Choosing the right inspection architecture for AWS Network Firewall

This article compares three AWS Network Firewall deployment patterns to help organizations choose the right inspection architecture for their multi-VPC environments.

• Traditional Inspection VPC: Centralized pattern routing all traffic through a dedicated VPC; supports TLS inspection and east-west traffic but requires managing additional infrastructure.
• Multiple VPC Endpoints: Hybrid approach with primary firewall in one VPC and secondary endpoints in spoke VPCs; ideal for north-south inspection and small-scale deployments but doesn't support TLS inspection.
• Transit Gateway Native Attachment: Simplest centralized pattern with firewall directly attached to Transit Gateway; AWS manages multi-AZ redundancy and eliminates need for dedicated inspection VPC.
• Cost comparison shows Pattern 3 most cost-effective at scale, Pattern 2 best for four or fewer VPCs, and Pattern 1 suitable for existing Transit Gateway deployments.
• Decision framework evaluates constraints including AWS Cloud WAN compatibility, TLS inspection requirements, and routing complexity to guide pattern selection.

Organizations should evaluate their requirements against the comparison table and decision framework to select the inspection architecture that best fits their environment and operational needs.