Create a MIG that uses Flex-start VMs

Console

1. In the Cloud de Confiance console, go to the Instance templates page.

   Go to Instance templates

2. Click Create instance template. The Create an instance template page appears.

3. In the Name field, enter a name for the instance template.

4. In the Location section, select the type of instance template that you want to create:

   • For a regional instance template, select Regional, and then select the region in which to create your template. Based on the machine type that you want your Flex-start VMs to use, specify a supported region.

   • For a global instance template, select Global.

5. In the Machine configuration section, select a supported machine series for Flex-start VMs.

6. In the Provisioning model section, do the following:

   1. In the VM provisioning model list, select Flex-start.

   2. To set a run duration for the VMs that are created through the instance template, in the Enter number of hours field, enter the number of hours that the VMs run for. The value must be between one hour (1) and seven days (168). When the VMs reach the end of their run duration, Compute Engine deletes each VM individually relative to its own creation time.

7. Optional: To change the default value boot disk type or image, in the Boot disk section, click Change. Then, follow the prompts to change the boot disk.

8. Click Create.

gcloud

To create an instance template that's configured for creating Flex-start VMs, use the gcloud compute instance-templates create command.

The following command creates a regional instance template. If you want to create a global instance template, then use the same command without the --instance-template-region flag.

gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
    --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT \
    --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY \
    --instance-template-region=REGION \
    --instance-termination-action=DELETE \
    --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
    --maintenance-policy=TERMINATE \
    --max-run-duration=RUN_DURATION \
    --provisioning-model=FLEX_START \
    --reservation-affinity=none

Replace the following:

• INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template to create.

• IMAGE_PROJECT: the image project that contains the image; for example, debian-cloud. For more information about the supported image projects, see Public images.

• IMAGE_FAMILY: an image family, which specifies the most recent, non-deprecated OS image. For example, if you specify debian-12, you use the latest version in the Debian 12 image family. For more information about using image families, see Image families best practices.

• REGION: the region where to create the instance template. Based on the machine type that you want the Flex-start VMs to use, specify a supported region.

• MACHINE_TYPE: the GPU machine type or H4D machine type to use for the Flex-start VMs. If you specify an N1 machine type, then you must include the --accelerator flag to define the number and type of GPUs to attach to your VMs.

• RUN_DURATION: the duration you want the requested VMs to run. When the VMs reach the end of their run duration, Compute Engine deletes each VM individually relative to its own creation time. You must format the run duration as the number of days, hours, minutes, or seconds followed by d, h, m, and s respectively. For example, specify 30m for 30 minutes or 1d2h3m4s for one day, two hours, three minutes, and four seconds. The value must be between 10 minutes and seven days.

REST

To create an instance template that's configured for creating Flex-start VMs, make one of the following POST requests:

• To create a regional instance template: regionInstanceTemplates.insert method

• To create a global instance template: instanceTemplates.insert method

For example, to create a regional instance template, make a request as follows:

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/instanceTemplates

{
  "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
  "properties": {
    "disks": [
      {
        "boot": true,
        "initializeParams": {
          "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/IMAGE"
        }
      }
    ],
    "machineType": "MACHINE_TYPE",
    "networkInterfaces": [
      {
        "network": "global/networks/default"
      }
    ],
    "reservationAffinity": {
      "consumeReservationType": "NO_RESERVATION"
    },
    "scheduling": {
      "instanceTerminationAction": "DELETE",
      "maxRunDuration": {
        "seconds": RUN_DURATION
      },
      "onHostMaintenance": "TERMINATE",
      "provisioningModel": "FLEX_START"
    }
  }
}

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project in which to create the instance template.

• REGION: the region where to create the instance template. Based on the machine type that you want the Flex-start VMs to use, specify a supported region.

• INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template.

• IMAGE_PROJECT: the image project that contains the image; for example, debian-cloud. For more information about the supported image projects, see Public images.

• IMAGE: specify one of the following:

  • A specific version of the OS image—for example, debian-12-bookworm-v20240617.

  • An image family, which must be formatted as family/IMAGE_FAMILY. This value specifies the most recent, non-deprecated OS image. For example, if you specify family/debian-12, the latest version in the Debian 12 image family is used. For more information about using image families, see Image families best practices.

• MACHINE_TYPE: the GPU machine type to use for the VMs. If you specify an N1 machine type, then you must include the guestAccelerators field to define the number and type of GPUs to attach to your VMs.

• RUN_DURATION: the duration, in seconds, you want the requested VMs to run. When the VMs reach the end of their run duration, Compute Engine deletes each VM individually relative to its own creation time. The run duration must be between 600, which is 600 seconds (10 minutes), and 604800, which is 604,800 seconds (seven days).

Console

1. In the Cloud de Confiance console, go to the Instance groups page.

   Go to Instance groups

2. Click Create instance group. The Create instance group page appears.

3. In the Name field, enter a name for the MIG.

4. In the Instance template list, select the instance template that you created in the previous section.

5. In the Number of instances field, enter the number of Flex-start VMs to create in the MIG. If your workload requires specific VM names, then enter 0 to not create any VMs. After you create the MIG, add VMs with specific names to it.

6. In the Location section, specify whether you want to create a zonal or a regional MIG as follows:

   1. To create a zonal MIG, select Single zone. Or, to create a regional MIG, select Multiple zones.

   2. Select the Region and Zones for the MIG.

   3. If you're creating a regional MIG, then do the following:

      1. In the Target distribution shape field, select Any single zone.

      2. In the dialog that appears, click Disable instance redistribution.

7. To delete the autoscaling configuration, in the Autoscaling section, do the following:

   1. Click settings Configure autoscaling.

   2. In the Autoscaling mode list, click Delete autoscaling configuration.

   3. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.

8. To turn off repairs, in the Action on failure section, in the Default action on failure list, select No action.

9. Click Create.

gcloud

To create a MIG, use the gcloud compute instance-groups managed create command.

Based on the type of MIG that you want to create, include the following flags in the command:

• To create a zonal MIG, include the --zone flag:

  gcloud compute instance-groups managed create INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME \
      --default-action-on-vm-failure=do-nothing \
      --size=SIZE \
      --template=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL \
      --zone=ZONE
  

• To create a regional MIG, include the --region and --target-distribution-shape flags:

  gcloud compute instance-groups managed create INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME \
      --default-action-on-vm-failure=do-nothing \
      --size=SIZE \
      --template=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL \
      --region=REGION \
      --target-distribution-shape=SHAPE
  

Replace the following:

• INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME: the name of the MIG.

• INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL: the URL of the instance template that you created in the previous section. The URL can contain either the ID or the name of the instance template. Specify one of the following values:

  • For a regional instance template: projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/instanceTemplates/INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_ID

  • For a global instance template: INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_ID

• SIZE: the number of Flex-start VMs to create in the MIG. If your workload requires specific VM names, then specify 0 to not create any VMs. After you create the MIG, add VMs with specific names to it.

• ZONE: the zone where to create the zonal MIG. If you use a regional instance template to create the MIG, then you must specify a zone within the same region as the template.

• REGION: the region where to create the regional MIG. If you use a regional instance template to create the MIG, then you must specify the same region as the template's region.

• SHAPE: how your MIG distributes the Flex-start VMs across zones in your regional MIG. Specify one of the following values:

  • To create VMs in multiple zones based on availability: ANY

  • To create VMs in a single zone based on availability: ANY_SINGLE_ZONE

  For more information, see Regional MIG target distribution shape.

REST

To create a MIG, make a POST request to one of the following methods:

• To create a zonal MIG, make the following request to the instanceGroupManagers.insert method:

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instanceGroupManagers
  
  {
    "name": "INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME",
    "versions": [
      {
        "instanceTemplate": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL"
      }
    ],
    "instanceLifecyclePolicy": {
      "defaultActionOnFailure": "DO_NOTHING"
    },
    "targetSize": SIZE
  }
  

• To create a regional MIG, make the following request to the regionInstanceGroupManagers.insert method:

  POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/instanceGroupManagers
  
  {
    "name": "INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME",
    "instanceTemplate": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL",
    "instanceLifecyclePolicy": {
      "defaultActionOnFailure": "DO_NOTHING"
    },
    "targetSize": SIZE,
    "distributionPolicy": {
      "targetShape": "SHAPE"
    }
  }
  

Replace the following:

• PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project in which to create the regional or zonal MIG.

• ZONE: the zone where to create the zonal MIG. If you use a regional instance template to create the MIG, then you must specify a zone within the same region as the template.

• REGION: the region where to create the regional MIG. If you use a regional instance template to create the MIG, then you must specify the same region as the template's region.

• INSTANCE_GROUP_NAME: the name of the MIG.

• INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL: the URL of the instance template that you created in the previous section. The URL can contain either the ID or the name of the instance template. Specify one of the following values:

  • For a regional instance template: projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/instanceTemplates/INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_ID

  • For a global instance template: INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_ID

• SIZE: the number of Flex-start VMs to create in the MIG. If your workload requires specific VM names, then specify 0 to not create any VMs. After you create the MIG, add VMs with specific names to it.

• SHAPE: how your MIG distributes the Flex-start VMs across zones in your regional MIG. Specify one of the following values:

  • To create VMs in multiple zones based on availability: ANY

  • To create VMs in a single zone based on availability: ANY_SINGLE_ZONE

  For more information, see Regional MIG target distribution shape.