What is the purpose of forwarding rules in Google Cloud?

Forwarding rules in Google Cloud are essential components that serve to direct incoming traffic to specified backend services. They act as a way to define how external traffic should be routed to resources like virtual machine instances, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) services, or Cloud Run services.

When a client makes a request that matches the criteria set in the forwarding rule, the request is directed accordingly to the appropriate backend service. This operation helps in load balancing by distributing traffic efficiently to backend instances, ensuring the infrastructure can handle incoming requests without overwhelming any particular instance. Essentially, forwarding rules are at the heart of traffic management and play a critical role in ensuring that applications remain accessible and responsive.

Other options focus on a variety of network management aspects but do not directly relate to the role of forwarding rules. For example, while managing network costs can pertain to efficient traffic management, it's not the specific purpose of forwarding rules. Establishing secure connections between regions deals with interconnectivity and security rather than traffic direction, and analyzing outbound traffic patterns is focused on traffic monitoring, which again is separate from the routing role that forwarding rules fulfill.