<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
(	O
GCE	O
)	O
is	O
the	O
Infrastructure	B-General_Concept
as	I-General_Concept
a	I-General_Concept
Service	I-General_Concept
(	O
IaaS	B-General_Concept
)	O
component	O
of	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Cloud	I-General_Concept
Platform	I-General_Concept
which	O
is	O
built	O
on	O
the	O
global	O
infrastructure	O
that	O
runs	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
search	B-Application
engine	I-Application
,	O
Gmail	B-Application
,	O
YouTube	B-General_Concept
and	O
other	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
enables	O
users	O
to	O
launch	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
(	O
VMs	O
)	O
on	O
demand	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
accessed	O
via	O
the	O
Developer	O
Console	O
,	O
RESTful	B-Protocol
API	I-Protocol
or	O
command-line	B-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
CLI	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
announced	O
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
on	O
June	O
28	O
,	O
2012	O
at	O
Google	B-Application
I/O	I-Application
2012	O
in	O
a	O
limited	O
preview	O
mode	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
February	O
25	O
,	O
2013	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
RightScale	B-General_Concept
was	O
their	O
first	O
reseller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
Google	B-Application
I/O	I-Application
2013	O
,	O
many	O
features	O
including	O
sub-hour	O
billing	O
,	O
shared-core	O
instance	O
types	O
,	O
larger	O
persistent	O
disks	O
,	O
enhanced	O
SDN	O
based	O
networking	O
capabilities	O
and	O
ISO/IEC	O
27001	O
certification	O
got	O
announced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Layer	O
3	O
load	B-Application
balancing	I-Application
came	O
to	O
GCE	O
on	O
August	O
7	O
,	O
2013	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Finally	O
,	O
on	O
December	O
2	O
,	O
2013	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
that	O
GCE	O
is	O
generally	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
Cloud	O
Platform	O
Live	O
event	O
on	O
March	O
25	O
,	O
2014	O
,	O
Urs	O
Hölzle	O
,	O
Senior	O
VP	O
of	O
technical	O
infrastructure	O
announced	O
sustained	O
usage	O
discounts	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
Server	O
2008	O
R2	O
,	O
Cloud	O
DNS	B-Application
and	O
Cloud	O
Deployment	O
Manager	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
May	O
28	O
,	O
2014	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
optimizations	O
for	O
LXC	B-Application
containers	I-Application
along	O
with	O
dynamic	O
scheduling	O
of	O
Docker	B-Language
containers	O
across	O
a	O
fleet	O
of	O
VM	O
instances	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
Unit	O
(	O
GCEU	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
pronounced	O
as	O
GQ	O
,	O
is	O
an	O
abstraction	O
of	O
computing	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
Google	B-Application
,	O
2.75	O
GCEUs	O
represent	O
the	O
minimum	O
power	O
of	O
one	O
logical	O
core	O
(	O
a	O
hardware	O
hyper-thread	B-Operating_System
)	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Sandy	B-Device
Bridge	I-Device
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
GCEU	O
was	O
created	O
by	O
Anthony	O
F	O
.	O
Voellm	O
out	O
of	O
a	O
need	O
to	O
compare	O
the	O
performance	O
of	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
offered	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
approximated	O
by	O
the	O
benchmark	O
run	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Open	O
Source	O
benchmark	O
created	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
in	O
partnership	O
with	O
many	O
Cloud	O
Providers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Every	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
instance	O
starts	O
with	O
a	O
disk	O
resource	O
called	O
persistent	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Persistent	O
disk	O
provides	O
the	O
disk	O
space	O
for	O
instances	O
and	O
contains	O
the	O
root	O
filesystem	B-Application
from	O
which	O
the	O
instance	O
boots	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
default	O
,	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
uses	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
for	O
attaching	O
persistent	O
disks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
attached	O
to	O
an	O
instance	O
,	O
they	O
can	O
be	O
formatted	O
with	O
the	O
native	O
filesystem	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
encrypts	O
the	O
persistent	O
disks	O
with	O
AES-128-CB	B-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
this	O
encryption	O
is	O
applied	O
before	O
the	O
data	O
leaves	O
the	O
virtual	B-Operating_System
machine	I-Operating_System
monitor	I-Operating_System
and	O
hits	O
the	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Encryption	O
is	O
always	O
enabled	O
and	O
is	O
transparent	O
to	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
integrity	O
of	O
persistent	O
disks	O
is	O
maintained	O
via	O
a	O
HMAC	B-Algorithm
scheme	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
June	O
18	O
,	O
2014	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
announced	O
support	O
for	O
SSD	B-Device
persistent	O
disks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
image	O
is	O
a	O
persistent	O
disk	O
that	O
contains	O
the	O
operating	O
system	O
and	O
root	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
that	O
is	O
necessary	O
for	O
starting	O
an	O
instance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
default	O
,	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
installs	O
the	O
root	O
filesystem	B-Application
defined	O
by	O
the	O
image	O
on	O
a	O
root	O
persistent	O
disk	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
provides	O
CentOS	O
and	O
Debian	O
images	O
as	O
standard	O
Linux	B-Application
images	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Red	O
Hat	O
Enterprise	O
Linux	B-Application
(	O
RHEL	O
)	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
Server	O
2008	O
R2	O
images	O
are	O
a	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
premier	O
operating	O
system	O
images	O
which	O
are	O
available	O
for	O
an	O
additional	O
fee	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Container	B-Application
Linux	I-Application
(	O
formerly	O
CoreOS	B-Application
)	O
,	O
the	O
lightweight	O
Linux	B-Application
OS	I-Application
based	O
on	O
ChromiumOS	B-Application
is	O
also	O
supported	O
on	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
uses	O
KVM	B-Application
as	O
the	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
supports	O
guest	O
images	O
running	O
Linux	B-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
which	O
are	O
used	O
to	O
launch	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
based	O
on	O
the	O
64	O
bit	O
x86	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VMs	O
boot	O
from	O
a	O
persistent	O
disk	O
that	O
has	O
a	O
root	O
filesystem	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
offers	O
sustained	O
use	O
discounts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
provides	O
certain	O
types	O
of	O
machine	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
prices	O
mentioned	O
below	O
are	O
based	O
on	O
running	O
standard	O
Debian	O
or	O
CentOS	O
Linux	B-Application
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
(	O
VMs	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VMs	O
running	O
proprietary	B-Application
operating	O
systems	O
will	O
be	O
charged	O
more	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
connects	O
various	O
entities	O
called	O
resources	O
that	O
will	O
be	O
a	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
deployment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
a	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
instance	O
is	O
launched	O
,	O
an	O
instance	O
resource	O
is	O
created	O
that	O
uses	O
other	O
resources	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
disk	O
resources	O
,	O
network	O
resources	O
and	O
image	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
disk	O
resource	O
functions	O
as	O
data	O
storage	O
for	O
the	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
,	O
similar	O
to	O
a	O
physical	O
hard	O
drive	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
network	O
resource	O
helps	O
regulate	O
traffic	O
to	O
and	O
from	O
the	O
instances	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
image	O
resource	O
contains	O
an	O
operating	O
system	O
and	O
root	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
necessary	O
for	O
starting	O
the	O
instance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
maintains	O
and	O
provides	O
images	O
that	O
are	O
ready-to-use	O
or	O
users	O
can	O
customize	O
an	O
image	O
and	O
use	O
that	O
as	O
an	O
image	O
of	O
choice	O
for	O
creating	O
instances	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Depending	O
on	O
the	O
needs	O
,	O
users	O
can	O
also	O
apply	O
an	O
image	O
to	O
a	O
persistent	O
disk	O
and	O
use	O
the	O
persistent	O
disk	O
as	O
the	O
root	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Persistent	O
disks	O
are	O
independent	O
of	O
the	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
and	O
outlive	O
an	O
instance	O
's	O
lifespan	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
information	O
stored	O
on	O
the	O
persistent	O
disks	O
is	O
encrypted	O
before	O
being	O
written	O
to	O
physical	O
media	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
keys	O
are	O
tightly	O
controlled	O
by	O
Google	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
A	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
instance	O
is	O
a	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machine	I-Architecture
running	O
on	O
a	O
Linux	B-Application
or	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
networks	O
use	O
the	O
IPv4	O
protocol	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
currently	O
does	O
not	O
support	O
IPv6	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
is	O
a	O
major	O
advocate	O
of	O
IPv6	O
and	O
it	O
is	O
an	O
important	O
future	O
direction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
offers	O
a	O
routing	O
table	O
to	O
manage	O
how	O
traffic	O
destined	O
for	O
a	O
certain	O
IP	O
range	O
should	O
be	O
routed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
region	O
refers	O
to	O
a	O
geographic	O
location	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
infrastructure	O
facility	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
of	O
June	O
1	O
,	O
2014	O
,	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Compute	I-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
is	O
available	O
in	O
central	O
US	O
region	O
,	O
Western	O
Europe	O
and	O
Asia	O
East	O
region	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
deploy	O
fault-tolerant	O
applications	O
that	O
have	O
high	O
availability	O
,	O
Google	B-Application
recommends	O
deploying	O
applications	O
across	O
multiple	O
zones	O
in	O
a	O
region	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
charges	O
the	O
VMs	O
for	O
a	O
minimum	O
of	O
10	O
minutes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
VMs	O
boot	O
within	O
30	O
seconds	O
which	O
is	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
4-10x	O
faster	O
than	O
the	O
competition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
persistent	O
disks	O
of	O
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
deliver	O
higher	O
IOPS	O
consistently	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Images	O
and	O
disk	O
snapshots	O
belong	O
to	O
the	O
global	O
scope	O
which	O
means	O
they	O
are	O
implicitly	O
available	O
across	O
all	O
the	O
regions	O
and	O
zones	O
of	O
Google	B-General_Concept
Cloud	I-General_Concept
Platform	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
scheduled	O
maintenance	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
data	O
center	O
,	O
Compute	B-General_Concept
Engine	I-General_Concept
can	O
automatically	O
migrate	O
the	O
VMs	O
from	O
one	O
host	O
to	O
the	O
other	O
without	O
involving	O
any	O
action	O
from	O
the	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
