Limit the runtime of a VM


This document explains how to use automatic termination to limit the runtime of new or existing virtual machine (VM) instances and how to subsequently monitor the runtime of those VMs.

You can optimize temporary workloads by automatically limiting VM runtimes, which helps minimize costs and free up quota. Automatic termination lets you schedule a VM to be terminated (stopped or deleted) when it reaches a specific time limit (duration or time).

To learn more about stopping a VM, see Stop and start a VM. To learn more about deleting a VM, see Delete a VM.

Alternatively, to schedule VM runtimes for recurring workloads, see Schedule a VM to start and stop instead.

Before you begin

  • To get the permissions that you need to automatic termination, 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.

    You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

  • If you haven't already, 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 as follows.

    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. Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:

      gcloud init
    2. Set a default region and zone.

    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.

      Install the Google Cloud CLI, then initialize it by running the following command:

      gcloud init

Restrictions

Automatic termination has the following restrictions:

  • Automatic termination is automatically cleared any time that the VM is stopped or suspended. This restriction is intended to prevent accidental termination of a VM that has either finished running or been interrupted, then started again without being updated.

  • Automatic termination has a minimum time limit of 30 seconds and a maximum time limit of 120 days.

  • Automatic termination might take up to 30 seconds longer than the duration or time you specify to begin stopping or deleting the VM.

  • You cannot use automatic termination with legacy preemptible VMs. Instead, use automatic termination with Spot VMs.

If you want to schedule a VM to be stopped regardless of interruptions or for a larger maximum time limit, use instance schedules instead.

Limit the runtime of a new VM

The following sections describe how to configure automatic termination while creating a new VM.

Specify when you want the VM to be terminated by setting the time limit as either a duration or time.

Set a duration

A duration represents the total desired runtime for a VM. To create a VM that is automatically terminated after the VM runs for a specific duration, use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or Compute Engine API.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create an instance page.

    Go to Create an instance

  2. In the Availability policies section, expand VM provisioning model advanced settings.

  3. To enable automatic termination, select the Set a time limit for the VM checkbox. The Time limit type field appears.

  4. In the Time limit type field, select By hours (default) to specify the time limit as a duration. In the following field, enter the duration in hours.

  5. In the On VM termination list, select what happens when the runtime of the VM reaches the specified time limit:

    • To automatically stop the VM, select Stop (default).
    • To delete the VM, select Delete.
  6. Optional: Specify other VM options. For more information, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

  7. To create and start the VM, click Create.

gcloud

To create a VM from the gcloud CLI, use the gcloud beta compute instances create command. To create a VM that is automatically terminated after a specific duration, you must include the --max-run-duration flag. To specify the termination action, include the --instance-termination-action flag, which is optional for Spot VMs.

gcloud beta compute instances create VM_NAME \
    --max-run-duration=DURATION \
    --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION

Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: The name of the new VM.
  • DURATION: The duration you want this VM to run before being automatically terminated. Format the duration as the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds followed by d, h, m, and s respectively. For example, specify 30m for a duration of 30 minutes, or specify 1d2h3m4s for a duration of 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 4 seconds. The minimum duration is 30 seconds (30s) and the maximum duration is 120 days (120d).
  • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model:
    • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the --provisioning-model=SPOT flag), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is optional. If this flag is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
    • Otherwise (default), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is required.

For more information about other options you can specify when creating a VM, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

REST

To create a VM from the Compute Engine API, use the beta instances.insert method. You must specify a name, machine type, and boot disk for the VM.

To create a VM that is automatically terminated after a specific duration, you must include the maxRunDuration field. To specify the termination action, include the instanceTerminationAction field, which is optional for Spot VMs.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances
{
  "machineType": "zones/ZONE/machineTypes/MACHINE_TYPE",
  "name": "VM_NAME",
  "disks": [
    {
      "initializeParams": {
        "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/IMAGE"
      },
      "boot": true
    }
  ]
  "scheduling":
  {
    "maxRunDuration":
    {
      "seconds": DURATION
    },
    "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION"
  },
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: The project id of the project to create the VM in.
  • ZONE: The zone to create the VM in. The zone must also support the machine type to use for the new VM.
  • MACHINE_TYPE: The predefined or custom machine type for the new VM.
  • VM_NAME: The name of the new VM.
  • IMAGE_PROJECT: The project containing the image. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image, specify debian-cloud as the image project.
  • IMAGE: The image for the new VM. You can specify either a specific version of a public image or an image family. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image and debian-cloud as the image project, Compute Engine creates a VM from the latest version of the OS image in the Debian 10 image family.
  • DURATION: The duration in seconds that you want this VM to run before being automatically terminated. The minimum duration is 30 seconds (30s) and the maximum duration is 120 days (120d).
  • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model:
    • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the "provisioningModel": "SPOT" field), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is optional. If this field is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
    • Otherwise (default), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is required.

For more information about the options you can specify when creating a VM, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

Set a time

A time represents the date, time, and timezone when you want a VM to be terminated. To create a VM that is automatically terminated at a specific time, use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or Compute Engine API.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create an instance page.

    Go to Create an instance

  2. In the Availability policies section, expand VM provisioning model advanced settings.

  3. To enable automatic termination, select the Set a time limit for the VM checkbox. The Time limit type field appears.

  4. In the Time limit type field, select By date to specify the time limit as a time and date. In the following field, click Select date and time and select the date, time, and timezone for automatic termination.

  5. In the On VM termination list, select what happens when the runtime of the VM reaches the specified time limit:

    • To automatically stop the VM, select Stop (default).
    • To delete the VM, select Delete.
  6. Optional: Specify other VM options. For more information, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

  7. To create and start the VM, click Create.

gcloud

To create a VM from the gcloud CLI, use the gcloud beta compute instances create command. To create a VM that is automatically terminated at a specific time, you must include the --termination-time flag. To specify the termination action, include the --instance-termination-action flag, which is optional for Spot VMs.

gcloud beta compute instances create VM_NAME \
    --termination-time=TIME \
    --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION

Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: The name of the new VM.
  • TIME: The time you want this VM to be automatically terminated. The time you specify must be at least 30 seconds in the future and at most 120 days in the future. Format the time as a RFC 3339 timestamp:

    YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSOFFSET
    

    Replace the following:

    • YYYY-MM-DD: A date formatted as a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of the month separated by hyphens.
    • HH:MM:SS: A time formatted as a 2-digit hour using 24-hour time, 2-digit minute, and 2-digit second separated by colons.
    • OFFSET: The time zone formatted as an offset of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example, to use Pacific Standard Time (PST), which is 8 hours earlier than UTC, specify -08:00. Alternatively, to use no offset (UTC+0), specify Z.
  • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model:

    • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the --provisioning-model=SPOT flag), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is optional. If this flag is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
    • Otherwise (default), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is required.

For more information about other options you can specify when creating a VM, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

REST

To create a VM from the Compute Engine API, use the beta instances.insert method. You must specify a name, machine type, and boot disk for the VM.

To create a VM that is automatically terminated at a specific time, you must include the terminationTime field. To specify the termination action, include the instanceTerminationAction field, which is optional for Spot VMs.

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances
{
  "machineType": "zones/ZONE/machineTypes/MACHINE_TYPE",
  "name": "VM_NAME",
  "disks": [
    {
      "initializeParams": {
        "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/IMAGE"
      },
      "boot": true
    }
  ]
  "scheduling":
  {
    "terminationTime": "TIME",
    "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION"
  },
}

Replace the following:

  • PROJECT_ID: The project id of the project to create the VM in.
  • ZONE: The zone to create the VM in. The zone must also support the machine type to use for the new VM.
  • MACHINE_TYPE: The predefined or custom machine type for the new VM.
  • VM_NAME: The name of the new VM.
  • IMAGE_PROJECT: The project containing the image. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image, specify debian-cloud as the image project.
  • IMAGE: The image for the new VM. You can specify either a specific version of a public image or an image family. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image and debian-cloud as the image project, Compute Engine creates a VM from the latest version of the OS image in the Debian 10 image family.
  • TIME: The time you want this VM to be automatically terminated. The time you specify must be at least 30 seconds in the future and at most 120 days in the future. Format the time as a RFC 3339 timestamp:

    YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSOFFSET
    

    Replace the following:

    • YYYY-MM-DD: A date formatted as a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of the month separated by hyphens.
    • HH:MM:SS: A time formatted as a 2-digit hour using 24-hour time, 2-digit minute, and 2-digit second separated by colons.
    • OFFSET: The time zone formatted as an offset of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example, to use Pacific Standard Time (PST), which is 8 hours earlier than UTC, specify -08:00. Alternatively, to use no offset (UTC+0), specify Z.
  • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model::

    • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the "provisioningModel": "SPOT" field), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is optional. If this field is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
    • Otherwise (default), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is required.

For more information about the options you can specify when creating a VM, see Creating and starting a VM instance.

Limit the runtime of an existing VM

You can limit the runtime of an existing VM by updating the VM's schedule. If you do not already understand how to configure settings for automatic termination, consider reviewing the previous sections about how to limit the runtime of a new VM first.

You can use the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, or Compute Engine API to update the VM's schedule, as described in this section; but this method requires that you first stop your VM, then set its schedule, then restart it. Alternatively, if you want to update multiple VM properties at once and automatically stop and restart a VM while setting its properties, see Update instance properties instead.

Console

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

    Go to VM instances

  2. In the Name column, click the name of the VM that you want to update.

  3. From the VM instance details page, complete the following steps:

    1. If the VM is running, click Stop to stop the VM.
    2. To edit the VM, click Edit.
    3. On the Edit instance page, complete the following steps:

      1. In the Availability policies section, modify the Set a time limit for the VM checkbox and any fields below it as desired.

        For more information about how to configure the properties for automatic termination, see limit the runtime of a new VM.

      2. To save your changes, click Save.

    4. Optional: If you want to start running the VM now, click Start.

gcloud

To update a VM's schedule for automatic termination by using the gcloud CLI, complete the following steps:

  1. If the VM is running, stop the VM by using the gcloud compute instances stop command:

    gcloud compute instances stop VM_NAME
    

    Replace VM_NAME with the name of VM that you want to update.

  2. Update the VM's settings for automatic termination by using the gcloud beta compute instances set-scheduling command. You must include either the --max-run-duration flag or the --termination-time flag to set the time limit as either a duration or time, respectively:

    • To set a duration, use the following command:

      gcloud beta compute instances set-scheduling VM_NAME \
          --max-run-duration=DURATION \
          --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION
      
    • To set a time, use the following command:

      gcloud beta compute instances set-scheduling VM_NAME \
          --termination-time=TIME \
          --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION
      

    Replace the following:

    • VM_NAME: The name of the VM that you want to update.
    • DURATION: The duration you want this VM to run before being automatically terminated. Format the duration as the number of days, hours, minutes, and seconds followed by d, h, m, and s respectively. For example, specify 30m for a duration of 30 minutes, or specify 1d2h3m4s for a duration of 1 day, 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 4 seconds. The minimum duration is 30 seconds (30s) and the maximum duration is 120 days (120d).
    • TIME: The time you want this VM to be automatically terminated. The time you specify must be at least 30 seconds in the future and at most 120 days in the future. Format the time as a RFC 3339 timestamp:

      YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSOFFSET
      

      Replace the following:

      • YYYY-MM-DD: a date formatted as a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of the month separated by hyphens.
      • HH:MM:SS: a time formatted as a 2-digit hour using 24-hour time, 2-digit minute, and 2-digit second separated by colons.
      • OFFSET: the time zone formatted as an offset of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example, to use Pacific Standard Time (PST), which is 8 hours earlier than UTC, specify -08:00. Alternatively, to use no offset (UTC+0), specify Z.
    • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model:

      • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the --provisioning-model=SPOT flag), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is optional. If this flag is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
      • Otherwise (default), the --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION flag is required.
  3. If you want the VM to start running, start the VM by using the gcloud compute instances start command:

    gcloud compute instances start VM_NAME
    

    Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM.

REST

To update a VM's schedule for automatic termination by using the Compute Engine API, complete the following steps:

  1. If the VM is running, stop the VM by using the instances.stop method:

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

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: The project id of the project that contains the VM.
    • ZONE: The zone that contains the VM.
    • VM_NAME: The name of the VM that you want to update.
  2. Update the VM's scheduling property, including fields for automatic termination by using the beta instances.setScheduling method. Include either the maxRunDuration field or the terminationTime field to set the time limit as either a duration or time, respectively:

    • To set a duration, use the following request:

      POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/setScheduling
      {
        "maxRunDuration":
        {
          "seconds": DURATION
        },
        "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION"
      }
      
    • To set a time, use the following request:

      POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instances/VM_NAME/setScheduling
      {
        "terminationTime": "TIME",
        "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION"
      }
      

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: The project id of the project to create the VM in.
    • ZONE: The zone to create the VM in. The zone must also support the machine type to use for the new VM.
    • MACHINE_TYPE: The predefined or custom machine type for the new VM.
    • VM_NAME: The name of the new VM.
    • IMAGE_PROJECT: The project containing the image. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image, specify debian-cloud as the image project.
    • IMAGE: The image for the new VM. You can specify either a specific version of a public image or an image family. For example, if you specify family/debian-10 as the image and debian-cloud as the image project, Compute Engine creates a VM from the latest version of the OS image in the Debian 10 image family.
    • DURATION: The duration in seconds that you want this VM to run before being automatically terminated. The minimum duration is 30 seconds (30s) and the maximum duration is 120 days (120d).
    • TIME: The time you want this VM to be automatically terminated. The time you specify must be at least 30 seconds in the future and at most 120 days in the future. Format the time as a RFC 3339 timestamp:

      YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSOFFSET
      

      Replace the following:

      • YYYY-MM-DD: A date formatted as a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day of the month separated by hyphens.
      • HH:MM:SS: A time formatted as a 2-digit hour using 24-hour time, 2-digit minute, and 2-digit second separated by colons.
      • OFFSET: The time zone formatted as an offset of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). For example, to use Pacific Standard Time (PST), which is 8 hours earlier than UTC, specify -08:00. Alternatively, to use no offset (UTC+0), specify Z.
    • TERMINATION_ACTION: The termination action for this VM, which can be either stop (STOP) or delete (DELETE). Whether this field is required or has a default value varies based on the VM's provisioning model:

      • If this is a Spot VM (if the VM uses the "provisioningModel": "SPOT" field), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is optional. If this field is omitted, the default termination action is stop.
      • Otherwise (default), the "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION" field is required.
  3. If you want the VM to start running, start the VM by using the instances.start method:

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

    Replace the following:

    • PROJECT_ID: the project id of the project that contains the VM.
    • ZONE: the zone that contains the VM.
    • VM_NAME: the name of the VM.

Monitor the runtime of a VM

To monitor a VM's runtime—for example, to see if a VM was interrupted before it is scheduled for automatic termination—view VM operations. To identify VM operations that are caused by automatic termination, look for the following operation types:

  • compute.instances.deferredStop for a termination action of stop
  • compute.instances.deferredDelete for a termination action of delete

What's next