Secure and Connect Apps with F5 and Google Cloud Integration
Multicloud is the new normal. Nearly all (98%) enterprises use or plan to use a multicloud environment for their business.1 As a result, 87% of organizations agree that their application environment will become distributed across more locations.2 Distributed application environments raise a couple of big challenges: connectivity and security. Often, apps must work with apps in other environments or use distributed architectures that require a single app to cross multiple environments. This cross-cloud communication adds another layer to the attack surface, with new threats that drive a need for an updated defense.
Most organizations (81%) face application and data portability challenges across these distributed locations. This is especially impactful because most organizations also say they’re regularly migrating applications between locations.3 In addition to security and connectivity concerns, the disparate toolsets for each location create complexity—not only are there more tools to manage, but getting end-to-end visibility can be nearly impossible!
Connect apps, services, and clouds
In a distributed multicloud environment, connecting apps and services is frequently ad hoc and can result in a complex mess. IP address collisions and routing issues are common obstacles, and visibility is disjointed at best. Reliable multicloud networking must have several components:
- Service discovery to connect apps
- Consistency across environments
- Built-in security to mitigate multicloud risk
- Observability to maintain performance
F5 and Google Cloud work together to help you create a seamless multicloud environment that is connected, secure, and easy to manage.
Connecting apps across environments needs service discovery to help your apps find each other. F5 Distributed Cloud App Connect can link apps and services across your entire multicloud environment with self-maintaining, fully automated connections. When used with F5 Distributed Cloud Customer Edge, it can connect apps in private clouds or data centers to your Google Cloud apps.
F5 and Google Cloud provide more than app connectivity. You can also build and deploy modern apps more easily with Google Cloud’s consistent development and operations experience paired with infrastructure as code (IaC) in F5 Distributed Cloud Services.
Whether you’re connecting apps or networking multiple clouds, F5 and Google Cloud help you create consistency across environments. F5 Distributed Cloud Network Connect makes connecting Google Cloud with other environments from a single console easier than creating a series of individual connections. Automated provisioning simplifies the process with granular traffic control and hub-and-spoke orchestration.
Protect your distributed environment
Securing your connections is critical. Multicloud networking from F5 includes native network and application security, API discovery, and ingress/egress control to protect your data and operations. You can also take advantage of the F5 Global Network, the industry’s first app-to-app network that’s purpose built to connect, secure, and even host workloads, to keep your communications more private than what is possible using public Internet. Google Cloud also offers secure and private networking to protect your data and applications from exposure.
In addition, you can use the same Distributed Cloud Console with F5 Distributed Cloud Web App and API Protection (WAAP) to add a full suite of security without adding complexity. This defense includes a dynamic web application firewall (WAF), API security, bot protection, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack mitigation. Distributed Cloud WAAP works with Google services such as Google Cloud Armor for effective and easy-to-use security that can be extended to other clouds or on-premises environments for consistency.
Visibility across environments is often disjointed, making it challenging to monitor app performance. F5 Distributed Cloud multicloud networking provides end-to-end visibility and service-level visibility for insights into deployed services via convenient dashboards. Consistent visibility helps speed troubleshooting for reliable, high-performing apps in Google Cloud or anywhere else.
Maintain app performance and reduce complexity
Together, F5 and Google Cloud reduce multicloud complexity by supporting a secure environment that’s easier to manage. Deploy and protect apps in Google Cloud, on premises, or at the edge with a single toolset. Centralized management, automation, dashboards, and end-to-end visibility simplify operations, letting security and IT resources focus on innovation.
F5 solutions are available in the Google Cloud Marketplace for simpler procurement and deployment. For more information about how Google Cloud and F5 solutions can connect and secure your multicloud environment, visit f5.com/gcp.
Sources
1. 451 Research, Multicloud in the Mainstream S&P Global survey, Feb. 2023
2. Enterprise Strategy Group, Multi-cloud Application Deployment and Delivery Decision Making, Feb. 2023
3. ibid.