Configure private network access

This page describes how to set up private network access and route traffic within a Google Cloud network.

To set up private network access, you configure three projects:

  • A project that includes a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and a virtual machine instance (VM) that is the target.
  • A project that acts as a Service Directory service project.
  • A project for a Google Cloud product with the configuration that invokes private network access. An example of a Google Cloud product that can call endpoints using private network access is Dialogflow CX.

The artifacts of the projects could be in the same project or in different projects.

Before you begin

Before you configure private network access, complete the following steps:

  • For each project, in the Google Cloud console, on the APIs & Services page, click Enable APIs and services to enable the APIs that you want to use, including the Service Directory API.

  • To link your VPC network to on-premises hosts, create a Cloud VPN tunnel or a Cloud Interconnect connection.

  • Ensure that the Google Cloud project is within the VPC Service Controls perimeter of both the network project and the Service Directory project for servicedirectory.googleapis.com.

    Learn more about VPC Service Controls.

Configure the project for the VPC network

To configure the project for the VPC network, follow these steps:

  1. Create a VPC network. If you want to use an existing VPC network, make sure that it supports subnets in auto mode or custom mode. Legacy networks are not supported.

  2. If the target of your VPC network is a Compute Engine VM or an internal load balancer backend, configure a VPC network firewall rule. Create firewall rules to allow TCP ingress from 35.199.192.0/19 on the port where your target is listening. Ports 443 and 80 are typical, but you can use any port. Note that by default, VPC network firewall rules block ingress connections to Compute Engine VMs.

    For more information on 35.199.192.0/19, see Special return paths.

  3. Grant the Identity and Access Management (IAM) Private Service Connect Authorized Service role (roles/servicedirectory.pscAuthorizedService) to the service agent of the Google Cloud product that will call the endpoint.

    For more information about roles and permissions, see Service Directory permissions and roles.

Configure the Service Directory project

To configure the Service Directory project, follow these steps:

  1. In the VPC network, create a VM or an internal load balancer.

  2. Grant the IAM Service Directory Viewer role (roles/servicedirectory.viewer) to the service agent of the Google Cloud product that will call the endpoint.

  3. Create a Service Directory namespace and service. Then, create an endpoint for this service, following the steps in the next section.

Create an endpoint with private network access

To create an endpoint with private network access configured, follow these steps:

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Service Directory namespaces page. Go to Service Directory namespaces
  2. Click a namespace.
  3. Click a service.
  4. Click Add endpoint.
  5. For Endpoint name, enter a name for the endpoint.
  6. For IP address, enter an IPv4 address, such as 192.0.2.0.
  7. For Port, enter a port number, such as 443 or 80.
  8. To enable private network access, in Associated VPC network, select the required option:
    • To choose from a list of available networks, click Choose from the list, and then select the network.
    • To specify a project and a network, click Specify by a project and network name, and then enter the project number and the network name.
  9. Click Create.

gcloud

Use the gcloud service-directory endpoints create command with the project ID and the network path specified.

gcloud service-directory endpoints create ENDPOINT_NAME \
--project=PROJECT_ID \
--location=REGION \
--namespace=NAMESPACE_NAME \
--service=SERVICE_ID \
--address=IP_ADDRESS \
--port=PORT_NUMBER \
--network=NETWORK_PATH

Replace the following:

  • ENDPOINT_NAME: a name for the endpoint that you're creating in your service, such as my-endpoint
  • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project
  • REGION: the Google Cloud region that contains the namespace
  • NAMESPACE_NAME: the name that you gave the namespace, such as my-namespace
  • SERVICE_ID: the ID of the service
  • IP_ADDRESS: the IP address of the endpoint, such as 192.0.2.0
  • PORT_NUMBER: the ports that the endpoints are running on, typically 443 or 80
  • NETWORK_PATH: the URL to the network, such as projects/PROJECT_NUMBER/locations/global/networks/NETWORK_NAME

Configure the Google Cloud product project

To configure the Google Cloud product project, follow these steps:

  1. Enable the Google Cloud product API.

  2. Configure your Google Cloud product to call the Service Directory service that you created. The required steps depend on the specific Google Cloud product.

Use cases

This section provides example use cases for configuring private network access.

Call an HTTP endpoint when a VPC network, a VM, and Service Directory are in the same project

In this use case, you set up Dialogflow CX, a Google Cloud product for natural language processing, to call an HTTP endpoint on your VM. While calling the endpoint, ensure that the traffic doesn't transition over the public internet.

In this use case, you create the following artifacts in the same project:

  • A VPC network
  • A VM
  • A Service Directory service
  • Dialogflow CX

Figure 1 shows how you can allow a Google service configuration of a project to egress to a VM. The VM resides in a VPC network of the project.

Allow a Google service configuration of a project to egress to a network project VM.
Figure 1. Allow a Google service configuration of a project to egress to a VM (click to enlarge).

Set up your network and target network

  1. Create a project, such as myproject.
  2. Create a VPC network, such as vpc-1.

    While creating the VPC network, in Subnet creation mode, select Automatic.

  3. Create a firewall rule, such as firewall-1.

    While creating the firewall rule, enter or select the following values:

    • For Network, select vpc-1.
    • For Source IPv4 ranges, enter 35.199.192.0/19.
    • For Protocols and ports, select TCP and enter 443 or 80.
  4. In the us-central1 region, create a VM, such as vm-1.

    While creating the VM, enter or select the following values:

    • For Networking > Network Interfaces, select vpc-1.
    • For Firewall, select Allow HTTP traffic.

    If you want to use HTTPS, select Allow HTTPS traffic. Also make sure that you install a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate.

  5. In the us-central1 region, create a namespace, such as namespace-1.

  6. In the namespace, register a Service Directory service, such as sd-1.

  7. Create an endpoint in sd-1. For the endpoint address, use the internal IP address of vm-1 on port 443. For more information, see Create an endpoint with private network access.

  8. Grant the following IAM roles to the service agent of the Google Cloud product that will call the endpoint:

    • Service Directory Viewer role (roles/servicedirectory.viewer)
    • Private Service Connect Authorized Service role (roles/servicedirectory.pscAuthorizedService)
  9. Optional: If you want to add more VMs, you can set up another VM, such as vm-2, and add its endpoint, such as endpoint-2.

Set up a Google Cloud product

  1. Configure a Google Cloud product configuration, such as " Cloud Scheduler, call me every minute".
  2. Set up an HTTP request.
  3. Specify that requests should go over private networking, such as through sd-1.
  4. Optional: Configure Certificate Authority Service settings.

The Google Cloud product can now invoke the HTTP request by using sd-1.

Call an HTTP endpoint when a Shared VPC network, a VM, and Service Directory are in different projects

In this use case, you set up Dialogflow CX, a Google Cloud service for natural language processing, to call an HTTP endpoint on your VM. While calling the endpoint, ensure that the traffic doesn't transition over the public internet.

In this use case, you create the following artifacts in different projects:

  • A Shared VPC network
  • A VM
  • A Service Directory service
  • Dialogflow CX

Before you create the projects, note the following:

  • Ensure that the API invocation respects the VPC Service Controls perimeter.
  • Ensure that the configuration of the Google Cloud service project allows egress to a VM that resides in the VPC network project.
  • The producer project might not be the same as the Google Cloud service project.
  • Ensure that the VPC Service Controls perimeters of both projects are used.
  • The Service Directory project and the network project don't need to be connected, but they must both be part of the same VPC Service Controls.
  • In the network and the service, the firewall and IAM are disabled by default.

Figure 2 shows how you can send traffic by using private network access with VPC Service Controls perimeters enforced.

Send traffic by using private network access with VPC Service Controls
         perimeters enforced.
Figure 2. Send traffic by using private network access with VPC Service Controls perimeters enforced (click to enlarge).

Configure the network project

  1. Create a project, such as my-vpc-project.
  2. Create a VPC network, such as vpc-1.

    While creating the VPC network, for Subnet creation mode, select Automatic.

  3. Create a firewall rule, such as firewall-1.

    While creating the rule, enter or select the following values:

    • For Network, select vpc-1.
    • For Source IPv4 ranges, enter 35.199.192.0/19.
    • For Protocols and ports, select TCP and enter 443 or 80.
  4. In the us-central1 region, create a VM, such as vm-1.

    While creating the VM, enter or select the following values:

    • For Networking > Network Interfaces, select vpc-1.
    • For Firewall, select Allow HTTP traffic.

    If you want to use HTTPS, select Allow HTTPS traffic. Also make sure that you install a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate.

If you're using VPC Service Controls, the VPC Service Controls perimeter enables Service Directory to connect to both the Google Cloud service project and the Service Directory project.

Configure the Service Directory project

  1. Create a project, such as my-sd-project.

  2. You require an extra IAM permission because the VPC network project and the Service Directory project are different projects.

    From the network project, grant the Service Directory Network Attacher role (roles/servicedirectory.networkAttacher) to the IAM principal that creates the Service Directory endpoint.

  3. Create a Service Directory endpoint that points to the VM in the VPC network:

    1. In the us-central1 region, create a namespace, such as namespace-1.
    2. In the namespace, register a Service Directory service, such as sd-1.
    3. Create an endpoint in sd-1. For the endpoint address, use the internal IP address of vm-1 on port 443. For more information, see Create an endpoint with private network access.
  4. Grant the following IAM roles to the service agent of the Google Cloud product that will call the endpoint:

    • Service Directory Viewer role (roles/servicedirectory.viewer) in the Service Directory project
    • Private Service Connect Authorized Service role (roles/servicedirectory.pscAuthorizedService) in the network project

If you're using VPC Service Controls, the VPC Service Controls perimeter enables Service Directory to connect to both the Google Cloud service project and the Service Directory project.

Configure the Google Cloud service project

  1. Enable the API for the Google Cloud service that you're using.
  2. To configure the Google Cloud service PUSH, use the Service Directory service from the Service Directory project.

If you're using VPC Service Controls, the VPC Service Controls perimeter enables Service Directory to connect to both the network project and the Service Directory project.

Use Service Directory private network access with Dialogflow

For instructions about how you can use Service Directory private network access with Dialogflow, see Using Service Directory for private network access.

What's next