// Module included in the following assemblies:
//
// * installing/installing_aws/installing-aws-government-region.adoc
// * installing/installing_aws/installing-aws-secret-region.adoc
// * installing/installing_aws/installing-aws-private.adoc
// * post_installation_configuration/node-tasks.adoc

:_mod-docs-content-type: REFERENCE
[id="private-clusters-about-aws_{context}"]
= Private clusters in AWS

To create a private cluster on Amazon Web Services (AWS), you must provide an existing private VPC and subnets to host the cluster. The installation program must also be able to resolve the DNS records that the cluster requires. The installation program configures the Ingress Operator and API server for access from only the private network.

The cluster still requires access to internet to access the AWS APIs.

The following items are not required or created when you install a private cluster:

* Public subnets
* Public load balancers, which support public ingress
* A public Route 53 zone that matches the `baseDomain` for the cluster

The installation program does use the `baseDomain` that you specify to create a private Route 53 zone and the required records for the cluster. The cluster is configured so that the Operators do not create public records for the cluster and all cluster machines are placed in the private subnets that you specify.

[id="private-clusters-limitations-aws_{context}"]
== Limitations

The ability to add public functionality to a private cluster is limited.

* You cannot make the Kubernetes API endpoints public after installation without taking additional actions, including creating public subnets in the VPC for each availability zone in use, creating a public load balancer, and configuring the control plane security groups to allow traffic from the internet on 6443 (Kubernetes API port).
* If you use a public Service type load balancer, you must tag a public subnet in each availability zone with `kubernetes.io/cluster/<cluster-infra-id>: shared` so that AWS can use them to create public load balancers.
