Modern Infrastructure

Introduction: Why Connectivity Matters Now

  1. The Hidden Cost of Connectivity Failures
  2. From Racks to Regions: How Network Complexity Exploded
  3. What This Book Teaches (and How to Use It)

Chapter 1: Networking Fundamentals - Packets, Addresses and Protocols

  1. The TCP/IP Model and Protocol Layering
  2. IPv4 Addressing, CIDR and Subnetting
  3. IPv6: Why It Matters and How It Works
  4. Link-Layer Resolution: ARP and NDP
  5. Transport Protocols: TCP, UDP and Sockets
  6. MTU, MSS, Fragmentation and ICMP

Chapter 2: DNS - The Name System That Runs the Internet

  1. How DNS Resolution Actually Works
  2. Recursive Resolvers and Authoritative Servers
  3. Record Types, TTLs and Caching Behavior
  4. Split-Horizon DNS, Forwarding and Conditional Forwarding
  5. DNSSEC and Secure Resolution
  6. DNS Troubleshooting from First Principles

Chapter 3: Routing - How Packets Find Their Way

  1. Routing Tables, Longest-Prefix Matching and Default Routes
  2. Static Routing and Route Propagation
  3. Dynamic Routing Protocols: OSPF, EIGRP and RIP in Context
  4. Border Gateway Protocol: Fundamentals for Cloud Engineers
  5. ECMP, Asymmetric Routing and Black Holes

Chapter 4: NAT, Firewalls and Traffic Control

  1. Network Address Translation: NAT44, PAT and CGNAT
  2. SNAT, DNAT and Port Forwarding in Practice
  3. IPv6 Transition: NAT64, DNS64 and Dual Stack
  4. Stateful Firewalls, Security Groups and ACLs
  5. Proxies, Load Balancers and TLS Termination

Chapter 5: Cloud Networking Primitives - VPCs, Subnets and Gateways

  1. Virtual Networks: VPCs, VNets and the Cloud Abstraction
  2. Subnets, Route Tables and Internet Gateways
  3. NAT Gateways and Outbound Connectivity Patterns
  4. Security Groups, Network ACLs and Layered Defense
  5. Private Endpoints and Service Integration

Chapter 6: Cloud Connectivity - Peering, Transit and Shared Networks

  1. VPC/VNet Peering: Direct Connections Between Clouds
  2. Transit Gateways and Hub-and-Spoke Architectures
  3. Full Mesh vs Transit: Trade-offs at Scale
  4. Multi-Account and Multi-Project Networking Patterns
  5. Overlay Networks, VXLAN and Software-Defined Networking

Chapter 7: Site-to-Site VPNs - Connecting On-Premises to the Cloud

  1. IPsec and IKE: How Site-to-Site VPNs Work
  2. Route-Based vs Policy-Based Tunnels
  3. WireGuard as a Modern Alternative
  4. High-Availability VPN Design with Active/Active Tunnels
  5. Dedicated Private Links: Direct Connect, ExpressRoute, Interconnect

Chapter 8: Client VPNs and Secure Remote Access

  1. Client VPN Architectures and Use Cases
  2. Certificate-Based Authentication and PKI
  3. Split Tunnel vs Full Tunnel: Security and Performance Trade-offs
  4. Zero-Trust Access and Beyond the VPN
  5. Bastion Hosts and Privileged Access Patterns

Chapter 9: Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Network Architectures

  1. Hub-and-Spoke Across Regions and Clouds
  2. Multi-Cloud Transit and Shared Services
  3. Handling Overlapping Address Spaces in Mergers and Migrations
  4. Centralized DNS, NTP and Logging Networks
  5. Large-Scale IP Address Management (IPAM)

Chapter 10: Kubernetes and Container Networking

  1. Container Network Interfaces (CNI) and Pod IP Addressing
  2. Kubernetes Services: ClusterIP, NodePort and LoadBalancer
  3. Ingress Controllers and External Traffic Management
  4. Egress Patterns for Pods: NAT Gateways and Proxy Outbound
  5. Service Meshes and mTLS in Production

Chapter 11: Troubleshooting Connectivity from First Principles

  1. The Troubleshooting Methodology: Layer by Layer
  2. Diagnosing DNS Failures with dig, nslookup and tcpdump
  3. Routing Problems: Traceroute, mtr and Route Table Analysis
  4. VPN and Tunnel Issues: IKE Logs, Phase 1/2 States and MTU
  5. NAT Exhaustion, Connection Tracking and Stateful Failures
  6. MTU Black Holes, Fragmentation and Packet Loss

Chapter 12: Observability, Operations and Production Reliability

  1. Network Flow Logs and Cloud-Native Observability
  2. Packet Captures in Production: When and How
  3. Metrics, Synthetic Tests and Availability Monitoring
  4. Capacity Planning and Network Baselining
  5. Change Management, Incident Response and Post-Mortems

Chapter 13: Security, Scalability and Architectural Trade-offs

  1. Network Segmentation and Least-Privilege Connectivity
  2. Secure DNS, Certificate Management and Encryption Choices
  3. DDoS Mitigation and Egress Control
  4. Threat Modeling for Cloud and Hybrid Networks
  5. Common Misconfigurations and How to Avoid Them
  6. Scalability, Reliability, Failover and Cost Trade-offs

Conclusion: The Connectivity Engineer’s Mindset

  1. What Lasts When Vendors Change
  2. Building a Connectivity Practice That Scales
  3. Where to Go Next

References

Get the free sample chapters

Click the buttons to get the free sample in PDF or EPUB, or read the sample online here

Download Sample PDFDownload Sample EPUB

The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee

Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.

See full terms...

Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase

We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.

(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)

Learn more about writing on Leanpub

Free Updates. DRM Free.

If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).

Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.

Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.

Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them

Write and Publish on Leanpub

You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.

Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub