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Tutorial: Connect Your GCP VPC to CloudConnexa using IPsec

Abstract

Connect your Google Cloud VPC to CloudConnexa using GCP's built-in Classic VPN gateway and an IPsec site-to-site tunnel — no VM deployment required. Covers GCP VPN gateway setup, CloudConnexa tunnel configuration, and connectivity verification.

Overview

This tutorial shows how to connect your Google Cloud VPC to CloudConnexa using an IPsec site-to-site tunnel — without deploying a virtual machine in your GCP environment.

Unlike the connectors-based approach, IPsec uses GCP's built-in Classic VPN gateway to establish the tunnel. This means no virtual machine (VM) to manage, but it does require configuring the VPN on both the GCP side and in your CloudConnexa Administration portal. Once configured, a site-to-site IPsec tunnel connects your GCP VPC to the nearest CloudConnexa Region. Your CloudConnexa users — and any other networks connected to CloudConnexa — can then access resources in your VPC privately, without exposing them to the public internet.

Before you begin

Before configuring the IPsec connection, ensure you have the following:

  • A CloudConnexa account and Cloud ID.

  • Administrator access to your CloudConnexa Administration portal.

  • A Google Cloud project with billing enabled.

  • A Google Cloud VPC to connect to CloudConnexa.

  • Permissions to create Classic VPN gateways and related networking resources in your Google Cloud project.

Tip

For detailed Google Cloud prerequisites and permission requirements, see Google Cloud: Create a Classic VPN gateway.

Step 1: Configure the Network Connector in CloudConnexa

  2. Navigate to Networks.

  3. Select Add Network.

  4. Select the appropriate Network Scenario.

  5. Configure the network details.

  6. When prompted, select IPsec for your tunneling protocol.

  7. On the Configure Network Connector page, select GCP from Platform to Connect.

    • CloudConnexa displays the configuration values you need to create the corresponding VPN gateway and tunnel in Google Cloud.

  8. Review and copy the following values:

    • CloudConnexa Public IP Address: Select the available CloudConnexa public IP address from the list. You'll enter this value as the remote peer IP address when creating the Google Cloud VPN tunnel.

    • Remote Network IP Ranges: Copy the displayed IP ranges. These are the CloudConnexa-side networks that Google Cloud routes through the IPsec tunnel.

    • Local IP Ranges: Copy the displayed local ranges when present. These should correspond to the Google Cloud VPC subnet ranges that you configured for this Network.

    Tip

    Keep the CloudConnexa page open while you configure the Google Cloud side so you can copy these values into the corresponding Google Cloud fields.

  9. Review Set Up CloudConnexa Tunnel. Don't enter any values yet. You obtain them while configuring the Google Cloud VPN.

  10. Leave Advanced Configuration unchanged unless the Google Cloud VPN configuration requires different IPsec parameters.

  11. Open a new browser tab and sign in to the Google Cloud Console.

Step 2: Configure the Google Cloud VPN

  1. Sign in to the Google Cloud Console.

  2. Navigate to VPN.

  3. Select Create VPN connection.

  4. Select the VPN setup wizard.

  5. Select the Classic VPN option.

  6. Configure the VPN gateway:

    • Name: Enter the VPN gateway name.

      Important

      This can't be changed later.

    • Network: Select the VPC to connect.

    • Region: Select a Google Cloud region close to the CloudConnexa region.

    • IP address: Create or select a static external IP address.

  7. Configure the VPN tunnel:

    • Name: Enter a name.

    • Remote peer IP address: Copy the CloudConnexa Public IP Address from the Create GCP VPN section.

    • IKE Version: IKEv2.

    • IKE pre-shared key: Enter a strong pre-shared key. You'll enter the same key later in CloudConnexa.

      Tip

      You can refer to Google Cloud's documentation on generating a strong, 32-character pre-shared key: Generate a strong pre-shared key.

    • Routing options: Policy-based.

    • Remote network IP ranges: Copy the Remote Network IP Ranges from CloudConnexa.

    • Local IP ranges: Enter the subnet ranges for your Google Cloud VPC.

    • Select Done, then Create.

Step 3: Set up the CloudConnexa tunnel

  1. Return to the CloudConnexa Network Configuration Wizard.

  2. In Set Up CloudConnexa Tunnel, enter:

    • Google Engine VPN Gateway IP: The static external IP address assigned to your Google Cloud VPN gateway.

    • Pre-shared Key (PSK): The same key you configured in Google Cloud.

  3. Leave the Advanced Configuration settings at their default values unless your environment requires different IPsec parameters.

  4. Select Test Connection to test connectivity.

  5. Continue with the network wizard instructions.

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