Compute Engine is a customizable compute service for creating and running virtual machines. Compute Engine offers scale, performance, and value that lets you easily move from single virtual machines for experimentation and development to large compute clusters for production workloads. Because Cloud de Confiance is optimized for general purpose compute infrastructure and modest-scale AI/ML workloads, there are some differences between Compute Engine in Cloud de Confiance by S3NS and Google Cloud. This page describes the differences between the Cloud de Confiance and Google Cloud versions of Compute Engine.
For more detailed information about Compute Engine, see the Compute Engine overview and the rest of the Compute Engine documentation.
You can find recommendations and best practices for using Compute Engine in Cloud de Confiance, including recommended alternatives where features differ from Google Cloud, in the Recommendations section.
Key differences
There are some differences between the Cloud de Confiance version of Compute Engine and the Google Cloud version. Some notable differences include the following:
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Only three machine type series are available in Cloud de Confiance
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Hyperdisk Balanced is the only disk type available in Cloud de Confiance
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Image adaptation is the only supported migration path into Cloud de Confiance
A more detailed list of differences is provided in the rest of this section. If you are already familiar with Google Cloud, we recommend that you review these differences carefully, particularly before designing an application to run on Cloud de Confiance. We also recommend reviewing the general differences between Cloud de Confiance and Google Cloud.
If you would like to use a particular Compute Engine feature that isn't currently available in Cloud de Confiance, contact Cloud de Confiance support. To be notified when new features roll out in Cloud de Confiance, subscribe to the release notes. Unless otherwise specified, features that are in preview are not available in Cloud de Confiance.
Hardware and OS
| Machine types | Only the following machine types are available in Cloud de Confiance:
All other machine series, including AMD and Arm-based machine types are unavailable. For recommendations about how to adapt your machine usage in Cloud de Confiance, see the recommendations section. The following instance types are available in Cloud de Confiance: All other instance types are unavailable, including the following:
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| GPUs and TPUs | Only the following GPUs are available in Cloud de Confiance:
All other GPU machine types are unavailable. TPUs are unavailable. |
| Disks and encryption | The following disk types are available in Cloud de Confiance: All other disk types are unavailable. For recommendations about how to adapt your disk usage in Cloud de Confiance, see the recommendations section. Compute Engine automatically encrypts customer content at rest. The following key encryption key (KEK) methods are addionally available in Cloud de Confiance: All other KEK encryption methods are unavailable. |
| Operating system images | The following Linux operating systems are available in Cloud de Confiance: Arm image families are unavailable in Cloud de Confiance. If you want to use enterprise operating systems such as Windows, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), you must bring your own licenses. You can import images that you have licenses for into Compute Engine by adapting operating systems for Cloud de Confiance. |
| Operating system details | The following differences apply to OS images in Cloud de Confiance:
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Networking
| VM networking | Zonal DNS names ares available in Cloud de Confiance. Global DNS names are unavailable. There is no default network created when you create a project. Some
examples assume that you have a default network. If you need a default
network you can
manually create an equivalent auto mode network called For detailed information about networking differences in Cloud de Confiance, see the following documents: |
Availability and Disaster Recovery
| Regions and zones | Cloud de Confiance has multiple zones in a single region. Multi-region features and cross-region failover are not supported. Deployment across multiple zones for resiliency is supported. We recommend that you use off-cloud data replication to ensure business continuity in case of an outage. |
| Reservations | On-demand reservations are available in Cloud de Confiance. Future reservations are not available. |
Cost management
| Cost saving features | There are no cost savings features available in Cloud de Confiance. This includes Spot VMs and committed use discounts (CUDs). |
Security and access control
| VM security features | The following VM security features are available in Cloud de Confiance: All other security features are unavailable, including the following:
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Workflows and tools
| VM creation | The following VM creation options are unavailable in Cloud de Confiance:
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| Migration | Image adaptation is available in Cloud de Confiance. All other migration options are unavailable. |
| Backup and restoration | The following backup options are available in Cloud de Confiance: All other backup and restoration options are unavailable. |
| VM and user management | The following VM and user management options are unavailable in Cloud de Confiance:
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Recommendations
- Machine type recommendations:
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If you need small machine types like N2, we recommend that you use C3 in Cloud de Confiance. C3 instances have more powerful CPUs than N2 instances, so you might be able to use fewer instances to achieve equivalent or better performance.
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If you need large amounts of memory, we recommend that you use M3.
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If you need to use GPUs, we recommend that you use A3 Edge. Consider doing CPU inferencing if A3 Edge is too large for your workload.
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- Disk recommendations:
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Google Cloud Hyperdisk balanced is the recommended block storage option for Compute Engine and the only block storage option in Cloud de Confiance by S3NS. If you use balanced Persistent Disk in Google Cloud, we recommend that you use Google Cloud Hyperdisk in Cloud de Confiance by S3NS and Google Cloud alike.
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Related guides
The following information might also affect how you use and design for Compute Engine in Cloud de Confiance by S3NS. These guides include general information about working in Cloud de Confiance, including documentation, security and access control, billing, tooling, and service usage.
For details about other services and features in Cloud de Confiance and their differences from their Google Cloud counterparts, see the product list.