Accessing Google services and interconnecting enterprise environments requires selecting network paths, peering architectures, and endpoint configurations that match specific routing and security requirements. Google Cloud provides mechanisms to route traffic to public Google Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, and managed workloads across the public internet, dedicated private endpoints, and peered connections. Network boundary design requires organizations to balance IP address allocations, routing transitivity, traffic isolation, and network inspection topology across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
Public and private access paths determine whether network traffic to Google APIs and services traverses the public internet or remains isolated within Google's private network infrastructure. Public access routes traffic to external, publicly routable IP addresses, such as regional service endpoints or outbound traffic from private compute instances using a Cloud NAT gateway over the public internet. Conversely, Private Google Access (PGA) allows virtual machine (VM) instances with internal RFC 1918 addresses to reach Google APIs privately over Google's internal network using virtual IP addresses such as private.googleapis.com. Private Service Connect (PSC) provides granular private connectivity by deploying a private IP endpoint directly inside a customer Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network, mapping incoming requests directly to target services without exposing packets to the public internet.
VPC Network Peering and Private Services Access (PSA) establish direct network connectivity between two VPC networks to allow bidirectional communication and internal route exchange. When establishing a PSA connection to a service producer, the consumer network must allocate a dedicated, non-overlapping internal IP address rangeāsuch as a /22 or /28 Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) blockāthat the producer uses to provision isolated workload instances. Peered connections synchronize routing tables between connected networks but do not support transitive routing across multiple network hops. Deploying Private Service Connect endpoints eliminates the requirement to allocate large consumer subnet ranges, avoids routing table exhaustion, and natively supports transitive connectivity across multi-tier topologies.
Hybrid and multi-cloud architectures link on-premises data centers and external cloud networks to Google Cloud environments using Cloud Interconnect attachments or Cloud VPN tunnels. When on-premises hosts connect across hybrid links, custom route advertisements managed by Cloud Router enable traffic to reach internal resources, peered service subnets, and Private Service Connect endpoints hosted within customer VPC networks. Enterprises requiring perimeter traffic inspection can route inbound hybrid traffic through a dedicated transit VPC containing virtual firewalls before directing requests toward internal application endpoints. In distributed deployments, management plane integrations such as the Apigee Adapter for Envoy allow edge proxies deployed in remote data centers to enforce local authentication, rate limiting, and security policies while synchronizing asynchronously with Google Cloud.
Evaluating technical prerequisites and operational requirements involves assessing the foundational infrastructure and administrative capabilities needed to establish an enterprise-grade connection to Google's public edge network. The decision between using Direct Peering and a Verified Peering Provider depends on an organization's ability to satisfy physical, routing, and operational criteria versus choosing a partner-managed service.
Direct Peering requires an enterprise to deploy and manage its own physical routing hardware at a Google edge point of presence (PoP). The enterprise must possess a registered public Autonomous System Number (ASN) and allocate publicly routable IP address blocks. These resources are necessary to establish Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) sessions with Google and advertise public network routes. Without a public ASN and routable public IP space, an enterprise cannot establish a direct peering relationship with Google's edge.
Direct Peering demands ongoing operational management and infrastructure monitoring from the enterprise network team. The enterprise must maintain a 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) capable of monitoring the peering link, troubleshooting connectivity disruptions, and responding to incidents immediately. Operational duties include managing active BGP sessions, ensuring route health, and coordinating maintenance events directly with Google's NOC. The enterprise retains complete operational responsibility for the availability and performance of its physical peering connections.
A Verified Peering Provider delivers an alternative peering model where an authorized Internet Service Provider (ISP) manages physical interconnect hardware, BGP routing sessions, and operational support on behalf of the customer. In this deployment, the enterprise connects directly to the provider's network, and the provider routes traffic to Google over its established peering infrastructure. This model shifts the responsibility of satisfying technical peering prerequisites and staffing a 24/7 NOC to the provider. While routing through a third-party provider adds an intermediary network hop, it eliminates the requirement for in-house public peering infrastructure.
Traffic engineering in Google Cloud involves choosing the optimal connection method to Google's edge network based on performance, service level agreements (SLAs), and internal VPC routing requirements. The available mechanisms for connecting to Google public services include Direct Peering, Verified Peering Provider, Carrier Peering, and Cloud Interconnect. Understanding the boundaries between public peering paths and private interconnect paths ensures that both internal VPC resources and public Google services receive appropriate network routing.
Direct Peering establishes a direct BGP connection between an enterprise network and Google's edge network across more than 100 locations worldwide to exchange high-throughput public traffic. Direct Peering provides a direct path to Google services that operate on public IP addresses, including Google Workspace and public Google Cloud APIs. Traffic flowing from Google Cloud VPC networks to the customer's on-premises network also uses this path if public routes are advertised. Direct Peering operates entirely outside Google Cloud, does not inject custom dynamic routes into VPC networks, and requires physical redundancy across at least two separate links within a metropolitan area without providing a Google SLA.
A Verified Peering Provider enables an organization to reach publicly available Google Cloud resources through a certified ISP without establishing a direct physical connection to Google. Verified Peering Providers manage the technical complexity of peering arrangements with Google while providing customers with reliable, low-latency internet connectivity. Google evaluates participating ISPs based on technical criteria and awards badges:
Organizations should choose a Verified Peering Provider when they require redundant connectivity to Google public services without the overhead of satisfying Google's Direct Peering physical prerequisites.
Verified Peering Provider and Cloud Interconnect serve fundamentally different architectural roles based on network boundaries and resource targets:
Carrier Peering provides enterprise-grade connectivity to Google public applications like Google Workspace through a network service provider over dedicated or shared partner links. Carrier Peering enables an organization to connect an isolated perimeter subnetwork to Google's edge over the public internet rather than exposing its entire enterprise network. Similar to Direct Peering, Carrier Peering exists outside of Google Cloud and does not insert routes into VPC networks. Google does not offer an SLA for Carrier Peering, so organizations requiring private access to internal VPC resources or a Google SLA should use Partner Interconnect instead.
Architecting hybrid connectivity requires enforcing strict boundaries between public peering paths and private VPC paths to ensure predictable traffic engineering. Traffic destined for public Google services traverses public peering paths over Direct Peering or a Verified Peering Provider, while traffic destined for RFC 1918 internal VM addresses must traverse Cloud Interconnect or Cloud VPN. BGP sessions configured on peering links advertise public prefixes to Google's edge, whereas Cloud Routers advertise internal VPC subnets and custom ranges to on-premises routers. Because peering connections do not import routes into VPC routing tables, organizations cannot use Direct Peering or Verified Peering Providers to route transit traffic directly into private VPC workloads.
An enterprise should choose Direct Peering when it needs high-throughput access to public Google services such as Google Workspace and public Google APIs at colocation facilities where it meets Google's physical and routing prerequisites. Cloud Interconnect must be selected instead if the enterprise requires private access to internal Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) IP addresses or demands a Google-backed service level agreement.
Direct Peering requires the customer to own a public ASN, manage public IP prefixes, establish physical cross-connects, and run a 24/7 Network Operations Center to coordinate with Google. A Verified Peering Provider abstracts this complexity by having an authorized service provider manage all physical links, BGP sessions, and operational maintenance.
No, Direct Peering and Verified Peering Provider operate outside of Google Cloud and do not inject routes into VPC routing tables. Reaching internal VPC virtual machines with RFC 1918 private IP addresses requires private hybrid connectivity solutions such as Cloud Interconnect or Cloud VPN.
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