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Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) firewall rules apply to a single VPC
network. To have finer control over the traffic sent or received by the virtual
machine (VM) instances in your VPC network, you can use
network tags or service accounts
in the VPC firewall rules. However, VPC firewall
rules have the following limitations:
No batch editing: VPC firewall rules are applied on a
per-rule basis and must be edited individually, which can be inefficient.
Limited Identity and Access Management (IAM) control: Network tags don't offer the
robust IAM controls needed for strict traffic segmentation.
To address the limitations of VPC firewall rules,
Cloud Next Generation Firewall supports global and regional network firewall
policies. You can define and apply network firewall policies to multiple
VPC networks across multiple regions. These policies also support
IAM-governed secure tags that let you enforce granular
control at the VM level for safe and reliable micro-segmentation of all types of
network traffic.
To control access to your VPC network, you can migrate your existing VPC firewall rules to a global network firewall policy to take advantage of the capabilities of network firewall policies.
Benefits of migrating VPC firewall rules to a network firewall policy
A network firewall policy delivers a consistent firewall experience across the
Google Cloud resource hierarchy and offers multiple operational benefits over
VPC firewall rules.
Provides granular security and access control by using IAM
governed Tags. Google Cloud lets you attach separate Tags to each
network interface of a VM. Based on the Tags, you can define your firewall
policy rules to restrict unauthorized access to your resources and workload
traffic. So, you gain a finer level of control over your resources, which
helps to ensure a least-privilege, self-service environment for each user
group or application. VPC firewall rules use network tags,
which don't support IAM access control.
Enables simplified rule management. Network firewall policies support
batch editing, which lets you edit multiple rules within a single policy.
VPC firewall rules operate only at a per-rule level.
Provides ease of operations. Network firewall policies support the use
of features, such as fully qualified domain name (FQDN) objects,
geolocation objects, threat detection, intrusion prevention, and address groups.
VPC firewall rules don't support these advanced features.
Supports flexible data residency. Network firewall policies can be
applied to either multiple regions or a single region of a network.
VPC firewall rules can only be applied globally.
VPC firewall rules migration tool
The VPC firewall rules migration tool can automatically migrate
VPC firewall rules to a global network firewall policy. The tool
is a command-line utility that you can access using the Google Cloud CLI.
Specifications
The migration tool creates a global network firewall policy, converts the
existing VPC firewall rules into firewall policy rules, and
adds the new rules to the policy.
If two or more VPC firewall rules have the same priority, the
migration tool automatically updates the rule priorities to avoid any overlap.
A rule with a deny action is given a higher priority than a rule with an allow action.
While updating the priorities, the tool preserves the relative sequence of the
original VPC firewall rules.
For example, if you have four VPC firewall rules with a priority
of 1000 and a fifth rule with a priority of 2000, the migration tool
assigns a unique priority number to the first four rules with the
sequence—1000, 1001, 1002, and 1003. The fifth rule with the
priority of 2000 is assigned a new unique priority of 1004. This ensures
that the new priorities for the first four rules are higher than that of all
rules that have priority lower than 1000.
If your VPC firewall rules contain dependencies, such as network
tags or service accounts, the migration tool can take advantage of
IAM-governed Tags that serve as a replacement to those network
tags and services accounts.
If your VPC network contains VPC firewall
rules and an associated network firewall policy, the migration tool moves
the compatible VPC firewall rules as well as the network
firewall policy rules to the new global network firewall policy.
The migration tool preserves the log settings of the existing VPC
firewall rules. If a VPC firewall rule has logging turned on,
the migration tool keeps it on. If logging is off, the migration tool keeps it turned off.
The migration tool generates the global network firewall policy only. The
tool does not delete existing VPC firewall rules or associate
the new global network firewall policy with the required VPC
network. You must manually associate the global network firewall policy with
the required VPC network, and then remove the association
between the VPC firewall rules and the VPC
network.
After you associate the global network firewall policy with the required
VPC network, you can disable the VPC firewall
rules if the policy rules in the global network firewall policy are working
as intended.
If necessary, you can associate the new global network firewall policy as well
as the VPC firewall rules with the same VPC
network because the rules are applied according to the policy and rule
evaluation order.
However, we recommend you disable the VPC firewall rules.
Migration scenarios
Consider the following scenarios when you migrate your VPC firewall
rules to a global network firewall policy:
The following diagram shows the migration workflow for the preceding configuration
combinations. Choose the workflow that matches your network requirements.
Figure 1. VPC firewall rules migration flow (click to enlarge).
[[["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 2025-08-25 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eVPC firewall rules are limited to a single VPC network and lack batch editing capabilities and robust IAM controls, unlike network firewall policies.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eNetwork firewall policies offer enhanced control through IAM-governed secure tags, allowing for detailed micro-segmentation of network traffic at the VM level.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eNetwork firewall policies enable simplified management through batch editing, along with advanced features like FQDN and geolocation objects, which are not supported by VPC firewall rules.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe VPC firewall rules migration tool facilitates the conversion of existing VPC firewall rules into a global network firewall policy, automatically managing priorities and preserving log settings.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eMigrating to a global network firewall policy allows for greater flexibility in data residency, as it can be applied to multiple or single regions, whereas VPC firewall rules are applied globally.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# VPC firewall rules migration overview\n\nVirtual Private Cloud (VPC) firewall rules apply to a single VPC\nnetwork. To have finer control over the traffic sent or received by the virtual\nmachine (VM) instances in your VPC network, you can use\n[network tags](/vpc/docs/add-remove-network-tags) or [service accounts](/iam/docs/service-account-overview)\nin the VPC firewall rules. However, VPC firewall\nrules have the following limitations:\n\n- **No batch editing**: VPC firewall rules are applied on a\n per-rule basis and must be edited individually, which can be inefficient.\n\n- **Limited Identity and Access Management (IAM) control**: Network tags don't offer the\n robust IAM controls needed for strict traffic segmentation.\n\nTo address the limitations of VPC firewall rules,\nCloud Next Generation Firewall supports global and regional network firewall\npolicies. You can define and apply network firewall policies to multiple\nVPC networks across multiple regions. These policies also support\nIAM-governed [secure tags](/firewall/docs/tags-firewalls-overview) that let you enforce granular\ncontrol at the VM level for safe and reliable micro-segmentation of all types of\nnetwork traffic.\n\nFor more information, see [Benefits of migrating VPC firewall rules to a network firewall policy](#benefits).\n\nTo control access to your VPC network, you can migrate your existing VPC firewall rules to a global network firewall policy to take advantage of the capabilities of network firewall policies.\n\nBenefits of migrating VPC firewall rules to a network firewall policy\n---------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nA network firewall policy delivers a consistent firewall experience across the\nGoogle Cloud resource hierarchy and offers multiple operational benefits over\nVPC firewall rules.\n\n- **Provides granular security and access control by using IAM\n governed Tags**. Google Cloud lets you attach separate Tags to each\n network interface of a VM. Based on the Tags, you can define your firewall\n policy rules to restrict unauthorized access to your resources and workload\n traffic. So, you gain a finer level of control over your resources, which\n helps to ensure a least-privilege, self-service environment for each user\n group or application. VPC firewall rules use network tags,\n which don't support IAM access control.\n\n- **Enables simplified rule management**. Network firewall policies support\n batch editing, which lets you edit multiple rules within a single policy.\n VPC firewall rules operate only at a per-rule level.\n\n- **Provides ease of operations**. Network firewall policies support the use\n of features, such as fully qualified domain name (FQDN) objects,\n geolocation objects, threat detection, intrusion prevention, and address groups.\n VPC firewall rules don't support these advanced features.\n\n- **Supports flexible data residency**. Network firewall policies can be\n applied to either multiple regions or a single region of a network.\n VPC firewall rules can only be applied globally.\n\nVPC firewall rules migration tool\n---------------------------------\n\nThe VPC firewall rules migration tool can automatically migrate\nVPC firewall rules to a global network firewall policy. The tool\nis a command-line utility that you can access using the Google Cloud CLI.\n\n### Specifications\n\n- The migration tool creates a global network firewall policy, converts the\n existing VPC firewall rules into firewall policy rules, and\n adds the new rules to the policy.\n\n- If two or more VPC firewall rules have the same priority, the\n migration tool automatically updates the rule priorities to avoid any overlap.\n A rule with a `deny` action is given a higher priority than a rule with an `allow` action.\n While updating the priorities, the tool preserves the relative sequence of the\n original VPC firewall rules.\n\n For example, if you have four VPC firewall rules with a priority\n of `1000` and a fifth rule with a priority of `2000`, the migration tool\n assigns a unique priority number to the first four rules with the\n sequence---`1000`, `1001`, `1002`, and `1003`. The fifth rule with the\n priority of `2000` is assigned a new unique priority of `1004`. This ensures\n that the new priorities for the first four rules are higher than that of all\n rules that have priority lower than `1000`.\n | **Note:** Before you attach the new global network firewall policy to a VPC network, review the new priorities and make sure that the automatically generated priorities align with your original VPC network configuration.\n- If your VPC firewall rules contain dependencies, such as network\n tags or service accounts, the migration tool can take advantage of\n IAM-governed Tags that serve as a replacement to those network\n tags and services accounts.\n\n- If your VPC network contains VPC firewall\n rules and an associated network firewall policy, the migration tool moves\n the compatible VPC firewall rules as well as the network\n firewall policy rules to the new global network firewall policy.\n\n- The migration tool preserves the log settings of the existing VPC\n firewall rules. If a VPC firewall rule has logging turned on,\n the migration tool keeps it on. If logging is off, the migration tool keeps it turned off.\n\n- The migration tool generates the global network firewall policy only. The\n tool does not delete existing VPC firewall rules or associate\n the new global network firewall policy with the required VPC\n network. You must manually associate the global network firewall policy with\n the required VPC network, and then remove the association\n between the VPC firewall rules and the VPC\n network.\n\n- After you associate the global network firewall policy with the required\n VPC network, you can disable the VPC firewall\n rules if the policy rules in the global network firewall policy are working\n as intended.\n\n If necessary, you can associate the new global network firewall policy as well\n as the VPC firewall rules with the same VPC\n network because the rules are applied according to the [policy and rule\n evaluation order](/vpc/docs/firewall-policies-overview#rule-evaluation).\n However, we recommend you disable the VPC firewall rules.\n\nMigration scenarios\n-------------------\n\nConsider the following scenarios when you migrate your VPC firewall\nrules to a global network firewall policy:\n\n- [VPC firewall rules don't contain network tags or service accounts](/firewall/docs/migrate-firewall-rules-no-dependencies).\n- [VPC firewall rules contain network tags or target service accounts, or both](/firewall/docs/migrate-firewall-rules-with-dependencies).\n\nThe following diagram shows the migration workflow for the preceding configuration\ncombinations. Choose the workflow that matches your network requirements.\n[](/static/firewall/images/vpc-rules-migration.png) **Figure 1.** VPC firewall rules migration flow (click to enlarge).\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- [Migrate VPC firewall rules that don't use network tags and service accounts](/firewall/docs/migrate-firewall-rules-no-dependencies)\n- [Migrate VPC firewall rules that use network tags and service accounts](/firewall/docs/migrate-firewall-rules-with-dependencies)"]]