Customize the number of visible CPU cores

Customizing the number of visible CPU cores can provide granular control over licensing costs, while maintaining the performance of networking and persistent disks. This customization reduces the number of vCPUs that are available to the virtual machine (VM) instance; it doesn't change the machine type or price.

Compute Engine implements each virtual CPU (vCPU) as a single hardware multithread that runs on a physical CPU core. To reduce the number of vCPUs that are available to a VM, Compute Engine lets you customize the number of visible CPU cores.

Visible cores are the CPU cores in the underlying hardware that your VMs consume. By default, the number of CPU cores that are visible to a VM is the number of vCPUs on the machine type divided by the number of threads per core:

  • Visible CPU cores = vCPUs on the machine type / threads per core

For example, the c2-standard-60 machine type specifies 60 vCPUs. Assuming the default of 2 threads per core, the number of visible CPU cores is 30. If you reduce the number of visible cores from 30 to 20, the number of functional vCPUs is reduced from 60 to 40.

Consider customizing the number of visible CPU cores if both of the following apply:

Before customizing the number of vCPUs that are available to a VM, first consider using a custom machine type.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to customize the number of visible CPU cores, ask your administrator to grant you the Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to customize the number of visible CPU cores. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to customize the number of visible CPU cores:

  • To customize the number of visible CPU cores during VM creation:
    • compute.instances.create on the project
    • To use a custom image to create the VM: compute.images.useReadOnly on the image
    • To use a snapshot to create the VM: compute.snapshots.useReadOnly on the snapshot
    • To use an instance template to create the VM: compute.instanceTemplates.useReadOnly on the instance template
    • To assign a legacy network to the VM: compute.networks.use on the project
    • To specify a static IP address for the VM: compute.addresses.use on the project
    • To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a legacy network: compute.networks.useExternalIp on the project
    • To specify a subnet for the VM: compute.subnetworks.use on the project or on the chosen subnet
    • To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a VPC network: compute.subnetworks.useExternalIp on the project or on the chosen subnet
    • To set VM instance metadata for the VM: compute.instances.setMetadata on the project
    • To set tags for the VM: compute.instances.setTags on the VM
    • To set labels for the VM: compute.instances.setLabels on the VM
    • To set a service account for the VM to use: compute.instances.setServiceAccount on the VM
    • To create a new disk for the VM: compute.disks.create on the project
    • To attach an existing disk in read-only or read-write mode: compute.disks.use on the disk
    • To attach an existing disk in read-only mode: compute.disks.useReadOnly on the disk
  • To customize the number of visible CPU cores on a group of VMs by using an instance template: You need all the permissions you would use during VM creation and the compute.instanceTemplates.create on the project

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

vCPUs and the number of threads per core

The total vCPUs on a machine type is the number of visible CPU cores multiplied by the number of threads per core. For most machine series, the number of threads per core is 2, but you can manually set the number of threads per core to 1.

The following table shows how visible CPU cores, number of threads per core, and total available vCPUs are related using the c2-standard-60 machine type as an example.

Machine type Visible CPU cores Threads per core Available vCPUs
c2-standard-60 30 (default) 2 (default) 60
c2-standard-60 30 (default) 1 30
c2-standard-60 20 2 (default) 40
c2-standard-60 20 1 20

Performance considerations

Reducing the number of visible cores can impact the performance of your VM.

Persistent disk

  • The performance limits of persistent disks depend on the machine type and aren't affected by the number of visible CPU cores. For more information, see Block storage performance.

Networking egress

  • The bandwidth limits of networking egress match the machine type and aren't affected by the number of visible CPU cores. However, networking performance does vary depending on the number of vCPUs that are accessible to the VM. For example, a n2-standard-16 machine type with one visible CPU core might not be able to fully use a 32 Gbps connection.

Pricing

Reducing the number of visible cores can impact the cost of your VMs.

Operating system licensing costs

  • You can lower licensing costs for some operating systems by reducing the number of visible CPU cores. Applicable operating systems are those that charge you for each vCPU that is available to the VM, for example, Windows Server and SQL Server. For more information about the licensing options for these operating systems on Compute Engine, see Microsoft licenses.

VM costs, quota, and capacity

  • VM costs, quota, and capacity remain the same when you customize the number of visible CPU cores because Compute Engine charges, tracks quota, and allocates space on machine types for VMs as if they are using the number of CPU cores of the machine type. For more information about how Compute Engine bills for VMs, see VM instance pricing.

Limitations

  • You cannot customize the number of visible CPU cores while a VM is in the RUNNING state. For more information about VM states, see VM instance lifecycle.

  • In the Google Cloud console, when the number of visible cores is reduced, the CPU utilization metric can't scale up to 100%. It is limited to the number of visible CPU cores divided by the maximum number of CPU cores.

Supported machine types and valid values for each

Many machine types support customization of the number of visible CPU cores. The value for the visible CPU core count must be a whole number. The maximum value is the number of vCPUs—or GPUs for accelerator-optimized machine types—on the machine type divided by the number of threads per core for the VM.

The following table shows the machine types that support this customization, along with the corresponding valid values for visible CPU cores for machine types in those families.

Machine type family Predefined vCPU count* Valid values for visible CPU cores
General purpose
C4 4, 8, 16, 32, 48 Any
C4 96 Multiples of 2
C4 192 Multiples of 4
C3D ≤ 180 Any
C3D 360 Multiples of 2
C3 4, 8, 22, 44 Multiples of 1
C3 88 Multiples of 2
C3 176 Multiples of 4
c3-*-metal 192 Not supported
E2 ≤ 32 Any
N2 ≤ 32 Any
N2 > 32 Multiples of 2
N2D ≤ 24 Any
N2D > 24 Multiples of 2
N4 ≤ 80 Any
N1 ≤ 64 Any
N1 > 64 Multiples of 2
N1 (TPU optimized) 48 Any
N1 (TPU optimized) 96 Multiples of 2
Storage-optimized
Z3 88 Multiples of 2
Z3 176 Multiples of 4
Compute-optimized
H3 88 Multiples of 4
C2 4, 8, 16, 30 Any
C2 60 Multiples of 2
Memory-optimized
M3 128 Multiples of 2
M3 32, 64 Any
M2 208 Multiples of 4
M2 416 Multiples of 8
M1 40 Any
M1 80, 96 Multiples of 2
M1 160 Multiples of 4
Accelerator-optimized
A3 208 Multiples of 2
A2 ≤ 48 Any
A2 96 Multiples of 2
G2 ≤ 48 Any
G2 96 Multiples of 2
* The name for most machine types contain the vCPU count. However, for A3 and A2 accelerator-optimized machine types, the name for the machine type contains the predefined GPU count. To see the vCPU count for the A3 and A2 accelerator-optimized machine types, review the Accelerator-optimized machine family documentation.

Customize the number of visible CPU cores during VM creation

To customize the number of visible CPU cores while creating a single VM, use the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI or the Compute Engine API.

The following example shows how to create a SQL Server VM with a reduced number of visible CPU cores.

Console

To customize the number of visible CPU cores while creating a VM, do the following:

  • In Machine configuration > Advanced configurations > Visible core count, select the number of visible cores.

gcloud

To create a SQL Server VM with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, use the following gcloud compute instances create command:

gcloud compute instances create VM_NAME \
    --image-project=windows-sql-cloud \
    --image-family=sql-ent-2019-win-2019 \
    --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
    --visible-core-count=VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT \
    --zone=ZONE

Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

  • MACHINE_TYPE: a supported machine type, for example, c2-standard-60.

  • VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT: the number of visible CPU cores. For example, when using the c2-standard-60 machine type, if set to 20, and the number of threads per core is 2, 40 of the 60 CPUs are visible.

  • ZONE: the zone to create the VM in.

REST

To create a SQL Server VM with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, use the following instances.insert method:

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances

{
  "name": "VM_NAME",
  ...
  "advanced_machine_features": {
    ...
    "visibleCoreCount": "VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT"
  },
  ...
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project.

  • ZONE: the zone in which to create the VM.

  • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

  • VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT: the number of visible CPU cores. For example, when using the c2-standard-60 machine type, if set to 20, and the number of threads per core is 2, 40 of the 60 CPUs are visible.

Customize the number of visible CPU cores on a group of VMs by using an instance template

To customize the number of visible CPU cores while creating a VM by using an instance template, use the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI or the Compute Engine API.

The following example shows how to create a group of identical SQL Server VMs with a reduced number of visible CPU cores by using an instance template.

Console

To customize the number of visible CPU cores while creating an instance template, do the following:

  • In Machine configuration > Advanced configurations > Visible core count, select the number of visible cores.

gcloud

  1. Create an instance template for SQL Server VMs, each with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, by using the following gcloud compute instance-templates create command:

    gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
   --image-project=windows-sql-cloud \
   --image-family=sql-ent-2019-win-2019 \
   --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
   --visible-core-count=VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT \
   --zone=ZONE

    Replace the following:

    • INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template.

    • MACHINE_TYPE: a supported machine type, for example, c2-standard-60.

    • VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT: the number of visible CPU cores. For example, when using the c2-standard-60 machine type, if set to 20, and the number of threads per core is 2, 40 of the 60 CPUs are visible.

    • ZONE: the zone to create the VMs in.

  2. Create the SQL Server VMs, each with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, by using the following gcloud compute instances create command:

    gcloud compute instances create INSTANCE_NAMES \
   --source-instance-template=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME

    Replace the following:

    • INSTANCE_NAMES: the names of the VMs, separated by spaces, to create from the instance template

    • INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template from which to create the VMs

REST

  1. Create an instance template for SQL Server VMs, each with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, by using the following instanceTemplates.insert method:

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

{
 "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
 ...
 "advanced_machine_features": {
   ...
   "visible_core_count": "VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT"
 },
 ...
}

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project.

    • INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template.

    • VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT: the number of visible CPU cores. For example, when using the c2-standard-60 machine type, if set to 20, and the number of threads per core is 2, 40 of the 60 CPUs are visible.

  2. Create the SQL Server VMs, each with a reduced number of visible CPU cores, by using the following instances.insert method:

    POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances?sourceInstanceTemplate=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME

{
 "name": "VM_NAME",
 ...
}

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project

    • ZONE: the zone to create the VM in

    • INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME: the name of the instance template from which to create the VMs

    • VM_NAME: the name of the VM to create from the instance template

Customize the number of visible CPU cores

To customize the number of visible CPU cores on an existing VM, use the Google Cloud console, gcloud CLI or the Compute Engine API.

If you customized the number of visible CPU cores on a group of VMs by using an instance template, you must create a new instance template and then create new VMs from that instance template. For more information about instance templates, see Instance templates.

Console

To customize the number of visible CPU cores on an existing VM, do the following:

  1. Stop the VM.

  2. In Machine configuration > Advanced configurations > Visible core count, select the number of visible cores.

  3. Restart the VM.

gcloud

To update the value for the number of visible CPU cores on an existing VM, use the following steps. For more information, see Update instance properties.

  1. Export the existing VM properties to a file by using the gcloud compute instances export command.

  2. In the file containing the exported properties, modify or add the value for the following:

    advancedMachineFeatures:
 visibleCoreCount: VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT

  3. Update the VM's properties by using the gcloud compute instances update-from-file command with --most-disruptive-allowed-action=RESTART.

REST

To update the visible CPU core count of the VM, use the following instances.update method:

PUT https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME?most_disruptive_allowed_action=RESTART

{
  ...
  "advanced_machine_features": {
    ...
    "visible_core_count": "VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT"
  },
  ...
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the project

  • ZONE: the zone that contains the VM

  • VM_NAME: the name of the VM from which to export properties

  • VISIBLE_CORE_COUNT: the number of visible CPU cores

What's next