# APIs and reference

This page describes Google Cloud resources relevant to Network Service Tiers. For
procedures and examples, see
[Using Network Service Tiers](https://docs.cloud.google.com/network-tiers/docs/set-network-tier.md.txt).

The Network Service Tiers APIs and `gcloud` commands are part of Compute Engine.

## gcloud CLI and API reference

### Addresses

Used to create, edit, and manage internal and external IP address resources that
can be assigned to virtual machine (VM) instances and forwarding rules for load
balancers. Internal IP addresses and global external IP addresses are always
Premium Tier. Regional external IP addresses can use either Standard or Premium
Tier.

- [gcloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/addresses)
- [API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/addresses.md.txt)

### Forwarding rules

Used to create, edit, and manage forwarding rules in your
Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network. Forwarding rules with a load balancing
scheme of `EXTERNAL` define paths for sending traffic from outside your
VPC network to a load balancer or VM instances in your
VPC network.

External forwarding rules can be either global or regional. Global external
forwarding rules are always Premium Tier. Regional external forwarding
rules can use either Standard or Premium Tier.

- [gcloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/forwarding-rules)
- [API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/forwardingRules.md.txt)

### Instances

Used to create and modify VM instances in your VPC network.

- [gcloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/instances.md.txt)
- [API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/instances.md.txt)

### Instance templates

Used to create and modify instance templates. Instance templates are used by
managed instance groups. Instance groups are one type of backend for load
balancers.

- [gcloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/instance-templates.md.txt)
- [API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/instanceTemplates.md.txt)

### Projects

Used to set the default network tier to apply to resources in a project.
This default can be overridden on a resource-by-resource basis.

- [gcloud](https://docs.cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/project-info)
- [API](https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.md.txt)