Access APIs from VMs with external IP addresses
A virtual machine (VM) instance with an external IP address assigned to its network interface can connect to Google APIs and services if the network requirements described on this page are met. Though the connection is made from the VM's external IP address, the traffic stays within Google Cloud and is not sent through the public internet.
Network requirements
You must meet the following requirements to access Google APIs and services from a VM with an external IP address:
- You must enable the Google APIs you need to use in the Google Cloud console, on the APIs & services page .
-
If you want to connect to Google APIs and services using IPv6, you must meet both of these requirements:
-
Your VM must be configured with an external
/96
IPv6 address range . -
The software running on the VM must send packets whose sources match one of those IPv6 addresses from that range.
-
- Depending on your chosen configuration, you might need to update DNS entries, routes, and firewall rules. For more information, see Summary of configuration options .
Summary of configuration options
The following table summarizes the different ways that you can configure Private Google Access. For more detailed configuration information, see Network configuration .
Ensure that your VPC network can route traffic to the IP address ranges that are used by Google APIs and services.
- Basic configuration
: Confirm that you have
default routes with next hop
default-internet-gateway
and a destination range of0.0.0.0/0
(for IPv4 traffic) and::/0
(for IPv6 traffic, if needed). Create those routes if they are missing. - Custom configuration : Create routes for the IP address ranges used by Google APIs and services.
Ensure that your firewall rules allow egress to the IP address ranges used by Google APIs and services.
The default allow egress firewall rule allows this traffic, if there is no higher priority rule that blocks it.
private.googleapis.com
Configure DNS records in a private DNS zone to send requests to the following IP addresses:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.8/30
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 2000::/64
Ensure that your VPC network has routes to the following IP ranges:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.8/30 -
34.126.
0.0/18
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 2000::/64 -
2001:4860:
8040::/42
Ensure that your firewall rules allow egress to the following IP ranges:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.8/30 -
34.126.
0.0/18
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 2000::/64 -
2001:4860:
8040::/42
restricted.googleapis.com
Configure DNS records to send requests to the following IP addresses:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.4/30
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 1000::/64
Ensure that your VPC network has routes to the following IP ranges:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.4/30 -
34.126.
0.0/18
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 1000::/64 -
2001:4860:
8040::/42
Ensure that your firewall rules allow egress to the following IP ranges:
For IPv4 traffic:
-
199.36.
153.4/30 -
34.126.
0.0/18
For IPv6 traffic:
-
2600:2d00:
0002: 1000::/64 -
2001:4860:
8040::/42
Network configuration
This section describes the basic network requirements you must meet in order for a VM in your VPC network to access Google APIs and services.
Domain options
Choose the domain that you want to use to access Google APIs and services.
The private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
virtual IP
addresses (VIPs) support only HTTP-based protocols over TCP (HTTP, HTTPS, and HTTP/2). All other
protocols, including MQTT and ICMP, are not supported.
Default domains.
All domain names for Google APIs and services except for
private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
.
Various IP address ranges—you can determine a set of IP ranges that contains the possible addresses used by the default domains by referencing IP addresses for default domains .
Enables API access to most Google APIs and services regardless of whether they are supported by VPC Service Controls. Includes API access to Google Maps, Google Ads, and Google Cloud. Includes Google Workspace web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs, and other web applications.
The default domains are used when you don't configure DNS records for private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
.
private.googleapis.com
199.36.153.8/30
2600:2d00:0002:2000::/64
Enables API access to most Google APIs and services regardless of whether they are supported by VPC Service Controls. Includes API access to Google Maps, Google Ads, Google Cloud, and most other Google APIs, including the following list. Does not support Google Workspace web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs. Does not support any interactive websites.
Domain names that match:
-
accounts.google.com
(only the paths needed for OAuth authentication) -
*.aiplatform-notebook.cloud.google.com
-
*.aiplatform-notebook.googleusercontent.com
-
appengine.google.com
-
*.appspot.com
-
*.backupdr.cloud.google.com
-
backupdr.cloud.google.com
-
*.backupdr.googleusercontent.com
-
backupdr.googleusercontent.com
-
*.cloudfunctions.net
-
*.cloudproxy.app
-
*.composer.cloud.google.com
-
*.composer.googleusercontent.com
-
*.datafusion.cloud.google.com
-
*.datafusion.googleusercontent.com
-
*.dataproc.cloud.google.com
-
dataproc.cloud.google.com
-
*.dataproc.googleusercontent.com
-
dataproc.googleusercontent.com
-
dl.google.com
-
gcr.io
or*.gcr.io
-
*.googleapis.com
-
*.gke.goog
-
*.gstatic.com
-
*.kernels.googleusercontent.com
-
*.ltsapis.goog
-
*.notebooks.cloud.google.com
-
*.notebooks.googleusercontent.com
-
packages.cloud.google.com
-
pkg.dev
or*.pkg.dev
-
pki.goog
or*.pki.goog
-
*.run.app
-
source.developers.google.com
-
storage.cloud.google.com
Use private.googleapis.com
to access Google APIs and services
by using a set of IP addresses only routable from within Google Cloud.
Choose private.googleapis.com
under these circumstances:
- You don't use VPC Service Controls.
- You do use VPC Service Controls, but you also need to access Google APIs and services that are not supported by VPC Service Controls. 1
restricted.googleapis.com
199.36.153.4/30
2600:2d00:0002:1000::/64
Enables API access to Google APIs and services that are supported by VPC Service Controls .
Blocks access to Google APIs and services that do not support VPC Service Controls . Does not support Google Workspace APIs or Google Workspace web applications such as Gmail and Google Docs.
Use restricted.googleapis.com
to access Google APIs and services
by using a set of IP addresses only routable from within Google Cloud.
Choose restricted.googleapis.com
when you only
need access to Google APIs and services that are
supported by
VPC Service Controls.
The restricted.googleapis.com
domain does not permit access to Google APIs and
services that do not support VPC Service Controls. 1
restricted.googleapis.com
, as it provides additional risk mitigation for data
exfiltration. Using restricted.googleapis.com
denies access to
Google APIs and services that are not supported by VPC Service Controls. See Setting up private
connectivity
in the VPC Service Controls documentation for more details.IPv6 support for private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
The following IPv6 address ranges can be used to direct traffic from IPv6 clients to Google APIs and services:
-
private.googleapis.com
:2600:2d00:0002:2000::/64
-
restricted.googleapis.com
:2600:2d00:0002:1000::/64
Consider configuring the IPv6 addresses if you want to use the private.googleapis.com
or restricted.googleapis.com
domain, and you
have clients that use IPv6 addresses. IPv6 clients that also have IPv4 addresses configured can
reach Google APIs and services by using the IPv4 addresses. Not all services accept traffic from
IPv6 clients.
DNS configuration
For connectivity to Google APIs and services, you can choose to send
packets to the IP addresses associated with the private.googleapis.com
or restricted.googleapis.com
VIP. To use a VIP, you must configure DNS so that VMs
in your VPC network reach services by using the VIP addresses
instead of the public IP addresses.
The following sections describe how to use DNS zones to send packets to the IP addresses that are associated with your chosen VIP. Follow the instructions for all scenarios that apply to you:
- If you use services that have
*.googleapis.com
domain names, see Configure DNS forgoogleapis.com
. -
If you use services that have other domain names , see Configure DNS for other domains .
For example, if you use Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), you also need to configure
*.gcr.io
and*.pkg.dev
, or if you use Cloud Run, you need to configure*.run.app
. -
If you use Cloud Storage buckets, and you send requests to a Cloud Storage custom domain name, see Configure DNS for Cloud Storage custom domain names .
When you configure DNS records for the VIPs, use only the IP addresses that are
described in the following steps. Do not mix addresses from the private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
VIPs. This can
cause intermittent failures because the services that are offered differ
based on a packet's destination.
Configure DNS for googleapis.com
Create a DNS zone and records for googleapis.com
:
- Create a private DNS zone for
googleapis.com
. Consider creating a Cloud DNS private zone for this purpose. -
In the
googleapis.com
zone, create the following private DNS records for eitherprivate.googleapis.com
orrestricted.googleapis.com
, depending on which domain you've chosen to use.-
For
private.googleapis.com
:-
Create an
A
record forprivate.googleapis.com
pointing to the following IP addresses:199.36.153.8
,199.36.153.9
,199.36.153.10
,199.36.153.11
. -
To connect to APIs using IPv6 addresses, also configure an
AAAA
record forprivate.googleapis.com
pointing to2600:2d00:0002:2000::
.
-
-
For
restricted.googleapis.com
:-
Create an
A
record forrestricted.googleapis.com
pointing to the following IP addresses:199.36.153.4
,199.36.153.5
,199.36.153.6
,199.36.153.7
. -
To connect to APIs using IPv6 addresses, also create an
AAAA
record forrestricted.googleapis.com
pointing to2600:2d00:0002:1000::
.
-
To create private DNS records in Cloud DNS, see add a record .
-
-
In the
googleapis.com
zone, create aCNAME
record for*.googleapis.com
that points to the domain that you've configured:private.googleapis.com
orrestricted.googleapis.com
.
Configure DNS for other domains
Some Google APIs and services are provided using additional domain names,
including *.gcr.io
, *.gstatic.com
, *.pkg.dev
, pki.goog
, and *.run.app
.
Refer to the domain and IP address ranges table
in Domain options
to determine if the additional domain's services can be accessed using private.googleapis.com
or restricted.googleapis.com
. Then, for each of the additional domains:
-
Create a DNS zone for
DOMAIN
(for example,gcr.io
). If you're using Cloud DNS, make sure this zone is located in the same project as yourgoogleapis.com
private zone. -
In this DNS zone, create the following private DNS records for either
private.googleapis.com
orrestricted.googleapis.com
, depending on which domain you've chosen to use.-
For
private.googleapis.com
:-
Create an
A
record forDOMAIN
pointing to the following IP addresses:199.36.153.8
,199.36.153.9
,199.36.153.10
,199.36.153.11
. -
To connect to APIs using IPv6 addresses, also create an
AAAA
record forDOMAIN
pointing to2600:2d00:0002:2000::
.
-
-
For
restricted.googleapis.com
:-
Create an
A
record forDOMAIN
pointing to the following IP addresses:199.36.153.4
,199.36.153.5
,199.36.153.6
,199.36.153.7
. -
To connect to APIs using IPv6 addresses, also create an
AAAA
record forrestricted.googleapis.com
pointing to2600:2d00:0002:1000::
.
-
-
-
In the
DOMAIN
zone, create aCNAME
record for*. DOMAIN
that points toDOMAIN
. For example, create aCNAME
record for*.gcr.io
that points togcr.io
.
Configure DNS for Cloud Storage custom domain names
If you are using Cloud Storage buckets, and you send requests to a Cloud Storage custom domain name
,
configuring DNS records for the custom Cloud Storage domain name to point to
the IP addresses for private.googleapis.com
or restricted.googleapis.com
is
not sufficient to allow access to the Cloud Storage buckets.
If you want to send requests to a Cloud Storage custom domain name, you must also explicitly
set the HTTP request's Host header and TLS SNI to storage.googleapis.com
The
IP addresses for private.googleapis.com
and restricted.googleapis.com
do not
support custom Cloud Storage hostnames in HTTP request Host headers and TLS
SNIs.
Routing options
Your VPC network must have appropriate routes whose next hops are the default internet gateway. Google Cloud does not support routing traffic to Google APIs and services through other VM instances or custom next hops. Despite being called default internet gateway , packets sent from VMs in your VPC network to Google APIs and services remain within Google's network.
-
If you select the default domains, your VM instances connect to Google APIs and services using a subset of Google's external IP addresses . These IP addresses are publicly routable, but the path from a VM in a VPC network to those addresses remains within Google's network.
-
Google doesn't publish routes on the internet to any of the IP addresses used by either the
private.googleapis.com
orrestricted.googleapis.com
domains. Consequently, these domains can only be accessed by VMs in a VPC network or on-premises systems connected to a VPC network.
If your VPC network contains a default route whose next hop is the default internet gateway, you can use that route to access Google APIs and services, without needing to create custom routes. See routing with a default route for details.
If you have replaced a default route (destination 0.0.0.0/0
or ::0/0
) with
a custom route whose next hop is not
the default internet gateway, you can
meet the routing requirements for Google APIs and services using custom
routing
instead.
If your VPC network does not have an IPv6 default route, you won't have IPv6 connectivity to Google APIs and services. Add an IPv6 default route to allow IPv6 connectivity.
Routing with a default route
Each VPC network contains an IPv4 default route ( 0.0.0.0/0
)
when it is created. If you enable external IPv6 addresses on a subnet, a
system-generated IPv6 default route ( ::/0
) is added to that VPC
network.
The default routes provides a path to the IP addresses for the following destinations:
-
The default domains.
-
private.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.8/30
and2600:2d00:0002:2000::/64
. -
restricted.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.4/30
and2600:2d00:0002:1000::/64
.
To check the configuration of a default route in a given network, follow these directions.
Console
-
In the Google Cloud console, go to the Routespage.
-
Filter the list of routes to show just the routes for the network you need to inspect.
-
Look for a route whose destination is
0.0.0.0/0
for IPv4 traffic or::/0
for IPv6 traffic and whose next hop is default internet gateway .
gcloud
Use the following gcloud
command, replacing NETWORK_NAME
with
the name of the network to inspect:
gcloud compute routes list \ --filter="default-internet-gateway NETWORK_NAME "
If you need to create a replacement default IPv4 route, see Adding a static route .
If you need to create a replacement default IPv6 route, see Adding an IPv6 default route .
Custom routing
As an alternative to a default route, you can use custom static routes, each having a more specific destination, and each using the default internet gateway next hop. The number of routes you need and their destination IP addresses depend on the domain that you choose .
- Default domains: you must have routes for the IP address ranges for Google APIs and services .
-
private.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.8/30
and2600:2d00:0002:2000::/64
-
restricted.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.4/30
and2600:2d00:0002:1000::/64
Additionally, we recommend that you add routes for 34.126.0.0/18
and 2001:4860:8040::/42
. For more information, see Summary of
configuration options
.
To check the configuration of custom routes for Google APIs and services in a given network, follow these directions.
Console
-
In the Google Cloud console, go to the Routespage.
-
Use the Filter table text field to filter the list of routes using the following criteria, replacing
NETWORK_NAME
with the name of your VPC network.- Network:
NETWORK_NAME
- Next hop type:
default internet gateway
- Network:
-
Look at the Destination IP range column for each route. If you chose the default domains, check for several custom static routes, one for each IP address range used by the default domain . If you chose
private.googleapis.com
orrestricted.googleapis.com
, look for that domain's IP range .
gcloud
Use the following gcloud
command, replacing NETWORK_NAME
with
the name of the network to inspect:
gcloud compute routes list \ --filter="default-internet-gateway NETWORK_NAME "
Routes are listed in table format unless you customize the command with the --format
flag. Look in the DEST_RANGE
column for the destination of each
route. If you chose the default domains, check for several custom static
routes, one for each IP address range used by the default
domain
. If you chose private.googleapis.com
or restricted.googleapis.com
, look for that domain's IP range
.
If you need to create routes, see Adding a static route .
Firewall configuration
The firewall configuration of your VPC network must allow access
from VMs to the IP addresses used by Google APIs and services. The implied allow egress
rule satisfies this requirement.
In some firewall configurations, you need to create specific egress allow rules.
For example, suppose you've created an egress deny rule that blocks traffic to
all destinations ( 0.0.0.0
for IPv4 or ::/0
for IPv6). In that case, you must
create one egress allow firewall rule whose priority is higher than the egress
deny rule for each IP address range used by your chosen domain
for Google APIs and services.
- Default domains: all IP address ranges for Google APIs and services .
-
private.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.8/30
and2600:2d00:0002:2000::/64
-
restricted.googleapis.com
:199.36.153.4/30
and2600:2d00:0002:1000::/64
Additionally, we recommend that you include 34.126.0.0/18
and 2001:4860:8040::/42
in your egress allow firewall rule. For more
information, see Summary of configuration options
.
To create firewall rules, see Creating firewall rules . You can limit the VMs to which the firewall rules apply when you define the target of each egress allow rule.
IP addresses for default domains
This section describes how to create a list of default domain IP ranges used by
Google APIs and services, such as *.googleapis.com
and *.gcr.io
. These
ranges are allocated dynamically and change
often, so it's not possible to define specific IP ranges for individual services
or APIs. To maintain an accurate list, set up automation to run the script every
day. For alternatives to maintaining a list of IP address ranges, consider using
the private.googleapis.com VIP
or Private Service Connect
.
-
Google publishes the complete list of IP ranges that it makes available to users on the internet in goog.json .
-
Google also publishes a list of global and regional external IP addresses ranges available for customers' Google Cloud resources in cloud.json .
The IP addresses used by the default domains for Google APIs and services fit
within the list of ranges computed by taking away all ranges in cloud.json
from those in goog.json
. These lists are updated frequently.
You can use the following Python script to create a list of IP address ranges that include those used by the default domains for Google APIs and services.
For information about running this script, see How to run .