How do I run Docker on Google Compute Engine?

Question

What's the procedure for installing and running Docker on Google Compute Engine?

Answer 1

Until the recent GA release of Compute Engine, running Docker was not supported on GCE (due to kernel restrictions) but with the newly announced ability to deploy and use custom kernels, that restriction is no longer intact and Docker now works great on GCE.

Thanks to proppy, the instructions for running Docker on Google Compute Engine are now documented for you here: http://docs.docker.io/en/master/installation/google/. Enjoy!

Answer 2

They now have a VM which has docker pre-installed now.

$ gcloud compute instances create instance-name
--image projects/google-containers/global/images/container-vm-v20140522
--zone us-central1-a
--machine-type f1-micro

https://developers.google.com/compute/docs/containers/container_vms

Answer 3

A little late, but I wanted to add an answer with a more detailed workflow and links, since answers are still rather scattered:

1. Create a Docker image

   a. Locally

   b. Using Google Container Builder

2. Push local Docker image to Google Container Repository

   docker tag <current name>:<current tag> gcr.io/<project name>/<new name>

   gcloud docker -- push gcr.io/<project name>/<new name>

   UPDATE

   If you have upgraded to Docker client versions above 18.03, gcloud docker commands are no longer supported. Instead of the above push, use:

   docker push gcr.io/<project name>/<new name>

   If you have issues after upgrading, see more here.

3. Create a compute instance. This process actually obfuscates a number of steps. It creates a virtual machine (VM) instance using Google Compute Engine, which uses a Google-provided, container-optimized OS image. The image includes Docker and additional software responsible for starting our docker container. Our container image is then pulled from the Container Repository, and run using docker run when the VM starts. Note: you still need to use docker attach even though the container is running. It's worth pointing out only one container can be run per VM instance. Use Kubernetes to deploy multiple containers per VM (the steps are similar). Find more details on all the options in the links at the bottom of this post.

   gcloud beta compute instances create-with-container <desired instance name> \ --zone <google zone> \ --container-stdin \ --container-tty \ --container-image <google repository path>:<tag> \ --container-command <command (in quotes)> \ --service-account <e-mail>

   Tip You can view available gcloud projects with gcloud projects list

4. SSH into the compute instance.

   gcloud beta compute ssh <instance name> \ --zone <zone>

5. Stop or Delete the instance. If an instance is stopped, you will still be billed for resources such as static IPs and persistent disks. To avoid being billed at all, use delete the instance.

   a. Stop

   gcloud compute instances stop <instance name>

   b. Delete

   gcloud compute instances delete <instance name>

Related Links:

• More on deploying containers on VMs
• More on zones
• More create-with-container options

Answer 4

As of now, for just Docker, the Container-optimized OS is certainly the way to go:

gcloud compute images list --project=cos-cloud --no-standard-images

It comes with Docker and Kubernetes preinstalled. The only thing it lacks is the Cloud SDK command-line tools. (It also lacks python3, despite Google's announce of Python 2 sunset on 2020-01-01. Well, it's still 27 days to go...)

---

As an additional piece of information I wanted to share, I was searching for a standard image that would offer both docker and gcloud/gsutil preinstalled (and found none, oops). I do not think I'm alone in this boat, as gcloud is the thing you could hardly go by without on GCE¹.

My best find so far was the Ubuntu 18.04 image that came with their own (non-Debian) package manager, snap. The image comes with the Cloud SDK preinstalled, and Docker installs literally in a snap, 11 seconds on an F1 instance initial test, about 6s on an n1-standard-1. The only snag I hit was the error message that the docker authorization helper was not available; an attempt to add it with gcloud components install failed because the SDK was installed as a snap, too. However, the helper is actually there, only not in the PATH. The following was what got me the both tools available in a single transient builder VM in the least amount of setup script runtime, starting off the supported Ubuntu 18.04 LTS image²:

snap install docker
ln -s /snap/google-cloud-sdk/current/bin/docker-credential-gcloud /usr/bin
gcloud -q auth configure-docker

---

¹ I needed both for a Daisy workflow imaging a disk with both artifacts from GS buckets and a couple huge, 2GB+ library images from the local gcr.io registry that were shared between the build (as cloud builder layers) and the runtime (where I had to create and extract containers to the newly built image). But that's besides the point; one may needs both tools for a multitude of possible reasons.
² Use gcloud compute images list --uri | grep ubuntu-1804 to get the most current one.

Answer 5

Google's GitHub site offers now a gce image including docker. https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/cloud-sdk-docker-image

Answer 6

It's as easy as:

• creating a Compute Engine instance
• curl https://get.docker.io | bash

Answer 7

Using docker-machine is another way to host your google compute instance with docker.

docker-machine create \
  --driver google \
  --google-project $PROJECT \
  --google-zone asia-east1-c \
  --google-machine-type f1-micro $YOUR_INSTANCE

If you want to login this machine on google cloud compute instance, just use docker-machine ssh $YOUR_INSTANCE

Refer to docker machine driver gce

Answer 8

There is now improved support for containers on GCE:

Google Compute Engine is extending its support for Docker containers. This release is an Open Preview of a container-optimized OS image that includes Docker and an open source agent to manage containers. Below, you'll find links to interact with the community interested in Docker on Google, open source repositories, and examples to get started. We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing what you build.

Note that this is currently (as of 27 May 2014) in Open Preview:

This is an Open Preview release of containers on Virtual Machines. As a result, we may make backward-incompatible changes and it is not covered by any SLA or deprecation policy. Customers should take this into account when using this Open Preview release.

Answer 9

Running Docker on GCE instance is not supported. The instance goes down and not able to login again. We can use the Docker image given by the GCE, to create a instance.

Answer 10

If your google cloud virtual machine is based on ubuntu use the following command to install docker sudo apt install docker.io

Answer 11

You may use this link: https://cloud.google.com/cloud-build/docs/quickstart-docker#top_of_page.

The said link explains how to use Cloud Build to build a Docker image and push the image to Container Registry. You will first build the image using a Dockerfile and then build the same image using the Cloud Build's build configuration file.

Answer 12

Its better to get it while creating compute instance

1. Go to the VM instances page.
2. Click the Create instance button to create a new instance.
3. Under the Container section, check Deploy container image.
4. Specify a container image name under Container image and configure options to run the container if desired. For example, you can specify gcr.io/cloud-marketplace/google/nginx1:1.12 for the container image.
5. Click Create.

Answer 13

Installing Docker on GCP Compute Engine VMs:
This is the link to GCP documentation on the topic:
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/containers#installing

In it it links to the Docker install guide, you should follow the instructions depending on what type of Linux you have running in the vm.