Quickstart: Create a VM instance using Terraform

Prepare the environment

1. Clone the GitHub repository containing Terraform samples:

   git clone https://github.com/terraform-google-modules/terraform-docs-samples.git --single-branch
   

2. Go to the directory that contains the quickstart sample:

   cd terraform-docs-samples/compute/quickstart/create_vm
   

Review the Terraform files

Review the main.tf file. This file defines the Google Cloud resources that you want to create.

cat main.tf

The output is similar to the following

resource "google_compute_instance" "default" {
  name         = "my-vm"
  machine_type = "n1-standard-1"
  zone         = "us-central1-a"

  boot_disk {
    initialize_params {
      image = "ubuntu-minimal-2210-kinetic-amd64-v20230126"
    }
  }

  network_interface {
    network = "default"
    access_config {}
  }
}

This file describes the google_compute_instance resource, which is the Terraform resource for the Compute Engine VM instance. google_compute_instance is configured to have the following properties:

• name is set to my-vm.
• machine_type is set to n1-standard-1.
• zone is set to us-central1-a.
• boot_disk sets the boot disk for the instance.
• network_interface is set to use the default network in your Google Cloud project.

Create the Compute Engine VM instance

1. In Cloud Shell, run the following command to verify that Terraform is available:

   terraform
   

   The output should be similar to the following:

   
   Usage: terraform [global options] <subcommand> [args]
   
   The available commands for execution are listed below.
   The primary workflow commands are given first, followed by
   less common or more advanced commands.
   
   Main commands:
     init          Prepare your working directory for other commands
     validate      Check whether the configuration is valid
     plan          Show changes required by the current configuration
     apply         Create or update infrastructure
     destroy       Destroy previously-created infrastructure
   
   

2. Initialize Terraform by running the following command. This command prepares your workspace so Terraform can apply your configuration.

   terraform init
   

   The output should be similar to the following:

   
   Initializing the backend...
   
   Initializing provider plugins...
   - Finding latest version of hashicorp/google...
   - Installing hashicorp/google v5.35.0...
   - Installed hashicorp/google v5.35.0 (signed by HashiCorp)
   
   Terraform has created a lock file .terraform.lock.hcl to record the provider
   selections it made above. Include this file in your version control repository
   so that Terraform can guarantee to make the same selections by default when
   you run "terraform init" in the future.
   
   Terraform has been successfully initialized!
   
   

3. Validate the Terraform configuration by running the following command. This command takes the following actions:

   • Verifies that the syntax of main.tf is correct.
   • Shows a preview of the resources that will be created.

   terraform plan
   

   The output should be similar to the following:

   Plan: 1 to add, 0 to change, 0 to destroy.
   
   Note: You didn't use the -out option to save this plan, so Terraform can't
   guarantee to take exactly these actions if you run "terraform apply" now.
   

4. Apply the configuration to provision resources described in the main.tf file:

   terraform apply
   

   When prompted, enter yes.

   Terraform calls Google Cloud APIs to create the VM instance defined in the main.tf file.

   The output should be similar to the following:

   Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed
   

Connect to the VM instance

Connect to the VM instance you just created by running the following command:

gcloud compute ssh --zone=us-central1-a my-vm