Which VPN Configuration Ensures Maximum Availability Between Google Cloud VPCs?

PCNE By islever Editorial Last updated

Short answer

D Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)-based VPN using HA VPN between the two Google Cloud VPCs

Question

You are designing a new network infrastructure for your customer in Google Cloud. Your customer requires a connection between two Google Cloud VPCs that must include a VPN tunnel. You want to follow Google-recommended practices while ensuring maximum availability of the connection. Which VPN configuration should you choose?
  1. Policy-based VPN using Classic VPN between the two Google Cloud VPCs
  2. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)-based VPN using Classic VPN between the two Google Cloud VPCs
  3. Route-based VPN using Classic VPN between the two Google Cloud VPCs
  4. Border Gateway Protocol (BGP)-based VPN using HA VPN between the two Google Cloud VPCs Correct Answer

Key Takeaways

Tests recognition of modern cloud VPN architectures versus legacy options, with the common trap being reliance on familiar but deprecated Classic VPN configurations.

This question evaluates understanding of Google Cloud VPN types and high availability best practices. The community unanimously agrees that HA VPN with BGP is the recommended solution for resilient, auto-failover VPC-to-VPC connectivity.

Common mistake: Candidates frequently select Classic VPN options due to traditional networking habits, overlooking that Classic VPN lacks native high availability features and automatic failover capabilities.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

HA VPN is Google Cloud’s fully managed, highly available IPsec VPN service engineered for enterprise-grade resilience. It automatically provisions two independent tunnels terminating on separate VPN gateways across different availability zones, ensuring active-active connectivity. When combined with BGP, HA VPN enables dynamic route advertisement and automatic failover, eliminating single points of failure and meeting strict availability requirements.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Classic VPN is a legacy, self-managed service that only supports a single tunnel per gateway and lacks built-in high availability mechanisms. Both policy-based and static route-based configurations require manual intervention during outages, directly violating the maximum availability mandate. Furthermore, Google has officially deprecated Classic VPN in favor of HA VPN, making all older options architecturally obsolete.

Community Comment Notes

The voting community strongly validates option D, noting that HA VPN’s dual-gateway architecture paired with BGP provides seamless automatic failover [1]. Contributors emphasize that BGP is essential for dynamic routing and rapid convergence when one tunnel or gateway fails [3]. Multiple users confirm that recognizing the deprecation of Classic VPN is the key differentiator for this scenario [2].

Official Reference

These links open the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Exam Strategy

Always prioritize fully managed, zone-redundant services like HA VPN over legacy self-managed alternatives when designing for high availability. Memorize Google Cloud’s official migration path from Classic VPN to HA VPN, as exam questions frequently test your ability to identify deprecated architectures.

Community Votes

D
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer D. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 3 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 3

  1. [Removed] 👍 4 Answered D
    HA VPN provides high availability by using two tunnels that terminate on two separate Google Cloud VPN gateways. BGP enables dynamic routing between the on-premises network and Google Cloud, allowing for automatic failover in case one VPN gateway or tunnel becomes unavailable. This ensures continuous connectivity between the two VPCs with minimal downtime. Options A, B, and C use Classic VPN, which is not recommended for new deployments as it lacks certain features such as high availability and dynamic routing. Therefore, option D is the most suitable choice for ensuring maximum availability and following Google-recommended practices.
  2. gonlafer 👍 2 Answered D
    It's D
  3. anshad666 👍 1 Answered D
    HA VPN using BGP

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