gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container - creates a Compute Engine a virtual machine instance template that runs a Docker container
gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container NAME [--no-boot-disk-auto-delete] [--boot-disk-device-name=BOOT_DISK_DEVICE_NAME] [--boot-disk-provisioned-iops=BOOT_DISK_PROVISIONED_IOPS] [--boot-disk-size=BOOT_DISK_SIZE] [--boot-disk-type=BOOT_DISK_TYPE] [--can-ip-forward] [--confidential-compute] [--container-arg=CONTAINER_ARG] [--container-command=CONTAINER_COMMAND] [--container-env=[KEY=VALUE, ...,...]] [--container-env-file=CONTAINER_ENV_FILE] [--container-image=CONTAINER_IMAGE] [--container-mount-disk=[mode=MODE],[mount-path=MOUNT-PATH],[name=NAME],[partition=PARTITION]] [--container-mount-host-path=[host-path=HOSTPATH,mount-path=MOUNTPATH[,mode=MODE],...]] [--container-mount-tmpfs=[mount-path=MOUNTPATH,...]] [--container-privileged] [--container-restart-policy=POLICY; default="always"] [--container-stdin] [--container-tty] [--create-disk=[PROPERTY=VALUE,...]] [--description=DESCRIPTION] [--disk=[auto-delete=AUTO-DELETE],[boot=BOOT],[device-name=DEVICE-NAME],[mode=MODE],[name=NAME]] [--external-ipv6-address=EXTERNAL_IPV6_ADDRESS] [--external-ipv6-prefix-length=EXTERNAL_IPV6_PREFIX_LENGTH] [--labels=[KEY=VALUE,...]] [--machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE] [--maintenance-policy=MAINTENANCE_POLICY] [--metadata=KEY=VALUE,[KEY=VALUE,...]] [--metadata-from-file=KEY=LOCAL_FILE_PATH,[...]] [--min-cpu-platform=PLATFORM] [--network=NETWORK] [--network-interface=[PROPERTY=VALUE,...]] [--network-tier=NETWORK_TIER] [--preemptible] [--private-ipv6-google-access-type=PRIVATE_IPV6_GOOGLE_ACCESS_TYPE] [--private-network-ip=PRIVATE_NETWORK_IP] [--region=REGION] [--no-restart-on-failure] [--shielded-integrity-monitoring] [--shielded-secure-boot] [--shielded-vtpm] [--subnet=SUBNET] [--tags=TAG,[TAG,...]] [--address=ADDRESS | --no-address] [--custom-cpu=CUSTOM_CPU --custom-memory=CUSTOM_MEMORY : --custom-extensions --custom-vm-type=CUSTOM_VM_TYPE] [--image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT --image=IMAGE | --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY] [--scopes=[SCOPE,...] | --no-scopes] [--service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT | --no-service-account] [GCLOUD_WIDE_FLAG ...]
gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container creates a Compute Engine virtual machine instance template that runs a container image. To create an instance template named 'instance-template-1' that runs the 'busybox' image, run:
$ gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container \ instance-template-1 \ --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox
For more examples, refer to the EXAMPLES section below.
To create a template named 'instance-template-1' that runs the gcr.io/google-containers/busybox image and executes 'echo "Hello world"' as a command, run:
$ gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container \ instance-template-1 \ --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox \ --container-command='echo "Hello world"'
To create a template running gcr.io/google-containers/busybox in privileged mode, run:
$ gcloud compute instance-templates create-with-container \ instance-template-1 \ --container-image=gcr.io/google-containers/busybox \ --container-privileged
- NAME
Name of the instance template to create.
- --boot-disk-auto-delete
Automatically delete boot disks when their instances are deleted. Enabled by default, use --no-boot-disk-auto-delete to disable.
- --boot-disk-device-name=BOOT_DISK_DEVICE_NAME
The name the guest operating system will see for the boot disk. This option can only be specified if a new boot disk is being created (as opposed to mounting an existing persistent disk).
- --boot-disk-provisioned-iops=BOOT_DISK_PROVISIONED_IOPS
Indicates how many IOPS to provision for the disk. This sets the number of I/O operations per second that the disk can handle. Value must be between 10,000 and 120,000.
- --boot-disk-size=BOOT_DISK_SIZE
The size of the boot disk. This option can only be specified if a new boot disk is being created (as opposed to mounting an existing persistent disk). The value must be a whole number followed by a size unit of KB for kilobyte, MB for megabyte, GB for gigabyte, or TB for terabyte. For example, 10GB will produce a 10 gigabyte disk. The minimum size a boot disk can have is 10 GB. Disk size must be a multiple of 1 GB. Limit boot disk size to 2 TB to account for MBR partition table limitations. Default size unit is GB.
- --boot-disk-type=BOOT_DISK_TYPE
The type of the boot disk. This option can only be specified if a new boot disk is being created (as opposed to mounting an existing persistent disk). To get a list of available disk types, run $ gcloud compute disk-types list.
- --can-ip-forward
If provided, allows the instances to send and receive packets with non-matching destination or source IP addresses.
- --confidential-compute
The instance boots with Confidential Computing enabled. Confidential Computing is based on Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV), an AMD virtualization feature for running confidential instances.
- --container-arg=CONTAINER_ARG
Argument to append to container entrypoint or to override container CMD. Each argument must have a separate flag. Arguments are appended in the order of flags. Example:
Assuming the default entry point of the container (or an entry point overridden with --container-command flag) is a Bourne shell-compatible executable, in order to execute 'ls -l' command in the container, the user could use:
--container-arg="-c" --container-arg="ls -l"
Caveat: due to the nature of the argument parsing, it's impossible to provide the flag value that starts with a dash (-) without the = sign (that is, --container-arg "-c" will not work correctly).
Default: None. (no arguments appended)
- --container-command=CONTAINER_COMMAND
Specifies what executable to run when the container starts (overrides default entrypoint), eg. nc.
Default: None (default container entrypoint is used)
- --container-env=[KEY=VALUE, ...,...]
Declare environment variables KEY with value VALUE passed to container. Only the last value of KEY is taken when KEY is repeated more than once.
Values, declared with --container-env flag override those with the same KEY from file, provided in --container-env-file.
- --container-env-file=CONTAINER_ENV_FILE
Declare environment variables in a file. Values, declared with --container-env flag override those with the same KEY from file.
File with environment variables in format used by docker (almost). This means:
- —
Lines are in format KEY=VALUE.
- —
Values must contain equality signs.
- —
Variables without values are not supported (this is different from docker format).
- —
If # is first non-whitespace character in a line the line is ignored as a comment.
- —
Lines with nothing but whitespace are ignored.
- --container-image=CONTAINER_IMAGE
Full container image name, which should be pulled onto VM instance, eg. docker.io/tomcat.
- --container-mount-disk=[mode=MODE],[mount-path=MOUNT-PATH],[name=NAME],[partition=PARTITION]
Mounts a disk to the specified mount path in the container. Multiple ' flags are allowed. Must be used with --disk or --create-disk.
- name
Name of the disk. If exactly one additional disk is attached to the instance using --disk or --create-disk, specifying disk name here is optional. The name of the single additional disk will be used by default.
- mount-path
Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.
- partition
Optional. The partition of the disk to mount. Multiple partitions of a disk can be mounted. Can't be used with --create-disk.
- mode
Volume mount mode: rw (read/write) or ro (read-only). Defaults to rw. Fails if the disk mode is ro and volume mount mode is rw.
- --container-mount-host-path=[host-path=HOSTPATH,mount-path=MOUNTPATH[,mode=MODE],...]
Mounts a volume by using host-path.
- host-path
Path on host to mount from.
- mount-path
Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.
- mode
Volume mount mode: rw (read/write) or ro (read-only).
Default: rw.
- --container-mount-tmpfs=[mount-path=MOUNTPATH,...]
Mounts empty tmpfs into container at MOUNTPATH.
- mount-path
Path on container to mount to. Mount paths with spaces and commas (and other special characters) are not supported by this command.
- --container-privileged
Specify whether to run container in privileged mode.
Default: --no-container-privileged.
- --container-restart-policy=POLICY; default="always"
Specify whether to restart a container on exit. POLICY must be one of: never, on-failure, always.
- --container-stdin
Keep container STDIN open even if not attached.
Default: --no-container-stdin.
- --container-tty
Allocate a pseudo-TTY for the container.
Default: --no-container-tty.
- --create-disk=[PROPERTY=VALUE,...]
Creates and attaches persistent disks to the instances.
- name
Specifies the name of the disk. This option cannot be specified if more than one instance is being created. Must specify this option if attaching the disk to a container with --container-mount-disk.
- description
Optional textual description for the disk being created.
- mode
Specifies the mode of the disk. Supported options are ro for read-only and rw for read-write. If omitted, rw is used as a default. It is an error to create a disk in ro mode if attaching it to a container with --container-mount-disk.
- image
Specifies the name of the image that the disk will be initialized with. A new disk will be created based on the given image. To view a list of public images and projects, run $ gcloud compute images list. It is best practice to use image when a specific version of an image is needed. If both image and image-family flags are omitted a blank disk will be created.
- image-family
The image family for the operating system that the boot disk will be initialized with. Compute Engine offers multiple Linux distributions, some of which are available as both regular and Shielded VM images. When a family is specified instead of an image, the latest non-deprecated image associated with that family is used. It is best practice to use --image-family when the latest version of an image is needed.
- image-project
The Google Cloud project against which all image and image family references will be resolved. It is best practice to define image-project. A full list of available image projects can be generated by running gcloud compute images list.
If specifying one of our public images, image-project must be provided.
If there are several of the same image-family value in multiple projects, image-project must be specified to clarify the image to be used.
If not specified and either image or image-family is provided, the current default project is used.
- size
The size of the disk. The value must be a whole number followed by a size unit of KB for kilobyte, MB for megabyte, GB for gigabyte, or TB for terabyte. For example, 10GB will produce a 10 gigabyte disk. Disk size must be a multiple of 1 GB. If not specified, the default image size will be used for the new disk.
- type
The type of the disk. To get a list of available disk types, run $ gcloud compute disk-types list. The default disk type is pd-standard.
- device-name
An optional name that indicates the disk name the guest operating system will see. Must be the same as name if used with --container-mount-disk. If omitted, a device name of the form persistent-disk-N will be used. If omitted and used with --container-mount-disk (where the name of the container mount disk is the same as in this flag), a device name equal to disk name will be used.
- provisioned-iops
Indicates how many IOPS to provision for the disk. This sets the number of I/O operations per second that the disk can handle. Value must be between 10,000 and 120,000.
- disk-resource-policy
Resource policy to apply to the disk. Specify a full or partial URL. For example:
projects/my-project/regions/us-central1/resourcePolicies/my-resource-policy
For more information, see the following docs:
- auto-delete
If yes, this persistent disk will be automatically deleted when the instance is deleted. However, if the disk is later detached from the instance, this option won't apply. The default value for this is yes.
- architecture
Specifies the architecture or processor type that this disk can support. For available processor types on Compute Engine, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/cpu-platforms.
- --description=DESCRIPTION
Specifies a textual description for the instance template.
- --disk=[auto-delete=AUTO-DELETE],[boot=BOOT],[device-name=DEVICE-NAME],[mode=MODE],[name=NAME]
Attaches persistent disks to the instances. The disks specified must already exist.
- name
The disk to attach to the instances. When creating more than one instance and using this property, the only valid mode for attaching the disk is read-only (see mode below).
- mode
Specifies the mode of the disk. Supported options are ro for read-only and rw for read-write. If omitted, rw is used as a default. It is an error for mode to be rw when creating more than one instance because read-write disks can only be attached to a single instance.
- boot
If yes, indicates that this is a boot disk. The virtual machines will use the first partition of the disk for their root file systems. The default value for this is no.
- device-name
An optional name that indicates the disk name the guest operating system will see. Must be the same as name if used with --container-mount-disk. If omitted, a device name of the form persistent-disk-N will be used. If omitted and used with --container-mount-disk (where the name of the container mount disk is the same as in this flag), a device name equal to disk name will be used.
- auto-delete
If yes, this persistent disk will be automatically deleted when the instance is deleted. However, if the disk is later detached from the instance, this option won't apply. The default value for this is yes.
- --external-ipv6-address=EXTERNAL_IPV6_ADDRESS
Assigns the given external IPv6 address to the instance that is created. The address must be the first IP address in the range. This option can be used only when creating a single instance.
- --external-ipv6-prefix-length=EXTERNAL_IPV6_PREFIX_LENGTH
The prefix length of the external IPv6 address range. This field should be used together with --external-ipv6-address. Only the /96 IP address range is supported, and the default value is 96.
- --labels=[KEY=VALUE,...]
List of label KEY=VALUE pairs to add.
Keys must start with a lowercase character and contain only hyphens (-), underscores (_), lowercase characters, and numbers. Values must contain only hyphens (-), underscores (_), lowercase characters, and numbers.
- --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE
Specifies the machine type used for the instances. To get a list of available machine types, run 'gcloud compute machine-types list'. If unspecified, the default type is n1-standard-1.
- --maintenance-policy=MAINTENANCE_POLICY
Specifies the behavior of the VMs when their host machines undergo maintenance. The default is MIGRATE. For more information, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/host-maintenance-options. MAINTENANCE_POLICY must be one of:
- MIGRATE
The instances should be migrated to a new host. This will temporarily impact the performance of instances during a migration event.
- TERMINATE
The instances should be terminated.
- --metadata=KEY=VALUE,[KEY=VALUE,...]
Metadata to be made available to the guest operating system running on the instances. Each metadata entry is a key/value pair separated by an equals sign. Each metadata key must be unique and have a max of 128 bytes in length. Each value must have a max of 256 KB in length. Multiple arguments can be passed to this flag, e.g., --metadata key-1=value-1,key-2=value-2,key-3=value-3. The combined total size for all metadata entries is 512 KB.
In images that have Compute Engine tools installed on them, such as the official images https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images, the following metadata keys have special meanings:
- startup-script
Specifies a script that will be executed by the instances once they start running. For convenience, --metadata-from-file can be used to pull the value from a file.
- startup-script-url
Same as startup-script except that the script contents are pulled from a publicly-accessible location on the web.
For startup scripts on Windows instances, the following metadata keys have special meanings: windows-startup-script-url, windows-startup-script-cmd, windows-startup-script-bat, windows-startup-script-ps1, sysprep-specialize-script-url, sysprep-specialize-script-cmd, sysprep-specialize-script-bat, and sysprep-specialize-script-ps1. For more information, see Running startup scripts https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/startupscript.
- --metadata-from-file=KEY=LOCAL_FILE_PATH,[...]
Same as --metadata except that the value for the entry will be read from a local file. This is useful for values that are too large such as startup-script contents.
- --min-cpu-platform=PLATFORM
When specified, the VM will be scheduled on host with specified CPU architecture or a newer one. To list available CPU platforms in given zone, run:
$ gcloud compute zones describe ZONE \ --format="value(availableCpuPlatforms)"
Default setting is "AUTOMATIC".
CPU platform selection is available only in selected zones.
You can find more information on-line: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/specify-min-cpu-platform
- --network=NETWORK
Specifies the network that the VM instances are a part of. If --subnet is also specified, subnet must be a subnetwork of the network specified by this --network flag. If neither is specified, the default network is used.
- --network-interface=[PROPERTY=VALUE,...]
Adds a network interface to the instance. Mutually exclusive with any of these flags: --address, --network, --network-tier, --subnet, --private-network-ip. This flag can be repeated to specify multiple network interfaces.
The following keys are allowed:
- address
Assigns the given external address to the instance that is created. Specifying an empty string will assign an ephemeral IP. Mutually exclusive with no-address. If neither key is present the instance will get an ephemeral IP.
- network
Specifies the network that the interface will be part of. If subnet is also specified it must be subnetwork of this network. If neither is specified, this defaults to the "default" network.
- no-address
If specified the interface will have no external IP. Mutually exclusive with address. If neither key is present the instance will get an ephemeral IP.
- network-tier
Specifies the network tier of the interface. NETWORK_TIER must be one of: PREMIUM, STANDARD, FIXED_STANDARD. The default value is PREMIUM.
- private-network-ip
Assigns the given RFC1918 IP address to the interface.
- subnet
Specifies the subnet that the interface will be part of. If network key is also specified this must be a subnetwork of the specified network.
- nic-type
Specifies the Network Interface Controller (NIC) type for the interface. NIC_TYPE must be one of: GVNIC, VIRTIO_NET.
- aliases
Specifies the IP alias ranges to allocate for this interface. If there are multiple IP alias ranges, they are separated by semicolons.
For example:
--aliases="10.128.1.0/24;range1:/32"
Each IP alias range consists of a range name and a CIDR netmask (e.g. `/24`) separated by a colon or just the netmask. The range name is the name of the range within the network interface's subnet from which to allocate an IP alias range. If unspecified, it defaults to the primary IP range of the subnet. The IP allocator will pick an available range with the specified netmask and allocate it to this network interface.
- network-attachment
Specifies the network attachment that this interface should connect to. Mutually exclusive with --network and --subnet flags.
- --network-tier=NETWORK_TIER
Specifies the network tier that will be used to configure the instance. NETWORK_TIER must be one of: PREMIUM, STANDARD, FIXED_STANDARD. The default value is PREMIUM.
- --preemptible
If provided, instances will be preemptible and time-limited. Instances might be preempted to free up resources for standard VM instances, and will only be able to run for a limited amount of time. Preemptible instances can not be restarted and will not migrate.
- --private-ipv6-google-access-type=PRIVATE_IPV6_GOOGLE_ACCESS_TYPE
The private IPv6 Google access type for the VM. PRIVATE_IPV6_GOOGLE_ACCESS_TYPE must be one of: enable-bidirectional-access, enable-outbound-vm-access, inherit-subnetwork.
- --private-network-ip=PRIVATE_NETWORK_IP
Specifies the RFC1918 IP to assign to the instance. The IP should be in the subnet or legacy network IP range.
- --region=REGION
Region of the instance template to create. If not specified, you might be prompted to select a region (interactive mode only).
To avoid prompting when this flag is omitted, you can set the compute/region property:
$ gcloud config set compute/region REGION
A list of regions can be fetched by running:
$ gcloud compute regions list
To unset the property, run:
$ gcloud config unset compute/region
Alternatively, the region can be stored in the environment variable CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION.
- --restart-on-failure
The instances will be restarted if they are terminated by Compute Engine. This does not affect terminations performed by the user. Enabled by default, use --no-restart-on-failure to disable.
- --shielded-integrity-monitoring
Enables monitoring and attestation of the boot integrity of the instance. The attestation is performed against the integrity policy baseline. This baseline is initially derived from the implicitly trusted boot image when the instance is created. This baseline can be updated by using gcloud compute instances update --shielded-learn-integrity-policy. On Shielded VM instances, integrity monitoring is enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm. For information about monitoring integrity on Shielded VM instances, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/integrity-monitoring."
- --shielded-secure-boot
The instance boots with secure boot enabled. On Shielded VM instances, Secure Boot is not enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm.
- --shielded-vtpm
The instance boots with the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) enabled. A TPM is a hardware module that can be used for different security operations such as remote attestation, encryption, and sealing of keys. On Shielded VM instances, vTPM is enabled by default. For information about how to modify Shielded VM options, see https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/modifying-shielded-vm.
- --subnet=SUBNET
Specifies the subnet that the VM instances are a part of. If --network is also specified, subnet must be a subnetwork of the network specified by the --network flag.
- --tags=TAG,[TAG,...]
Specifies a list of tags to apply to the instance. These tags allow network firewall rules and routes to be applied to specified VM instances. See gcloud compute firewall-rules create(1) for more details.
To read more about configuring network tags, read this guide: https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/add-remove-network-tags
To list instances with their respective status and tags, run:
$ gcloud compute instances list \ --format='table(name,status,tags.list())'
To list instances tagged with a specific tag, tag1, run:
$ gcloud compute instances list --filter='tags:tag1'
- At most one of these can be specified:
- --address=ADDRESS
Assigns the given external IP address to the instance that is created. This option can only be used when creating a single instance.
- --no-address
If provided, the instances are not assigned external IP addresses. To pull container images, you must configure private Google access if using Container Registry or configure Cloud NAT for instances to access container images directly. For more information, see:
- Custom machine type extensions.
- --custom-cpu=CUSTOM_CPU
A whole number value specifying the number of cores that are needed in the custom machine type.
For some machine types, shared-core values can also be used. For example, for E2 machine types, you can specify micro, small, or medium.
This flag argument must be specified if any of the other arguments in this group are specified.
- --custom-memory=CUSTOM_MEMORY
A whole number value indicating how much memory is desired in the custom machine type. A size unit should be provided (eg. 3072MB or 9GB) - if no units are specified, GB is assumed.
This flag argument must be specified if any of the other arguments in this group are specified.
- --custom-extensions
Use the extended custom machine type.
- --custom-vm-type=CUSTOM_VM_TYPE
Specifies a custom machine type. The default is n1. For more information about custom machine types, see: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/general-purpose-machines#custom_machine_types
- --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT
The Google Cloud project against which all image and image family references will be resolved. It is best practice to define image-project. A full list of available projects can be generated by running gcloud projects list.
- —
If specifying one of our public images, image-project must be provided.
- —
If there are several of the same image-family value in multiple projects, image-project must be specified to clarify the image to be used.
- —
If not specified and either image or image-family is provided, the current default project is used.
- At most one of these can be specified:
- --image=IMAGE
Specifies the boot image for the instances. For each instance, a new boot disk will be created from the given image. Each boot disk will have the same name as the instance. To view a list of public images and projects, run $ gcloud compute images list. It is best practice to use --image when a specific version of an image is needed.
When using this option, --boot-disk-device-name and --boot-disk-size can be used to override the boot disk's device name and size, respectively.
- --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY
The image family for the operating system that the boot disk will be initialized with. Compute Engine offers multiple Linux distributions, some of which are available as both regular and Shielded VM images. When a family is specified instead of an image, the latest non-deprecated image associated with that family is used. It is best practice to use --image-family when the latest version of an image is needed.
By default, debian-11 is assumed for this flag.
- At most one of these can be specified:
- --scopes=[SCOPE,...]
If not provided, the instance will be assigned the default scopes, described below.
SCOPE can be either the full URI of the scope or an alias. Default scopes are assigned to all instances. Available aliases are:
DEPRECATION WARNING: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/sqlservice account scope and sql alias do not provide SQL instance management capabilities and have been deprecated. Please, use https://www.googleapis.com/auth/sqlservice.admin or sql-admin to manage your Google SQL Service instances.
- --no-scopes
Create instance without scopes
- At most one of these can be specified:
- --service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT
A service account is an identity attached to the instance. Its access tokens can be accessed through the instance metadata server and are used to authenticate applications on the instance. The account can be set using an email address corresponding to the required service account.
If not provided, the instance will use the project's default service account.
- --no-service-account
Create instance without service account
These flags are available to all commands: --access-token-file, --account, --billing-project, --configuration, --flags-file, --flatten, --format, --help, --impersonate-service-account, --log-http, --project, --quiet, --trace-token, --user-output-enabled, --verbosity.
Run $ gcloud help for details.
These variants are also available:
$ gcloud alpha compute instance-templates create-with-container
$ gcloud beta compute instance-templates create-with-container