GCP PlayCloud Labs Guided Lab: Vertically Scaling a VM Instance

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Guided Lab: Vertically Scaling a VM Instance

Jon-Bonso

Description

Google Cloud Compute Engine is a computing and hosting service that enables you to create and run virtual machines on Google’s infrastructure. Similar to Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines, it provides flexible options for deploying workloads. Compute Engine delivers scalability, high performance, and cost efficiency, allowing you to launch large compute clusters quickly without any upfront investment.

In this guided lab, you will learn how to vertically scale a virtual machine (VM) instance in Google Cloud. Vertical scaling means increasing the resources (CPU, memory, or machine type) of an existing VM to handle more workload without creating additional instances.

Prerequisites

To ensure the successful completion of this lab, you must have prior experience in creating VM instances and be familiar with their essential components. If you feel that your knowledge in this area is insufficient, we highly recommend taking this lab to gain the necessary understanding:

Guided Lab: How to Launch a GCP Compute Engine Linux Instance

Objectives

In this lab, you will:

Create a VM instance.
Connect to a VM instance via SSH and check its current CPU and memory resources using lscpu and free -h.
Stop a running VM instance.
Modify the machine type to increase CPU and memory.
Restart the VM with the new configuration.
Validate the scaled resources by comparing them against the baseline values.

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Lab Steps

Create a Compute Engine Instance

1. Create a VM instance using the following machine configurations:

Name: Enter your desired instance name.
Machine type: Choose e2-micro (Preset)

2. Leave other configurations at their default values.

3. Once done, click the Create button.

Check Current VM Resources

1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to Compute Engine → VM instances.

2. Click SSH next to your VM instance to open a terminal session.

3. Run the following commands to check CPU and memory:

lscpu
free -h

4. Note the current number of CPU cores and available memory. This will serve as your baseline before scaling the VM.

Stop the VM Instance

1. Select the instance by clicking its name.

2. At the top of the page, click Stop.

3. Wait until the instance status changes to Stopped.

⚠️ You must stop the VM before changing its machine type.

Change the Machine Type

1. With the instance stopped, click Edit at the top of the page.

2. Scroll down to the Machine configuration section.

3. From the Machine type dropdown, select a larger configuration (e.g., from e2-micro to e2-medium).

This increases CPU cores and memory.

4. Click Save.

Restart the VM

1. After saving, click Start to restart the instance.

2. Wait until the status changes to Running.

Validate the Scaled Resources

1. Connect to the VM via SSH from the console.

2. Run the following command to check CPU and memory.

lscpu
free -h

3. You may also check the Machine Configuration to verify the new machine type.

4. Verify that the output reflects the new machine type with increased resources.

That’s it! You have successfully vertically scaled a VM instance in Google Cloud. You began by checking the baseline CPU and memory resources, then stopped the VM, changed its machine type to increase capacity, restarted it, and validated the new configuration against the original values. This workflow demonstrates how vertical scaling allows you to handle more demanding workloads while clearly showing the before‑and‑after impact of scaling.