Google Cloud

Networking — VPC, Subnets & Firewall Rules

Use Google's global VPC with regional subnets and control traffic via firewall rules.

A GCP VPC is distinctive in being global: a single VPC spans all regions, and subnets are regional (each has a CIDR in one region) but all belong to one global network, so resources in different regions communicate over Google's private backbone without peering. This simplifies multi-region architectures dramatically compared with the per-region VPCs of other clouds. You still design tiers with subnets and route control, with Cloud NAT giving private instances outbound internet access.

A single nationwide company intranet where every regional office (subnet) is already on the same private network — no leased lines to connect branches. Security desks (firewall rules) check badges (network tags) at each office rather than at the perimeter of each separate building.

Key Concepts

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Traffic is controlled by VPC Firewall Rules — defined at the network level and applied to instances by network tags or service accounts, with priorities and allow/deny actions for ingress/egress. Connectivity beyond the VPC uses VPC Network Peering, Cloud VPN/Interconnect (to on-prem), Shared VPC (one host project shares subnets with many service projects), and Private Google Access / Private Service Connect to reach Google APIs and services privately. Google's networking heavily leverages its global backbone and Anycast for global load balancing.