Configure a Compute Engine instance template in Application Design Center

A Compute Engine instance template lets you describe a VM instance. You can then create groups of identical instances based on the template. For more information, see the following:

This document describes the connections and parameters you can configure when using App Design Center to create a Compute Engine instance template. The configuration parameters are based on the instance_template Terraform module.

Component connections

The following table includes the components that you can connect to a Compute Engine instance template, and the resulting updates to your application and its generated Terraform code.

Connected component

Application updates

Background information

Service Account
  • The Compute Engine instance template uses the connected service account instead of creating a new service account. The connected service account is used for authentication and authorization to other Google Cloud services.
  • The service account email and IAM information are added to the Compute Engine instance template.
 Create a VM that uses a user-managed service account

AlloyDB for PostgreSQL
  • The Compute Engine instances can connect to the AlloyDB for PostgreSQL instance.
  • The AlloyDB for PostgreSQL resource metadata information is added to the instance template.
  • The roles/alloydb.admin role is added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
 Connect from Compute Engine

BigQuery
  • The Compute Engine instances can read and write data to the BigQuery dataset.
  • The BigQuery resource metadata is added to the Compute Engine instance template.
  • The roles/bigquery.dataEditor role is added to Compute Engine instance template service account.
 BigQuery overview

Bigtable
  • The Compute Engine instances can access the Bigtable instance.
  • The Bigtable resource metadata information is added to the instance template.
  • The roles/bigtable.admin role is added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
 Bigtable overview

Cloud SQL (MySQL)
  • The Compute Engine instances can connect and read and write data to the Cloud SQL (MySQL) instance.
  • The Cloud SQL connection metadata is added to the Compute Engine instance template.
  • The roles/cloudsql.instanceUser and roles/cloudsql.client roles are added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
  • The Compute Engine service account is added as an IAM user to the Cloud SQL instance.
 Connect from Compute Engine

Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL)
  • The Compute Engine instances can connect and read and write data to the Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL) instance.
  • The Cloud SQL connection metadata is added to the Compute Engine instance template.
  • The roles/cloudsql.instanceUser and roles/cloudsql.client roles are added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
  • The Compute Engine service account IAM information is added to the Cloud SQL instance.
 Connect from Compute Engine

Cloud Storage
  • The Compute Engine instances can control bucket objects, including listing, creating, viewing, and deleting objects.
  • The roles/storage.objectAdmin role is assigned to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
 Set and manage IAM policies on buckets

Memorystore
  • The Compute Engine instances can manage and cache data in the Memorystore instance.
  • The Pub/Sub topic ID is added to the Compute Engine instance template metadata.
 Deployment options for Redis on Google Cloud

Pub/Sub
  • The Compute Engine instances can publish to and receive messages from the Pub/Sub topic.
  • The Pub/Sub topic ID is added to the Compute Engine instance template metadata.
 Subscription overview

Regional Cloud Load Balancing frontend
  • The Compute Engine instances can redirect traffic to the regional Cloud Load Balancing frontend.
  • The Cloud Load Balancing address is added to the Compute Engine instance template.
 Forwarding rules overview

Spanner
  • The Compute Engine instances can read and write data in the Spanner instance.
  • The roles/spanner.databaseAdmin role is added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
  • The Compute Engine IAM information is added to the Spanner instance.
 Using Spanner in a virtual machine instance

Vertex AI
  • The Compute Engine instances can interact with Vertex AI services.
  • The roles/aiplatform.user role is added to the Compute Engine instance template service account.
 Vertex AI access control with IAM

Compute Engine (MIG)
  • The Compute Engine instance template is used to create instances in the managed instance group.
  • The instance template self link is added to the Compute Engine MIG.
 Basic scenarios for creating managed instance groups (MIGs)

Required configuration parameters

If your template includes a Compute Engine instance template component, you must configure the following parameters before you deploy.

Parameter name

Description and constraints

Background information

Project ID

The project where you want to create the Compute Engine instance template.

 Configure components

Region

The region where the instance template is created.

 Regional and global instance templates

Optional configuration parameters

The following parameters are optional. To display advanced parameters, in the Configuration area, select Show advanced fields.

Feature

Parameter name

Description and constraint information

Background information

Name Prefix

The name prefix for the instance template.

 name_prefix

Machine Type

 properties.machineType Machine families resource and comparison guide

Spot

 spot Spot VMs

Description

A description for the instance template.

 description

Instance Description

A description for the instances generated by the template.

 properties.description

Automatic Restart

 properties.scheduling.automaticRestart Maintenance and restart behaviors

Threads Per Core

 properties.advancedMachineFeatures.threadsPerCore Set the number of threads per core

Source Image

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.sourceImage OS images

Source Image Project

Project where the source image comes from. The default project contains Rocky Linux images.

 Image families

Disk Size GB

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.diskSizeGb Create a customized boot disk

Disk Type

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.diskType Choose a disk type

Network

 properties.networkInterfaces[].network Networking overview for VMs

Subnetwork

 properties.networkInterfaces[].subnetwork Networks and subnets

Create Service Account

 create_service_account Service accounts

Min CPU Platform

 properties.minCPUPlatform Specify a minimum CPU platform for VM instances

Can IP Forward

 properties.canIpForward Enable IP forwarding for instances

Tags

 properties.tags Manage tags for resources

Labels

Key

 properties.labels Organize resources using labels

Value

 properties.labels Organize resources using labels

Preemptible

 properties.scheduling.preemptible Preemptible VM instances

Maintenance Interval

The frequency of planned maintenance events.

 Enable advanced maintenance control on a sole-tenant node

On Host Maintenance

 properties.scheduling.onHostMaintenance Set the host maintenance policy for a compute instance

Spot Instance Termination Action

 properties.scheduling.instanceTerminationAction Preemption process

Enable Nested Virtualization

 properties.advancedMachineFeatures.enableNestedVirtualization About nested virtualization

Resource Policies

 properties.resourcePolicies[] REST Resource: resourcePolicies

Source Image Family

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.sourceImage Image families

Disk Labels

Key

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.labels Organize resources using labels

Value

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.labels Organize resources using labels

Disk Encryption Key

 properties.disks[].diskEncryptionKey Encrypt disks with customer-supplied encryption keys

Auto Delete

 properties.disks[].autoDelete Set the auto-delete state of a Persistent Disk volume

Additional Disks

Boot

 properties.disks[].boot Create a customized boot disk

Device Name

 properties.disks[].deviceName Adding a non-boot disk to your VM

Disk Name

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.diskName Adding a non-boot disk to your VM

Interface

 properties.disks[].interface Storage interface types

Mode

 properties.disks[].mode Create a regional disk

Source

 properties.disks[].source Create a regional disk

Source Image

The source image to create this disk.

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.sourceImage

Source Snapshot

The source snapshot to create this disk.

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.sourceSnapshot

Disk Resource Policies

 properties.disks[].initializeParams.resourcePolicies[] REST Resource: resourcePolicy

Subnetwork Project

The ID of the project in which the subnetwork belongs. If it is not provided, the provider project is used.

 subnetwork_project

Network IP

 properties.networkInterfaces[].networkIP Internal IP addresses

NIC Type

 properties.networkInterfaces[].nicType Using Google Virtual NIC

Stack Type

 properties.networkInterfaces[].stackType Stack types

Additional Networks

Network

 properties.networkInterfaces[].network Networking overview for VMs

Subnetwork

 properties.networkInterfaces[].subnetwork Networks and subnets

Queue Count

 properties.networkInterfaces[].queueCount Default queue allocation

Total Egress Bandwidth Tier

 properties.networkPerformanceConfig.totalEgressBandwidthTier Network bandwidth

Startup Script

A script that executes when the instances start.

 About startup scripts

Metadata

Key

 properties.metadata About VM metadata

Value

 properties.metadata About VM metadata

Service Account

Email

 email Service accounts

Service Account Project Roles

 project_roles Manage access to service accounts

Enable Shielded VM

Select the checkbox to enable Shielded VM, if supported by the selected instance image.

 About Shielded VM

Shielded Instance Config

Enable Secure Boot

 properties.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableSecureBoot Secure boot

Enable vTPM

 properties.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableVtpm Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM)

Enable Integrity Monitoring

 properties.shieldedInstanceConfig.enableIntegrityMonitoring Integrity monitoring

Enable Confidential VM

 properties.confidentialInstanceConfig.enableConfidentialCompute About Confidential VM

Confidential Instance Type

 properties.confidentialInstanceConfig.confidentialInstanceType Supported configurations

Access Config

NAT IP

 properties.networkInterfaces[].accessConfigs[].natIP External IP addresses

Network Tier

 properties.networkInterfaces[].accessConfigs[].networkTier Network Service Tiers

IPv6 Access Config

Network Tier

 properties.networkInterfaces[].ipv6AccessConfigs[].networkTier Network Service Tiers

GPU

Type

 properties.guestAccelerators[].acceleratorType GPU machine types

Count

 properties.guestAccelerators[].acceleratorCount GPU machine types

Alias IP Range

IP CIDR Range

 properties.networkInterfaces[].aliasIpRanges[].ipCidrRange IP addresses

Subnetwork Range Name

 properties.networkInterfaces[].aliasIpRanges[].subnetworkRangeName Networks and subnets