AWS Internet Gateway
AWS Internet Gateway is a horizontally scalable, redundant, and highly available VPC component that allows communication between instances in your VPC and the internet. It serves as a gateway that attaches to a VPC to enable internet access for resources, handling network address translation (NAT) for instances with public IPv4 addresses and routing traffic accordingly. It does not impose availability risks or bandwidth constraints, as it is managed by AWS and automatically scales.
Developers should use AWS Internet Gateway when deploying public-facing resources like web servers, APIs, or load balancers in a VPC that require inbound or outbound internet connectivity. It is essential for scenarios such as hosting applications accessible from the internet, enabling software updates on EC2 instances, or integrating with external services. Without it, VPC resources remain isolated from the internet, limiting functionality for public services.