The Google Cloud CLI lets you manage your Compute Engine resources, using the
gcloud compute
command group. gcloud compute
is an alternative to using the
Compute Engine API.
The gcloud CLI is part of the Google Cloud CLI and is a unified command-line tool that includes features like statement autocompletion, in-place updating, command-line help, human-readable and machine-parsable output formats, and integration with Google Cloud CLI.
If you have never used Compute Engine, get started with either the Linux quickstart or the Windows quickstart.
Before you begin
- If you want to run
gcloud compute
in a command prompt, install, update, and initialize the Google Cloud CLI. - If you don't have a command prompt readily available, try using
gcloud compute
in Cloud Shell. Cloud Shell is automatically installed, updated, and initialized with the latest Google Cloud CLI.
Default properties
When you create a virtual machine instance, Compute Engine configures a VM using default properties from the metadata server. You can check your VM's default properties by running the following command:
gcloud compute project-info describe --project PROJECT_ID
Replace PROJECT_ID
with your project ID.
Default project
If you set a default project when you setup and initialize the Google Cloud CLI,
all gcloud compute
commands use that project ID by default.
You can override the default project ID by using either of the following methods:
- Run each
gcloud compute
command with the--project
flag Set the
CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT
environment variableLinux and macOS
Use the
export
command to set the project environment variable.export CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT=PROJECT_ID
Replace
PROJECT_ID
with the project ID of the project that you want to use as default.Unsetting project environment variables
If you need to unset your project environment variables, use the following
unset
commands:unset CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT
Windows
Use the
set
command to set the project environment variable.set CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT=PROJECT_ID
Replace
PROJECT_ID
with the project ID of the project that you want to use as default.Unsetting project environment variables
If you need to unset your project environment variables, use the following command:
set CLOUDSDK_CORE_PROJECT=
If you do not set a default project or environment variable, you must include a
--project
flag in each gcloud compute
command that you run.
Default region and zone
Some gcloud compute
commands require --region
or --zone
flags.
Instead of specifying these flags each time you run commands, you can set a
default region and zone for your project. If you don't set a default region or
zone and you run a region- or zone-dependent command, the Google Cloud CLI might
prompt you to provide a --region
or --zone
flag, or return an error.
You can set the default region and zone in three ways:
- In the metadata server.
The default region and zone set in the metadata server are applied to your
local client when you run
gcloud init
. - In your local client. The default region and zone set in your local client override the default region and zone set in the metadata server.
- In environment variables. The default region and zone set in environment variables override the default region and zone set in your local client and in the metadata server.
You can override the default region and zone in the
metadata server, in your local client, or in environment variables, by providing
--region
and --zone
flags when you run commands.
View default region and zone
To view your default region and zone, run the following commands:
gcloud config get-value compute/region
gcloud config get-value compute/zone
If the output is (unset)
, no default region or zone is set.
View available regions and zones
You can view a list of regions and zones by running the following commands:
gcloud compute regions list
gcloud compute zones list
Set default region and zone in the metadata server
The default region and zone in the metadata server apply to all configurations in your project. To set the default region and zone in the metadata server, do the following:
Set the default region and zone:
gcloud compute project-info add-metadata \ --metadata google-compute-default-region=REGION,google-compute-default-zone=ZONE
For example:
gcloud compute project-info add-metadata \ --metadata google-compute-default-region=europe-west1,google-compute-default-zone=europe-west1-b
Initialize the change in your local client:
gcloud init
You can override the default region and zone set in the metadata server by
setting the default region and zone in your local client, setting the default
region and zone in environment variables, or by including the --zone
or
--region
flag in your commands.
Unset default region and zone in the metadata server
To unset the default region and zone in the metadata server, do the following:
Unset metadata:
gcloud compute project-info remove-metadata \ --keys=google-compute-default-region,google-compute-default-zone
Initialize the change in your local client:
gcloud init
Set default region and zone in your local client
The default region and zone set in your local client override the default region and zone set in the metadata server.
To set the default region and zone in your local client, run the following commands:
gcloud config set compute/region REGION
gcloud config set compute/zone ZONE
Unset default region and zone in your local client
To unset the default region or zone in your local client, run the following commands:
gcloud config unset compute/zone
gcloud config unset compute/region
You can override the default region and zone set in your local client by setting
the default region and zone in environment variables, or by including the
--zone
or --region
flag in your commands.
Set default region and zone in environment variables
The default region and zone set in environment variables override the default region and zone set in your local client and in the metadata server.
Linux and macOS
Use the export
command to set the region and zone variables.
export CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION=REGION
export CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE=ZONE
To make these environment variables permanent, include these commands in
your ~/.bashrc
file and restart your terminal.
Windows
Use the set
command to set the region and zone variables.
set CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION=REGION
set CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE=ZONE
You can override environment variables by including the --zone
or --region
flag in your commands.
Unset default region and zone in environment variables
Use the following commands to unset the default region and zone in environment variables.
Linux and macOS
To unset your region and zone environment variables, use the following
unset
commands:
unset CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION
unset CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE
Windows
To unset your region and zone environment variables, use the following commands:
set CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_REGION=
set CLOUDSDK_COMPUTE_ZONE=
Override default zone with flags
Use the --zone
flag to override the default zone
set in the metadata server, your local client, and environment variables.
For example:
gcloud compute instances create example-instance \ --zone=ZONE
Configurations
gcloud topic configurations
are
an advanced feature that you can use to influence the behavior of the
gcloud CLI. For most users, using default configurations is
sufficient.
Configurations might be useful for users who:
- Work with multiple projects. You can create a separate configuration for each project.
- Use multiple accounts. For example, a user account and a service account.
- Perform a variety of independent tasks (work on an App Engine app in one project, administer a Compute Engine cluster in zone us-central-1a, manage the network configurations for region asia-east-1, etc.)
To switch between configurations, run the following command:
gcloud config configurations activate CONFIGURATION_NAME
For more information about managing configurations, see
gcloud config configurations
.
What's next?
- Follow the Quickstart guide for the Google Cloud CLI.
- Review
gcloud compute
usage tips. - Discover
common
gcloud compute
commands.