Add a Local SSD to your VM

---

Local SSDs are designed for temporary storage use cases such as caches or scratch processing space. Because Local SSDs are located on the physical machine where your VM is running, they can be created only during the VM creation process. Local SSDs cannot be used as boot devices.

For third generation machine series, a set amount of Local SSD disks are added to the VM when you create it. The only way to add Local SSD storage to these VMs is:

• For C3 and C3D, Local SSD storage is available only with certain machine types, such as c3-standard-88-lssd.
• For the Z3, A3, and A2 ultra machine series, every machine type comes with Local SSD storage.

For M3 and first and second generation machine types, you must specify Local SSD disks when creating the VM.

After creating a Local SSD disk, you must format and mount the device before you can use it.

For information about the amount of Local SSD storage available with various machine types, and the number of Local SSD disks you can attach to a VM, see Choosing a valid number of Local SSDs.

Before you begin

• Review the Local SSD limitations before using Local SSDs.
• Review the data persistence scenarios for Local SSD disks.
• If you are adding Local SSDs to virtual machines (VM) instances that have attached GPUs, see Local SSD availability by GPU regions and zones.
• If you haven't already, then set up authentication. Authentication is the process by which your identity is verified for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:
  

  Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

  Console

  When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

  gcloud

  1. After installing the Google Cloud CLI, initialize it by running the following command:

     gcloud init

     If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
  2. Set a default region and zone.

  Terraform

  To use the Terraform samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.

  2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  4. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

     If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Go

  To use the Go samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.

  2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  4. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

     If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Java

  To use the Java samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.

  2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  4. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

     If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  Python

  To use the Python samples on this page in a local development environment, install and initialize the gcloud CLI, and then set up Application Default Credentials with your user credentials.

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.

  2. If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  3. To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

     gcloud init

  4. If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:

     gcloud auth application-default login

     You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

     If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

  REST

  To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

  After installing the Google Cloud CLI, initialize it by running the following command:

  gcloud init

  If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Create a VM with a Local SSD

You can create a VM with Local SSD disk storage using the Google Cloud console, the gcloud CLI, or the Compute Engine API.

Console

1. Go to the Create an instance page.

   Go to Create an instance

2. Specify the name, region, and zone for your VM. Optionally, add tags or labels.

3. In the Machine configuration section, choose the machine family that contains your target machine type.

4. Select a series from the Series list, then choose the machine type.

   • For the third generation machine series C3 and C3D, choose a machine type that ends in -lssd.
   • For Z3, A3, and A2 ultra, every machine type comes with Local SSD storage.
   • For M3, or first and second generation machine series, after selecting the machine type, do the following:
     1. Expand the Advanced options section.
     2. Expand Disks, click Add Local SSD, and do the following:
        1. On the Configure Local SSD page, choose the disk interface type.
        2. Select the number of disks you want from the Disk capacity list.
        3. Click Save.

5. Continue with the VM creation process.

6. After creating the VM with Local SSD disks, you must format and mount each device before you can use the disks.

gcloud

• For the Z3, A3, and A2 ultra machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, create a VM that uses any of the available machine types for that series by following the instructions to create an instance.

• For the C3 or C3D machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, follow the instructions to create an instance, but specify an instance type that includes Local SSD disks (-lssd).

  For example, you can create a C3 VM with two Local SSD partitions that use the NVMe disk interface as follows:

  gcloud compute instances create example-c3-instance \
     --zone ZONE \
     --machine-type c3-standard-8-lssd \
     --image-project IMAGE_PROJECT \
     --image-family IMAGE_FAMILY
  

• For M3 and first and second generation machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, follow the instructions to create an instance, but use the --local-ssd flag to create and attach a Local SSD disk. To create multiple Local SSD disks, add more --local-ssd flags. Optionally, you can also set values for the interface and the device name for each --local-ssd flag.

  For example, you can create a M3 VM with four Local SSD disks and specify the disk interface type as follows:

  gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME \
     --machine-type m3-ultramem-64 \
     --zone ZONE \
     --local-ssd interface=INTERFACE_TYPE,device-name=DEVICE-NAME \
     --local-ssd interface=INTERFACE_TYPE,device-name=DEVICE-NAME \
     --local-ssd interface=INTERFACE_TYPE,device-name=DEVICE-NAME \
     --local-ssd interface=INTERFACE_TYPE \
     --image-project IMAGE_PROJECT \
     --image-family IMAGE_FAMILY
  

Replace the following:

• VM_NAME: the name for the new VM
• ZONE: the zone to create the VM in. This flag is optional if you have configured the gcloud CLI compute/zone property or the environment variable CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE.
• INTERFACE_TYPE: the disk interface type that you want to use for the Local SSD device. Specify nvme if creating a M3 VM or if your boot disk image has optimized NVMe drivers. Specify scsi for other images.
• DEVICE-NAME: Optional: A name that indicates the disk name to use in the guest operating system symbolic link (symlink).
• IMAGE_FAMILY: one of the available image families that you want installed on the boot disk
• IMAGE_PROJECT: the image project that the image family belongs to

If necessary, you can attach Local SSDs to a first or second generation VM using a combination of nvme and scsi for different partitions. Performance for the nvme device depends on the boot disk image for your instance. Third generation VMs only support the NVMe disk interface.

After creating a VM with Local SSD, you must format and mount each device before you can use it.

Terraform

To create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, you can use the google_compute_instance resource.

# Create a VM with a local SSD for temporary storage use cases

resource "google_compute_instance" "default" {
  name         = "my-vm-instance-with-scratch"
  machine_type = "n2-standard-8"
  zone         = "us-central1-a"

  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image = "debian-cloud/debian-11"
    }
  }

  # Local SSD interface type; NVME for image with optimized NVMe drivers or SCSI
  # Local SSD are 375 GiB in size
  scratch_disk {
    interface = "SCSI"
  }

  network_interface {
    network = "default"
    access_config {}
  }
}

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

To generate the Terraform code, you can use the Equivalent code component in the Google Cloud console.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM Instances

2. Click Create instance.
3. Specify the parameters you want.
4. At the top or bottom of the page, click Equivalent code, and then click the Terraform tab to view the Terraform code.

Go

Go

Before trying this sample, follow the Go setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Go API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"
	"io"

	compute "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1"
	computepb "cloud.google.com/go/compute/apiv1/computepb"
	"google.golang.org/protobuf/proto"
)

// createWithLocalSSD creates a new VM instance with Debian 10 operating system and a local SSD attached.
func createWithLocalSSD(w io.Writer, projectID, zone, instanceName string) error {
	// projectID := "your_project_id"
	// zone := "europe-central2-b"
	// instanceName := "your_instance_name"

	ctx := context.Background()
	instancesClient, err := compute.NewInstancesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewInstancesRESTClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer instancesClient.Close()

	imagesClient, err := compute.NewImagesRESTClient(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("NewImagesRESTClient: %w", err)
	}
	defer imagesClient.Close()

	// List of public operating system (OS) images: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images/os-details.
	newestDebianReq := &computepb.GetFromFamilyImageRequest{
		Project: "debian-cloud",
		Family:  "debian-12",
	}
	newestDebian, err := imagesClient.GetFromFamily(ctx, newestDebianReq)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to get image from family: %w", err)
	}

	req := &computepb.InsertInstanceRequest{
		Project: projectID,
		Zone:    zone,
		InstanceResource: &computepb.Instance{
			Name: proto.String(instanceName),
			Disks: []*computepb.AttachedDisk{
				{
					InitializeParams: &computepb.AttachedDiskInitializeParams{
						DiskSizeGb:  proto.Int64(10),
						SourceImage: newestDebian.SelfLink,
						DiskType:    proto.String(fmt.Sprintf("zones/%s/diskTypes/pd-standard", zone)),
					},
					AutoDelete: proto.Bool(true),
					Boot:       proto.Bool(true),
					Type:       proto.String(computepb.AttachedDisk_PERSISTENT.String()),
				},
				{
					InitializeParams: &computepb.AttachedDiskInitializeParams{
						DiskType: proto.String(fmt.Sprintf("zones/%s/diskTypes/local-ssd", zone)),
					},
					AutoDelete: proto.Bool(true),
					Type:       proto.String(computepb.AttachedDisk_SCRATCH.String()),
				},
			},
			MachineType: proto.String(fmt.Sprintf("zones/%s/machineTypes/n1-standard-1", zone)),
			NetworkInterfaces: []*computepb.NetworkInterface{
				{
					Name: proto.String("global/networks/default"),
				},
			},
		},
	}

	op, err := instancesClient.Insert(ctx, req)
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to create instance: %w", err)
	}

	if err = op.Wait(ctx); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to wait for the operation: %w", err)
	}

	fmt.Fprintf(w, "Instance created\n")

	return nil
}

Java

Java

Before trying this sample, follow the Java setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Java API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDisk;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Image;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.ImagesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Instance;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.InstancesClient;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.NetworkInterface;
import com.google.cloud.compute.v1.Operation;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

public class CreateWithLocalSsd {

  public static void main(String[] args)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    // projectId: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
    String projectId = "your-project-id";
    // zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
    String zone = "zone-name";
    // instanceName: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
    String instanceName = "instance-name";

    createWithLocalSsd(projectId, zone, instanceName);
  }

  // Create a new VM instance with Debian 11 operating system and SSD local disk.
  public static void createWithLocalSsd(String projectId, String zone, String instanceName)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {

    int diskSizeGb = 10;
    boolean boot = true;
    boolean autoDelete = true;
    String diskType = String.format("zones/%s/diskTypes/pd-standard", zone);
    // Get the latest debian image.
    Image newestDebian = getImageFromFamily("debian-cloud", "debian-11");
    List<AttachedDisk> disks = new ArrayList<>();

    // Create the disks to be included in the instance.
    disks.add(
        createDiskFromImage(diskType, diskSizeGb, boot, newestDebian.getSelfLink(), autoDelete));
    disks.add(createLocalSsdDisk(zone));

    // Create the instance.
    Instance instance = createInstance(projectId, zone, instanceName, disks);

    if (instance != null) {
      System.out.printf("Instance created with local SSD: %s", instance.getName());
    }

  }

  // Retrieve the newest image that is part of a given family in a project.
  // Args:
  //    projectId: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to get image from.
  //    family: name of the image family you want to get image from.
  private static Image getImageFromFamily(String projectId, String family) throws IOException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the `imagesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
    // clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (ImagesClient imagesClient = ImagesClient.create()) {
      // List of public operating system (OS) images: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images/os-details
      return imagesClient.getFromFamily(projectId, family);
    }
  }

  // Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. Uses an image as the
  // source for the new disk.
  //
  // Args:
  //    diskType: the type of disk you want to create. This value uses the following format:
  //        "zones/{zone}/diskTypes/(pd-standard|pd-ssd|pd-balanced|pd-extreme)".
  //        For example: "zones/us-west3-b/diskTypes/pd-ssd"
  //
  //    diskSizeGb: size of the new disk in gigabytes.
  //
  //    boot: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be used as a
  //    boot disk of an instance.
  //
  //    sourceImage: source image to use when creating this disk.
  //    You must have read access to this disk. This can be one of the publicly available images
  //    or an image from one of your projects.
  //    This value uses the following format: "projects/{project_name}/global/images/{image_name}"
  //
  //    autoDelete: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be deleted
  //    with the VM that uses it.
  private static AttachedDisk createDiskFromImage(String diskType, int diskSizeGb, boolean boot,
      String sourceImage, boolean autoDelete) {

    AttachedDiskInitializeParams attachedDiskInitializeParams =
        AttachedDiskInitializeParams.newBuilder()
            .setSourceImage(sourceImage)
            .setDiskSizeGb(diskSizeGb)
            .setDiskType(diskType)
            .build();

    AttachedDisk bootDisk = AttachedDisk.newBuilder()
        .setInitializeParams(attachedDiskInitializeParams)
        // Remember to set auto_delete to True if you want the disk to be deleted when you delete
        // your VM instance.
        .setAutoDelete(autoDelete)
        .setBoot(boot)
        .build();

    return bootDisk;
  }

  // Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. The created disk contains
  // no data and requires formatting before it can be used.
  // Args:
  //    zone: The zone in which the local SSD drive will be attached.
  private static AttachedDisk createLocalSsdDisk(String zone) {

    AttachedDiskInitializeParams attachedDiskInitializeParams =
        AttachedDiskInitializeParams.newBuilder()
            .setDiskType(String.format("zones/%s/diskTypes/local-ssd", zone))
            .build();

    AttachedDisk disk = AttachedDisk.newBuilder()
        .setType(AttachedDisk.Type.SCRATCH.name())
        .setInitializeParams(attachedDiskInitializeParams)
        .setAutoDelete(true)
        .build();

    return disk;
  }

  // Send an instance creation request to the Compute Engine API and wait for it to complete.
  // Args:
  //    projectId: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
  //    zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
  //    instanceName: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
  //    disks: a list of compute.v1.AttachedDisk objects describing the disks
  //           you want to attach to your new instance.
  private static Instance createInstance(String projectId, String zone, String instanceName,
      List<AttachedDisk> disks)
      throws IOException, ExecutionException, InterruptedException, TimeoutException {
    // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created
    // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call
    // the `instancesClient.close()` method on the client to safely
    // clean up any remaining background resources.
    try (InstancesClient instancesClient = InstancesClient.create()) {

      // machineType: machine type of the VM being created. This value uses the
      // following format: "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}".
      // For example: "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
      String typeName = "n1-standard-1";
      String machineType = String.format("zones/%s/machineTypes/%s", zone, typeName);

      // networkLink: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
      // For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
      // named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
      String networkLink = "global/networks/default";

      // Collect information into the Instance object.
      Instance instance = Instance.newBuilder()
          .setName(instanceName)
          .setMachineType(machineType)
          .addNetworkInterfaces(NetworkInterface.newBuilder().setName(networkLink).build())
          .addAllDisks(disks)
          .build();

      Operation response = instancesClient.insertAsync(projectId, zone, instance)
          .get(3, TimeUnit.MINUTES);

      if (response.hasError()) {
        throw new Error("Instance creation failed ! ! " + response);
      }
      System.out.println("Operation Status: " + response.getStatus());
      return instancesClient.get(projectId, zone, instanceName);
    }

  }

}

Python

Python

Before trying this sample, follow the Python setup instructions in the Compute Engine quickstart using client libraries. For more information, see the Compute Engine Python API reference documentation.

To authenticate to Compute Engine, set up Application Default Credentials. For more information, see Set up authentication for a local development environment.

from __future__ import annotations

import re
import sys
from typing import Any
import warnings

from google.api_core.extended_operation import ExtendedOperation
from google.cloud import compute_v1


def get_image_from_family(project: str, family: str) -> compute_v1.Image:
    """
    Retrieve the newest image that is part of a given family in a project.

    Args:
        project: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to get image from.
        family: name of the image family you want to get image from.

    Returns:
        An Image object.
    """
    image_client = compute_v1.ImagesClient()
    # List of public operating system (OS) images: https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/images/os-details
    newest_image = image_client.get_from_family(project=project, family=family)
    return newest_image


def disk_from_image(
    disk_type: str,
    disk_size_gb: int,
    boot: bool,
    source_image: str,
    auto_delete: bool = True,
) -> compute_v1.AttachedDisk:
    """
    Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. Uses an image as the
    source for the new disk.

    Args:
         disk_type: the type of disk you want to create. This value uses the following format:
            "zones/{zone}/diskTypes/(pd-standard|pd-ssd|pd-balanced|pd-extreme)".
            For example: "zones/us-west3-b/diskTypes/pd-ssd"
        disk_size_gb: size of the new disk in gigabytes
        boot: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be used as a boot disk of an instance
        source_image: source image to use when creating this disk. You must have read access to this disk. This can be one
            of the publicly available images or an image from one of your projects.
            This value uses the following format: "projects/{project_name}/global/images/{image_name}"
        auto_delete: boolean flag indicating whether this disk should be deleted with the VM that uses it

    Returns:
        AttachedDisk object configured to be created using the specified image.
    """
    boot_disk = compute_v1.AttachedDisk()
    initialize_params = compute_v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams()
    initialize_params.source_image = source_image
    initialize_params.disk_size_gb = disk_size_gb
    initialize_params.disk_type = disk_type
    boot_disk.initialize_params = initialize_params
    # Remember to set auto_delete to True if you want the disk to be deleted when you delete
    # your VM instance.
    boot_disk.auto_delete = auto_delete
    boot_disk.boot = boot
    return boot_disk


def local_ssd_disk(zone: str) -> compute_v1.AttachedDisk():
    """
    Create an AttachedDisk object to be used in VM instance creation. The created disk contains
    no data and requires formatting before it can be used.

    Args:
        zone: The zone in which the local SSD drive will be attached.

    Returns:
        AttachedDisk object configured as a local SSD disk.
    """
    disk = compute_v1.AttachedDisk()
    disk.type_ = compute_v1.AttachedDisk.Type.SCRATCH.name
    initialize_params = compute_v1.AttachedDiskInitializeParams()
    initialize_params.disk_type = f"zones/{zone}/diskTypes/local-ssd"
    disk.initialize_params = initialize_params
    disk.auto_delete = True
    return disk


def wait_for_extended_operation(
    operation: ExtendedOperation, verbose_name: str = "operation", timeout: int = 300
) -> Any:
    """
    Waits for the extended (long-running) operation to complete.

    If the operation is successful, it will return its result.
    If the operation ends with an error, an exception will be raised.
    If there were any warnings during the execution of the operation
    they will be printed to sys.stderr.

    Args:
        operation: a long-running operation you want to wait on.
        verbose_name: (optional) a more verbose name of the operation,
            used only during error and warning reporting.
        timeout: how long (in seconds) to wait for operation to finish.
            If None, wait indefinitely.

    Returns:
        Whatever the operation.result() returns.

    Raises:
        This method will raise the exception received from `operation.exception()`
        or RuntimeError if there is no exception set, but there is an `error_code`
        set for the `operation`.

        In case of an operation taking longer than `timeout` seconds to complete,
        a `concurrent.futures.TimeoutError` will be raised.
    """
    result = operation.result(timeout=timeout)

    if operation.error_code:
        print(
            f"Error during {verbose_name}: [Code: {operation.error_code}]: {operation.error_message}",
            file=sys.stderr,
            flush=True,
        )
        print(f"Operation ID: {operation.name}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        raise operation.exception() or RuntimeError(operation.error_message)

    if operation.warnings:
        print(f"Warnings during {verbose_name}:\n", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)
        for warning in operation.warnings:
            print(f" - {warning.code}: {warning.message}", file=sys.stderr, flush=True)

    return result


def create_instance(
    project_id: str,
    zone: str,
    instance_name: str,
    disks: list[compute_v1.AttachedDisk],
    machine_type: str = "n1-standard-1",
    network_link: str = "global/networks/default",
    subnetwork_link: str = None,
    internal_ip: str = None,
    external_access: bool = False,
    external_ipv4: str = None,
    accelerators: list[compute_v1.AcceleratorConfig] = None,
    preemptible: bool = False,
    spot: bool = False,
    instance_termination_action: str = "STOP",
    custom_hostname: str = None,
    delete_protection: bool = False,
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Send an instance creation request to the Compute Engine API and wait for it to complete.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.
        disks: a list of compute_v1.AttachedDisk objects describing the disks
            you want to attach to your new instance.
        machine_type: machine type of the VM being created. This value uses the
            following format: "zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{type_name}".
            For example: "zones/europe-west3-c/machineTypes/f1-micro"
        network_link: name of the network you want the new instance to use.
            For example: "global/networks/default" represents the network
            named "default", which is created automatically for each project.
        subnetwork_link: name of the subnetwork you want the new instance to use.
            This value uses the following format:
            "regions/{region}/subnetworks/{subnetwork_name}"
        internal_ip: internal IP address you want to assign to the new instance.
            By default, a free address from the pool of available internal IP addresses of
            used subnet will be used.
        external_access: boolean flag indicating if the instance should have an external IPv4
            address assigned.
        external_ipv4: external IPv4 address to be assigned to this instance. If you specify
            an external IP address, it must live in the same region as the zone of the instance.
            This setting requires `external_access` to be set to True to work.
        accelerators: a list of AcceleratorConfig objects describing the accelerators that will
            be attached to the new instance.
        preemptible: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be preemptible
            or not. Preemptible VMs have been deprecated and you should now use Spot VMs.
        spot: boolean value indicating if the new instance should be a Spot VM or not.
        instance_termination_action: What action should be taken once a Spot VM is terminated.
            Possible values: "STOP", "DELETE"
        custom_hostname: Custom hostname of the new VM instance.
            Custom hostnames must conform to RFC 1035 requirements for valid hostnames.
        delete_protection: boolean value indicating if the new virtual machine should be
            protected against deletion or not.
    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    instance_client = compute_v1.InstancesClient()

    # Use the network interface provided in the network_link argument.
    network_interface = compute_v1.NetworkInterface()
    network_interface.network = network_link
    if subnetwork_link:
        network_interface.subnetwork = subnetwork_link

    if internal_ip:
        network_interface.network_i_p = internal_ip

    if external_access:
        access = compute_v1.AccessConfig()
        access.type_ = compute_v1.AccessConfig.Type.ONE_TO_ONE_NAT.name
        access.name = "External NAT"
        access.network_tier = access.NetworkTier.PREMIUM.name
        if external_ipv4:
            access.nat_i_p = external_ipv4
        network_interface.access_configs = [access]

    # Collect information into the Instance object.
    instance = compute_v1.Instance()
    instance.network_interfaces = [network_interface]
    instance.name = instance_name
    instance.disks = disks
    if re.match(r"^zones/[a-z\d\-]+/machineTypes/[a-z\d\-]+$", machine_type):
        instance.machine_type = machine_type
    else:
        instance.machine_type = f"zones/{zone}/machineTypes/{machine_type}"

    instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
    if accelerators:
        instance.guest_accelerators = accelerators
        instance.scheduling.on_host_maintenance = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.OnHostMaintenance.TERMINATE.name
        )

    if preemptible:
        # Set the preemptible setting
        warnings.warn(
            "Preemptible VMs are being replaced by Spot VMs.", DeprecationWarning
        )
        instance.scheduling = compute_v1.Scheduling()
        instance.scheduling.preemptible = True

    if spot:
        # Set the Spot VM setting
        instance.scheduling.provisioning_model = (
            compute_v1.Scheduling.ProvisioningModel.SPOT.name
        )
        instance.scheduling.instance_termination_action = instance_termination_action

    if custom_hostname is not None:
        # Set the custom hostname for the instance
        instance.hostname = custom_hostname

    if delete_protection:
        # Set the delete protection bit
        instance.deletion_protection = True

    # Prepare the request to insert an instance.
    request = compute_v1.InsertInstanceRequest()
    request.zone = zone
    request.project = project_id
    request.instance_resource = instance

    # Wait for the create operation to complete.
    print(f"Creating the {instance_name} instance in {zone}...")

    operation = instance_client.insert(request=request)

    wait_for_extended_operation(operation, "instance creation")

    print(f"Instance {instance_name} created.")
    return instance_client.get(project=project_id, zone=zone, instance=instance_name)


def create_with_ssd(
    project_id: str, zone: str, instance_name: str
) -> compute_v1.Instance:
    """
    Create a new VM instance with Debian 10 operating system and SSD local disk.

    Args:
        project_id: project ID or project number of the Cloud project you want to use.
        zone: name of the zone to create the instance in. For example: "us-west3-b"
        instance_name: name of the new virtual machine (VM) instance.

    Returns:
        Instance object.
    """
    newest_debian = get_image_from_family(project="debian-cloud", family="debian-12")
    disk_type = f"zones/{zone}/diskTypes/pd-standard"
    disks = [
        disk_from_image(disk_type, 10, True, newest_debian.self_link, True),
        local_ssd_disk(zone),
    ]
    instance = create_instance(project_id, zone, instance_name, disks)
    return instance

REST

Use the instances.insert method to create a VM from an image family or from a specific version of an operating system image.

• For the Z3, A3, and A2 ultra machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, create a VM that uses any of the available machine types for that series.

• For the C3 or C3D machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, specify an instance type that includes Local SSD disks (-lssd).

  Here is a sample request payload that creates a C3 VM with an Ubuntu boot disk and two Local SSD disks:

  {
   "machineType":"zones/us-central1-c/machineTypes/c3-standard-8-lssd",
   "name":"c3-with-local-ssd",
   "disks":[
      {
         "type":"PERSISTENT",
         "initializeParams":{
            "sourceImage":"projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/family/ubuntu-2204-lts"
         },
         "boot":true
      }
   ],
   "networkInterfaces":[
      {
         "network":"global/networks/default"
  }
   ]
  }
  

• For M3 and first and second generation machine series, to create a VM with attached Local SSD disks, you can add Local SSD devices during VM creation by using the initializeParams property. You must also provide the following properties:

  • diskType: Set to Local SSD
  • autoDelete: Set to true
  • type: Set to SCRATCH

  The following properties can't be used with Local SSD devices:

  • diskName
  • sourceImage property
  • diskSizeGb

  Here is a sample request payload that creates a M3 VM with a boot disk and four Local SSD disks:

  {
   "machineType":"zones/us-central1-f/machineTypes/m3-ultramem-64",
   "name":"local-ssd-instance",
   "disks":[
      {
       "type":"PERSISTENT",
       "initializeParams":{
          "sourceImage":"projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/family/ubuntu-2204-lts"
       },
       "boot":true
      },
      {
         "type":"SCRATCH",
         "initializeParams":{
            "diskType":"zones/us-central1-f/diskTypes/local-ssd"
         },
         "autoDelete":true,
         "interface": "NVME"
      },
      {
         "type":"SCRATCH",
         "initializeParams":{
            "diskType":"zones/us-central1-f/diskTypes/local-ssd"
         },
         "autoDelete":true,
         "interface": "NVME"
      },
      {
         "type":"SCRATCH",
         "initializeParams":{
            "diskType":"zones/us-central1-f/diskTypes/local-ssd"
         },
         "autoDelete":true,
         "interface": "NVME"
      },
      {
         "type":"SCRATCH",
         "initializeParams":{
            "diskType":"zones/us-central1-f/diskTypes/local-ssd"
         },
         "autoDelete":true,
         "interface": "NVME"
      },
   ],
   "networkInterfaces":[
      {
         "network":"global/networks/default"
      }
   ]
  }
  

After creating a Local SSD disk, you must format and mount each device before you can use it.

For more information on creating an instance using REST, see the Compute Engine API.

Format and mounting a Local SSD device

You can format and mount each Local SSD disk individually, or you can combine multiple Local SSD disks into a single logical volume.

Format and mount individual Local SSD partitions

The easiest way to connect Local SSDs to your instance is to format and mount each device with a single partition. Alternatively, you can combine multiple partitions into a single logical volume.

Linux instances

Format and mount the new Local SSD on your Linux instance. You can use any partition format and configuration that you need. For this example, create a single ext4 partition.

1. Go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Click the SSH button next to the instance that has the new attached Local SSD. The browser opens a terminal connection to the instance.

3. In the terminal, use the find command to identify the Local SSD that you want to mount.

   $ find /dev/ | grep google-local-nvme-ssd
   

   Local SSDs in SCSI mode have standard names like google-local-ssd-0. Local SSDs in NVMe mode have names like google-local-nvme-ssd-0, as shown in the following output:

    $ find /dev/ | grep google-local-nvme-ssd
   
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-0
   

4. Format the Local SSD with an ext4 file system. This command deletes all existing data from the Local SSD.

   $ sudo mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/disk/by-id/[SSD_NAME]
   

   Replace [SSD_NAME] with the ID of the Local SSD that you want to format. For example, specify google-local-nvme-ssd-0 to format the first NVMe Local SSD on the instance.

5. Use the mkdir command to create a directory where you can mount the device.

   $ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory path where you want to mount your Local SSD disk.

6. Mount the Local SSD to the VM.

   $ sudo mount /dev/disk/by-id/[SSD_NAME] /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace the following:

   • [SSD_NAME]: the ID of the Local SSD that you want to mount.
   • [MNT_DIR]: the directory where you want to mount your Local SSD.

7. Configure read and write access to the device. For this example, grant write access to the device for all users.

   $ sudo chmod a+w /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you mounted your Local SSD.

Optionally, you can add the Local SSD to the /etc/fstab file so that the device automatically mounts again when the instance restarts. This entry does not preserve data on your Local SSD if the instance stops. See Local SSD data persistence for complete details.

When you specify the entry /etc/fstab file, be sure to include the nofail option so that the instance can continue to boot even if the Local SSD is not present. For example, if you take a snapshot of the boot disk and create a new instance without any Local SSD disks attached, the instance can continue through the startup process and not pause indefinitely.

1. Create the /etc/fstab entry. Use the blkid command to find the UUID for the file system on the device and edit the /etc/fstab file to include that UUID with the mount options. You can complete this step with a single command.

   For example, for a Local SSD in NVMe mode, use the following command:

   $ echo UUID=`sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-0` /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR] ext4 discard,defaults,nofail 0 2 | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
   

   For a Local SSD in a non-NVMe mode such as SCSI, use the following command:

   $ echo UUID=`sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-ssd-0` /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR] ext4 discard,defaults,nofail 0 2 | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you mounted your Local SSD.

2. Use the cat command to verify that your /etc/fstab entries are correct:

   $ cat /etc/fstab
   

If you create a snapshot from the boot disk of this instance and use it to create a separate instance that does not have Local SSDs, edit the /etc/fstab file and remove the entry for this Local SSD. Even with the nofail option in place, keep the /etc/fstab file in sync with the partitions that are attached to your instance and remove these entries before you create your boot disk snapshot.

Windows instances

Use the Windows Disk Management tool to format and mount a Local SSD on a Windows instance.

1. Connect to the instance through RDP. For this example, go to the VM instances page and click the RDP button next the instance that has the Local SSDs attached. After you enter your username and password, a window opens with the desktop interface for your server.

2. Right-click the Windows Start button and select Disk Management.

   

3. If you have not initialized the Local SSD before, the tool prompts you to select a partitioning scheme for the new partitions. Select GPT and click OK.

   

4. After the Local SSD initializes, right-click the unallocated disk space and select New Simple Volume.

   

5. Follow the instructions in the New Simple Volume Wizard to configure the new volume. You can use any partition format that you like, but for this example select NTFS. Also, check Perform a quick format to speed up the formatting process.

   

6. After you complete the wizard and the volume finishes formatting, check the new Local SSD to ensure it has a Healthy status.

   

That's it! You can now write files to the Local SSD.

Format and mount multiple Local SSD partitions into a single logical volume

Unlike persistent SSDs, Local SSDs have a fixed 375 GB capacity for each device that you attach to the instance. If you want to combine multiple Local SSD partitions into a single logical volume, you must define volume management across these partitions yourself.

Note: Due to the underlying hardware configuration, using parity or mirroring RAID levels across Local SSD partitions does not provide any actual reliability or redundancy benefit. Use RAID 0 to get the best performance and the greatest capacity from your Local SSD arrays. It isn't generally recommended to use RAID 0 on storage-optimized VMs (such as Z3) because it can introduce significant performance overhead and considerably reduce I/O throughput.

Linux instances

Use mdadm to create a RAID 0 array. This example formats the array with a single ext4 file system, but you can apply any file system that you prefer.

Note: Although you can create an /etc/fstab entry to automatically mount the Local SSD during an instance reboot, it does not allow data on the Local SSD to persist through stopping or preemption.

1. Go to the VM instances page.

   Go to VM instances

2. Click the SSH button next to the instance that has the new attached Local SSD. The browser opens a terminal connection to the instance.

3. In the terminal, install the mdadm tool. The install process for mdadm includes a user prompt that halts scripts, so run this process manually.

   Debian and Ubuntu:

   $ sudo apt update && sudo apt install mdadm --no-install-recommends
   

   CentOS and RHEL:

   $ sudo yum install mdadm -y
   

   SLES and openSUSE:

   $ sudo zypper install -y mdadm
   

4. Use the find command to identify all of the Local SSDs that you want to mount together.

   For this example, the instance has eight Local SSD partitions in NVMe mode:

   $  find /dev/ | grep google-local-nvme-ssd
   
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-7
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-6
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-5
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-4
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-3
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-2
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-1
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-0
   

   find does not guarantee an ordering. It's alright if the devices are listed in a different order as long as number of output lines match the expected number of SSD partitions. Local SSDs in SCSI mode have standard names like google-local-ssd. Local SSDs in NVMe mode have names like google-local-nvme-ssd.

5. Use mdadm to combine multiple Local SSD devices into a single array named /dev/md0. This example merges eight Local SSD devices in NVMe mode. For Local SSD devices in SCSI mode, specify the names that you obtained from the find command:

   $ sudo mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=8 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-0 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-1 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-2 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-3 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-4 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-5 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-6 \
    /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-7
   
   mdadm: Defaulting to version 1.2 metadata
   mdadm: array /dev/md0 started.
   
   

   You can confirm the details of the array with mdadm --detail. Adding the --prefer=by-id flag will list the devices using the /dev/disk/by-id paths.

    sudo mdadm --detail --prefer=by-id /dev/md0
    

   The output should look similar to the following for each device in the array.

    ...
    Number   Major   Minor   RaidDevice State
       0      259      0         0      active sync   /dev/disk/by-id/google-local-nvme-ssd-0
    ...
    

6. Format the full /dev/md0 array with an ext4 file system.

   Caution: This command deletes all existing data from the Local SSDs.

   $ sudo mkfs.ext4 -F /dev/md0
   

7. Create a directory to where you can mount /dev/md0. For this example, create the /mnt/disks/ssd-array directory:

   $ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you want to mount your Local SSD array.

8. Mount the /dev/md0 array to the /mnt/disks/ssd-array directory:

   $ sudo mount /dev/md0 /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you want to mount your Local SSD array.

9. Configure read and write access to the device. For this example, grant write access to the device for all users.

   $ sudo chmod a+w /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR]
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you mounted your Local SSD array.

Optionally, you can add the Local SSD to the /etc/fstab file so that the device automatically mounts again when the instance restarts. This entry does not preserve data on your Local SSD if the instance stops. See Local SSD data persistence for details.

When you specify the entry /etc/fstab file, be sure to include the nofail option so that the instance can continue to boot even if the Local SSD is not present. For example, if you take a snapshot of the boot disk and create a new instance without any Local SSDs attached, the instance can continue through the startup process and not pause indefinitely.

1. Create the /etc/fstab entry. Use the blkid command to find the UUID for the file system on the device and edit the /etc/fstab file to include that UUID with the mount options. Specify the nofail option to allow the system to boot even if the Local SSD is unavailable.You can complete this step with a single command. For example:

   $ echo UUID=`sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/md0` /mnt/disks/[MNT_DIR] ext4 discard,defaults,nofail 0 2 | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
   

   Replace [MNT_DIR] with the directory where you mounted your Local SSD array.

2. If you use a device name like /dev/md0 in the /etc/fstab file instead of the UUID, you need to edit the file /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf to make sure the array is reassembled automatically at boot. To do this, complete the following two steps:

   1. Make sure the disk array is scanned and reassembled automatically at boot.

      $ sudo mdadm --detail --scan | sudo tee -a /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
      

   2. Update initramfs so that the array will be available during the early boot process.

      $ sudo update-initramfs -u
      

3. Use the cat command to verify that your /etc/fstab entries are correct:

   $ cat /etc/fstab
   

If you create a snapshot from the boot disk of this instance and use it to create a separate instance that does not have Local SSDs, edit the /etc/fstab file and remove the entry for this Local SSD array. Even with the nofail option in place, keep the /etc/fstab file in sync with the partitions that are attached to your instance and remove these entries before you create your boot disk snapshot.

Windows instances

Use the Windows Disk Management tool to format and mount an array of Local SSDs on a Windows instance.

1. Connect to the instance through RDP. For this example, go to the VM instances page and click the RDP button next the instance that has the Local SSDs attached. After you enter your username and password, a window opens with the desktop interface for your server.

2. Right-click the Windows Start button and select Disk Management.

   

3. If you have not initialized the Local SSDs before, the tool prompts you to select a partitioning scheme for the new partitions. Select GPT and click OK.

   

4. After the Local SSD initializes, right-click the unallocated disk space and select New Striped Volume.

   

5. Select the Local SSD partitions that you want to include in the striped array. For this example, select all of the partitions to combine them into a single Local SSD device.

   

6. Follow the instructions in the New Striped Volume Wizard to configure the new volume. You can use any partition format that you like, but for this example select NTFS. Also, check Perform a quick format to speed up the formatting process.

   

7. After you complete the wizard and the volume finishes formatting, check the new Local SSD to ensure it has a Healthy status.

   

You can now write files to the Local SSD.

What's next

• Learn more about device names for your VM.
• Learn how to benchmark performance for Local SSD disks