Should I use a an Interface VPC endpoint or a Gateway VPC endpoint?

Question

Hello,

Firstly I would like my ECS task that resides inside my private subnet in my VPC to be able to pick up a file from a private S3 bucket which resides within the AWS Cloud but outside my VPC. Should I use an Interface VPC endpoint or a Gateway endpoint?

I would also like the same task to then publish a message to an SNS topic also residing outside my VPC, my question is again which VPC endpoint type to use and why?

The AWS [docs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/aws-privatelink/what-are-vpc-endpoints.html) seem to relate Gateway endpoints specifically to S3, whereas SNS on the diagram in the docs seems to be using an Interface Endpoint.

But I'm not sure what the advantages/disadvantages of using one or the other is.  I get that with the Gateway endpoint you get a route added to the private subnet route table whereas with the Interface endpoint you get an ENI with a private IP for the service I want to hit.

Thanks for any help, it's my first time setting this up! :)

HS · Accepted Answer

> The AWS docs seem to relate Gateway endpoints specifically to S3, whereas SNS on the diagram in the docs seems to be using an Interface Endpoint.
>
> But I'm not sure what the advantages/disadvantages of using one or the other is.

This is because some AWS services support Interface endpoint and others support Gateway endpoint. Use the one which your target service supports.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/privatelink/aws-services-privatelink-support.html#vpce-view-available-services

Here are the commands to check which services support Interface endpoint, and which support Gateway endpoint.

```log
$ aws ec2 describe-vpc-endpoint-services --filters Name=service-type,Values=Interface Name=owner,Values=amazon --query ServiceNames 
[
    "aws.api.ap-northeast-1.kendra-ranking",
    "aws.sagemaker.ap-northeast-1.notebook",
    "aws.sagemaker.ap-northeast-1.studio",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.access-analyzer",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.acm-pca",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.airflow.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.airflow.env",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.airflow.ops",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.app-integrations",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.application-autoscaling",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.appmesh",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.appmesh-envoy-management",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.apprunner",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.apprunner.requests",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.appstream.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.appstream.streaming",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.appsync-api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.aps",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.aps-workspaces",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.athena",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.auditmanager",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.autoscaling",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.autoscaling-plans",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.awsconnector",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.backup",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.backup-gateway",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.batch",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cassandra",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cleanrooms",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cloudcontrolapi",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cloudformation",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cloudhsmv2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.cloudtrail",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codeartifact.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codeartifact.repositories",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codebuild",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codecommit",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codedeploy",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codedeploy-commands-secure",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codeguru-profiler",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codeguru-reviewer",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codepipeline",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.codestar-connections.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.comprehend",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.config",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.data-servicediscovery",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.databrew",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.dataexchange",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.datasync",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.deviceadvisor.iot",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.devops-guru",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.dms",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.drs",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ebs",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ec2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ec2messages",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ecr.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ecr.dkr",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ecs",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ecs-agent",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ecs-telemetry",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.eks",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elastic-inference.runtime",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticache",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticbeanstalk",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticbeanstalk-health",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticfilesystem",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticfilesystem-fips",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticloadbalancing",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.elasticmapreduce",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.email-smtp",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.emr-containers",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.emr-serverless",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.events",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.evidently",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.evidently-dataplane",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.execute-api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.fis",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.forecast",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.forecastquery",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.fsx",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.git-codecommit",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.glue",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.grafana",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.grafana-workspace",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.greengrass",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.guardduty-data",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.identitystore",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.imagebuilder",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.inspector2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.iot.data",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.iot.fleethub.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.iotsitewise.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.iotsitewise.data",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.iotwireless.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.kendra",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.kinesis-firehose",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.kinesis-streams",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.kms",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.kms-fips",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lakeformation",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lambda",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.license-manager",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.license-manager-user-subscriptions",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.logs",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lookoutmetrics",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lookoutvision",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lorawan.cups",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.lorawan.lns",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.m2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.macie2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.managedblockchain.bitcoin.mainnet",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.managedblockchain.bitcoin.testnet",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.mediaconnect",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.memory-db",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.mgn",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.migrationhub-orchestrator",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.migrationhub-strategy",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.models-v2-lex",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.monitoring",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.nimble",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.pca-connector-ad",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.personalize",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.personalize-events",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.personalize-runtime",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.pinpoint",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.pinpoint-sms-voice-v2",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.polly",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.profile",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.proton",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.qldb.session",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rds",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rds-data",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.redshift",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.redshift-data",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.refactor-spaces",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rekognition",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.robomaker",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rolesanywhere",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rum",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.rum-dataplane",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.runtime-v2-lex",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.s3",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.s3-outposts",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sagemaker.api",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sagemaker.featurestore-runtime",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sagemaker.metrics",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sagemaker.runtime",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.secretsmanager",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.securityhub",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.servicecatalog",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.servicecatalog-appregistry",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.servicediscovery",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.simspaceweaver",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sns",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sqs",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ssm",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ssm-contacts",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ssm-incidents",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.ssmmessages",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.states",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.storagegateway",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.streaming-rekognition",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sts",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.swf",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.sync-states",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.synthetics",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.transcribe",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.transcribestreaming",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.transfer",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.transfer.server",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.translate",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.verifiedpermissions",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.voiceid",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.vpc-lattice",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.wisdom",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.workspaces",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.xray",
    "com.amazonaws.s3-global.accesspoint"
]

$ aws ec2 describe-vpc-endpoint-services --filters Name=service-type,Values=Gateway Name=owner,Values=amazon --query ServiceNames 
[
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.dynamodb",
    "com.amazonaws.ap-northeast-1.s3"
]
```

P.S.

S3 supports both Interface endpoint and Gateway endpoint, and their comparisons are described in [this page](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/privatelink-interface-endpoints.html#types-of-vpc-endpoints-for-s3#types-of-vpc-endpoints-for-s3). Gateway endpoints have an advantage that they will not incur charge, but they also have disadvantages that cross-region access or access from on-premises is not supported.

Didier_Durand · Answer

Hi,

This article compares VPC endpoint vs interface in extensive details: https://digitalcloud.training/vpc-interface-endpoint-vs-gateway-endpoint-in-aws/

Have a special look at summary chart toward the end.

Best,

Didier

Gary Mclean · Answer

If in same region then use gateway. 
For sns ensure you create the sns endpoint. 
Also running ecs you’ll need dkr endpoint etc.

ECS will need access to S3 also to download the images if using ECR.

It may be cheaper just to run a NAT gateway

Should I use a an Interface VPC endpoint or a Gateway VPC endpoint?

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