GCP Networking: Part 2 Cloud Router

7 min readOct 19, 2023

Google Cloud Router

What is a Cloud Router? How we can configure GCP to On-Prem and On-Prem to GCP?

Google Cloud Router is a fully managed, software-defined router that enables dynamic routing between your Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network and other networks. It uses the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to advertise and learn IP prefixes.

Google Cloud Router is a powerful tool that can be used to configure your network in a variety of ways, including:

Connecting your VPC network to other networks: Google Cloud Router can be used to connect your VPC network to other networks, such as on-premises networks, other cloud providers’ networks, and peer networks.
Implementing routing policies: Google Cloud Router can be used to implement routing policies, such as default routing, policy-based routing, and static routing.
Improving network performance: Google Cloud Router can help to improve the performance of your network by reducing latency and improving reliability.

Google Cloud Router is a highly scalable and reliable service. It can handle large volumes of traffic and is designed to be highly available.

Here are some examples of how Google Cloud Router can be used:

A company can use Google Cloud Router to connect its VPC network to its on-premises network using a dedicated interconnect. This allows the company to route traffic between its on-premises network and its VPC network in a secure and reliable manner.
A company can use Google Cloud Router to connect its VPC network to another cloud provider’s network using a peering connection. This allows the company to route traffic between its VPC network and the other cloud provider’s network without having to go through the public internet.
A company can use Google Cloud Router to implement a hub-and-spoke network topology. In a hub-and-spoke network topology, each spoke VPC network is connected to a central hub VPC network. Google Cloud Router can be used to route traffic between the spoke VPC networks and the hub VPC network, and between the hub VPC network and other networks.
A company can use Google Cloud Router to implement a disaster recovery plan. In a disaster recovery plan, the company might have a backup VPC network in another region. Google Cloud Router can be used to route traffic between the primary VPC network and the backup VPC network, in case of a disaster in the primary region.

What is Dynamic Routing with Google Cloud Router?

Dynamic routing with Google Cloud Router allows you to automatically configure routes between your VPC network and other networks, based on Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) advertisements. This can simplify your network configuration and make it more flexible and scalable.

To use dynamic routing with Google Cloud Router, you must first create a Cloud Router and enable dynamic routing. Once you have done this, you can configure peering connections between your Cloud Router and other BGP routers, such as on-premises routers or routers in other cloud providers’ networks.

Once you have configured peering connections, your Cloud Router will start exchanging BGP advertisements with the other routers. This will allow your Cloud Router to learn about the IP prefixes that are available on the other networks. Your Cloud Router will then automatically create routes to these IP prefixes.

Dynamic routing with Google Cloud Router can be used for a variety of purposes, including:

Connecting your VPC network to other networks, such as on-premises networks, other cloud providers’ networks, and peer networks.
Implementing routing policies, such as default routing, policy-based routing, and static routing.
Improving network performance by reducing latency and improving reliability.

Here are some examples of how dynamic routing with Google Cloud Router can be used:

A company can use dynamic routing to connect its VPC network to its on-premises network using a dedicated interconnect. This allows the company to route traffic between its on-premises network and its VPC network in a secure and reliable manner.
A company can use dynamic routing to connect its VPC network to another cloud provider’s network using a peering connection. This allows the company to route traffic between its VPC network and the other cloud provider’s network without having to go through the public internet.
A company can use dynamic routing to implement a hub-and-spoke network topology. In a hub-and-spoke network topology, each spoke VPC network is connected to a central hub VPC network. Dynamic routing can be used to route traffic between the spoke VPC networks and the hub VPC network, and between the hub VPC network and other networks.
A company can use dynamic routing to implement a disaster recovery plan. In a disaster recovery plan, the company might have a backup VPC network in another region. Dynamic routing can be used to route traffic between the primary VPC network and the backup VPC network, in case of a disaster in the primary region.

How Cloud Router enable dynamic routes using border gateway protocol BGP?

Cloud Router enables dynamic routes using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) by exchanging BGP advertisements with other BGP routers. BGP is a routing protocol that allows routers to exchange information about the networks that they are connected to. This information is used to create routing tables, which tell the routers how to route traffic between different networks.

When a Cloud Router is configured to use dynamic routing, it will start exchanging BGP advertisements with the other BGP routers. These advertisements will contain information about the IP prefixes that are available on the Cloud Router’s network. The Cloud Router will also learn about the IP prefixes that are available on the other networks from their BGP advertisements.

Once the Cloud Router has learned about the IP prefixes that are available on the other networks, it will automatically create routes to these IP prefixes. These routes will be added to the Cloud Router’s routing table.

When a packet is sent to the Cloud Router, the Cloud Router will use its routing table to determine the best path to the destination network. If the destination network is on the Cloud Router’s own network, the Cloud Router will forward the packet directly to the destination host. If the destination network is on another network, the Cloud Router will forward the packet to the next hop router, which is the router that is closest to the destination network.

Dynamic routing with Cloud Router offers a number of benefits, including:

Improved network performance: Dynamic routing can help to improve the performance of your network by reducing latency and improving reliability. This is because dynamic routing allows routers to choose the best path to a destination network based on the current state of the network.
Simplified network configuration: Dynamic routing can simplify your network configuration by automatically configuring routes between your VPC network and other networks. This can save you time and effort, and it can also help to reduce the risk of errors.
Increased network scalability: Dynamic routing can make your network more scalable by allowing you to add new networks without having to manually configure routes. This can be helpful for businesses that are growing rapidly or that need to support a large number of networks.

Referee Url :https://cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/overview

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