Compute Engine (Virtual Machines)

Compute Engine is GCP's Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering. It lets you create and manage virtual machines (VMs) running on Google's infrastructure. You have full control over the operating system, software, and configuration.

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Why Compute Engine?

Compute Engine provides:

• Full control — choose the OS, install any software, configure networking
• Flexible sizing — predefined or custom machine types
• Global deployment — launch VMs in any GCP region and zone
• Per-second billing — pay only for the time your VM runs (minimum 1 minute)
• Live migration — Google can move your VM to another host without downtime during maintenance

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Machine Types

Compute Engine offers predefined machine families optimised for different workloads: