Google Compute Engine (GCE)

Google Compute Engine (GCE) is a cloud service that offers secure, resizable compute capacity on Google Cloud. GCE’s intuitive web interface allows IT teams to quickly provision and configure virtual machines (VMs) with minimal effort. Compute Engine is ideal for traditional application hosting and computational workloads, allowing full control of the operating system and configuration.

GCE provides a wide range of predefined “machine types” to create virtual machine instances. These machine types are designed to optimize various workloads and include general-purpose, memory-optimized, compute-optimized, and storage-optimized options. For specialized use cases, such as machine learning or 3D/CAD workloads, you can select machine types with attached GPUs or TPUs.

Machine types are categorized into “families” based on their target workloads, with pricing varying by region. Some specialized machine types may include hardware accelerators, GPUs or other unique resources suited for high-performance computing.

Not all machine families or configurations are available in every GCP region.

Google Compute Engine – Use Cases

Google Compute Engine allows users to deploy virtual machines quickly, scaling up or down based on need, without requiring upfront infrastructure investment. Typical use cases include:

Flexible Hosting Solutions: Host applications ranging from simple websites to enterprise-scale systems. GCE’s lift-and-shift capabilities make it easy to migrate on-premises workloads by providing full control over the operating system. Spot VM pricing can reduce hosting costs by up to 80-90%.
Build Fault-Tolerant Architectures: Use auto-scaling and load balancing to ensure high availability and handle variable traffic loads seamlessly.
Compute-Intensive Workloads: Users can use GCE machine types with GPUs or TPUs for workloads like deep learning, AI model training, or graphics rendering (e.g., if using rich 3-D graphics apps for CAD or VFX).
IaaS for Lift-and-Shift Workloads: Transition legacy applications such as Oracle or SAP workloads to GCE instances. Pair GCE with Google Cloud Storage and Persistent Disks for hybrid architectures.
Temporary Environments: Quickly spin up and tear down dev/test environments or batch processing infrastructure using cost-effective preemptible VM instances.

Google Compute Engine – Learn More

For a complete overview and pricing details, see: Google Compute Engine
To explore and select GCE machine types for your workloads, see: Machine Types Documentation and for pricing, see: Pricing | Compute Engine: Virtual Machines (VMs) | Google Cloud.
To learn more about leveraging preemptible VMs for cost savings, see: Preemptible VMs – Preemptible VM instances | Compute Engine Documentation | Google Cloud – these are an interesting option as these VMs will be halted if other VMs need resources but are offered at a much lower cost point.