How to Get a GCP Static IP Address on Google Cloud

Option 1: Default GCP Static IP

GCP offers their own static IP’s for all accounts, which is really exceptional when you compare that that option to other cloud providers. Hats off to Google for enabling that option by default.

However, if you’re building a service a tad bit more mission critical than a routine app, there’s likely strong need to have a managed Static IP service that’s more secure, constantly monitored, and more customizable than the Google out-of-the-box static IP option.

Positives

• An unmanaged Static IP that checks the boxes for some minimum security requirements. (Unfortunately, even with SSL enabled, the GCP static IP is not sufficient for HIPAA, FINTECH transactions, or any sensitive PII)
• Free (if you ignore the cost of the engineers required to setup, maintain, and troubleshoot it year round)

Negatives

• Weak Security +GCP’s provides a free Static IP that results in insecure communications between endpoints, even with SSL enabled. Protocols, ports, endpoints and other metadata regarding your transactions are are discoverable by malicious actors.
  • We outline the reasons why GCP’s Static IP’s are inherently insecure at our Why is QG Shield More Secure Than QG Static? page.
• No Load Balancing
  • If your GCP static IP is handling critical traffic, what happens when your throughput increases unexpectedly? GCP’s static IP’s offer no automatic load balancing for your traffic spikes.
  • At the very least, you will need another box for a load balancer and one more for the secondary proxy.
  • All of this burns up more DevOps resources, more endpoints to keep track of, more long-term GCP committments, etc.
• DevOps
  • Managing GCP servers with all of the maintenance, monitoring and upgrade pain that it brings. We’ve all seen GCP committments and how they can lock you into old solutions that don’t mature with your business.
  • In many ways, managing GCP infrastructure is the opposite of why you’re using GCP in the first place. Not worrying about the availability of your infrastructure is one of the reasons why you moved to Google Cloud in the first place.
• Support
  • GCP Support costs $$$ and only grows more expensive the more you use GCP.
  • If you need to speak to a human (not necessarily an engineer) about a problem, they cost $500/mo plus 3% of your GCP monthly charges.
  • And don’t be fooled, the first human that writes you back won’t be an engineer, it’ll be a GCP Support receptionist directing your ticket into yet another queue.
  • QuotaGuard offers only human support with real engineers for zero additional cost.