Google Cloud Platform VPN: A Hybrid Networking Solution

Google Cloud Platform VPN is a hybrid networking solution that allows you to connect your on-premises network to Google Cloud Platform securely. This solution provides a secure and reliable way to extend your network to the cloud.

Google Cloud Platform VPN supports two types of VPN connections: site-to-site VPN and user-to-site VPN. Site-to-site VPN allows you to connect multiple sites over a VPN, while user-to-site VPN allows individual users to connect to the cloud.

With Google Cloud Platform VPN, you can connect your on-premises network to Google Cloud Platform using various protocols, including IPsec and SSL/TLS. This flexibility allows you to choose the best protocol for your specific use case.

Google Cloud Platform VPN provides a secure and scalable way to connect your network to the cloud, with features such as encryption, authentication, and access control.

To set up a VPN on Google Cloud Platform, you'll need to have a few prerequisites in place. You'll need a GCP account and a project set up, as well as an existing VPC network in GCP. Additionally, you'll need an external IP address for the Cloud VPN and details of your on-premises VPN gateway.

To start, navigate to the GCP Console and go to the 'Hybrid Connectivity' section, which can be found under the Networking section. From there, select "VPN" to begin the setup process.

To set up a VPN, you'll need a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) account and a project already set up. This will serve as the foundation for your VPN configuration.

First, make sure you have an existing VPC network in GCP, as this will be used to connect your on-premises network to the cloud. Having a VPC network in place will ensure a secure and stable connection.

Next, obtain an external IP address for the Cloud VPN. This IP address will be used to establish the VPN connection between your on-premises network and the cloud.

You'll also need to gather details about your on-premises VPN gateway. This information will be required to configure the VPN connection.

Here are the prerequisites you'll need to have in place before setting up your VPN:

Once you have all the necessary prerequisites, you can proceed to navigate to the GCP Console. From there, go to the 'Hybrid Connectivity' Section, which can be found under the Networking section.

To set up a VPN, you'll need to decide on a VPN protocol, such as OpenVPN or WireGuard, which will determine the level of security and speed you can expect.

First, choose a reliable VPN service provider that supports your chosen protocol. This will make it easier to set up and configure your VPN.

The VPN protocol will also determine the type of encryption you'll use, which should be at least AES-256, as mentioned in the article section on "Encryption".

Next, download and install the VPN client software from your chosen provider, which will guide you through the setup process.

Make sure to check the VPN provider's system requirements to ensure your device can handle the VPN software.

A VPN can be set up on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets, as discussed in the article section on "Devices Supported".

To configure a VPN on Google Cloud Platform, you'll need to create a classic VPN connection or gateway and tunnel.

Classic VPN connections in GCP consist of a gateway and tunnel, which can be created at once or separately. To create a gateway and tunnel, start by selecting the Networking section in the GCP console sidebar and choosing Hybrid Connectivity > VPN.

If you don't have a classic VPN gateway, click Create VPN connection, then select Classic VPN and click Continue. Provide a name and description for the Google Compute Engine VPN gateway, select the GCP network that needs to access MacStadium, and choose a region.

You'll also need to select or create a reserved IP address for the connection, which you'll use to configure the MacStadium side of the tunnel. In the Tunnels section, provide a name and description, and select Policy-based routing options.

For Remote network IP ranges, provide the IP range in CIDR notation of the private network listed in Appendix A of the IP Plan. You can also select one or more GCP subnetworks to reduce latency between your GCP private cloud and your MacStadium private cloud.

Here's a summary of the required settings:

After creating the VPN gateway and tunnel, the VPN tunnel status will be "First handshake."

A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is a secure way to connect to the internet by creating a private network over the public internet.

It's like using a secure tunnel to protect your online activity from prying eyes. Google Cloud Platform VPN uses IPsec protocol to encrypt data and ensure secure communication between networks.

A VPN can help mask your IP address, making it harder for hackers or advertisers to track your online activities. By using a VPN, you can browse the internet with more anonymity.

In the context of Google Cloud Platform VPN, it's a service that allows you to create secure and private connections between your Google Cloud resources and your on-premises networks.

In a real-world scenario, you might need to connect two separate infrastructures, one on Google Cloud and the other on-premise, so they can communicate with each other.

To achieve this, you'll need a decent internet connection with sufficient bandwidth.

You'll also require one static external IP address.

A network appliance with IPSec VPN and BGP capabilities is necessary to facilitate the site-to-site VPN connection.

Understanding VPN requires knowledge of the different types available. Google Cloud offers two main types of Cloud VPN gateways.

HA VPN and Classic VPN are the two types of Cloud VPN gateways offered by Google Cloud. HA VPN is a high-availability option, while Classic VPN is a more traditional VPN setup.

The choice between HA VPN and Classic VPN depends on your specific needs and requirements. If you need a more reliable connection, HA VPN might be the better choice.

Here are the two types of Cloud VPN gateways offered by Google Cloud:

To connect your on-premise infrastructure with Google Cloud, you'll need a decent internet connection with sufficient bandwidth.

You'll also need a static external IP and a network appliance with IPSec VPN and BGP capabilities.

To determine the best hybrid networking solution for your needs, consider the following options: Cloud VPN, Dedicated Interconnect, Partner Interconnect, or Cloud Router.

Before choosing a solution, review Section 2 of the General Service Terms for Google Cloud.

Here are some key factors to consider when choosing a hybrid networking solution:

To build your Cloud VPN effectively, use best practices such as connecting networks using HA VPN tunnels and attaching a pair of tunnels to a Network Connectivity Center spoke for each on-premises location.

By following these steps, you can create a seamless and efficient hybrid networking solution that meets your needs.

Network bandwidth is a critical aspect of VPN performance. Each Cloud VPN tunnel supports up to 250,000 packets per second for the sum of ingress and egress traffic.

This translates to between 1 Gbps and 3 Gbps of bandwidth, depending on average packet size in the tunnel. To put this into perspective, 3 Gbps is equivalent to 375 megabytes per second.

The metrics related to this limit are Sent bytes and Received bytes, which can be viewed in logs and metrics. Keep in mind that the unit for these metrics is bytes, while the 3-Gbps limit refers to bits per second.

To measure usage against the limit, use the sum of Sent bytes and Received bytes compared to the converted limit of 375 MBps. Consider setting up alerting policies to notify you when bandwidth usage approaches this limit, as described in the article.

Factors that affect bandwidth include the network connection between the Cloud VPN gateway and your peer gateway, as well as the capabilities of your peer VPN gateway. For more information on your device's documentation, see the article.

Packet size is also a significant factor, as Cloud VPN uses the IPsec protocol in tunnel mode to encapsulate and encrypt entire IP packets. This results in both a gateway MTU for the IPsec encapsulated packets and a payload MTU for packets before and after IPsec encapsulation.

To measure TCP bandwidth of a VPN tunnel, it's recommended to measure more than one simultaneous TCP stream. When using the iperf tool, use the -P parameter to specify the number of simultaneous streams.

Cloud VPN supports IKEv1 and IKEv2, which use an IKE pre-shared key (shared secret) and IKE ciphers. This key is used for authentication when creating a Cloud VPN tunnel.

To create a Cloud VPN tunnel, you need to specify a pre-shared key, which must be the same as the one used at the peer gateway.

Cloud VPN only supports a pre-shared key for authentication, and does not support AH or ESP in transport mode.

If you need to enable IPv6 traffic in HA VPN, you must use IKEv2.

Cloud VPN filters outgoing packets based on the IP range configured on the Cloud VPN gateway, but does not perform policy-related filtering on incoming authentication packets.

Here's a summary of the supported IKE ciphers and configuration parameters:

For guidelines on creating a strong pre-shared key, see Generate a strong pre-shared key.

UDP encapsulation is a technique used to support NAT-Traversal (NAT-T) with Cloud VPN.

To configure your peer device for NAT-T, you'll need to look into UDP encapsulation, which is explained in more detail in the Advanced overview.

NAT-T is a protocol that allows VPN traffic to pass through firewalls and routers that block standard VPN traffic.

For more information on how to configure your peer device, check out the UDP encapsulation section in the Advanced overview.

As you're setting up your VPN, it's essential to understand how IPv6 policy constraints can impact your configuration. Organization policy constraints for IPv6 can be set to disable the creation of all IPv6 hybrid resources in your project.

By setting the constraint `constraints/compute.disableHybridCloudIpv6` to `true`, you can prevent the creation of dual-stack HA VPN gateways and IPv6-only HA VPN gateways in the project. This constraint can be used to enforce IPv6 policies across your organization.

To understand the impact of this constraint, let's take a look at the supported stack types for HA VPN gateways. The following table summarizes the supported stack types and their corresponding external IP addresses:

As you can see, the `IPV6_ONLY` stack type is only supported if the constraint is not set. If you're planning to use IPv6 in your HA VPN, make sure to check your organization's policy constraints before setting up your VPN.