Hey everyone, newbie here trying to wrap my head around this. I've been looking into secure ways to connect to company resources, and my team mentioned NordLayer. I also know that AWS offers a Client VPN endpoint, which seems like the DIY route.
I get that AWS Client VPN is a service I can configure within my VPC. I've even played with setting one up—it involves setting up a server, managing certificates, and paying for the endpoint association and data transfer. But NordLayer is just a flat monthly fee per user. From a pure cost perspective, if I'm already on AWS, why wouldn't I just use their built-in tool?
Here's my basic understanding of the AWS setup:
```bash
# Simplified view of AWS Client VPN setup steps (from their docs)
1. Create a certificate authority (ACM Private CA).
2. Issue and import server/client certificates.
3. Create the Client VPN endpoint in your VPC.
4. Authorize ingress, set up routing, associate subnets.
5. Configure the client with the config file and certs.
```
It's not super complex, but it's definitely more moving parts. My question is: what does NordLayer give me that makes it worth the per-seat cost over managing this myself? Is it just about simplicity, or are there specific security or ease-of-use features that I'm missing as someone who's mostly dealt with SQL and dashboards?
Like, does NordLayer handle something better for a team of analysts who need to connect from various locations to a database, beyond just the encrypted tunnel? Appreciate any insights from those who've used both!