Security Groups

A Security Group defines inbound and outbound traffic rules for resources like VMs.

• Acts like a virtual firewall

• Attached at a VPC level but to a VM

In the same analogy of VPC to a neighborhood, assume that you are putting a security guard in front of your houses (VMs in this case) who decides who goes into the house or can come out of the house; that’s exactly a security group. The simplest use of security groups is to enable inbound and outbound traffic through ports (Port 22, 8080, etc).

Please note that Port 22 or SSH protocol should be enabled if you want to SSH into the VMs

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Creating a Security Group

1. Navigate to Networking > Security Groups

2. Click "Create Security Group"

3. Fill in:

   • Name

   • Description

   • VPC (required)

   • Define Inbound Rules:

     • Protocol

     • Port Range

       • Based on the selected protocols, the standard defined port ranges will be auto-selected

       • You can skip the protocol and just mention the port ranges

       • All port ranges should be mentioned in comma comma-separated list. E.g.; 22, 80, 8080, 1205-1250

       • You can define as many ports as you want, unless a protocol is selected

     • Remote IP Prefix

   • Define Outbound Rules (similar)

   • If no rules are mentioned, then by default all traffic will be allowed in through the security group

4. Click "Create Security Group"

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Editing a Security Group

1. Click the three-dot menu > Edit

2. Name and VPC are not editable

3. All other fields (description, rules) can be changed

4. You can define new rules or edit existing rules or delete existing rules

5. Save changes

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Deleting a Security Group

1. Click the three-dot menu > Delete

2. Confirm deletion in the pop-up

3. Upon confirmation, SG is deleted

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Billing and Pricing

All Security groups are free and would not be chargeable.

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Protocols & Standard Port Ranges

Protocol	Port(s)	Direction	Use Case
All	0-65535	Inbound/Outbound	Allows all traffic. Use with caution.
TCP	0-65535 (customizable)	Inbound/Outbound	Reliable communication (used by HTTP, SSH, RDP, etc.)
UDP	0-65535 (customizable)	Inbound/Outbound	Fast, connectionless (used by DNS, NTP, video/audio streaming)
DNS	UDP 53 / TCP 53	Both	Domain name resolution
HTTP	TCP 80	Inbound	Unencrypted web traffic
HTTPS	TCP 443	Inbound	Encrypted web traffic
ICMP	N/A (uses Type/Code)	Both	Used for ping, traceroute
FTP	TCP 20 (data), 21 (control)	Inbound	File transfer protocol
SSH	TCP 22	Inbound	Secure shell remote login
IMAP	TCP 143	Inbound	Email retrieval
IMAPS	TCP 993	Inbound	Secure email retrieval
LDAP	TCP 389	Inbound	Directory services
MSSQL	TCP 1433	Inbound	Microsoft SQL Server
MYSQL	TCP 3306	Inbound	MySQL database
POP3	TCP 110	Inbound	Email retrieval (older protocol)
POP3S	TCP 995	Inbound	Secure version of POP3
RDP	TCP 3389	Inbound	Remote Desktop Protocol (Windows)
SMTP	TCP 25	Inbound/Outbound	Email sending (often blocked by ISPs)
SMTPS	TCP 465	Inbound	Secure SMTP

Notes:

• All: Opens all ports/protocols – best avoided unless debugging in a secure environment.

• ICMP: Doesn’t use ports. Controlled by ICMP types like Echo Request (type 8), Echo Reply (type 0).

• Custom Rules: You can specify any protocol and port range manually using TCP/UDP.

• Ports above 1024 are generally considered ephemeral or for custom application use.