Order hardware

This page describes how to order Google Distributed Cloud connected hardware. Distributed Cloud connected is available in the following countries:

  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Singapore
  • South Korea
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

Before you order the hardware, you must meet the Distributed Cloud connected installation requirements.

Distributed Cloud connected order types

You can order the Distributed Cloud connected hardware in one of the following ways, based on your business requirements:

  • Google-owned hardware. You can order the Distributed Cloud connected hardware directly from Google. In this scenario, Google sources, maintains, repairs, and decommissions the Distributed Cloud connected hardware. When your contract concludes, Google collects the Distributed Cloud hardware and destroys all data stored on it.

  • Customer-sourced hardware. You can order Distributed Cloud connected from a Google-partnered system integrator (SI) after consulting with Google on a deployment configuration that fits your business requirements. In this scenario, you own the Distributed Cloud connected hardware. The SI works with you and Google to deploy, repair, and decommission the hardware. When your contract concludes, the SI wipes all Google software and your data from the Distributed Cloud connected hardware. You are then free to reuse or dispose of the hardware.

Prerequisites

You must have the following information ready before placing an order:

  • Order contact. A person responsible for managing the deployment of Distributed Cloud connected hardware at your organization.

  • Site contact. A person responsible for the selected deployment site. Google contacts this person to schedule and complete the delivery of your Distributed Cloud connected hardware. This person also coordinates hardware repairs and decommissioning with Google or a Google-partnered SI.

  • Zone contact. A person responsible for integrating the Distributed Cloud connected hardware into the existing networking and power infrastructure at the deployment site.

  • Order identifier. A meaningful identifier for this Distributed Cloud connected hardware order.

  • Site identifier. A meaningful identifier for the deployment site for this Distributed Cloud connected hardware order.

  • Zone identifier. A meaningful identifier for the target Distributed Cloud connected zone. If you're only deploying one zone per site, use the site identifier as the zone identifier.

Order Distributed Cloud connected hardware using the Google Cloud console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Orders page.

    Go to Orders

  2. Click Create order.

  3. Fill out the request form and submit it.

A Google Cloud sales representative reviews your submission and contacts you to complete the order. The representative does the following:

  • Reviews your business requirements to help you finalize your hardware configuration.
  • Collects further information about your local network, Google Cloud project, installation site, and other requirements listed in the installation requirements.
  • Uses this information to configure your Distributed Cloud hardware before delivery.

Order Distributed Cloud connected hardware using the GDC Hardware Management API

The GDC Hardware Management API lets you to programmatically place an order for Distributed Cloud hardware. An order constitutes your intent to deploy Distributed Cloud connected. An order must include the following information, which is used throughout the lifetime of your Distributed Cloud connected deployment:

  • Point of contact for order management and delivery
  • Delivery site address and any information relevant to delivery
  • Hardware configuration
  • Network configuration

You must work with your Google sales representative to complete the Customer Information Questionnaire (CIQ) and finalize the scope and configuration of your Distributed Cloud connected deployment.

Enable the GDC Hardware Management API

Before you can use the GDC Hardware Management API, you must enable it on the target Google Cloud project. To do so, complete the steps in this section.

Console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the GDC Hardware Management API page.

    Enable the API

  2. Click Enable.

gcloud

Use the following command:

gcloud services enable gdchardwaremanagement.googleapis.com

Structure of an order

To place an order using the GDC Hardware Management API, you must create an Order resource, plus the accompanying Site, Zone, and Hardware resources that the Order resources references. You then submit the Order resource to Google. These resources support standard CRUD operations. The name of each resource is a path that includes the target Google Cloud project ID and Google Cloud region.

These resources have the following functions. For more information on using the GDC Hardware Management API, see the Google Distributed Cloud CLI and API reference.

  • Order. This resource requests the creation of one or more Distributed Cloud zones. When you create this resource, it receives a name accessible in the create_order_response.name field. The Order resource name has the following format:

    `projects/`PROJECT_ID`/locations/`REGION`/orders/`ORDER_ID

    where:

    • PROJECT_ID: the ID of the target Google Cloud project.
    • REGION: the Google Cloud region in which you want to deploy your Distributed Cloud zones.
    • ORDER_ID: a unique ID that identifies this order. If omitted, a value is automatically generated. We recommend that you provide a unique order ID value consisting of lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes. Otherwise, failed order creation calls can generate duplicate orders.

  • Site. This resource represents the physical location where you want to deploy your Distributed Cloud hardware. This resource includes the contact information of a responsible party who coordinates access for initial delivery and future maintenance. This contact might be different from the one you provided on the order.

  • Hardware. This resource instantiates a Distributed Cloud connected SKU and represents a Distributed Cloud server or rack. Each Hardware resource references the associated Order,Site, and Zone resources. To see the available SKUs, use the ListSkus API call.

  • Zone. This resource specifies the network configuration of your Distributed Cloud connected machines and associated clusters. A Distributed Cloud zone covers one or more Distributed Cloud connected racks or all of the Distributed Cloud connected server machines deployed at your location.

When you submit an Order resource to Google and its status changes from DRAFT to SUBMITTED or INFO_COMPLETE, most of the field values become read-only.

Lifecycle of an order

An Order resource can have one of the states listed in State. Involved parties can leave comments on the order, which are stored as Comment resources nested under the corresponding Order resource. You can read and submit comments through both the GDC Hardware Management API and the Google Cloud console.

The GDC Hardware Management API supports the following order lifecycle operations:

  • Create and submit an order. You can create and immediately submit an order, or build it gradually and save it in a DRAFT state until you're ready to submit it. This process is described in the remainder of this guide.

  • Check order status. If the order is submitted with type INFO_COMPLETE and you have signed a contract with Google, the order proceeds through the following state succession: ACCEPTED, BUILDING, SHIPPING, INSTALLING and COMPLETED. The states of the associated Zone and Hardware resources are updated in lockstep with the Order resource.

  • Resolve order issues. If we need more information from you or you have not signed a contract with Google, the order enters the ADDITIONAL_INFO_NEEDED state and awaits resolution through comments. Look for further instructions in a comment, and contact Google if the next steps are at any point unclear.

  • Delete an unsubmitted order. You can delete an unsubmitted order with a DELETE call.

  • Modify a submitted order. You can modify the submitted order, site, and zone contact information using the respective PATCH call.

  • Cancel a submitted order. You can cancel a submitted order by adding a comment to it requesting the cancellation.

Select the target Google Cloud project

A Google Cloud project is a construct that encapsulates a set of Google Cloud resources, makes them available for you to use, and establishes rules for access control and billing for those resources.

We recommend that you create a separate Google Cloud project per administrative domain, such as a country or corporate department, and high-level use case, such as edge versus core, and manage your Distributed Cloud connected deployment for the domain through that Google Cloud project.

The Google Cloud project lets you perform the following management tasks:

  • Order Distributed Cloud connected hardware.
  • Configure Distributed Cloud connected clusters and register them in a fleet.
  • Manage software rollouts.
  • Manage Distributed Cloud connected data in Cloud Storage.
  • Manage Distributed Cloud connected credentials in Secret Manager.
  • Manage Distributed Cloud connected logs and metrics in Cloud Monitoring.

Your exact Google Cloud project topology depends on your business requirements. We recommend that you avoid cross-project dependencies and always create and use resources inside each Google Cloud project.

Hardware ordered within a specific Google Cloud project is always managed in that Google Cloud project.

Select the target Google Cloud region

The specific choice of Google Cloud regions for your Distributed Cloud connected deployment depends on your business requirements and legal ramifications of your target geographical locations.

If you're integrating your Distributed Cloud connected deployment into an existing multi-region Google Cloud footprint, we recommend that you map each Distributed Cloud connected zone to the Google Cloud region hosting that zone's dependencies.

If you're not integrating Distributed Cloud connected deployment with an existing Google Cloud footprint, we recommend that you diversify your Google Cloud region selection for increased reliability. For example:

  • Map each Distributed Cloud connected zone to its nearest supported Google Cloud region. This limits the impact of a management plane fault to a single geographic region.

  • Stripe your Distributed Cloud connected across several Google Cloud regions. This limits the number of Distributed Cloud connected zones that can be affected by a management plane fault; however, the impacted zones are spread over a larger geographical region.

    Distributed Cloud connected supports the following Google Cloud regions:

  • Asia: asia-east1, asia-east2, asia-northeast1, asia-northeast3, asia-south1, asia-south2, asia-southeast1, asia-southeast2

  • Europe: europe-central2, europe-north1, europe-west1, europe-west2, europe-west3, europe-west4, europe-west6, europe-west8, europe-west9

  • Middle East: me-central1, me-west1

  • Oceania: australia-southeast1

  • North America: northamerica-northeast1, northamerica-northeast2, us-central1, us-central2, us-east1, us-east4, us-east5, us-east7, us-south1, us-west1, us-west2, us-west3, us-west4, us-west8

  • South America: southamerica-east1, southamerica-west1

Set up your environment

Before you begin, complete the following prerequisites:

  1. Set up a Python development environment.

  2. Install the GDC Hardware Management API client library using the following command:

    python3 -m pip install google-cloud-gdchardwaremanagement

  3. Enable the GDC Hardware Management API on the target Google Cloud project.

Create and submit a Distributed Cloud connected hardware order using the GDC Hardware Management API

The steps in this section are examples that illustrate how to create and submit an an Order resource to Google using the GDC Hardware Management API. To complete the steps in this section, you must have the GDC Hardware Management Admin (roles/gdchardwaremanagement.admin) role in your Google Cloud project.

  1. Create an Order resource. For example:

    import datetime
from google.cloud import gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha
from google.protobuf.timestamp_pb2 import Timestamp
from google.type import postal_address_pb2

client = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.GDCHardwareManagementClient()

contact = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Contact(
    given_name="John",
    family_name="Customer",
    email="jcustomer@example.com",
    phone="+1 123 456 7890",
)

organization_contact = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.OrganizationContact(
    address=postal_address_pb2.PostalAddress(
        organization="Example Organization",
        address_lines=["1800 Amphibious Blvd."],
        locality="Mountain View",
        administrative_area="CA",
        postal_code="94045",
        region_code="US",
    ),
    contacts=[contact],
)

order = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Order(
    organization_contact=organization_contact,
    customer_motivation="I like Google Distributed Cloud!",
    fulfillment_time=Timestamp(
        seconds=int(datetime.datetime(2024, 11, 22, 9, 0).timestamp()),
    ),
    region_code="US",
)

create_order_response = client.create_order(
    request=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.CreateOrderRequest(
        parent="projects/myProject/locations/us-east1",
        order_id="myOrderID",
        order=order,
    ),
).result()

    Your order is now in DRAFT state and has been assigned a resource name stored in the create_order_response.name field. Use this resource name when modifying or tracking the status of this order.

  2. Create a Site resource. For example:

    site = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Site(
    organization_contact=organization_contact,
    google_maps_pin_uri="https://maps.app.goo.gl/z7bE8z8fffg6Sri46",
)

create_site_response = client.create_site(
    request=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.CreateSiteRequest(
        parent="projects/myProject/locations/us-east1",
        site_id="mySite",
        site=site,
    ),
).result()

  3. Create a Zone resource. For example:

    zone = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Zone(
    contacts=[contact],
    network_config=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.ZoneNetworkConfig(
        management_ipv4_subnet=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Subnet(
            address_range="192.0.2.0/24",
            default_gateway_ip_address="192.0.2.1",
        ),
        machine_mgmt_ipv4_range="192.0.2.8/29",
        kubernetes_ipv4_subnet=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Subnet(
            address_range="203.0.113.0/24",
            default_gateway_ip_address="203.0.113.1",
        ),
        kubernetes_node_ipv4_range="203.0.113.8/29",
        kubernetes_control_plane_ipv4_range="203.0.113.16/29",
    ),
)

create_zone_response = client.create_zone(
    request=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.CreateZoneRequest(
        parent="projects/myProject/locations/us-east1",
        zone_id="myZone",
        zone=zone,
    ),
).result()

  4. Create the Hardware resources. You must specify a unique hardware_id value for each machine in your Distributed Cloud connected deployment. For example:

    from google.type import date_pb2

hardware = gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Hardware(
    order=create_order_response.name,
    site=create_site_response.name,
    zone=create_zone_response.name,
    config=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.HardwareConfig(
        sku="projects/myProject/locations/us-east1/skus/gdce-server-l",
        power_supply=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.PowerSupply.POWER_SUPPLY_AC,
    ),
    physical_info=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.HardwarePhysicalInfo(
        power_receptacle=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.HardwarePhysicalInfo.PowerReceptacleType.NEMA_5_15,
        network_uplink=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.HardwarePhysicalInfo.NetworkUplinkType.RJ_45,
        voltage=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.HardwarePhysicalInfo.Voltage.VOLTAGE_110,
        amperes=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.HardwarePhysicalInfo.Amperes.AMPERES_15,
    ),
    installation_info=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.HardwareInstallationInfo(
        rack_location="Floor 2, Room 201, Row 7, Rack 3",
        power_distance_meters=2,
        switch_distance_meters=2,
        rack_unit_dimensions=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.Dimensions(
            width_inches=19,
            height_inches=1.75,
            depth_inches=30,
        ),
        rack_space=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.RackSpace(
            start_rack_unit=12,
            end_rack_unit=12,
        ),
        rack_type=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.HardwareInstallationInfo.RackType.FOUR_POST,
    ),
    requested_installation_date=date_pb2.Date(year=2024, month=11, day=22),
)

create_hardware_response = client.create_hardware(
    request=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.CreateHardwareRequest(
        parent="projects/myProject/locations/us-east1",
        hardware_id="machineHardwareID",
        hardware=hardware,
    ),
).result()

  5. Submit the Order resource to Google:

    submit_order_response = client.submit_order(
    request=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.SubmitOrderRequest(
        name=create_order_response.name,
        type_=gdchardwaremanagement_v1alpha.types.SubmitOrderRequest.Type.INFO_COMPLETE,
    ),
).result()

    The submission type of INFO_COMPLETE indicates that you have provided all of the required information in the Zone and Hardware resources. If any field values are missing, the submission fails with an error message describing the problem. If you want to initiate a conversation with Google without fully populating the order, submit it with an INFO_PENDING status to skip these validations.

Testing

If you would like to submit a test order, contact Google to get access to a sandbox environment. After your project or organization has been granted access, you can use a test SKU identifiable by the fake- prefix. Test orders progress through the stages described earlier but don't trigger monetary charges or a hardware shipment.

Troubleshooting

This section describes the most commonly encountered errors, their causes, and available remedies.

Error: 400 FAILED_PRECONDITION

If you receive a 400 error code with a FAILED_PRECONDITION status in response to your API call, check that your request is valid for the operation you are attempting to complete. Examples of invalid requests include submitting an Order resource with missing fields or values, or attempting to delete a Hardware resource associated with a previously submitted Order resource.

Error: 400 INVALID_ARGUMENT

If you receive a 400 error code with an INVALID_ARGUMENT status in response to your API call, check for incorrect field names and values that don't match their expected types, or missing values. You might also receive this error if you use an updateMask in a PATCH request and one or more fields specified in the updateMask is invalid.

To remedy this issue, see GDC Hardware Management API to verify that all field names and values are correct, including formatting. If using a JSON payload, confirm that all required information is included in the payload.

Error: 401 UNAUTHENTICATED

If you receive a 401 error code with an UNAUTHENTICATED status in response to your API call, check your authentication configuration. For more information, see Set up Application Default Credentials.

Error: 403 PERMISSION_DENIED

If you receive a 403 error code with a PERMISSION_DENIED status in response to your API call, check whether the service account used to make the API call has sufficient privileges to access the target objects and resources. Also verify that the credentials are correct and not expired.

Error: 404 NOT_FOUND

If you receive a 404 error code with a NOT_FOUND status in response to your API call, check that the resource names and path specified in your API call are valid. See GDC Hardware Management API to verify that your request URL is structured correctly and that all fields included in the URL are valid.

What's next