How to connect two network contours (company's internal network and cloud network)?

Connecting a company's internal network to a cloud network can be done in several ways:

• VPN (Virtual Private Network) — creating a secure tunnel between two networks over the internet. It allows safe data transmission as if the networks are in the same local infrastructure.

• Direct Connect / Dedicated Link — a dedicated physical or virtual connection between the company's data center and the cloud provider, ensuring high speed and low latency.

• SD-WAN (Software-Defined WAN) — a software-defined network that can combine different communication channels, optimizing routing and security.

• Peering or VPC Peering — if supported by the cloud provider, a direct connection can be set up between virtual networks.

The choice depends on security requirements, bandwidth, cost, and support complexity. For example, most companies find configuring a VPN with IPsec sufficient, which provides encryption and traffic isolation.