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Google Compute Engine

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description Google Compute Engine Overview

Virtual machine instances are the central resource offered by Google Compute Engine within Google Cloud. As an Infrastructure as a Service product, it lets organizations provision computing resources without owning the physical servers underneath them. Machine configuration and operating-system choices allow instances to support different applications, from development environments to production services with changing capacity needs. The service suits developers and IT teams that want control over a guest operating system while relying on a cloud provider for the underlying hardware.

Instances connect to Google Cloud's networking and storage services, making them part of a broader infrastructure setup. That flexibility still leaves the customer responsible for tasks such as configuring applications and managing access within the guest environment. Compute Engine differs from a fully managed application platform by exposing the virtual machine itself as the unit of deployment.

help Google Compute Engine FAQ

What is Google Compute Engine used for?

Google Compute Engine (GCE) is an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offering that allows users to create and run custom virtual machines on Google's global infrastructure. It is commonly used by developers to host scalable applications, run large-scale data processing, and build websites.

How is Google Compute Engine priced?

GCE utilizes a flexible, pay-as-you-go pricing model where users are billed by the second for the specific compute resources they consume. Google also offers automatic 'Sustained Use Discounts,' which significantly lower your bill if you run VMs for a large portion of the month.

What is the difference between GCE and Google App Engine?

Google Compute Engine provides low-level IaaS infrastructure, giving you complete administrative control over the operating system and networking of your virtual machines. In contrast, Google App Engine is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) where developers just upload code, and Google handles the underlying server management.

Can you run Windows Server on Google Compute Engine?

Yes, Google Compute Engine fully supports both Windows Server and various Linux distributions like Debian and Ubuntu. Users can easily deploy pre-configured Windows Server images directly from the Google Cloud Platform Console.

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