GCP for DevOps — Compute

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Chapter 3 — Compute

Google Compute Engine (GCE) provides virtual machines running on Google’s infrastructure. For DevOps engineers, Compute Engine is where you run build agents, bastion hosts, custom workloads, and managed instance groups for auto-scaling applications.

What You Will Learn

  • Creating and managing Compute Engine instances
  • Machine types, images, and boot disks
  • Firewall rules for network access control
  • Startup scripts for automated provisioning
  • Managed Instance Groups (MIGs) for auto-scaling

Chapter Contents

# Topic Description
1 Compute Engine Basics Creating and managing VMs
2 Machine Types & Images Choosing the right VM configuration
3 Firewall Rules Controlling network traffic
4 Startup Scripts Automated VM provisioning
5 Managed Instance Groups Auto-scaling and self-healing
6 Practice Exercises Hands-on labs

Compute Engine Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     GCP Project                         │
│                                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
│  │                    VPC Network                   │    │
│  │                                                  │    │
│  │  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐     │    │
│  │  │ us-central1-a    │  │ us-east1-b       │     │    │
│  │  │                  │  │                  │     │    │
│  │  │ ┌──────────────┐ │  │ ┌──────────────┐ │     │    │
│  │  │ │  VM Instance │ │  │ │  MIG (3 VMs) │ │     │    │
│  │  │ │  (bastion)   │ │  │ │  (web-app)   │ │     │    │
│  │  │ └──────────────┘ │  │ └──────────────┘ │     │    │
│  │  │                  │  │                  │     │    │
│  │  │ ┌──────────────┐ │  │ ┌──────────────┐ │     │    │
│  │  │ │  VM Instance │ │  │ │  Persistent  │ │     │    │
│  │  │ │  (build-agent)│ │  │ │  Disk (SSD)  │ │     │    │
│  │  │ └──────────────┘ │  │ └──────────────┘ │     │    │
│  │  └──────────────────┘  └──────────────────┘     │    │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                         │
│  Firewall Rules ─── Startup Scripts ─── Service Accts   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key Concepts

Concept Description
Instance A virtual machine running on GCE
Machine type CPU + memory configuration (e.g., e2-medium)
Image OS template for the boot disk
Boot disk The primary disk attached to a VM
Persistent Disk Network-attached block storage
Instance template Reusable VM configuration for MIGs
MIG Managed Instance Group — auto-scaling, self-healing
Preemptible / Spot VM Short-lived discounted VMs (up to 91% off)

Start with → Compute Engine Basics

Updated:

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