Security Groups

Stateful, instance-level firewalls that control inbound and outbound traffic using rules.

What are Security Groups?

Security Groups are collections of rules that define what traffic is allowed to and from your instances.

• Rules are directional: ingress (inbound) and egress (outbound)
• Each rule defines protocol, port, and ethertype (IPv4/IPv6)
• Apply one or more security groups to an instance to enforce least privilege

When to use them

• Allow SSH (22/tcp) to admin hosts while restricting other ports
• Expose web apps (80/443) but keep databases private
• Separate environments (dev/staging/prod) with different access policies

Features

• Create and delete security groups at any time
• Add rules for TCP, UDP, or both (TCP & UDP) with a single port selector
• Manage ingress and egress separately

Next: Step-by-step Guide

Looking for a hands-on walkthrough? See the guide:

• Go to the Security Groups Guide → Create groups and add firewall rules

Related links

• Compute → Launch instances
• Networking → Private networks and connectivity
• Storage → Persistent volumes