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 virtual machine (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 configure NEGs as backends for your load balancers. Certain NEG types can also be used with Cloud Service Mesh. 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
- Port mapping NEG
Zonal NEG
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 .
-
GCE_VM_IP
IP only: resolves to the primary internal IPv4 address of a VM's network interface
OR
-
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
IP:Port: resolves to either the primary internal IPv4 address of a VM's network interface or an internal IPv4 address from an alias IP address range associated with a VM's network interface; for example, Pod IPv4 addresses in VPC-native clusters .Only
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
type endpoints support IPv4 and IPv6 (dual stack) zonal NEGs.
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
and GCE_VM_IP
endpoints.- Internal passthrough Network Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP
endpoints): - External passthrough Network Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP
endpoints): - Regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
endpoints) - Cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
endpoints) - Regional external proxy Network Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
endpoints) - Internal Application Load Balancer (
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
endpoints) - 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) - Cloud Service Mesh (
GCE_VM_IP_PORT
endpoints)
Related documentation:
Internet NEG
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 .
-
INTERNET_IP_PORT
IP:Port, where IP must not be a RFC 1918 address.OR
-
INTERNET_FQDN_PORT
FQDN:Port
Global NEGs: 1
Regional NEGs: 256
Global NEGs: not supported
Regional NEGs: distributed Envoy health checks
- Cloud CDN (
INTERNET_IP_PORT
orINTERNET_FQDN_PORT
endpoint): - External Application Load Balancer (
INTERNET_IP_PORT
orINTERNET_FQDN_PORT
endpoint): - Cloud Service Mesh (
INTERNET_FQDN_PORT
endpoint):
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
A single endpoint within Google's network that resolves to an App Engine, Cloud Run functions, API Gateway, or Cloud Run resource.
For detailed information about this NEG and its use cases, see Serverless NEGs overview .
SERVERLESS
FQDN belonging to an App Engine, Cloud Run functions, API Gateway, or Cloud Run resource.
- External Application Load Balancer:
- Set up a global external Application Load Balancer with an App Engine, Cloud Run functions, or Cloud Run backend
- Set up a classic Application Load Balancer with an App Engine, Cloud Run 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 and Cloud Run functions 2nd gen only):
- Cross-region internal Application Load Balancer (Cloud Run and Cloud Run functions 2nd gen only):
Hybrid connectivity NEG
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 .
-
Centralized health checks when you use this NEG with the following load balancers:
- Global external Application Load Balancer
- Classic Application Load Balancer
- Global external proxy Network Load Balancer
- Classic proxy Network Load Balancer
-
Distributed Envoy health checks when you use this NEG with the following load balancers:
- Regional external Application Load Balancer
- Regional internal Application Load Balancer
- Regional external proxy Network Load Balancer
- Regional internal proxy Network Load Balancer
- Cross-region internal Application Load Balancer
- Cross-region internal proxy Network Load Balancer
- 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
- External proxy Network Load Balancer
- Global external proxy Network Load Balancer
- Classic proxy Network Load Balancer
- Set up a regional external proxy Network Load Balancer with hybrid connectivity
- Internal proxy Network Load Balancer
- Cloud Service Mesh:
Private Service Connect NEG
- A Google-managed regional API endpoint
- A Google-managed global API endpoint
- A managed service published using Private Service Connect
PRIVATE_SERVICE_CONNECT
- 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
To associate this load balancer with a Private Service Connect NEG, use the Google Cloud CLI or send an API request.
Private Service Connect NEGs are not supported by the classic 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 .
Port mapping NEG
Features | Details |
---|---|
Purpose | One or more endpoints, each of which provides a mapping from a client port of a Private Service Connect endpoint to a combination of service port and service producer VM. For detailed information about this NEG and its use cases, see About Private Service Connect port mapping . |
NetworkEndpointType API name | GCE_VM_IP_PORTMAP
|
Number of endpoints | 1 or more |
Health checks for NEGs attached to backend services | Not applicable |
Scope | Regional |
Routing | To a service producer VPC network through a connection between a Private Service Connect endpoint and a service attachment . |
Google Cloud products that use this NEG | Private Service Connect port mapping |