GCP Networking Services: Architecture and Best Practices
GCP

GCP Networking Services: Architecture and Best Practices

Master Google Cloud's networking services. Learn about Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN, Cloud Interconnect, and best practices for network design and security.

March 4, 2024
Technical Writer
4 min read

GCP Networking Services: Architecture and Best Practices

Google Cloud Platform provides a comprehensive suite of networking services to build secure, scalable, and high-performance applications. This guide covers key networking services and their implementation.

Network Architecture Overview

graph TB subgraph VPC["Virtual Private Cloud"] direction TB subgraph Networking["Core Networking"] direction LR SUBNET["Subnets"] ROUTE["Routes"] FW["Firewalls"] end subgraph LoadBalancing["Load Balancing"] direction LR GCLB["Global LB"] RGLB["Regional LB"] SSL["SSL Proxy"] end subgraph Connectivity["Connectivity"] direction LR VPN["Cloud VPN"] IC["Cloud Interconnect"] PS["Peering"] end end subgraph Services["Network Services"] direction TB CDN["Cloud CDN"] DNS["Cloud DNS"] NAT["Cloud NAT"] ARMOR["Cloud Armor"] end VPC --> Services classDef primary fill:#4285f4,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff classDef secondary fill:#34a853,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff classDef tertiary fill:#fbbc05,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff class VPC,Networking primary class LoadBalancing,Connectivity secondary class Services tertiary

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

1. Network Design

# Create VPC network gcloud compute networks create my-vpc \ --subnet-mode=custom \ --bgp-routing-mode=regional # Create subnets gcloud compute networks subnets create subnet-1 \ --network=my-vpc \ --region=us-central1 \ --range=10.0.1.0/24 \ --secondary-range=services=192.168.1.0/24,pods=172.16.0.0/20 # Create firewall rules gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-internal \ --network=my-vpc \ --allow=tcp,udp,icmp \ --source-ranges=10.0.0.0/8

2. Network Architecture

# network-config.yaml vpc: name: my-vpc subnets: - name: subnet-1 region: us-central1 primary: 10.0.1.0/24 secondary: - range_name: services ip_range: 192.168.1.0/24 - range_name: pods ip_range: 172.16.0.0/20 - name: subnet-2 region: europe-west1 primary: 10.0.2.0/24 firewall_rules: - name: allow-internal direction: INGRESS priority: 1000 source_ranges: ["10.0.0.0/8"] allow: - protocol: tcp - protocol: udp - protocol: icmp

Load Balancing

1. Global Load Balancer

# load-balancer.yaml apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1 kind: Ingress metadata: name: my-ingress annotations: kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "gce" kubernetes.io/ingress.global-static-ip-name: "my-static-ip" spec: rules: - host: my-app.example.com http: paths: - path: /* pathType: ImplementationSpecific backend: service: name: my-service port: number: 80

2. SSL Configuration

# Create SSL certificate gcloud compute ssl-certificates create my-cert \ --domains=my-app.example.com # Configure SSL proxy gcloud compute target-ssl-proxies create my-ssl-proxy \ --ssl-certificates=my-cert \ --backend-service=my-backend-service

Cloud CDN

1. CDN Configuration

# cdn-config.yaml backends: - name: my-backend balancing_mode: UTILIZATION capacity_scaler: 1.0 cdn_policy: cache_mode: CACHE_ALL_STATIC client_ttl: 3600 default_ttl: 3600 max_ttl: 86400 negative_caching: true serve_while_stale: 86400

2. Cache Configuration

# Enable Cloud CDN gcloud compute backend-services update my-backend-service \ --enable-cdn \ --global # Configure cache key gcloud compute backend-services update my-backend-service \ --global \ --cache-key-policy-include-host \ --cache-key-policy-include-protocol \ --cache-key-policy-include-query-string

Cloud Interconnect

1. Dedicated Interconnect

# Create interconnect gcloud compute interconnects dedicated create my-interconnect \ --customer-name="My Company" \ --interconnect-type=IT_PRIVATE \ --location=my-location # Create VLAN attachment gcloud compute interconnects attachments dedicated create my-attachment \ --region=us-central1 \ --interconnect=my-interconnect \ --router=my-router \ --vlan=1234

2. Cloud VPN

# vpn-config.yaml vpn_tunnel: name: my-vpn region: us-central1 peer_ip: "203.0.113.1" shared_secret: "your-secret-key" router: my-router ike_version: 2 local_traffic_selector: ["10.0.1.0/24"] remote_traffic_selector: ["192.168.1.0/24"]

Network Security

1. Cloud Armor

# security-policy.yaml securityPolicies: - name: my-policy rules: - action: allow priority: 1000 match: versionedExpr: SRC_IPS_V1 config: srcIpRanges: ["10.0.0.0/8"] - action: deny(403) priority: 2000 match: versionedExpr: EXPR_V1 expr: xss: {}

2. Firewall Rules

# Create hierarchical firewall policy gcloud compute firewall-policies create my-policy \ --organization=123456789 # Add rules to policy gcloud compute firewall-policies rules create 1000 \ --firewall-policy=my-policy \ --action=allow \ --direction=INGRESS \ --enable-logging \ --target-service-accounts=my-sa@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com \ --layer4-configs=tcp:80,tcp:443

Network Monitoring

1. VPC Flow Logs

# flow-logs.yaml flowLogs: enabled: true aggregationInterval: "INTERVAL_5_SEC" flowSampling: 0.5 metadata: "INCLUDE_ALL_METADATA"

2. Network Intelligence

# Enable network intelligence gcloud services enable \ networkmanagement.googleapis.com # Create connectivity test gcloud network-management connectivity-tests create my-test \ --source=projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/source-vm \ --destination=projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-b/instances/dest-vm \ --protocol=TCP \ --port=80

Performance Optimization

1. Network Tier Selection

# Set network tier gcloud compute addresses create my-address \ --network-tier=PREMIUM \ --region=us-central1 # Configure instance network interface gcloud compute instances create my-instance \ --network-interface=network-tier=PREMIUM,subnet=subnet-1

2. Load Balancer Optimization

# lb-optimization.yaml backendConfig: timeoutSec: 30 connectionDraining: drainingTimeoutSec: 300 sessionAffinity: type: CLIENT_IP cookieTtlSec: 3600 customRequestHeaders: - "X-Client-Region: {client_region}" - "X-Client-IP: {client_ip}"

Cost Optimization

  1. Network Design

    • Use appropriate network tiers
    • Optimize egress traffic
    • Implement caching strategies
    • Right-size load balancers
  2. Traffic Management

    • Use Cloud CDN effectively
    • Optimize routing paths
    • Monitor usage patterns
    • Clean up unused resources

Best Practices

  1. Network Security

    • Implement defense in depth
    • Use Cloud Armor
    • Enable flow logs
    • Regular security audits
  2. Performance

    • Use Global Load Balancing
    • Implement Cloud CDN
    • Optimize routing
    • Monitor latency
  3. Reliability

    • Design for high availability
    • Use multiple regions
    • Implement health checks
    • Plan for disaster recovery

Conclusion

GCP provides comprehensive networking services for building secure and scalable applications. Key takeaways:

  • Design secure VPC networks
  • Implement proper load balancing
  • Use Cloud CDN effectively
  • Monitor and optimize performance
  • Follow security best practices

For more information, refer to the official documentation:

gcp
networking
vpc
load-balancing
cdn
security