Provisioning a GCP Server from a Local VM OVA

Overview

You can import a local VM OVA file into Google Cloud as a custom image and then launch a Compute Engine instance from that image. This process involves:

Uploading the OVA file to a Cloud Storage bucket.
Importing the OVA file into your project as a custom image.
Creating a VM instance from that custom image.

Below are generic example commands with placeholder names. Replace placeholder values (e.g., <<project-name>>, <<server-name>>) with your actual project ID, server name, bucket name, etc.

Prerequisites

Google Cloud CLI: Ensure you have the Google Cloud CLI (gcloud) installed and configured on your local machine.
Permissions: You need proper IAM permissions:
- Storage Admin (or equivalent) to create buckets and upload files.
- Compute Image Admin (or equivalent) to import images and launch Compute Engine instances.
Compute Engine API: Make sure the Compute Engine API is enabled:
```
gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com
```
Valid OVA File: Ensure your OVA file is valid and contains a bootable disk.

Step 1: Upload the OVA to Cloud Storage

Create or choose an existing Cloud Storage bucket, then upload your local OVA file to it. For example:

# Example placeholders:
#   C:\Users\test-user\Downloads\vm.ova  -> local OVA file path
#   gs://virtual-appliance-imports       -> name of the GCS bucket

gcloud storage cp <<C:\Users\test-user\Downloads\vm.ova>> <<gs://virtual-appliance-imports>>

Replace C:\Users\test-user\Downloads\vm.ova with the path to your OVA file.
Replace gs://virtual-appliance-imports with your bucket name (e.g., gs://my-bucket-name).

Step 2: Import the OVA File as a Custom Image

Use the gcloud compute images import command to convert the OVA file into a bootable Compute Engine image:

gcloud compute images import <<image-server-name>> \
    --source-file=<<gs://virtual-appliance-imports/vm.ova>>

Replace <<image-server-name>> with the name you want to give your new custom image.
Replace <<gs://virtual-appliance-imports/vm.ova>> with the exact path to your uploaded OVA file in Cloud Storage (e.g., gs://my-bucket-name/my-vm.ova).

The import process may take a few minutes depending on the size of the OVA.

Step 3: Create a Compute Engine VM from the Custom Image

After your image is successfully imported, create a Compute Engine instance using that image:

gcloud compute instances create <<server-name>> \
    --project=<<project-name>> \
    --zone=<<us-central1-a>> \
    --machine-type=e2-standard-2 \
    --network-interface="address=<<reserved-ip-address>>,network-tier=PREMIUM,stack-type=IPV4_ONLY,subnet=<<subnet-name>>" \
    --metadata=enable-oslogin=true \
    --maintenance-policy=MIGRATE \
    --provisioning-model=STANDARD \
    --tags="http-server,https-server" \
    --create-disk="auto-delete=yes,boot=yes,device-name=<<server-name>>,image=projects/<<project-name>>/global/images/<<image-server-name>>,mode=rw,size=50,type=pd-standard" \
    --labels=goog-ec-src=vm_add-gcloud \
    --reservation-affinity=any

Breakdown of placeholders:

<<server-name>>: Name for the new VM instance.
<<project-name>>: Your GCP project ID.
<<us-central1-a>>: The zone in which you want to create the VM. Change if desired (e.g., us-east1-b).
<<reserved-ip-address>>: If you have a reserved static IP address, specify it here; otherwise, omit address=... or set it to an empty string.
<<subnet-name>>: Name of the VPC subnet where the instance will be placed.
<<image-server-name>>: The same image name you used in Step 2.

Other flags explained:

--machine-type=e2-standard-2: Specifies the machine type. Adjust based on requirements.
--tags="http-server,https-server": Network tags for firewall rules or other configurations.
--create-disk="size=50": Sets the boot disk size to 50 GB. Adjust as needed.

Verification and Cleanup

Verify Images
```
gcloud compute images list --project=<<project-name>> --filter="name=<<image-server-name>>"
```
This command verifies that your new custom image exists in the specified project.
Verify Instances
```
gcloud compute instances list --project=<<project-name>>
```
Confirm your newly created instance appears in the list.

Cleanup (If Needed)

Delete the VM if you no longer need it:

gcloud compute instances delete <<server-name>> --project=<<project-name>> --zone=<<zone>>

Delete the Image if you no longer need it:

gcloud compute images delete <<image-server-name>> --project=<<project-name>>

Remove the OVA file from Cloud Storage if you want to save on storage costs:
```
gcloud storage rm gs://<<bucket-name>>/<<vm.ova>>
```