The most important part of cloud-based computing is the virtual machine. Creating a VM with Google Cloud Platform is easy, but there are some decisions to make.
As of Q3 2022, Global Cloud Infrastructure Services Market Spending grew to $63.1 billion. While fuel prices and inflation made growth slower than in previous years, this is still an increase of 30% per year. Cloud computing is still an integral and essential part of the overall information technology strategy for many modern companies. So if your business doesn’t use cloud computing services, chances are you are at a competitive disadvantage.
The most important part of any cloud-based computing solution is the virtual machine. In a cloud computing service such as Google Cloud platform, whether you are deploying a storage server, database, or application development environment; whatever infrastructure it is, it starts with a VM. Creating a VM with Google Cloud Platform is relatively easy, but there are some strategies to consider and make decisions.
TO SEE: A Professional Guide to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (Free PDF)) (TechRepublic)
Create a virtual machine in Google Cloud Platform
For our purposes, we assume that you already have an active and authorized administrator account on Google Cloud Platform. Log in to GCP and go to the console page. Using the navigation bar on the left, click Compute Engine and then select VM instances from the item list. If this is your first VM on the platform, you should see a screen similar to: Image A.
Image A
If you have a VM template, you can import it into GCP, but in this case we will create a brand new VM. Click the Create button to get started. As you can see in Figure B, there are several choices to make. The first is to choose a permanent name for your VM. This must be recognizable for you and your organization.
Figure B
Keep in mind that the server region and zone where your VM will be deployed is also permanent, so physical location needs to be carefully considered. Closer to your office location is generally better. On the right, you will also see an estimate of the cost of your current VM configuration.
As you scroll down the next section is Machine Configuration, as shown in Figure C. General purpose VMs are useful for lower workload operations. Higher workloads, such as databases, require memory-optimized VMs. Choices under Series refers to the class of virtualized CPU: N1 is less powerful and therefore cheaper than N2.
Figure C
As you continue scrolling the page, you can choose whether to deploy a container image to your VM. Containers are useful for development environments and other special circumstances. If you need a container, enable it here.
TO SEE: Google Cloud Platform… in less than two minutes (TechRepublic video)
The next section (Figure D), prompts you to choose an operating system for your VM. Clicking the Change button will give you access to several OS choices, mostly with variations of Linux. Each of those OS choices has separate versions available. Choose the operating system and version that best suits your VM needs.
Figure D
The next section (Digits E) asks about access, allowed APIs, and firewall configurations. You can specify access to your virtual machine for a specific person or group, or open it for the entire organization. The APIs made available to the VM are determined by its general function. Application development probably requires more API access, not less.
Digits E
The firewall settings determine whether your VM can be accessed via Internet protocols HTTP and HTTPS.
Once you’re happy with your choices, click the Create button at the bottom of the control panel. It takes a minute or two to create and deploy. As you can see in Figure Fafter following these steps you now have a running VM on your Google Cloud Platform console page.
Figure F
Learn more about cloud computing with these recent articles on the top five trends to watch, the six types of virtualization and a short history of the subject.
