This document describes common Network Connectivity Center (NCC) use cases to help you
choose a topology for connecting Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) networks,
on-premises networks, and other cloud provider networks.

## Connect different VPC networks with NCC

When you attach two or more Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) spokes to a hub,
NCC provides connectivity through subnet routes among all
the VPC networks that are represented by the spokes.
Using a hub simplifies the management of large-scale mesh subnet
connectivity. See [quotas](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/quotas#general-ncc-limits)
for how many VPC networks can be connected to a hub.

The following diagram shows two VPC spokes.
[![Connect spokes to a VPC network.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/vpc-spokes-connectivity.svg)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/vpc-spokes-connectivity.svg) Connect spokes to a VPC network (click to enlarge).

## Connect VPC spokes to on-premises networks

VPC spokes can connect to on-premises networks by using hybrid
spokes located in other routing VPC networks. Each
NCC hub supports multiple VPC spokes and
Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments, HA VPN tunnels,
or Router appliance VMs added as hybrid spokes.

## Connect networks using Router appliance VMs

NCC can use Router appliance VMs in the following two
IPv4 connectivity scenarios:

- Connecting a VPC network to an on-premises or other cloud provider network using [dynamic routes](https://docs.cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/routes#dynamic_routes)
- Connecting two VPC networks to each other using dynamic routes

With this option, Cloud Router manages the BGP sessions for
Router appliance VMs.

### Connect an external network to Google Cloud

The following diagram uses a hybrid spoke with a Router appliance VM
to connect two VPC networks to an external network. The
Cloud Router VM has one network interface (NIC) in each VPC
network.
[![Connect an external network to Google Cloud.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/site-to-cloud.svg)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/site-to-cloud.svg) Connect an external network to Google Cloud (click to enlarge).

For more information about this use case, see
[Site-to-cloud topologies that use a third-party appliance](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/concepts/site-to-cloud).

### Manage connectivity between VPC networks

The following diagram uses a hybrid spoke with a Router appliance VM
running specialized firewall or packet inspection software to connect two
VPC networks.
[![Use a third-party firewall.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/network-to-network-high-level.svg)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/network-to-network-high-level.svg) Use a third-party firewall (click to enlarge).

For more information, see
[VPC-to-VPC topology that uses a third-party appliance](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/concepts/connect-vpc-networks).

## Conduct data transfer over Google's network (site-to-site)

*Data transfer* provides IPv4 and IPv6 ([Preview](https://cloud.google.com/products#product-launch-stages)) connectivity between external networks using
a Google Cloud VPC network and hybrid spokes. You can
transfer data between multiple on-premises networks or to other cloud networks.

When you create a hybrid spoke, you can enable the data transfer option for
that spoke. When data transfer is enabled for hybrid spokes connected to the
same hub, the dynamic routes learned by each Router appliance VM,
Cloud VPN tunnel, or Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachment are
re-advertised to the other VMs, tunnels, or VLAN attachments associated with
any hybrid spoke connected to the same hub. Data transfer requires that all
hybrid spokes refer to Router appliance VMs, Cloud VPN tunnels,
or Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments in a single VPC
network.

For example, suppose you have data centers in New York, Sydney, and Tokyo. After
you use supported resources to connect your VPC network to each
of these sites, you can create a spoke to represent each network. After you
complete this setup, NCC would provide full mesh connectivity
between all three sites.

As shown in the following diagram, you can create spokes that rely on
connectivity resources such as Cloud VPN, Cloud Interconnect,
and Router appliance.

The diagram doesn't show Cross-Cloud Interconnect, but you can also
use Cross-Cloud Interconnect VLAN attachments.
[![Data transfer over Google's network.](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/data-transfer-topology.svg)](https://docs.cloud.google.com/static/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/images/data-transfer-topology.svg) Data transfer over Google's network (click to enlarge).

For more information about this use case, see
[Site-to-site data transfer overview](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/concepts/data-transfer).

> [!NOTE]
> **Note:** Data transfer is available only in [supported regions](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/concepts/locations).

## Secure remote networks with NCC Gateway spokes

NCC Gateway lets you secure your access to private applications
hosted in Google Cloud, on-premises, in other cloud providers, and in public
applications hosted on internet and SaaS applications. NCC Gateway
lets you create regional deployments for optimal data center proximity and
manage cross-region traffic on the Google Cloud private backbone.

For detailed information about NCC Gateway use cases, see the
[Use cases](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/concepts/ncc-gateway-overview#use_cases)
section in the NCC Gateway overview.

## What's next

- To learn how to manage hubs and spokes, see [Work with hubs and spokes](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/how-to/working-with-hubs-spokes).
- To learn how to use Cloud VPN spokes, see [Connect two sites by using Cloud VPN spokes](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/tutorials/connecting-two-offices-with-vpns).
- To obtain a list of partners whose solutions are integrated with NCC, see [NCC partners](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/partners).
- To check the maximum number of hubs and spokes per project, see [Quotas and limits](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/network-connectivity-center/quotas).