Guided Lab: How to Launch a GCP Compute Engine Linux Instance
Description
Google Cloud Compute Engine is a web service that enables you to create and manage virtual servers in the cloud easily. With Compute Engine, you can set up and configure your own operating system and applications as per your requirements.
A Compute Engine instance is a virtual machine that can be launched on the Google Cloud Platform. When you launch an example, it is secured with SSH keys, which are used to prove your identity, and firewall rules that work as a virtual firewall to control incoming and outgoing traffic. When connecting to your instance, you can use SSH directly from your browser or provide the SSH key that you specified during instance launch.
In this lab, you will be using Compute Engine to launch a virtual server with a Linux operating system. This hands-on experience with cloud computing will help you understand how to utilize Compute Engine as a starting point for your own projects.
Objectives
In this lab, you will:
- Create a Compute Engine Linux instance.
- Understand the purpose and capabilities of Google Compute Engine (GCE).
- Manage access and security settings for your instance.
Subscribe to access GCP PlayCloud LabsLab Steps
Creating a Compute Engine Linux instance
1. Navigate to the search bar, type “compute engine,” and click to open the Compute Engine Dashboard.
2. Start creating a new instance by clicking the Create Instance button at the top of the service page.
Configuring the Resource
In the Create an Instance form, fill out the following fields carefully. Each configuration setting is key in determining your virtual machine’s performance, cost, and accessibility.
- In the Create an Instance form, fill out the following fields carefully:
- Name: Provide a descriptive name for your instance.
- Follow GCP naming conventions: lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only.
- Region and Zone: Select
us-central1andus-central1-afor the available zone. - Machine Type:
e2-medium
2. Navigate to the ‘OS and storage’ section and click the ‘Change’ button. By default, Debian is selected as the operating system. In the boot disk configuration window, choose Ubuntu as the operating system for this lab. Click the ‘select’ button to set the OS.
The boot disk defines your virtual machine’s operating system and primary storage. Ubuntu is a popular, beginner-friendly Linux distribution widely used for development, automation, and cloud computing. Changing the OS to Ubuntu ensures consistency with the lab’s exercises and compatibility with the commands you’ll run later.
3. In the Security tab, under the ‘Access scopes’ section, enable the ‘Allow full access to all Cloud APIs’.
Access scopes control which Google Cloud services your VM can interact with. Enabling full access allows your instance to communicate with other GCP APIs — such as Cloud Storage or Cloud Logging — without additional configuration. While this level of access is helpful for learning purposes, in production environments, you should apply the principle of least privilege by granting only the specific permissions needed.
- If validation fails, check the highlighted fields for missing or incorrect values. Adjust the configuration and re-run validation until it passes.
4. After the VM instance is created, you will be navigated to the VM instances dashboard. You can see the check mark under the status, which indicates that the instance is running.
ChatGPT said:
That’s it! Congratulations! 🎉 You have successfully created and configured a Google Cloud Compute Engine Linux instance within the required region and specifications. Through this lab, you gained practical experience in deploying virtual machines, selecting appropriate machine types, configuring operating systems, and managing access permissions.