Using Salesforce Private Connect to Securely Connect with AWS
How to set up Private Connect and configure inbound/outbound private connections.
Salesforce Private Connect is a secure and efficient way to connect Salesforce orgs with AWS data centers. It is a fast, easy, and secure way to connect data over different clouds. In this blog post, we will guide you through how to set up Private Connect and configure inbound/outbound private connections.
Challenges of Connecting Data over Different Clouds
Businesses need data from multiple clouds to operate, but connecting data over those clouds in a secure and compliant way can be time-consuming, manual, and error-prone. Salesforce Private Connect allows businesses to overcome these challenges and keep their communications private.
Benefits of Private Connect
Private Connect offers the following benefits:
- Private connections between Salesforce and AWS without exposure to the public internet
- Leverage Salesforce enterprise security to bring disparate systems and data sources together in a seamless workflow
- Simplified setup, configuration, and maintenance for developers or admins
How to Set Up Private Connect
Let’s walk through how a Salesforce developer would set up a private connection.
Inbound Private Connections
To set up an inbound private connection, let’s take the example of Acme Products, Inc. Acme Products uses an ERP implementation in AWS that includes the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) for the compute layer running in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Acme Products is also heavily invested in Salesforce. To manage their sales motions and call center activities, they use Salesforce Sales Cloud and Salesforce Service Cloud, respectively.
Acme Products needs to create an inbound private connection to Salesforce to send traffic privately. The first step is to create an AWS PrivateLink endpoint inside of their ERP VPC in AWS that sends traffic to the Salesforce managed VPC. The Salesforce admin at Acme Products looks up the Salesforce endpoint service name running in their region inside of the Salesforce setup UI of Private Connect. The admin provides this service name to the AWS administrator at Acme Products, who uses the service name to create a PrivateLink endpoint inside the ERP VPC. Once the endpoint is created, the Salesforce admin accepts it inside of Salesforce and creates an inbound private connection.
Outbound Private Connections
To set up an outbound private connection, Melissa, our Salesforce administrator, provides the Identity and Access Management (IAM) role for the region where the AWS endpoint service is running to Arjun. The IAM role is available in the regions dropdown inside of the Salesforce Setup UI. Arjun adds this IAM role to the allowlisted principles tab of the endpoint service. By doing this, Arjun is granting access to the Salesforce Managed VPC service inside of AWS. Once the above step is complete, Arjun provides Melissa with the AWS endpoint service name that is exposing the private ERP API. Melissa can now create the outbound connection in the Salesforce Setup UI.
How Private Connect Works
Private Connect allows you to keep your communications private. It offers private bi-directional connections between Salesforce and AWS without exposure to the public internet. To keep traffic safe and secure, Private Connect creates a fast, easy, and secure way to connect data over different clouds. It simplifies the setup, configuration, and maintenance for developers or admins.
Conclusion
Salesforce Private Connect is generally available in the Summer ’20 release in the Americas. To get started now, reach out to your Salesforce Account Executive or visit the Salesforce website for more information. Private Connect is available in Amazon AppFlow as a connection option for Salesforce allowing for quick, private integrations with select Amazon services. With Private Connect, businesses can keep their communications private and leverage Salesforce enterprise security.
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