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Tutorial: Connect Your GCP VPC to CloudConnexa by Deploying a Connector

Abstract

Deploy an OpenVPN Network Connector on a GCP Compute Engine VM to connect your Google Cloud VPC to CloudConnexa — giving your remote users and other connected networks private access to GCP resources without exposing them to the public internet.

Overview

This tutorial walks you through deploying a Network Connector to a Google Cloud VPC directly from the CloudConnexa Administration portal.

You can deploy a Network Connector to a Google Cloud VPC to provide secure private network access between your Google Cloud VPC and users or other networks connected through CloudConnexa.

Many administrators use this deployment as a site-to-site connection between their Google Cloud environment and CloudConnexa.

Before you begin

Before starting this tutorial, ensure you have:

  • A CloudConnexa account and Cloud ID.

  • A Google Cloud Platform account.

  • Permission to create Compute Engine VM instances in your Google Cloud project.

  • A Google Cloud VPC where you want to deploy the Connector.

Step 1: Create a Network

To create a Network, follow the steps below:

  2. Navigate to Networks.

  3. Select Add Network and select your desired network scenario.

  4. Complete the Define Network page.

  5. Select Next.

The Deploy Network Connector page displays.

Step 2: Select a deployment method

Important

Native deployment for GCP is not yet available. Until this feature is released, use the Manual Connector deployment method.

On the Deploy Network Connector page, select one of the following methods:

  1. On the Deploy Network Connector page, select GCP from the drop-down.

  2. Select one of the following deployment methods:

Option A: Deploy the Connector using the Native tab

Important

Native deployment for GCP isn't currently available. This section describes the workflow that will be available in a future release. For current deployments, use Option B: Deploy using the Manual tab.

With native deployment, you sign in to GCP from CloudConnexa and configure the GCP resources from the Network Configuration Wizard.

After authentication, your GCP account is available for deployment.

Sign in to Google Cloud

To authorize CloudConnexa to deploy the Connector, follow the steps below:

  1. On the Deploy Network Connector page, select Google Cloud Platform (GCP) from the drop-down.

  2. Select Sign in to GCP.

  3. In the authentication dialog, sign in using your Google account.

  4. Review and grant the requested permissions.

After authentication, your GCP account is available for deployment.

Configure the Connector deployment

To configure the Connector deployment, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the GCP Project where you want CloudConnexa to deploy the Connector.

  2. Select a network.

  3. Enter a VM Name.

  4. Select the Region and Zone for the Compute Engine VM.

  5. Select Deploy.

    • CloudConnexa creates the Compute Engine VM, installs the Connector software, and enables IP forwarding. Deployment typically takes several minutes.

  6. Continue to Verify the Connector.

Note

Google Cloud requires IP forwarding to be enabled on the Connector VM so it can route traffic between your VPC and CloudConnexa. This differs from AWS, which uses source/destination checks to control routing behavior.

Option B: Deploy using the Manual tab

Use this method if you want to create the Connector VM yourself in Google Cloud and manually install the Connector software.

  1. On the Manual tab, select Open GCP.

  2. In Google Cloud, create a Linux virtual machine (VM) in the VPC where you want to deploy the Connector.

  3. Return to CloudConnexa and select the Linux distribution used by the VM.

    • CloudConnexa displays an installation script for the selected Linux distribution.

  4. Copy the script.

  5. Open the new VM console in Google Cloud and run the script.

  6. In CloudConnexa, generate a Connector token.

  7. When prompted in the VM console, enter the generated token.

  8. Wait for the script to finish configuring the Connector and connecting to CloudConnexa.

  9. Return to the CloudConnexa Network Configuration Wizard and select Next.

  10. Continue to Verify the Connector.

Verify the Connector

Note

Deployment typically takes several minutes.

After deployment completes:

  1. If deployment succeeds, the Connector status displays as Connected.

  2. If deployment fails, CloudConnexa displays an error message so you can review and correct the deployment configuration.

Select Finish to complete the deployment.

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