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Labs

Using Terraform to Create a New VPC and Public Subnet in GCP

Creating a virtual private network and subnetworks is the foundation of using resources or any infrastructure within GCP. In this hands-on lab, we will learn how to use Terraform to create a VPC and public subnet.

Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Intermediate
Last updated
Sep 10, 2025
Duration
1h 15m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Create a Service Account

    NOTE: *Once you have the lab up and running, give it an extended time for all the software to properly download in order to complete the lab. You'll know it is ready when when the ll step shows both a downloads folder and a Terraform zip file. *

    1. From Google Cloud console's main navigation, choose IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
    2. Click Create service account.
    3. Give your service account a name.
    4. Click Create.
    5. In the roles dropdown, select Project > Owner.
    6. Click Continue and then Done.
  2. Challenge

    Log in to the Host Instance and Ensure Terraform Is Installed
    1. From Google Cloud navigation, choose Compute Engine > VM instances.

    2. Click SSH next to terraform-instance.

    3. Use root privileges:

      sudo -i
      
    4. Change into the root directory:

      cd /
      
    5. Input the path to communicate with Terraform into the /etc/profile file:

      echo "PATH='$PATH:/downloads/'" >> /etc/profile
      
    6. Run the following in order to be able to call Terraform:

      source /etc/profile
      
    7. Call Terraform:

      terraform
      
  3. Challenge

    Create a Service Account Key within the Instance
    1. Allow the SDK to communicate with GCP:

      gcloud auth login
      
    2. Click on the link given, allow the cloud_user email to retrieve the key, and copy and paste the key into your terminal.

    3. Create the service account key:

      gcloud iam service-accounts keys create /downloads/instance.json --iam-account <SERVICE_ACCOUNT>
      
  4. Challenge

    Create and Deploy the Configuration File
    1. Create a main.tf file:

      vim main.tf
      
    2. Paste the following configuration:

      provider "google" {
        version = "3.5.0"
        credentials = file("/downloads/instance.json")
        project = ""
        region  = "us-central1"
        zone    = "us-central1-c"
      }
      resource "google_compute_network" "vpc_network" {
        name = "terraform-network"
      }
      resource "google_compute_subnetwork" "public-subnetwork" {
        name          = "terraform-subnetwork"
        ip_cidr_range = "10.2.0.0/16"
        region        = "us-central1"
        network       = google_compute_network.vpc_network.name
        }
      
    3. Save and exit the file by pressing Escape followed by :wq.

    4. Use terraform init , terraform validate , terraform plan, and then terraform apply.

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