Network endpoint groups overview

A network endpoint group (NEG) is a configuration object that specifies a group of backend endpoints or services. With NEGs, Google Cloud load balancers can serve VM instance group-based workloads, serverless workloads, and containerized workloads. NEGs let you distribute traffic to your load balancer's backends at a more granular level (for example, load balancing traffic at the Pod level instead of at the VM-level for GKE workloads).

You can use NEGs as backends for some load balancers and with Traffic Director. Use the following tables to decide which type of NEG you need for your deployment.

• Zonal NEG
• Internet NEG
• Serverless NEG
• Hybrid connectivity NEG
• Private Service Connect NEG

Zonal NEG

Features	Details
Purpose	One or more internal IP address endpoints that resolve to either Compute Engine VM instances or GKE Pods. For detailed information about this NEG and its use cases, see Zonal NEGs overview.
NetworkEndpointType API name	GCE_VM_IP IP only: resolves to the primary internal IP address of a Compute Engine VM's NIC OR GCE_VM_IP_PORT IP:Port: resolves to either the primary internal IP address of a Google Cloud VM's NIC or an alias IP address on a NIC; for example, Pod IP addresses in VPC-native clusters.
Number of endpoints	1 or more
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services	Centralized health checks for NEGs with GCE_VM_IP_PORT and GCE_VM_IP endpoints.
Scope	Zonal
Routing	VPC network
Google Cloud products that use this NEG	Internal passthrough Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP endpoints): Set up zonal NEGs for internal passthrough Network Load Balancers Regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Set up zonal NEGs for regional internal proxy Network Load Balancers Cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Set up zonal and hybrid NEGs for cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancers Regional external proxy Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Set up zonal NEGs for regional external proxy Network Load Balancers Internal Application Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Set up a regional internal Application Load Balancer with zonal and hybrid NEGs Set up a cross-region internal Application Load Balancer with zonal and hybrid NEGs Global external Application Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Classic Application Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Regional external Application Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Global external proxy Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Classic proxy Network Load Balancer (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Traffic Director (GCE_VM_IP_PORT endpoints) Related documentation: Set up Zonal NEGs

Internet NEG

Features	Details
Purpose	A single internet-routable endpoint that is hosted outside of Google Cloud. For detailed information about this NEG and its use cases, see Internet NEGs overview.
NetworkEndpointType API name	INTERNET_IP_PORT IP:Port, where IP must not be a RFC 1918 address. OR INTERNET_FQDN_PORT FQDN:Port
Number of endpoints	Global NEGs: 1 Regional NEGs: 256
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services	Global NEGs: not supported Regional NEGs: distributed Envoy health checks
Scope	Global or regional
Routing	Internet
Google Cloud products that use this NEG	Global internet NEGs Cloud CDN (INTERNET_IP_PORT or INTERNET_FQDN_PORT endpoint): Set up Cloud CDN with an external backend External Application Load Balancer (INTERNET_IP_PORT or INTERNET_FQDN_PORT endpoint): Set up a global external Application Load Balancer with an external backend Set up a classic Application Load Balancer with an external backend Traffic Director (INTERNET_FQDN_PORT endpoint): Traffic Director with internet NEGs overview Set up Traffic Director with an external backend Regional internet NEGs (INTERNET_IP_PORT or INTERNET_FQDN_PORT endpoint) Set up a regional external Application Load Balancer with an external backend Set up a regional internal Application Load Balancer with an external backend Set up a regional external proxy Network Load Balancer with an external backend Set up a regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer with an external backend

Serverless NEG

Features	Details
Purpose	A single endpoint within Google's network that resolves to an App Engine, Cloud Functions, API Gateway, or Cloud Run service. For detailed information about this NEG and its use cases, see Serverless NEGs overview.
NetworkEndpointType API name	SERVERLESS FQDN belonging to an App Engine, Cloud Functions, API Gateway, or Cloud Run service.
Number of endpoints	1
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services	Not applicable
Scope	Regional
Routing	To Google APIs and Services
Google Cloud products that use this NEG	External Application Load Balancer: Set up a global external Application Load Balancer with an App Engine, Cloud Functions, or Cloud Run backend Set up a classic Application Load Balancer with an App Engine, Cloud Functions, or Cloud Run backend Set up a regional external Application Load Balancer with a Cloud Run backend Get started with an external Application Load Balancer for API Gateway Regional internal Application Load Balancer (Cloud Run only): Set up a regional internal Application Load Balancer with a Cloud Run backend The cross-region internal Application Load Balancer doesn't support serverless NEGs.

Hybrid connectivity NEG

Features	Details
Purpose	One or more endpoints that resolve to on-premises services, server applications in another cloud, and other internet-reachable services outside Google Cloud.
NetworkEndpointType API name	NON_GCP_PRIVATE_IP_PORT IP:Port belonging to a VM that is not in Compute Engine and that must be routable using hybrid connectivity.
Number of endpoints	1 or more
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services	Centralized health checks when you use this NEG with the global external Application Load Balancer, the classic Application Load Balancer, and the external proxy Network Load Balancer. Distributed Envoy health checks when you use this NEG with the regional external Application Load Balancer, the internal Application Load Balancer (cross-region and regional), the regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer, cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer, or Traffic Director.
Scope	Zonal
Routing	To an on-premises network or another Cloud provider network by way of Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachment, Cloud VPN tunnel, or Router appliance VM in a VPC network
Google Cloud products that use this NEG	External Application Load Balancer Set up a global external Application Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Set up a classic Application Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Set up a regional external Application Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Internal Application Load Balancer Set up a regional internal Application Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Set up a cross-region internal Application Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity External proxy Network Load Balancer Regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer Set up a regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer Set up a cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer with zonal and hybrid connectivity Regional external proxy Network Load Balancer Set up a regional external proxy Network Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity Traffic Director: Traffic Director with hybrid connectivity network endpoint groups Set up network edge services for multi‑environment deployments

Private Service Connect NEG

Features	Details
Purpose	A single endpoint that resolves to one of the following: A Google-managed regional API endpoint A managed service published using Private Service Connect
NetworkEndpointType API name	PRIVATE_SERVICE_CONNECT
Number of endpoints	1
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services	Not applicable
Scope	Regional
Routing	Private Service Connect: Supported load balancers and targets
Google Cloud products that use this NEG	Cross-region internal Application Load Balancer Regional internal Application Load Balancer Global external Application Load Balancer Private Service Connect NEGs are not supported by the classic Application Load Balancer. Regional external Application Load Balancer Global external proxy Network Load Balancer Regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer Cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer Regional external proxy Network Load Balancer For more information about Private Service Connect NEGs, see About Private Service Connect backends.