Creating a Container-Optimized Deployment

This full example describes how to create a deployment with a virtual machine that uses a container-optimized image. For more information on using containers with Compute Engine, see Container-Optimized Compute Engine Images.

This walk-through describes how to:

  1. Create a simple container manifest.
  2. Create a configuration and template that uses a container image.
  3. Deploy your resources and verify that the deployment was successful.

Create a container manifest

To use containers, you must define a container manifest. The manifest describes properties such as the container image, containers to launch, commands to execute on boot, and ports to enable.

Create a file named container_manifest.yaml with the following contents:

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

# This is a container manifest, as described here:
#   https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/containers/container_vms
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: simple-echo
spec:
  containers:
    - name: simple-echo
      image: gcr.io/google-samples/hello-app:2.0
      imagePullPolicy: Always
      ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
          hostPort: 8080

This manifest creates a container named simple-echo that uses the Hello Application container image and launches an echo server that listens on port 8080.

Create a template and configuration

Next, create a template that launches a virtual machine instance with a container-optimized image. Create a file named container_vm.[jinja|py] with the following contents:

Jinja 

{#
Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
#}

{% set COMPUTE_URL_BASE = 'https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/' %}
{% set BASE_NAME = env['deployment'] + '-' + env['name'] %}

{% macro GlobalComputeUrl(project, collection, name) -%}
{{ COMPUTE_URL_BASE }}projects/{{ project }}/global/{{ collection }}/{{ name }}
{%- endmacro %}

{% macro ZonalComputeUrl(project, zone, collection, name) -%}
{{ COMPUTE_URL_BASE }}projects/{{ project }}/zones/{{ zone }}/{{ collection }}/{{ name }}
{%- endmacro %}

resources:
- name: {{ BASE_NAME }}
  type: compute.v1.instance
  properties:
    zone: {{ properties['zone'] }}
    machineType: {{ ZonalComputeUrl(env['project'], properties['zone'], 'machineTypes', 'n1-standard-1') }}
    metadata:
      items:
        - key: gce-container-declaration
          value: |
            {{ imports[properties['containerManifest']]|indent(12) }}
    disks:
      - deviceName: boot
        type: PERSISTENT
        autoDelete: true
        boot: true
        initializeParams:
          diskName: {{ BASE_NAME }}-disk
          sourceImage: {{ GlobalComputeUrl('cos-cloud', 'images', properties['containerImage']) }}
    networkInterfaces:
      - accessConfigs:
          - name: external-nat
            type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT
        network: {{ GlobalComputeUrl(env['project'],  'networks', 'default') }}
    serviceAccounts:
      - email: default
        scopes:
        - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write
        - https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write

Python 

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

"""Creates a Container VM with the provided Container manifest."""


COMPUTE_URL_BASE = 'https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/'


def GlobalComputeUrl(project, collection, name):
  return ''.join([COMPUTE_URL_BASE, 'projects/', project,
                  '/global/', collection, '/', name])


def ZonalComputeUrl(project, zone, collection, name):
  return ''.join([COMPUTE_URL_BASE, 'projects/', project,
                  '/zones/', zone, '/', collection, '/', name])


def GenerateConfig(context):
  """Generate configuration."""

  res = []
  base_name = (context.env['deployment'] + '-' +
               context.env['name'])

  # Properties for the container-based instance.
  instance = {
      'zone': context.properties['zone'],
      'machineType': ZonalComputeUrl(context.env['project'],
                                     context.properties['zone'],
                                     'machineTypes',
                                     'n1-standard-1'),
      'metadata': {
          'items': [{
              'key': 'gce-container-declaration',
              'value': context.imports[
                  context.properties['containerManifest']],
              }]
      },
      'disks': [{
          'deviceName': 'boot',
          'type': 'PERSISTENT',
          'autoDelete': True,
          'boot': True,
          'initializeParams': {
              'diskName': base_name + '-disk',
              'sourceImage': GlobalComputeUrl('cos-cloud',
                                              'images',
                                              context.properties[
                                                  'containerImage'])
              },
      }],
      'networkInterfaces': [{
          'accessConfigs': [{
              'name': 'external-nat',
              'type': 'ONE_TO_ONE_NAT'
              }],
          'network': GlobalComputeUrl(context.env['project'],
                                      'networks',
                                      'default')
      }],
      'serviceAccounts': [{
          'email': 'default',
          'scopes': [
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write",
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring.write"
          ]
      }]
  }
  res.append({
      'name': base_name,
      'type': 'compute.v1.instance',
      'properties': instance
  })
  # Resources to return.
  resources = {
      'resources': res,
  }

  return resources

Create the corresponding schema file, which enforces the structure of the template:

Jinja 

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

info:
  title: Container VM
  author: Google Inc.
  description: Creates a Container VM with the provided Container manifest.

required:
  - zone
  - containerImage
  - containerManifest

properties:
  zone:
    description: Zone in which this VM will run
    type: string
  containerImage:
    description: Name of the Google Cloud Container VM Image
    type: string
  containerManifest:
    description: String containing the Container Manifest in YAML
    type: string

Python 

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

info:
  title: Container VM
  author: Google Inc.
  description: Creates a Container VM with the provided Container manifest.

required:
  - zone
  - containerImage
  - containerManifest

properties:
  zone:
    description: Zone in which this VM will run
    type: string
  containerImage:
    description: Name of the Google Cloud Container VM Image
    type: string
  containerManifest:
    description: String containing the Container Manifest in YAML
    type: string

Notice there are a number of parameters defined in this template including:

  • The deployment, name, and project environment variables. Deployment Manager automatically populates those variables without additional action from you.
  • The zone, containerImage, and containerManifest properties, which will be defined in the configuration.

Create a configuration file named container_vm.yaml that looks like the following:

Jinja 

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

imports:
- path: ../../common/container_manifest.yaml
  name: container_manifest
- path: container_vm.jinja

resources:
  - name: my-container-vm
    type: container_vm.jinja
    properties:
      zone: ZONE_TO_RUN
      containerImage: family/cos-stable
      containerManifest: container_manifest

Python 

# Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

imports:
- path: ../../common/container_manifest.yaml
  name: container_manifest
- path: container_vm.py

resources:
  - name: my-container-vm
    type: container_vm.py
    properties:
      zone: ZONE_TO_RUN
      containerImage: family/cos-stable
      containerManifest: container_manifest

Make sure to replace ZONE_TO_RUN with the desired zone for your virtual machine. Notice that the file has also defined the container image to use and the container manifest that you created earlier.

Deploy your virtual machine instance

Finally, deploy your virtual machine instance using the Google Cloud CLI:

gcloud deployment-manager deployments create my-container-deployment \
  --config container_vm.yaml

Once the deployment has been created, you can view the details of your deployment. For example:

$ gcloud deployment-manager deployments describe my-container-deployment
creationTimestamp: '2015-04-02T12:24:31.645-07:00'
fingerprint: ''
id: '8602410885927938432'
manifest: https://www.googleapis.com/deploymentmanager/v2/projects/myproject/global/deployments/my-container-deployment/manifests/manifest-1428002671645
name: my-container-deployment
state: DEPLOYED
resources:
NAME                                     TYPE                 ID                   UPDATE_STATE  ERRORS
my-container-deployment-my-container-vm  compute.v1.instance  3775082612632070557  COMPLETED     -

Verify that your instance is running

To test that your container instance started up, visit the virtual machine's external IP address in your browser, which should print hello world:

  1. Add a Compute Engine firewall rule to allow you to query traffic on the virtual machine through port 8080:

    gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-8080 --allow tcp:8080

  2. Get your instance's external IP address:

    $ gcloud compute instances describe my-container-deployment-my-container-vm
...
name: my-container-vm-my-container-deployment
networkInterfaces:
- accessConfigs:
  - kind: compute#accessConfig
    name: external-nat
    natIP: 104.197.8.138
    type: ONE_TO_ONE_NAT
  name: nic0
  network: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/myproject/global/networks/default
  networkIP: 10.240.97.220
scheduling:
  automaticRestart: true
  onHostMaintenance: MIGRATE
selfLink: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/myproject/zones/us-central1-a/instances/my-container-deployment-my-container-vm
status: RUNNING
tags:
  fingerprint: 42WmSpB8rSM=
zone: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/myproject/zones/us-central1-a
...

    In this case, the external IP is 104.197.8.138.

  3. In a browser window, enter in the external IP and port 8080 in the browser bar. For example, 104.197.8.138:8080.

    If successful, you should see a hello world message.

(Optional) Delete your deployment

If you want to save on costs and no longer want or need your deployment, delete your deployment.

gcloud deployment-manager deployments delete my-container-deployment

What's next

Explore more about Deployment Manager in the Complete User Guides or through the API.

Try out some other tutorials: