How to create Google Compute Engine with Console, Gcloud, and Terraform?

What is Google Compute Engine?

Google Compute Engine is a cloud computing service that enables users to create and run virtual machines on Google’s infrastructure. It provides scalable and flexible computing resources, including CPU, memory, storage, and networking, to support a wide range of workloads. It is an efficient and powerful cloud computing service that enables users to build, deploy, and manage their applications with ease and efficiency. By hosting your applications on Google Compute Engine, you can ensure that they are running on a reliable, secure, and scalable infrastructure.

How to Create Google Compute Engine with Console?

Creating a Google Compute Engine instance using the Google Cloud Console is a straightforward process. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Log in to your Google Cloud Console at https://console.cloud.google.com/.
2. Select the project in which you want to create the Compute Engine instance. If you don’t have an existing project, create one by clicking on the “Select a Project” dropdown menu in the top navigation bar.
3. Click on the Navigation menu (☰) in the top-left corner of the console and select “Compute Engine” from the list of services.
4. Click the “Create Instance” button to start creating a new Compute Engine instance.
5. In the “Create a new instance” page, provide a name for your instance.
6. Select a region and zone where you want to create your instance. You can choose the region and zone that’s closest to your users to minimize latency.
7. Choose a machine type for your instance based on the requirements of your workload.
8. Specify the boot disk for your instance. You can choose an existing image or create your own.
9. Configure any additional settings you require, such as networking, firewall rules, and metadata.
10. Click the “Create” button to create your Compute Engine instance.

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Once your instance is created, you can connect to it and start using it. You can also manage your instance using the Google Cloud Console or the Compute Engine API.

How to Create Google Compute Engine with GCloud?

Creating a Google Compute Engine instance using the gcloud command-line tool is a quick and easy process. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Install and set up the gcloud command-line tool on your local machine.
2. Open your terminal or command prompt and run the command “gcloud auth login” to authenticate your gcloud tool with your Google Cloud account.
3. Set your default project by running the command “gcloud config set project [PROJECT_ID]”. Replace [PROJECT_ID] with the ID of the project where you want to create the Compute Engine instance.
4. Run the command “gcloud compute instances create [INSTANCE_NAME] — machine-type=[MACHINE_TYPE] — image-family=[IMAGE_FAMILY] — image-project=[IMAGE_PROJECT]”. Replace [INSTANCE_NAME] with a name for your instance, [MACHINE_TYPE] with the machine type you want to use, [IMAGE_FAMILY] with the image family you want to use, and [IMAGE_PROJECT] with the project that owns the image.
5. Customize any additional settings you require, such as networking, firewall rules, and metadata, by adding flags to the command.
6. Press enter to run the command and create your Compute Engine instance.

Once your instance is created, you can connect to it and start using it. You can also manage your instance using the gcloud command-line tool or the Compute Engine API.

How to Create Google Compute Engine with Terraform?

1. You can install and configure Terraform on your machine.
2. Create a new Terraform configuration file with the extension “.tf”. Open the file in any editor.
3. Define your provider configuration by adding the following code to your configuration file:

provider "google" {
  project = "<your-project-id>"
  region  = "<your-preferred-region>"
  zone    = "<your-preferred-zone>"
}

Replace <your-project-id>, <your-preferred-region>, and <your-preferred-zone> with your project ID, preferred region, and preferred zone, respectively.

4. Define your Compute Engine instance configuration by adding the following code to your configuration file:

resource "google_compute_instance" "instance_name" {
  name         = "<your-instance-name>"
  machine_type = "<your-machine-type>"
  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image = "<your-image>"
    }
  }
  network_interface {
    network = "default"
  }
}

Replace <your-instance-name>, <your-machine-type>, and <your-image> with your instance name, machine type, and boot image, respectively.

Final terraform configuration file

provider "google" {
  project = "<your-project-id>"
  region  = "<your-preferred-region>"
  zone    = "<your-preferred-zone>"
}

resource "google_compute_instance" "instance_name" {
  name         = "<your-instance-name>"
  machine_type = "<your-machine-type>"
  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image = "<your-image>"
    }
  }
  network_interface {
    network = "default"
  }
}

5. Run the terraform init command in your terminal or command prompt to initialize your Terraform environment.

6. Run the terraform plan command to preview the changes that Terraform will make to your environment.

7. Run the terraform apply the command to create your Compute Engine instance.

Once your instance is created, you can connect to it and start using it. You can also manage your instance using Terraform, which provides an efficient and automated way to manage your infrastructure.