## Set up AWS PrivateLink (self-serve)

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/platform/concepts/private-connectivity/set-up-aws-privatelink-in-atlan

> Connect Atlan to your database on Amazon RDS, Aurora, or EC2 over AWS PrivateLink, set up yourself in Admin > Networking.

Connect Atlan to your database on Amazon RDS, Aurora, or EC2 over AWS PrivateLink. You set up the private link once, in **Admin** > **Networking**. After that, the connector workflows for the database reach it through the link.

## How it works

### What's involved

```mermaid
flowchart LR
 subgraph atlan["Your Atlan tenant · Atlan creates and manages"]
 vpce["VPC endpoint"]
 dns["Private DNS
if you use your database's hostname"]
 end
 subgraph aws["Your AWS account · you create and manage"]
 eps["VPC endpoint service
allows Atlan's principal"]
 nlb["Network Load Balancer"]
 db[("Database
RDS, Aurora, or EC2")]
 eps --> nlb --> db
 end
 vpce ==>|"AWS PrivateLink"| eps
```

Atlan connects to your endpoint service after you add Atlan's principal to its allowed principals and accept Atlan's connection request.

### Who's involved and why

The resources on your side live in your AWS account, so someone with access to that account has to create them. Atlan splits the setup accordingly: Atlan generates the AWS commands with its own values filled in, someone on your side runs them, and Atlan checks the output before it creates its side of the link.

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
 autonumber
 actor Admin as Atlan admin
 participant Atlan as Atlan
Admin > Networking
 actor AWS as Your AWS team
 Admin->>Atlan: Start a private link
 loop A few rounds, until Atlan's checks pass
 Admin->>AWS: Send Atlan's commands
 AWS-->>Atlan: Command output, pasted in by the admin
 end
 Admin->>Atlan: Request the private link
 AWS->>Atlan: Accept Atlan's connection request
 Atlan-->>Admin: Ready, with the hostname to use
```

- **Atlan admin.** Runs the setup in **Admin** > **Networking**. Only admins see **Networking**.
- **Your AWS team.** Anyone with the AWS permissions the commands need. Runs Atlan's commands in the AWS account where the database runs, sends back the output, and accepts Atlan's connection request.
- **Atlan.** Generates the commands, checks the output, creates its side of the link, and reports the status.

**Copy instructions** puts the commands and what to send back into one message for your AWS team.

> **Tip: Have access to both?**
>
> If you're an Atlan admin with the AWS permissions Atlan lists, run the commands yourself, for example in AWS CloudShell, and paste the output into Atlan. To skip the commands, choose **Enter zone IDs yourself** and **Enter the details yourself**. Atlan can't verify typed values.

## Before you begin

### Prerequisites

- You're an Atlan admin.
- Your Atlan tenant runs on AWS. This setup isn't available on Azure or Google Cloud tenants yet. For private connectivity there, see [Azure Private Link](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/azure-private-link/llms.txt) or [Google Cloud Private Service Connect](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/gcp-private-service-connect/llms.txt).
- The database is in the same AWS region as your Atlan tenant. Atlan shows its region at the start of the setup.
- The database accepts TCP connections on a single port. See [Limitations](#limitations) for the ports Atlan supports.
- Your AWS team can create an NLB, a target group, and a VPC endpoint service in the VPC your database runs in, and change the database's security group. Atlan lists the AWS permissions its commands need. If you already have an endpoint service in front of the database, your AWS team only needs to change its allowed principals.

### Choose endpoint service

Decide with your AWS team whether Atlan's commands create a new endpoint service or use one you already have:

- **Build a new one**: Atlan's commands create the NLB, target group, and VPC endpoint service in the database's VPC, and open the database port to that VPC in the database's security group. The database can't be publicly accessible, because the commands find it by its private IP address.
- **Use one you already have**: if an endpoint service already sits in front of the database. If its NLB has a security group, turn off **Enforce inbound rules on PrivateLink traffic** on it.

## Set up your private link

Atlan walks you through the setup in **Admin** > **Networking**. Each step shows the commands, values, and checks for your tenant. Atlan saves your progress as a draft, so you can stop and come back.

1. In **Admin** > **Networking**, select **Create private link**, then **Database on AWS**.
2. Follow the steps in Atlan. When a step needs your AWS team, select **Copy instructions**, send them the message, and paste the output they send back.
3. Select **Request private link**.
4. When the link shows **Waiting for you to accept**, send your AWS team the accept command that Atlan shows. Requests that wait too long expire, and the link fails.
5. Wait for the link to show **Ready**. Atlan updates the status while the link is set up. If you chose your database's hostname, the link shows **Setting up DNS** before **Ready**. To refresh the status right away, select **Check status**.

## Use your private link in workflows

When the link is **Ready**, set up the connector workflow for the database as usual. You don't choose the private link in the workflow. The workflow uses the link because it connects to the link's hostname. Take these values from the private link:

| Connector field | Value |
|---|---|
| **Host** | The hostname Atlan shows on the link: your database's hostname, or the endpoint's `vpce-…` hostname. Open the link on the **Networking** page to copy it. |
| **Port** | The port you entered in **Port your database listens on**. |

Enter the database credentials and other settings in the workflow as usual.

### What happens during workflow runs

```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
 participant C as Connector workflow
 participant R as Atlan private DNS
 participant E as Atlan VPC endpoint
 participant N as Your endpoint service and NLB
 participant D as Your database
 C->>R: Look up the host
 R-->>C: Address of Atlan's VPC endpoint
 C->>E: Connect on the database port
 E->>N: Traffic over AWS PrivateLink
 N->>D: Forward to the database
 D-->>C: Replies on the same connection
```

If you chose the endpoint's hostname, the lookup uses AWS's public DNS for the `vpce-…` name instead of Atlan's private DNS. If you chose your database's hostname, certificate checks keep working, because the workflow connects to the name on the database's certificate.

## Limitations

- **One database per private link.** Each link has one endpoint service and one port. Create a separate private link for each database. An endpoint service can have only one private link.
- **One setup at a time.** Your workspace can have one private link in setup at a time. Start the next one when the current one finishes.
- **Same region only.** For a database in another region, see [Cross-region private network connectivity](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/cross-region-private-network-connectivity/llms.txt).
- **Ports.** The port must be 443 or 1024 to 65535. A few reserved ports aren't supported. For other ports, contact Atlan support.
- **Hostnames.** The hostname must be a full name with at least three parts, such as `orders.db.example.com`. IP addresses, wildcards, Atlan names, and internal names (`.internal`, `cluster.local`, `localhost`) aren't allowed. AWS names are allowed only as one database's full Amazon RDS, Aurora, RDS Proxy, or provisioned Amazon Redshift endpoint. Redshift Serverless endpoints aren't supported.
- **Changes after you request a link.** You can't edit or delete a link after you request it. To change or remove a link that's requested, ready, or failed, contact Atlan support.
- **Other sources and clouds.** On-premises sources, vendor-hosted services such as Snowflake and Databricks, and Azure and Google Cloud aren't available in this setup yet. To find the pattern that fits your source, see [Private network connectivity to your data sources](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/private-connectivity/llms.txt).

## Troubleshooting

**The link stays in Waiting for you to accept.** Run the command in **Accept Atlan's connection request** on your endpoint service. It accepts the pending request from Atlan's AWS account. The status updates on its own, or select **Check status** to refresh it. Requests that wait too long expire, and the link fails.

**The link shows Failed.** Atlan shows the reason. Fix the cause and start a new private link. If Atlan doesn't report a reason, select **Contact Atlan support**.

**The link fails because the hostname is already in use.** Your Atlan tenant already has DNS for that name. Atlan doesn't check this before you request the link, so the link shows **Failed** after the request. Start a new private link with a different hostname.

**Atlan shows Private links aren't switched on for this workspace yet.** Self-serve private links are available on every AWS-hosted tenant. Contact Atlan support. If your tenant runs on Azure or Google Cloud, this setup isn't available.

**Atlan shows Private link is available for AWS tenants only.** Your tenant runs on Azure or Google Cloud, where this setup isn't available yet. For private connectivity there, see [Azure Private Link](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/azure-private-link/llms.txt) or [Google Cloud Private Service Connect](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/gcp-private-service-connect/llms.txt).

**The link is Ready but the connector can't connect.** Check that the NLB target group is healthy, that the database security group permits traffic from the NLB, and that the connector uses the hostname and port Atlan shows. For more checks, see [Private connectivity over AWS PrivateLink](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/aws-privatelink-classic/llms.txt).

## See also

- [Private connectivity over AWS PrivateLink](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/administration/aws-privatelink-classic/llms.txt): How the NLB and endpoint service pattern works, and how to keep it healthy.
- [Monitor connectivity](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/connector-capabilities/monitor-connectivity/llms.txt): Check the health of your connections.

_Last updated: 12 November 2026._

---

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