Working with Custom Images on Google Compute Engine

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Working with Custom Images on Google Compute Engine

In this hands-on lab, we are going to practice creating custom images from two versions of a web server (which will be provided for you), add both images to the same image family, describe the image family, deprecate an image, and create a new web server from our custom images.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Sep 20, 2025

Duration

1h 0m

Challenge

Create an Image from the base-apache Instance Using the Web Console

Create a custom image called webserver-base using the base-apache instance as the source. Additionally, when creating the image, in the Family field, enter webserver.

Verify the image is created and located in the appropriate family using the web console.
Challenge

Create an Image from the custom-webpage Instance Using Cloud Shell
Open Cloud Shell and create a custom image using the custom-webpage instance as the source. Additionally, add the custom image to the webserver family. This can be accomplished with the following command:
```
gcloud compute images create custom-webpage --source-disk=custom-webpage --source-disk-zone=us-central1-a --family=webserver
```
Verify the image is created and located in the appropriate family using the web console.
Challenge

View the Images in the Web Console and View the Webserver Image Family Information in Cloud Shell
In the web console, view the images and view the webserver image family in Cloud Shell. This can be accomplished with the following command:
```
gcloud compute images describe-from-family webserver
```
Challenge

Deprecate the webserver-base Image Using the Cloud Shell
Using Cloud Shell, deprecate the webserver-base image with the following command:
```
gcloud compute images deprecate webserver-base --state DEPRECATED
```
Challenge

Create a New Web Server from the custom-webpage Image

From the web console, create a new instance using the custom-webpage image. The new instance should be called new-webserver and should be of Machine Type e2-micro in any region. Ensure that HTTP traffic is allowed on the firewall.

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