Cloud Interconnect

Cloud Interconnect offers enterprise-grade connections to Google Cloud Platform using Google Services for Dedicated Interconnect, Partner Interconnect, and Cloud VPN. This solution allows you to directly connect the on-premises network to the Virtual Private Cloud.

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity – IC, VPN & NCC

~ Last updated on : ~ jayendrapatil

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity

Google Cloud provides various network connectivity options to meet the needs, using either public networks, peering, or interconnect technologies.

🆕 Updated June 2026: This post covers major updates including Cross-Cloud Interconnect (multicloud connectivity), Cross-Site Interconnect (L2 site-to-site), Network Connectivity Center (hub-spoke orchestration), 400 Gbps Dedicated Interconnect circuits, Classic VPN BGP deprecation, HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect, MACsec encryption, and customizable VPN ciphers.

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity Options

Public Network Connectivity

Standard internet connection can be used to connect Google Cloud with the on-premises environment if it meets the bandwidth needs.

Cloud VPN

  • provides secure, private connectivity using IPSec
  • connects on-premises networks to VPC or two VPCs in GCP
  • traffic flows via the VPN tunnel but is still routed over the public internet
  • traffic is encrypted by one gateway and decrypted by the other
  • allows users to access private RFC1918 addresses on resources in the VPC from on-prem computers also using private RFC1918 addresses.
  • can be used with Private Google Access for on-premises hosts
  • provides guaranteed uptime of 99.99% using High Availability (HA) VPN
  • supports only site-to-site VPN
  • supports up to 3Gbps per tunnel with a maximum of 8 tunnels
  • supports static as well as dynamic routing using Cloud Router
  • supports IKEv1 or IKEv2 using a shared secret
  • supports IPv6 traffic exchange with dual-stack (IPv4/IPv6) HA VPN gateways
  • supports customizable cipher options allowing you to configure specific ciphers per your security requirements (GA)

Classic VPN vs HA VPN

  • Classic VPN provides a single external IP address and tunnels with 99.9% SLA
  • HA VPN uses redundant interfaces and provides 99.99% SLA
  • HA VPN supports IPv6/dual-stack; Classic VPN does not
  • HA VPN supports dynamic routing (BGP) and is the only VPN option for BGP
⚠️ Classic VPN BGP Deprecation (August 1, 2025): Dynamic routing (BGP) for Classic VPN tunnels is deprecated. You cannot create new Classic VPN tunnels using BGP. Existing BGP tunnels continue to function but without SLA. For workloads requiring BGP, you must migrate to HA VPN. Classic VPN with static routing remains supported.

Peering

  • Peering provides better connectivity to Google Cloud as compared to the public connection. However, the connectivity is still not RFC1918-to-RFC1918 private address connectivity.
  • Peering gets your network as close as possible to Google Cloud public IP addresses.
  • Google does not offer an SLA with Direct Peering or Carrier Peering. For customers requiring SLA, Google recommends Cloud Interconnect.
  • Google recommends using a Verified Peering Provider instead of Direct Peering.

Direct Peering

  • requires you to lease co-lo space and install and support routing equipment in a Google Point Of Presence (PoP).
  • supports BGP over a link to exchange network routes.
  • All traffic destined to Google rides over this new link, while traffic to other sites on the internet rides your regular internet connection.

Carrier Peering

  • preferred if installing equipment isn’t an option or would prefer to work with a service provider partner as an intermediary to peer with Google
  • connection to Google is via a new link connection installed to a partner carrier that is already connected to the Google network itself.
  • supports BGP or uses static routing over that link.
  • All traffic destined to Google rides over this new link.
  • Traffic to other sites on the internet rides your regular internet connection.

Interconnect

  • Interconnects are similar to peering in that the connections get your network as close as possible to the Google network.
  • Interconnects differ from peering as they provide connectivity using private address space into the Google VPC.
  • For RFC1918-to-RFC1918 private address connectivity, either a dedicated or partner interconnect is required.
  • Cloud Interconnect now offers four types: Dedicated Interconnect, Partner Interconnect, Cross-Cloud Interconnect, and Cross-Site Interconnect.
  • Traffic doesn’t traverse the public internet, resulting in fewer hops and points of failure.
  • Supports MACsec for link-layer encryption between your on-premises router and Google’s edge routers.
  • Supports HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect for IPsec encryption of VLAN attachment traffic.

Dedicated Interconnect

  • provides private, high-performance connectivity to Google Cloud
  • requires you to lease co-lo space and install and support routing equipment in a Google Point Of Presence (PoP).
  • supports 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and 400 Gbps circuits with up to 8 circuits per connection (max 3200 Gbps with 400G circuits)
  • gives the RFC1918-to-RFC1918 private address connectivity.
  • All traffic destined to the Google Cloud VPC rides over this new link.
  • Traffic to other sites on the internet rides the regular internet connection.
  • Single Interconnect connection does not offer HA and GCP recommends redundancy using 2 (99.9%) or 4 (99.99%) interconnect connections so that if one connection fails, the other connection can continue to serve traffic
  • supports IPv6 traffic with dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) VLAN attachments
  • supports VLAN attachment MTU of 1440, 1460, 1500, or 8896 bytes (jumbo frames)
  • supports MACsec encryption for securing traffic between on-premises router and Google’s edge routers
  • supports connection groups (Interconnect groups and Attachment groups) for reliability monitoring and SLA eligibility tracking
  • supports application awareness for traffic differentiation using DSCP for prioritizing business-critical traffic
  • offers fixed port pricing for predictable monthly billing of outbound data transfers

Partner Interconnect

  • provides private, high-performance connectivity to Google Cloud
  • preferred if bandwidth requirements are below 10 Gbps or installing equipment isn’t an option or would prefer to work with a service provider partner as an intermediary
  • similar to carrier peering in that you connect to a partner service provider that is directly connected to Google.
  • supports BGP or use static routing over that link.
  • requires provisioning a VLAN attachment over the physical link
  • gives the RFC1918-to-RFC1918 private address connectivity.
  • supports VLAN attachment capacities from 50 Mbps to 50 Gbps
  • All traffic destined to your Google VPC rides over this new link.
  • Traffic to other sites on the internet rides your regular internet connection.
  • supports IPv6 traffic with dual-stack VLAN attachments
  • supports HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect for encrypting traffic

Cross-Cloud Interconnect

  • provides dedicated, private connectivity between Google Cloud and another cloud service provider (multicloud connectivity)
  • establishes a direct physical connection between Google’s network and another cloud provider’s network
  • supports connectivity to AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and Alibaba Cloud
  • available in 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps circuit sizes
  • provides private RFC1918-to-RFC1918 connectivity across clouds
  • backed by Google Cloud SLA (99.9% or 99.99% depending on redundancy)
  • Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect is available for AWS and OCI for on-demand, managed cross-cloud connectivity without provisioning dedicated physical connections
  • supports application awareness for traffic differentiation
  • supports HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect for encryption
  • Google and AWS announced a managed, private, on-demand cross-cloud connectivity collaboration in 2026

Cross-Site Interconnect (GA 2025)

  • provides transparent, on-demand Layer 2 connectivity between your on-premises network sites using Google’s global infrastructure
  • simplifies, augments, and improves reliability for WAN connectivity between your data centers
  • leverages Google’s global network for high-performance and high-bandwidth site-to-site connectivity
  • requires colocation in Google-supported facilities
  • supports cross-site network MTU of 9,000 bytes
  • ideal for disaster recovery, data replication, and site-to-site backup use cases

HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect

  • allows deploying HA VPN tunnels over Dedicated Interconnect or Partner Interconnect VLAN attachments
  • encrypts traffic that traverses Cloud Interconnect connections using IPsec
  • helps meet regulatory and security requirements for data encryption in transit
  • supported for both Dedicated Interconnect and Partner Interconnect
  • provides both the private connectivity of Cloud Interconnect and the encryption of VPN

MACsec for Cloud Interconnect

  • provides link-layer encryption (IEEE 802.1AE) between your on-premises router and Google’s edge routers
  • secures traffic on the physical connection without the overhead of IPsec tunneling
  • supported on Dedicated Interconnect circuits
  • provides configurable fail-open behavior (traffic passes unencrypted if MACsec fails) or fail-close (traffic is blocked)
  • requires MACsec-capable on-premises router

Network Connectivity Center (NCC)

  • a hub-and-spoke orchestration framework that simplifies network connectivity
  • provides centralized management of connectivity between VPC networks, on-premises networks, and other clouds
  • supports VPC spokes for inter-VPC connectivity (up to 250 VPC spokes per hub)
  • supports hybrid spokes using Cloud VPN, Cloud Interconnect, or Router appliance
  • enables site-to-site data transfer using Google’s global network as part of your WAN
  • provides full mesh transitivity between all spokes connected to a hub
  • supports spoke groups for preset connectivity topologies (mesh, star, etc.)
  • integrates with Cross-Cloud Interconnect for multicloud hub-spoke architectures

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity Decision Tree

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity Decision Tree

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity Comparison

Option Connectivity Bandwidth SLA Private RFC1918
Cloud VPN (HA) Over public internet (encrypted) Up to 3 Gbps/tunnel 99.99% Yes
Direct Peering Direct to Google PoP 10 Gbps per link No SLA No
Carrier Peering Via partner to Google Varies by partner No SLA No
Dedicated Interconnect Direct physical to Google 10/100/400 Gbps (up to 3200 Gbps) 99.9%/99.99% Yes
Partner Interconnect Via partner to Google 50 Mbps–50 Gbps 99.9%/99.99% Yes
Cross-Cloud Interconnect Google to other cloud provider 10/100 Gbps 99.9%/99.99% Yes
Cross-Site Interconnect Between on-prem sites via Google 10/100 Gbps Yes L2 transparent

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity Certification Tips

  • HA VPN is the recommended option for encrypted connectivity over public internet; Classic VPN BGP is deprecated
  • For private RFC1918 connectivity, Dedicated or Partner Interconnect is required (peering does NOT provide private addressing)
  • Cross-Cloud Interconnect is the recommended option for multicloud private connectivity (Google ↔ AWS/Azure/OCI)
  • Network Connectivity Center enables hub-spoke topologies and site-to-site data transfer across Google’s backbone
  • MACsec provides link-layer encryption; HA VPN over Interconnect provides IPsec encryption for Interconnect traffic
  • Dedicated Interconnect requires colocation in Google PoP; Partner Interconnect does not
  • Minimum 2 connections in different edge availability domains for 99.9%; 4 connections for 99.99% SLA

See also: Google Cloud Networking Services Cheat Sheet

Cloud Interconnect – Dedicated vs Partner, Setup & Pricing

~ Last updated on : ~ jayendrapatil

Google Cloud Interconnect

  • Google Cloud Interconnect provides low-latency, high-availability connections that enable reliable data transfer between networks.
  • Cloud Interconnect offers the following options for extending the network:
    • Dedicated Interconnect – provides a direct physical connection between the on-premises network and Google’s network.
    • Partner Interconnect – provides connectivity between the on-premises and VPC networks through a supported service provider.
    • Cross-Cloud Interconnect – provides dedicated connectivity between Google Cloud and another cloud service provider (AWS, Azure, OCI, Alibaba Cloud).
    • Cross-Site Interconnect – provides Layer 2 connectivity between on-premises network sites using Google’s global network.
  • Cloud Interconnect provides access to all Google Cloud products and services from the on-premises network except Google Workspace.
  • Cloud Interconnect also allows access to supported APIs and services by using Private Google Access from on-premises hosts.
  • Traffic between networks doesn’t traverse the public internet, reducing points of failure and improving latency.
  • VPC network’s internal IP addresses are directly accessible from on-premises without NAT or VPN tunnels.

Dedicated Interconnect

  • Dedicated Interconnect provides direct physical connections between the on-premises network and Google’s network.
  • Dedicated Interconnect enables the transfer of large amounts of data between networks, which can be more cost-effective than purchasing additional bandwidth over the public internet.
  • Dedicated Interconnect requires your network to physically meet Google’s network in a colocation facility with your own routing equipment.
  • Dedicated Interconnect supports only dynamic routing.
  • Dedicated Interconnect supports the following link types:
    • 10 Gbps circuits (single mode fiber, 10GBASE-LR)
    • 100 Gbps circuits (single mode fiber, 100GBASE-LR4)
    • 400 Gbps circuits (single mode fiber, 400GBASE-LR4) – GA March 2026
  • VLAN attachments support maximum bandwidths up to 400 Gbps (GA March 2026).
  • VLAN attachment should be associated with a Cloud Router.
  • Cloud Router creates a BGP session for the VLAN attachment and its corresponding on-premises peer router.
  • Cloud Router receives the routes that the on-premises router advertises. These routes are added as custom dynamic routes in the VPC network.
  • Cloud Router also advertises routes for Google Cloud resources to the on-premises peer router.
  • Supports IPv6 traffic exchange between IPv6-enabled VPC network and on-premises network.

Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect

Dedicated Interconnect Provisioning

  • Find a collocation facility with GCP Point of Presence (PoP) which offers Direct Interconnect connections.
  • Order an Interconnect connection so that Google can allocate the necessary resources and send a Letter of Authorization and Connecting Facility Assignment (LOA-CFA).
  • LOA-CFA is sent via email to NOC (technical contact) or can be downloaded from the Google Cloud console.
  • Submit the LOA-CFA to the vendor so that they can provision the Interconnect connections between Google’s network and your network.
  • Configure and test the connections with Google before you can use them.
  • Create VLAN attachments to allocate a VLAN on the connection.
  • Configure the on-premises router to establish a BGP session with the Cloud Router.

Dedicated Interconnect Redundancy

  • Single Dedicated Interconnect connection does not offer redundancy or high availability.
  • Google recommends redundancy using 2 (99.9%) or 4 (99.99%) interconnect connections so that if one connection fails, the other connection can continue to serve traffic.
  • Redundant Interconnect connection with 2 connections must be created in the same metropolitan area (city) as the existing one, but in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone).
  • Redundant Interconnect connection with 4 connections must be created with 2 connections in two different metropolitan areas (city), and each connection in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone).
  • Dynamic routing mode for the VPC network must be global so that Cloud Router can advertise all subnets and propagate learned routes to all subnets regardless of the subnet’s region.
  • A single-region Critical production SLA (99.99%) topology is now available (GA June 2026), allowing 99.99% availability within a single region.

Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect Redundancy

Partner Interconnect

  • Partner Interconnect provides connectivity between the on-premises network and the VPC network through a supported service provider.
  • A Partner Interconnect connection is useful if the data center is in a physical location that can’t reach a Dedicated Interconnect colocation facility, or the data needs don’t warrant an entire 10-Gbps connection.
  • Partner Interconnect supports bandwidth from 50 Mbps minimum to 50 Gbps maximum per VLAN attachment.
  • Service providers have existing physical connections to Google’s network that they make available for their customers to use.
  • After the connectivity with a service provider is established, a Partner Interconnect connection from the service provider can be requested.
  • After the service provider provisions the connection, you can start passing traffic between your networks by using the service provider’s network.
  • Partner Interconnect provides Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity:
    • For Layer 2 connections:
      • You must configure and establish a BGP session between the Cloud Routers and on-premises routers for each created VLAN attachment.
      • BGP configuration information is provided by the VLAN attachment after your service provider has configured it.
    • For Layer 3 connections:
      • The service provider establishes a BGP session between the Cloud Routers and their edge routers for each VLAN attachment.
      • You don’t need to configure BGP on the on-premises router. Google and the service provider automatically set the correct configuration.
  • Supports IPv6 traffic exchange between IPv6-enabled VPC network and on-premises network.

Google Cloud Partner Interconnect

Partner Interconnect Provisioning

  • Connect the on-premises network to a supported service provider.
  • Create a VLAN attachment for a Partner Interconnect connection in the Google Cloud project, which generates a unique pairing key that must be used to request a connection from the service provider.
  • Activate the connection.
  • Depending on the connection, either you or your service provider then establishes a Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) session.
  • Partner Interconnect provisioning does not require LOA-CFA.

Partner Interconnect Redundancy

  • Single Partner Interconnect connection does not offer redundancy or high availability.
  • 99.9% availability requires:
    • At least two VLAN attachments in a single Google Cloud region, in separate edge availability domains (metro availability zones).
    • At least one Cloud Router, connected to both VLAN attachments.
  • 99.99% availability requires:
    • At least four VLAN attachments across two metros, one in each edge availability domain (metro availability zone).
    • Two Cloud Routers (one in each Google Cloud region of a VPC network).
    • Associate one Cloud Router with each pair of VLAN attachments.
  • Dynamic routing mode for the VPC network must be global so that Cloud Router can advertise all subnets and propagate learned routes to all subnets regardless of the subnet’s region.

Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect Redundancy - Layer 2

Cross-Cloud Interconnect

  • Cross-Cloud Interconnect provides high-bandwidth dedicated connectivity between Google Cloud and another cloud service provider.
  • Supported cloud providers include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and Alibaba Cloud.
  • Provides private, SLA-backed connectivity without traversing the public internet.
  • Available connection capacities: 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and 400 Gbps (GA March 2026).
  • Google provisions and manages the physical connections from Google to the remote cloud provider.
  • Supports traffic differentiation through application awareness (GA September 2025).
  • Use cases:
    • Multicloud deployments requiring private connectivity between clouds.
    • Data replication and disaster recovery across cloud providers.
    • Distributed applications spanning multiple clouds.

Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect

  • Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for AWS (GA April 2026) provides an on-demand, reliable method for establishing cross-cloud transport without manually setting up networking components.
  • Provides region-to-region transport with SLA-protected, coordinated underlay built with AWS.
  • Can be set up on-demand and sized up or down based on needs.
  • Supports both VPC Network Peering and Network Connectivity Center (NCC) connectivity models.
  • Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for OCI provides on-demand connections with variable speed options (1 Gbps to 50 Gbps).

Cross-Site Interconnect

  • Cross-Site Interconnect (Preview, April 2025) provides reliable, high-bandwidth Layer 2 connectivity between on-premises network sites using Google’s global network.
  • A transparent, on-demand, Layer 2 connectivity solution that leverages Google’s global infrastructure.
  • Supports 10 Gbps and 100 Gbps connections.
  • Supports an MTU size of 9,000 bytes for cross-site networks.
  • Use cases:
    • Site-to-site connectivity between on-premises locations.
    • Simplifying WAN infrastructure for high-performance and high-bandwidth connectivity.
    • Improving reliability posture across the WAN.
  • Provisioning requires LOA-CFA similar to Dedicated Interconnect.
  • Available in multiple colocation facilities globally (Singapore, Dallas, Miami, Melbourne, Taipei, Stockholm, etc.).

Cloud Interconnect Security

  • Cloud Interconnect does not encrypt the connection between your network and Google’s network by default.
  • Multiple encryption options are now available:
    • HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect – Deploys IPsec-encrypted HA VPN tunnels over VLAN attachments. Supported for both Dedicated Interconnect and Partner Interconnect. Each HA VPN tunnel provides up to 3 Gbps bandwidth.
    • MACsec for Cloud Interconnect – Uses IEEE 802.1AE MACsec standard to encrypt traffic between your on-premises router and Google’s edge routers. Available for 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps links regardless of location; for 10 Gbps links, availability varies by location.
    • Application-level encryption or your own VPN for additional security.
  • HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect helps maintain compliance with industry regulations requiring encryption of outgoing traffic or data in transit.

MACsec for Cloud Interconnect

  • MACsec encrypts traffic at the Layer 2 (data link) level between your on-premises router and Google’s edge routers.
  • MACsec doesn’t provide encryption in transit within Google’s network. For stronger security, combine with IPsec or TLS.
  • Supports two security modes:
    • Fail open (must-secure) – If MACsec session can’t be established, link operates without encryption.
    • Fail closed – If MACsec session can’t be established, the link fails (drops all traffic).
  • Available for 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps links regardless of location.
  • Uses pre-shared keys to encrypt traffic transiting between routers.

HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect

  • Establishes encrypted HA VPN tunnels over Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments.
  • Supported for both Dedicated Interconnect and Partner Interconnect.
  • Each HA VPN tunnel provides up to 3 Gbps bandwidth.
  • Provides IPsec encryption at the IP layer (Layer 3).
  • Requires a Cloud Router with encrypted_interconnect_router = true.
  • Can reserve regional internal IP ranges for HA VPN gateway interfaces.

Traffic Differentiation (Application Awareness)

  • Dedicated Interconnect and Cross-Cloud Interconnect support network traffic differentiation through application awareness (GA September 2025).
  • Lets you map outbound traffic to different traffic classes.
  • Supports bandwidth percentage policy or strict priority policy for traffic prioritization.
  • Uses Differentiated Services Field Codepoint (DSCP) in IP headers for traffic differentiation.
  • Managed traffic classification (Preview April 2026) automates DSCP bit assignment in outgoing packets.
  • Contact your account team to enable application awareness.

Dedicated Interconnect vs Partner Interconnect

  • Choosing between Dedicated Interconnect vs Partner Interconnect, consider the connection requirements, such as the connection location and capacity:
    • If you can’t physically meet Google’s network in a colocation facility to reach your VPC networks, use Partner Interconnect to connect through service providers.
    • If you have high bandwidth needs (up to 400 Gbps per link), Dedicated Interconnect can be a cost-effective solution.
    • If you require lower bandwidth (50 Mbps to 50 Gbps), Partner Interconnect provides flexible options through service providers.
    • If you need connectivity to another cloud provider, use Cross-Cloud Interconnect or Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect.

Cloud Interconnect MTU

  • Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments support the following MTU sizes:
    • 1,440 bytes
    • 1,460 bytes
    • 1,500 bytes
    • 8,896 bytes
  • Cross-site networks support an MTU size of 9,000 bytes.

Connection Groups and SLA

  • Interconnect connection groups and VLAN attachment groups (GA June 2025) help communicate intended reliability levels.
  • Reliability options:
    • Critical production – 99.99% uptime SLA for maximum resiliency.
    • Non-critical production – 99.9% uptime SLA for non-critical workloads.
    • No SLA – No uptime guarantee (not recommended for production).
  • Resource groups provide feedback on how Cloud Interconnect resources meet the intended level of reliability.

GCP Certification Exam Practice Questions

  • Questions are collected from Internet and the answers are marked as per my knowledge and understanding (which might differ with yours).
  • GCP services are updated everyday and both the answers and questions might be outdated soon, so research accordingly.
  • GCP exam questions are not updated to keep up the pace with GCP updates, so even if the underlying feature has changed the question might not be updated
  • Open to further feedback, discussion and correction.
  1. Your company has decided to build a backup replica of their on-premises user authentication PostgreSQL database on Google
    Cloud Platform. The database is 4 TB, and large updates are frequent. Replication requires private address space communication.
    Which networking approach should you use?

    1. Google Cloud Dedicated Interconnect
    2. Google Cloud VPN connected to the data center network
    3. A NAT and TLS translation gateway installed on-premises
    4. A Google Compute Engine instance with a VPN server installed connected to the data center network
  2. A company wants to connect cloud applications to an Oracle database in its data center. Requirements are a maximum of 20 Gbps
    of data and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 99%. Which option best suits the requirements?

    1. Implement a high-throughput Cloud VPN connection
    2. Cloud Router with VPN
    3. Dedicated Interconnect
    4. Partner Interconnect
  3. A company wants to connect cloud applications to an Oracle database in its data center. Requirements are a maximum of 9 Gbps
    of data and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 99%. Which option best suits the requirements?

    1. Implement a high-throughput Cloud VPN connection
    2. Cloud Router with VPN
    3. Dedicated Interconnect
    4. Partner Interconnect
  4. A company needs to establish private connectivity between their Google Cloud environment and their AWS environment for a multicloud application. They require high bandwidth and an SLA. Which connectivity option should they use?
    1. Cloud VPN with AWS Site-to-Site VPN
    2. Partner Interconnect through a shared service provider
    3. Cross-Cloud Interconnect
    4. Dedicated Interconnect with VPN tunnels to AWS
  5. An organization requires encrypted traffic over their Dedicated Interconnect connection to meet regulatory compliance requirements. What is the recommended approach?
    1. Use a third-party VPN appliance on a Compute Engine instance
    2. Deploy HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect
    3. Enable Cloud Armor on the Interconnect
    4. Use application-level TLS only
  6. A company wants to connect two of their on-premises data centers using Google’s global network for high-bandwidth, low-latency Layer 2 connectivity. Which Google Cloud service should they use?
    1. Cloud VPN
    2. Dedicated Interconnect
    3. Network Connectivity Center
    4. Cross-Site Interconnect
  7. Which encryption options are available for Cloud Interconnect traffic? (Choose TWO)
    1. MACsec for Cloud Interconnect
    2. Cloud Armor DDoS protection
    3. HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect
    4. Cloud KMS envelope encryption
    5. Identity-Aware Proxy
  8. A company needs an on-demand, managed connection between Google Cloud and AWS without setting up physical infrastructure or colocation facilities. Which service should they use?
    1. Cross-Cloud Interconnect
    2. Dedicated Interconnect with AWS Direct Connect
    3. Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect for AWS
    4. Cloud VPN with AWS Site-to-Site VPN

Google Cloud Data Transfer Services Overview

~ Last updated on : ~ jayendrapatil

Google Cloud Data Transfer Services

Google Cloud Data Transfer services provide various options in terms of network and transfer tools to help transfer data from on-premises to Google Cloud network.

📋 Last Updated: June 2026 — Updated with gcloud storage CLI (gsutil replacement), Storage Transfer Service event-driven transfers, Cross-Cloud Interconnect, Transfer Appliance data export, BigQuery Data Transfer Service new sources, Classic VPN dynamic routing deprecation, and Network Connectivity Center.

Network Services

Cloud VPN

  • Provides network connectivity with Google Cloud between on-premises network and Google Cloud, or from Google Cloud to another cloud provider.
  • Cloud VPN still routes the traffic through the Internet.
  • Cloud VPN is quick to set up (as compared to Interconnect)
  • Each Cloud VPN tunnel can support up to 3 Gbps total for ingress and egress, but available bandwidth depends on the connectivity. Bandwidth can be increased by adding more tunnels.
  • Choose Cloud VPN to encrypt traffic to Google Cloud, or with lower throughput solution, or experimenting with migrating the workloads to Google Cloud
  • HA VPN is the recommended VPN configuration offering a 99.99% SLA when configured with tunnels on both interfaces per Google best practices.
  • Classic VPN provides a 99.9% SLA. Note: Classic VPN dynamic routing (BGP) was deprecated on August 1, 2025. HA VPN must be used for BGP-based VPN connectivity.
  • HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect allows encrypting traffic traversing Dedicated or Partner Interconnect connections for additional security and compliance.
  • Cloud VPN supports customizable cipher options (Public Preview as of June 2025) allowing configuration of ciphers per security requirements.
  • Cloud Interconnect offers a direct connection to Google Cloud through Google or one of the Cloud Interconnect service providers.
  • Cloud Interconnect service prevents data from going on the public internet and can provide a more consistent throughput for large data transfers
  • For enterprise-grade connection to Google Cloud that has higher throughput requirements, choose Dedicated Interconnect (10 Gbps to 100 Gbps) or Partner Interconnect (50 Mbps to 50 Gbps)
  • Cloud Interconnect provides access to all Google Cloud products and services from your on-premises network except Google Workspace.
  • Cloud Interconnect also allows access to supported APIs and services by using Private Google Access from on-premises hosts.
  • Cross-Cloud Interconnect enables dedicated, private connectivity between Google Cloud and another cloud service provider (AWS, Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Alibaba Cloud). This eliminates the need for traffic to traverse the public internet for multicloud architectures.
  • Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect (available for AWS) provides an on-demand method for cross-cloud transport without manually setting up networking components.
  • Cross-Site Interconnect (GA 2025) is a transparent, on-demand Layer 2 connectivity solution leveraging Google’s global infrastructure for high-bandwidth connectivity between on-premises sites.
  • Direct Peering provides access to the Google network with fewer network hops than with a public internet connection
  • By using Direct Peering, internet traffic is exchanged between the customer network and Google’s Edge Points of Presence (PoPs), which means the data does not use the public internet.
  • Google does not offer a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Direct Peering.
  • For SLA-backed connectivity, Cloud Interconnect (Dedicated or Partner) is recommended over Direct Peering.

Network Connectivity Center

  • Network Connectivity Center (NCC) is an orchestration framework that simplifies network connectivity using a hub-and-spoke model.
  • Supports three types of spokes: VPC spokes, Producer VPC spokes, and Hybrid spokes (HA VPN tunnels, Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments, Router appliance VMs).
  • Enables site-to-cloud connectivity (external networks to Google Cloud) and site-to-site connectivity (using Google Cloud as enterprise WAN).
  • Supports up to 250 VPC spokes per hub and provides transitivity between workload VPCs.
  • Useful for managing complex multicloud and hybrid network topologies centrally.

Google Cloud Networking Services Decision Tree

Google Cloud Hybrid Connectivity

Transfer Services

gcloud storage (formerly gsutil)

⚠️ gsutil Deprecation Notice: gsutil is no longer the recommended CLI for Cloud Storage. Google recommends using gcloud storage commands in the Google Cloud CLI instead. gsutil does not support newer Cloud Storage features such as soft delete and managed folders. gcloud storage commands require less manual optimization and provide faster transfer rates.
  • gcloud storage (replacement for gsutil) is the standard tool for small- to medium-sized transfers (less than 1 TB) over a typical enterprise-scale network, from a private data center to Google Cloud.
  • gcloud storage provides all the basic features needed to manage Cloud Storage instances, including copying data to and from the local file system and Cloud Storage.
  • gcloud storage can also move, rename, and remove objects and perform real-time incremental syncs (similar to rsync) to a Cloud Storage bucket.
  • gcloud storage is especially useful in the following scenarios:
    • As-needed transfers or during command-line sessions by your users.
    • Transferring only a few files or very large files, or both.
    • Consuming the output of a program (streaming output to Cloud Storage).
    • Watching a directory with a moderate number of files and syncing any updates with very low latencies.
  • gcloud storage provides the following features:
    • Parallel multi-threaded transfers for increased transfer speeds.
    • Composite transfers for a single large file, breaking them into smaller chunks to increase transfer speed. Chunks are transferred and validated in parallel. Once the chunks arrive at Google, they are combined (composited) to form a single object.
    • Uses faster CRC32C hashing algorithm for data integrity checking (improved over gsutil’s crcmod).
  • Migration: Replace gsutil commands with equivalent gcloud storage commands. For example: gsutil cp → gcloud storage cp, gsutil rsync → gcloud storage rsync.
  • Storage Transfer Service is a fully managed, highly scalable service to automate transfers into Cloud Storage from multiple sources.
  • Supported Sources:
    • Amazon S3
    • S3-compatible storage (requires agents)
    • Microsoft Azure Blob Storage and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2
    • Cloud Storage (bucket-to-bucket)
    • Publicly accessible HTTP/HTTPS URLs
    • On-premises file systems (POSIX-compliant, requires agents)
    • Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS, requires agents)
  • Storage Transfer Service for Cloud-to-Cloud transfers:
    • Supports transfers from S3, Azure Blob Storage, and Cloud Storage without agents.
    • Supports daily copies of any modified objects.
  • Storage Transfer Service for on-premises data:
    • Is designed for large-scale transfers (up to petabytes of data, billions of files).
    • Supports full copies or incremental copies.
    • Can be set up by installing on-premises software (known as agents) onto computers in the data center.
  • Has a simple, managed graphical user interface; even non-technically savvy users (after setup) can use it to move data.
  • Provides robust error-reporting and a record of all files and objects that are moved.
  • Supports executing recurring transfers on a schedule.
  • Event-Driven Transfers (2025-2026):
    • Listens to event notifications to automatically transfer new or updated objects.
    • Supported for AWS S3 (via S3 Event Notifications to Amazon SQS).
    • Supported for Azure Blob Storage and Data Lake Storage Gen2 (via Azure Event Grid to Azure Storage Queues) — available since January 2026.
    • Supported for Cloud Storage (via Pub/Sub notifications).
  • Private Network Transfers (December 2025): Transfer data from AWS S3 or Azure Blob Storage to Cloud Storage over a private network connection using Cross-Cloud Interconnect or Partner Interconnect, optimizing costs and compliance.
  • Google-Managed Private Network for S3: Transfer from S3 over a Google-managed private network, eliminating AWS egress fees with a flat per-GiB rate.
  • AWS GovCloud Support (2026): Supports transfers from S3 buckets in us-gov-east-1 and us-gov-west-1 regions.
  • Organization Policy Constraints (February 2026): Custom organization policy constraints to control Storage Transfer Service usage (e.g., restrict sources or destinations).
  • Encrypts data in transit, supports VPC Service Controls, and uses checksums for data integrity.

Transfer Appliance

  • Transfer Appliance is an excellent option for performing large-scale transfers, especially when a fast network connection is unavailable, it’s too costly to acquire more bandwidth, or it’s a one-time transfer.
  • Expected turnaround time for a network appliance to be shipped, loaded with the data, shipped back, and rehydrated on Google Cloud is approximately 50 days.
  • Consider Transfer Appliance if the online transfer timeframe is calculated to be substantially more than this timeframe.
  • Transfer Appliance requires the ability to receive and ship back the Google-owned hardware.
  • Transfer Appliance is available only in certain countries.
  • Data Export (GA in US): Transfer Appliance now supports exporting data from Cloud Storage to the appliance, which is then shipped to you. This enables large-scale data egress from Google Cloud when network transfer is impractical.
  • gcloud CLI Support (Alpha): gcloud alpha transfer appliances commands allow viewing in-progress results, working with draft orders, and cloning existing orders.
  • Data is encrypted during upload, transit, after upload to Cloud Storage, and during download for data export.

BigQuery Data Transfer Service

  • BigQuery Data Transfer Service automates data movement into BigQuery on a scheduled, managed basis.
  • After a data transfer is configured, the BigQuery Data Transfer Service automatically loads data into BigQuery on a regular basis.
  • BigQuery Data Transfer Service can also initiate data backfills to recover from any outages or gaps.
  • BigQuery Data Transfer Service can only sink data to BigQuery and cannot be used to transfer data out of BigQuery.
  • Also supports dataset copies and scheduled queries within BigQuery.
  • BigQuery Data Transfer Service supports loading data from the following data sources:
    • Google SaaS Applications:
      • Google Ads
      • Google Ad Manager
      • Campaign Manager
      • Search Ads 360
      • Google Merchant Center
      • Google Play
      • YouTube Channel reports
      • YouTube Content Owner reports
      • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — provides 12 daily partitioned tables reflecting UI reports
    • Cloud Storage — supports incremental and truncated write preferences
    • External cloud storage providers:
      • Amazon S3 (supports cross-cloud transfer)
    • Data warehouses:
      • Teradata
      • Amazon Redshift
    • Third-party connectors (2025):
      • Salesforce Sales Cloud
      • Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC)
      • Facebook Ads
      • Adobe Analytics

Transfer Data vs Speed Comparison

Data Migration Speeds

Choosing the Right Transfer Method

Method Best For Data Size Network Requirement
gcloud storage Ad-hoc, small transfers < 1 TB Standard internet
Storage Transfer Service Recurring, large cloud-to-cloud or on-premises transfers TB to PB scale Available network (supports private network)
Transfer Appliance One-time massive transfers, limited bandwidth Hundreds of TB to PB Minimal (physical shipping)
BigQuery Data Transfer Service SaaS data ingestion into BigQuery Varies Standard internet

GCP Certification Exam Practice Questions

  • Questions are collected from Internet and the answers are marked as per my knowledge and understanding (which might differ with yours).
  • GCP services are updated everyday and both the answers and questions might be outdated soon, so research accordingly.
  • GCP exam questions are not updated to keep up the pace with GCP updates, so even if the underlying feature has changed the question might not be updated
  • Open to further feedback, discussion and correction.
  1. A company wants to connect cloud applications to an Oracle database in its data center. Requirements are a maximum of 9 Gbps of data and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 99%. Which option best suits the requirements?
    1. Implement a high-throughput Cloud VPN connection
    2. Cloud Router with VPN
    3. Dedicated Interconnect
    4. Partner Interconnect
  2. An organization wishes to automate data movement from Software as a Service (SaaS) applications such as Google Ads and Google Ad Manager on a scheduled, managed basis. This data is further needed for analytics and generate reports. How can the process be automated?
    1. Use Storage Transfer Service to move the data to Cloud Storage
    2. Use Storage Transfer Service to move the data to BigQuery
    3. Use BigQuery Data Transfer Service to move the data to BigQuery
    4. Use Transfer Appliance to move the data to Cloud Storage
  3. Your company’s migration team needs to transfer 1PB of data to Google Cloud. The network speed between the on-premises data center and Google Cloud is 100Mbps. The migration activity has a timeframe of 6 months. What is the efficient way to transfer the data?
    1. Use BigQuery Data Transfer Service to transfer the data to Cloud Storage
    2. Expose the data as a public URL and Storage Transfer Service to transfer it
    3. Use Transfer Appliance to transfer the data to Cloud Storage
    4. Use gcloud storage command to transfer the data to Cloud Storage
  4. Your company uses Google Analytics for tracking. You need to export the session and hit data from a Google Analytics 360 reporting view on a scheduled basis into BigQuery for analysis. How can the data be exported?
    1. Configure a scheduler in Google Analytics to convert the Google Analytics data to JSON format, then import directly into BigQuery using bq command line.
    2. Use gcloud storage to export the Google Analytics data to Cloud Storage, then import into BigQuery and schedule it using Cron.
    3. Import data to BigQuery directly from Google Analytics using Cron
    4. Use BigQuery Data Transfer Service to import the data from Google Analytics
  5. A company needs to automatically transfer new files from an AWS S3 bucket to Cloud Storage as soon as they are created, with minimal latency. What is the most efficient approach?
    1. Schedule Storage Transfer Service to run every 15 minutes
    2. Use a Lambda function to call the Cloud Storage API on each new object
    3. Configure Storage Transfer Service event-driven transfers using S3 Event Notifications and Amazon SQS
    4. Use gsutil rsync with a cron job
  6. An organization wants to establish private, high-bandwidth connectivity between their Google Cloud environment and their AWS infrastructure for a multicloud application. Which service should they use?
    1. Cloud VPN with HA configuration
    2. Partner Interconnect
    3. Cross-Cloud Interconnect
    4. Direct Peering
  7. A company needs to transfer 500 TB of data from Azure Blob Storage to Cloud Storage while keeping all traffic off the public internet and maintaining dedicated bandwidth. What combination should they use?
    1. Storage Transfer Service over public internet
    2. Storage Transfer Service with private network transfer over Cross-Cloud Interconnect
    3. Transfer Appliance
    4. gcloud storage cp command
  8. Your organization wants to centrally manage connectivity between multiple VPC networks, on-premises sites, and other cloud providers using a hub-and-spoke model. Which Google Cloud service should you use?
    1. Cloud Router
    2. VPC Network Peering
    3. Shared VPC
    4. Network Connectivity Center

References

 

Google Cloud Networking Services Cheat Sheet

~ Last updated on : ~ jayendrapatil

Virtual Private Cloud

  • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) provides networking functionality for the cloud-based resources and services that is global, scalable, and flexible.
  • VPC networks are global resources, including the associated routes and firewall rules, and are not associated with any particular region or zone.
  • Subnets are regional resources and each subnet defines a range of IP addresses
  • IPv6 Support
    • VPC networks support dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6) subnets in custom-mode VPC networks.
    • IPv6 functionality is available only in Premium Tier.
    • Supports both external (GUA – Globally Unique Addresses) and internal (ULA – Unique Local Addresses) IPv6 ranges.
    • VMs can have IPv4-only, dual-stack, or IPv6-only interfaces.
  • Cloud NGFW (Next Generation Firewall)
    • replaces legacy VPC firewall rules with network firewall policies.
    • protects workloads by applying controls at Layer 3, Layer 4, and Layer 7 of the network stack.
    • available in three tiers:
      • Essentials – rules based on IP ranges, ports, and protocols
      • Standard – adds FQDN objects, geo-location objects, and threat intelligence
      • Enterprise – adds Intrusion Detection and Prevention Service (IPS) powered by Palo Alto Networks, TLS inspection
    • Google recommends migrating from legacy VPC firewall rules to Cloud NGFW network firewall policies.
    • Network firewall policies can be attached to a single VPC or group of VPCs (unlike legacy VPC firewall rules which apply to a single VPC only).
  • Resources within a VPC network can communicate with one another by using internal IPv4 addresses, subject to applicable network firewall rules.
  • Private access options for services allow instances with internal IP addresses to communicate with Google APIs and services.
  • Private Service Connect (PSC)
    • allows consumers to access managed services privately from inside their VPC network.
    • allows managed service producers to host services in their own separate VPC networks and offer a private connection to consumers.
    • creates service endpoints in consumer VPCs that provide private connectivity and policy enforcement.
  • Shared VPC to keep a VPC network in a common host project shared with service projects. Authorized IAM members from other projects in the same organization can create resources that use subnets of the Shared VPC network
  • VPC Network Peering allows VPC networks to be connected with other VPC networks in different projects or organizations.
  • VPC networks can be securely connected in hybrid environments by using Cloud VPN or Cloud Interconnect.
  • Primary and Secondary IP address cannot overlap with the on-premises CIDR
  • VPC Flow Logs records a sample of network flows sent from and received by VM instances, including instances used as GKE nodes.

Cloud Load Balancing

  • Cloud Load Balancing is a fully distributed, software-defined managed load balancing service
  • distributes user traffic across multiple instances of the applications and reduces the risk of performance issues by spreading the load
  • provides health checking mechanisms that determine if backends, such as instance groups and zonal network endpoint groups (NEGs), are healthy and properly respond to traffic.
  • supports IPv6 clients with Application Load Balancers and proxy Network Load Balancers.
  • Note: Google Cloud has renamed load balancer types. HTTP(S) Load Balancing is now Application Load Balancer, TCP/UDP Load Balancing is now passthrough Network Load Balancer, and SSL Proxy/TCP Proxy are now proxy Network Load Balancer.
  • supports multiple Cloud Load Balancing types
    • Internal Application Load Balancer (formerly Internal HTTP(S) Load Balancing)
      • is a proxy-based, regional Layer 7 load balancer that enables running and scaling services behind an internal IP address.
      • also available as a cross-region internal Application Load Balancer for multi-region backends with automatic failover.
      • supports a regional backend service, which distributes HTTP and HTTPS requests to healthy backends (either instance groups containing CE VMs or NEGs containing GKE containers).
      • supports path based routing
      • preserves the Host header of the original client request and also appends two IP addresses (Client and LB) to the X-Forwarded-For header
      • supports a regional health check that periodically monitors the readiness of the backends.
      • has native support for the WebSocket protocol when using HTTP or HTTPS as the protocol to the backend
    • External Application Load Balancer (formerly External HTTP(S) Load Balancing)
      • is a global, proxy-based Layer 7 load balancer that enables running and scaling the services worldwide behind a single external IP address
      • distributes HTTP and HTTPS traffic to backends hosted on Compute Engine and GKE
      • offers global (cross-regional) and regional load balancing
      • supports content-based load balancing using URL maps
      • preserves the Host header of the original client request and also appends two IP addresses (Client and LB) to the X-Forwarded-For header
      • supports connection draining on backend services
      • has native support for the WebSocket protocol when using HTTP or HTTPS as the protocol to the backend
      • supports mutual TLS (mTLS) authentication for client certificate-based authentication.
    • Internal passthrough Network Load Balancer (formerly Internal TCP/UDP Load Balancing)
      • is a managed, internal, pass-through, regional Layer 4 load balancer that enables running and scaling services behind an internal IP address
      • distributes traffic among VM instances in the same region in a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network by using an internal IP address.
      • provides high-performance, pass-through Layer 4 load balancer for TCP or UDP traffic.
      • routes original connections directly from clients to the healthy backends, without any interruption.
      • does not terminate SSL traffic and SSL traffic can be terminated by the backends instead of by the load balancer
      • provides access through VPC Network Peering, Cloud VPN or Cloud Interconnect
      • supports health check that periodically monitors the readiness of the backends.
    • External passthrough Network Load Balancer (formerly External TCP/UDP Network Load Balancing)
      • is a managed, external, pass-through, regional Layer 4 load balancer that distributes TCP or UDP traffic originating from the internet to among VM instances in the same region
      • Load-balanced packets are received by backend VMs with their source IP unchanged.
      • Load-balanced connections are terminated by the backend VMs. Responses from the backend VMs go directly to the clients, not back through the load balancer (direct server return).
      • scope of a network load balancer is regional, not global. A network load balancer cannot span multiple regions. Within a single region, the load balancer services all zones.
      • supports connection tracking table and a configurable consistent hashing algorithm to determine how traffic is distributed to backend VMs.
      • supports additional protocols like UDP, ESP, GRE, ICMP, and ICMPv6.
    • External proxy Network Load Balancer (formerly External SSL Proxy and TCP Proxy Load Balancing)
      • is a reverse proxy load balancer that distributes SSL or TCP traffic coming from the internet to VM instances in the VPC network.
      • with SSL traffic, user SSL (TLS) connections are terminated at the load balancing layer, and then proxied to the closest available backend instances by using either SSL (recommended) or TCP.
      • supports global load balancing service with the Premium Tier and regional load balancing service with the Standard Tier
      • is intended for non-HTTP(S) traffic. For HTTP(S) traffic, use Application Load Balancers.
      • supports proxy protocol header to preserve the original source IP addresses of incoming connections to the load balancer

Cloud CDN

  • Cloud CDN is Google Cloud’s web acceleration solution that caches website and application content closer to the user.
  • uses Google’s global edge network to serve content closer to users, which accelerates the websites and applications.
  • works with the global external Application Load Balancer or the classic Application Load Balancer to deliver content to users
  • Cloud CDN content can be sourced from various types of backends
    • Instance groups
    • Zonal network endpoint groups (NEGs)
    • Serverless NEGs: One or more App Engine, Cloud Run, or Cloud Functions services
    • Internet NEGs, for endpoints that are outside of Google Cloud (also known as custom origins)
    • Buckets in Cloud Storage
  • supports content targeting (GA) — enables device characterization and geo-targeting for responsive websites, language customization, and currency settings.
  • Cloud CDN with Google Cloud Armor enforces security policies only for requests for dynamic content, cache misses, or other requests that are destined for the origin server. Cache hits are served even if the downstream Google Cloud Armor security policy would prevent that request from reaching the origin server.
  • recommends
    • using versioning instead of cache invalidation
    • using custom keys to improve cache hit ratio
    • cache static content
  • Media CDN
    • is Google Cloud’s media delivery solution, complementing Cloud CDN.
    • optimized for high-throughput egress workloads, such as streaming video and large file downloads.
    • uses YouTube’s infrastructure to bring video streams (VoD and live) and large file downloads closer to users.
    • supports Cloud Armor edge security policies for DDoS protection.

Cloud VPN

  • securely connects the peer network to the VPC network or two VPCs through an IPsec VPN connection.
  • encrypts the data as it travels over the internet.
  • only supports site-to-site IPsec VPN connectivity and not client-to-gateway scenarios. Cannot be used to route traffic to the public internet.
  • allows users to access private RFC1918 addresses on resources in the VPC from on-prem computers also using private RFC1918 addresses.
  • can be used with Private Google Access for on-premises hosts
  • HA VPN
    • provides a high-available and secure connection between the on-premises and the VPC network through an IPsec VPN connection in a single region
    • provides an SLA of 99.99% service availability, when configured with two interfaces and two external IP addresses.
    • supports IPv6 (dual-stack) tunnels for both inner and outer IP addresses.
    • supports customizable cipher options for VPN tunnels.
  • Classic VPN
    • provides a 99.9% SLA.
    • Classic VPN dynamic routing (BGP) was deprecated on August 1, 2025. HA VPN is now the only option for BGP connectivity in Cloud VPN. Existing tunnels continue to function but without an availability SLA. If deleted, they cannot be recreated.
    • Does not support IPv6 traffic.
  • HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect
    • allows encrypting traffic traversing Dedicated or Partner Interconnect connections.
    • deploys HA VPN tunnels over VLAN attachments for additional security and compliance.
    • Each HA VPN tunnel has a bandwidth of 3 Gbps.
  • supports up to 3Gbps per tunnel with a maximum of 8 tunnels
  • supports static as well as dynamic routing using Cloud Router
  • supports IKEv1 or IKEv2 using a shared secret

Cloud Interconnect

  • Cloud Interconnect provides options for extending the on-premises network to the VPC networks in Google Cloud.
  • Dedicated Interconnect (Dedicated connection)
    • provides a direct physical connection between the on-premises network and Google’s network
    • requires your network to physically meet Google’s network in a colocation facility with your own routing equipment
    • supports only dynamic routing
    • supports 10 Gbps, 100 Gbps, and 400 Gbps circuits.
  • Partner Interconnect (Use a service provider)
    • provides connectivity between the on-premises and VPC networks through a supported service provider.
    • supports bandwidth from 50 Mbps minimum to 50 Gbps maximum.
    • provides Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity
      • For Layer 2 connections, you must configure and establish a BGP session between the Cloud Routers and on-premises routers for each created VLAN attachment
      • For Layer 3 connections, the service provider establishes a BGP session between the Cloud Routers and their edge routers for each VLAN attachment.
  • Cross-Cloud Interconnect
    • provides dedicated, private connectivity between Google Cloud and another cloud provider (AWS, Azure, OCI, Alibaba Cloud).
    • offers 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps managed, encrypted links.
    • supports security options such as IPsec VPN or MACsec.
    • Partner Cross-Cloud Interconnect (for AWS) provides an on-demand method for establishing cross-cloud transport without manually setting up networking components.
  • Cross-Site Interconnect
    • is a transparent, on-demand, Layer 2 connectivity solution between on-premises network sites.
    • leverages Google’s global infrastructure for high-performance and high-bandwidth connectivity.
  • Single Interconnect connection does not offer redundancy or high availability and its recommended to
    • use 2 in the same metropolitan area (city) as the existing one, but in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone).
    • use 4 with 2 connections in two different metropolitan areas (city), and each connection in a different edge availability domain (metro availability zone)
    • Cloud Routers are required one in each Google Cloud region
  • Cloud Interconnect does not encrypt the connection between your network and Google’s network. For additional security, use HA VPN over Cloud Interconnect or application-level encryption.

Cloud Router

  • is a fully distributed, managed service that provides dynamic routing and scales with the network traffic.
  • works with both legacy networks and VPC networks.
  • isn’t supported for Direct Peering or Carrier Peering connections.
  • helps dynamically exchange routes between the Google Cloud networks and the on-premises network.
  • peers with the on-premises VPN gateway or router to provide dynamic routing and exchanges topology information through BGP.
  • Google Cloud recommends creating two Cloud Routers in each region for a Cloud Interconnect for 99.99% availability.
  • supports following dynamic routing mode
    • Regional routing mode – provides visibility to resources only in the defined region.
    • Global routing mode – provides visibility to resources in all regions
  • is part of the Network Connectivity Center, which provides a hub-and-spoke model for managing connectivity across VPC networks, on-premises, and other clouds.

Network Connectivity Center

  • provides a hub-and-spoke model for managing network connectivity at scale.
  • enables site-to-site data transfer between on-premises locations through Google’s network.
  • supports VPC spokes, hybrid spokes (VPN/Interconnect), and router appliance spokes.
  • solves transitivity challenges through features like producer VPC spoke integration supporting Private Service Access (PSA) and Private Service Connect (PSC) propagation.
  • uses ECMP routing and BGP for route distribution between networks.

Cloud DNS

  • is a high-performance, resilient, reliable, low-latency, global DNS service that publishes the domain names to the global DNS in a cost-effective way.
  • With Shared VPC, Cloud DNS managed private zone, Cloud DNS peering zone, or Cloud DNS forwarding zone must be created in the host project
  • provides Private Zone which supports DNS services for a GCP project. VPCs in the same project can use the same name servers
  • supports DNS Forwarding for Private Zones, which overrides normal DNS resolution for the specified zones. Queries for the specified zones are forwarded to the listed forwarding targets.
  • supports DNS Peering, which allows sending requests for records that come from one zone’s namespace to another VPC network within GCP
  • supports DNS Outbound Policy, which forwards all DNS requests for a VPC network to the specified server targets. It disables internal DNS for the selected networks.
  • DNS Routing Policies
    • supports weighted round robin, geolocation, and failover routing policies.
    • can be configured with health checks for automatic failover.
    • supports internal passthrough Network Load Balancers and internal proxy Network Load Balancers as health checked targets.
  • Cloud DNS VPC Name Resolution Order
    • DNS Outbound Server Policy
    • DNS Forwarding Zone
    • DNS Peering
    • Compute Engine internal DNS
    • Public Zones
  • supports DNSSEC, a feature of DNS, that authenticates responses to domain name lookups and protects the domains from spoofing and cache poisoning attacks

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