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Cloud Router overview
Cloud Router is a distributed and fully managed offering that provides
Border Gateway Protocol
(BGP) speaker and
responder capabilities.
Cloud Router works with Cloud Interconnect,
Cloud VPN, and Router appliances to create dynamic
routes in VPC networks based on
BGP-received and custom learned routes.
Cloud Router and the Andromeda network virtualization stack
(Andromeda) (PDF
download)
work together. Andromeda handles all packet routing and forwarding capabilities,
and Cloud Routers manage corresponding BGP sessions.
Cloud Routers don't provide packet routing or forwarding capability.
Google Cloud products that use Cloud Router
The following table describes products that use Cloud Router:
You can create the following types of BGP sessions:
IPv4 BGP sessions that exchange only IPv4 prefixes
IPv6 BGP sessions that exchange only IPv6 prefixes
IPv4 BGP sessions using MP-BGP that exchange both IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes
IPv6 BGP sessions using MP-BGP that exchange both IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes
IPv6 BGP peering and IPv6 route exchange aren't supported for the following
resources:
Classic VPN tunnels
Router appliance (part of Network Connectivity Center)
Cross-Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments
You can configure an IPv4 BGP session and an IPv6 BGP session simultaneously for
an HA VPN tunnel or a Dedicated Interconnect
VLAN attachment. When you configure both BGP sessions simultaneously, the IPv4
BGP session only exchanges IPv4 routes, and the IPv6 BGP session only exchanges
IPv6 routes.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-28 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Cloud Router overview\n=====================\n\nCloud Router is a distributed and fully managed offering that provides\n[Border Gateway Protocol\n(BGP)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Gateway_Protocol) speaker and\nresponder capabilities.\nCloud Router works with Cloud Interconnect,\nCloud VPN, and Router appliances to create [dynamic\nroutes](/vpc/docs/routes#dynamic_routes) in VPC networks based on\nBGP-received and custom learned routes.\n\nCloud Router and the [Andromeda network virtualization stack\n(Andromeda) (PDF\ndownload)](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/nsdi18/nsdi18-dalton.pdf)\nwork together. Andromeda handles all packet routing and forwarding capabilities,\nand Cloud Routers manage corresponding BGP sessions.\nCloud Routers don't provide packet routing or forwarding capability.\n\nGoogle Cloud products that use Cloud Router\n-------------------------------------------\n\nThe following table describes products that use Cloud Router:\n\nCloud NAT relies on Cloud Routers for control plane capabilities,\nbut not for BGP session management.\n\nKey features\n------------\n\nCloud Router offers the following features:\n\n- BGP session management, including support for [Bidirectional Forwarding\n Detection (BFD)](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/bfd) and [MD5\n authentication](/network-connectivity/docs/router/how-to/use-md5-authentication).\n\n- [Advertised routes](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/advertised-routes): advertise IP\n ranges to your network when you use a [supported\n product](#cloud-products-that-use-cloud-router).\n\n- [Learned routes](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/learned-routes):\n Cloud Router uses routes received from BGP peers and custom learned\n routes to create [dynamic routes](/vpc/docs/routes#dynamic_routes) in\n VPC networks.\n\n- [BGP route policies](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/bgp-route-policies-overview): BGP\n route policies let you set rules to filter BGP routes or modify BGP route\n attributes.\n\nIP protocols support\n--------------------\n\nCloud Router supports IPv6 route exchange through either of the\nfollowing:\n\n- BGP over IPv6\n- BGP over IPv4 using multiprotocol BGP (MP-BGP)\n\nFor information about advertising IPv6 prefixes, see [Advertising subnet IPv6\naddress ranges](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/advertised-routes#ipv6-conditions).\n\nYou can create the following types of BGP sessions:\n\n- IPv4 BGP sessions that exchange only IPv4 prefixes\n- IPv6 BGP sessions that exchange only IPv6 prefixes\n- IPv4 BGP sessions using MP-BGP that exchange both IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes\n- IPv6 BGP sessions using MP-BGP that exchange both IPv4 and IPv6 prefixes\n\nIPv6 BGP peering and IPv6 route exchange aren't supported for the following\nresources:\n\n- Classic VPN tunnels\n- Router appliance (part of Network Connectivity Center)\n- Cross-Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments\n\nYou can configure an IPv4 BGP session and an IPv6 BGP session simultaneously for\nan HA VPN tunnel or a Dedicated Interconnect\nVLAN attachment. When you configure both BGP sessions simultaneously, the IPv4\nBGP session only exchanges IPv4 routes, and the IPv6 BGP session only exchanges\nIPv6 routes.\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- To help build your network topology with Cloud Router, see\n [Best practices for Cloud Router](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/best-practices).\n\n- To find definitions for Cloud Router terminology, see\n [Key terms](/network-connectivity/docs/router/concepts/key-terms).\n\n- [Establish BGP sessions](/network-connectivity/docs/router/how-to/configuring-bgp)\n\n- [Create an HA VPN to a peer VPN gateway](/network-connectivity/docs/vpn/how-to/creating-ha-vpn)\n\n- [Create HA VPN gateways to connect VPC\n networks](/network-connectivity/docs/vpn/how-to/creating-ha-vpn2)\n\n- [Create VLAN attachments](/network-connectivity/docs/interconnect/how-to/dedicated/creating-vlan-attachments)\n (Dedicated Interconnect).\n\n- [Configure multiprotocol BGP for IPv4 or IPv6 BGP sessions](/network-connectivity/docs/router/how-to/configuring-mp-bgp)"]]
