Network Interconnect

Google Cloud Interconnect provides direct physical connections between your on-premises network and Google Cloud network. It offers high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity that is more reliable and faster than internet-based connections.

Types of Cloud Interconnect:

1. Dedicated Interconnect - Direct physical connection to Google via a colocation facility. Available in 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps circuits.

2. Partner Interconnect - Connect through a supported service provider. Available from 50 Mbps to 50 Gbps. Best when you cannot reach a colocation facility.

3. Cross-Cloud Interconnect - Direct high-bandwidth connections between GCP and other cloud providers like AWS or Azure.

Key Benefits:

1. Low latency - Predictable, consistently low latency compared to internet VPN.

2. High bandwidth - Up to 200 Gbps per connection using link aggregation (LACP).

3. Cost savings - Egress traffic via Interconnect is cheaper than standard internet egress.

4. SLA - 99.99% availability SLA with redundant connections across two metro areas.

The below example shows how to configure a VLAN attachment for Dedicated Interconnect.

It gives the following output,

name: my-attachment
state: ACTIVE
bandwidth: BPS_1G
vlanTag8021q: 100
cloudRouterIpAddress: 169.254.0.1/29
customerRouterIpAddress: 169.254.0.2/29

Interconnect vs Cloud VPN:

Cloud Interconnect - Dedicated physical or partner connection. Higher cost but guaranteed bandwidth, lower latency, and cheaper egress pricing. Best for large data transfers and latency-sensitive workloads.

Cloud VPN - IPsec tunnel over the public internet. Lower cost, quick to set up, but variable latency and shared bandwidth. Best for moderate bandwidth needs and simpler connectivity requirements.