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	"title": "Compute Engine instances",
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	"plain_text": "Compute Engine instances\r\nArchived: 2026-04-02 11:52:41 UTC\r\nThis page provides an overview of Compute Engine instances. A Compute Engine instance can be either a virtual\r\nmachine (VM) or bare metal instance that is hosted on Google's infrastructure. You can create an instance or\r\ncreate a group of managed instances (MIG) by using the Google Cloud console, the Google Cloud CLI, or the\r\nCompute Engine API.\r\nIntroduction\r\nThe terms Compute Engine instance, compute instance or instance are synonymous. Based on the machine type\r\nthat you specify, an instance can be either a bare metal instance or a virtual machine (VM) instance, as follows:\r\nIf the name of its machine type ends in -metal , an instance is a bare metal instance, which does not have\r\na hypervisor installed.\r\nOtherwise, an instance is a VM instance. The terms virtual machine instance, VM instance, and VM are\r\nsynonymous.\r\nSynonymous terms are used interchangeably across the documentation and Google Cloud interfaces such as the\r\nGoogle Cloud console, the gcloud command-line tool, and the REST API.\r\nCompute Engine instances can run the public images for Linux and Windows Server that Google provides as well\r\nas private custom images that you can create or import from your existing systems. You can also deploy Docker\r\ncontainers, which are automatically launched on instances running the Container-Optimized OS public image.\r\nYou can choose the machine properties of your instances, such as the number of virtual CPUs and the amount of\r\nmemory, by using a set of predefined machine types or by creating your own custom machine types.\r\nInstances and projects\r\nEach instance belongs to a Google Cloud console project, and a project can have one or more instances. When you\r\ncreate an instance in a project, you specify the zone, operating system, and machine type of that instance. When\r\nyou delete an instance, it is removed from the project.\r\nInstances and storage options\r\nBy default, each Compute Engine instance has a small boot disk that contains the operating system. You can add\r\nmore disks to the instance when you create it, and you can add disks to an instance while the instance is running.\r\nFor more information about disks in Compute Engine, see Choose a disk type.\r\nInstances and networks\r\nhttps://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances\r\nPage 1 of 3\n\nEach network interface of a Compute Engine instance is associated with a subnet of a unique VPC network. For\r\nmore information about VPCs, see Network overview and VPC quotas.\r\nInstances and containers\r\nCompute Engine instances support a declarative method for launching your applications using containers. When\r\ncreating an instance or an instance template, you can provide a Docker image name and launch configuration.\r\nCompute Engine takes care of the rest including supplying an up-to-date Container-Optimized OS image with\r\nDocker installed and launching your container when the instance starts. For more information, see Deploying\r\ncontainers on instances and MIGs.\r\nTo create and manage instances, you can use a variety of tools, including the Google Cloud console, the gcloud\r\ncommand-line tool, and the REST API. To configure applications on your instances, connect to the instance using\r\nSecure Shell (SSH) for Linux instances or Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for Windows Server instances.\r\nManaging access to your instances\r\nYou can manage access to your instances using one of the following methods:\r\nLinux instances:\r\nManaging instance access using OS Login, which allows you to associate SSH keys with your\r\nGoogle Account or Google Workspace account and manage admin or non-admin access to your\r\ninstance through IAM roles.\r\nManage your SSH keys in project or instance metadata, which uses public SSH keys stored in\r\nCompute Engine metadata to grant access to the instance. You can use SSH keys stored in project\r\nmetadata to access all instances in a project. You can use SSH keys stored in instance metadata to\r\naccess individual instances.\r\nIf you connect to your instances using the Google Cloud CLI or SSH from the console, Compute\r\nEngine automatically generates SSH keys for you.\r\nWindows Server instances:\r\nGenerate credentials for Windows instances, which associates a password with a Windows user.\r\nWindows instances use this information to authenticate access to the instance.\r\nAccessing your instances\r\nAfter you configure access to your instances, you can use one of many options to connect to your Linux instances\r\nor connect to your Windows instances.\r\nDefault time zone for compute instances\r\nRegardless of the region where you create your instance, the default time for your instance is Coordinated\r\nUniversal Time (UTC).\r\nWhat's next\r\nhttps://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances\r\nPage 2 of 3\n\nIf you are new to Compute Engine, see Create a Linux instance in Compute Engine to learn how to create\r\nan instance using the Google Cloud console.\r\nFor a more detailed guide to create an instance, see Create and start an instance.\r\nFor more information about the features of Compute Engine instances, see the following:\r\nMachine families resource and comparison guide\r\nOperating system images\r\nNetworking overview for instances\r\nChoose a deployment strategy for your workload\r\nLearn how to create a MIG from an existing instance.\r\nTry it for yourself\r\nIf you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how Compute Engine performs in real-world\r\nscenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.\r\nTry Compute Engine free\r\nSource: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances\r\nhttps://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances\r\nPage 3 of 3",
	"extraction_quality": 1,
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	"sources": [
		"MITRE"
	],
	"references": [
		"https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances"
	],
	"report_names": [
		"instances"
	],
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