What is the name of Googles Linux based computer group of answer choices?

Some operating system images are customized specifically to run on Compute Engine and have notable differences from the standard images that come directly from the operating system vendors.

For information about how support and maintenance is provided for these operating systems on Compute Engine, based on support package, license type, and image lifecycle stage, see Support and maintenance policy for OS images.

The following sections provide more information about these differences.

CentOS

Caution: CentOS 8 operating systems have reached end of development and support. For more information, see CentOS EOL guidance.

CentOS Linux is a free operating system that is derived from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Google Cloud builds and supports the CentOS images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using CentOS with Compute Engine.

CentOS Stream is a distribution that is continuously delivered and tracks just ahead of RHEL development. CentOS Stream is positioned as a midstream development platform between Fedora Linux and RHEL.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the RHEL yum-cron or dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The yum-cron or dnf-automatic does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

The CentOS and CentOS Stream images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard CentOS images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• dnf-automatic0 is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal CentOS methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI.
• Repositories are set to use the CentOS default mirror network.
  • For CentOS Stream 8, the PowerTools repository is enabled.
  • For CentOS 7, EPEL is enabled.
• Automatic updates are configured as follows:
  • For CentOS 7, automatic updates are enabled by using yum-cron.
  • For CentOS Stream, automatic updates are enabled by using dnf-automatic4.
  • For all versions, the dnf-automatic5 property is set to dnf-automatic6.However, by default CentOS does not offer security tagged repositories.
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the dnf-automatic7 or dnf-automatic8 files for all versions.

Storage configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

OS versionImage projectImage familyEOL and image deprecation dateCentOS Stream 9yum-cron2yum-cron3All except T2AGATBDCentOS Stream 8yum-cron2yum-cron5All except T2AGAMay 2024CentOS 8N/AN/AN/AEOLDec 2021CentOS 7yum-cron2yum-cron7All except T2AGAJune 30, 2024CentOS 6N/AN/AN/AEOLNovember 30, 2020

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceCentOS Stream 9CentOS Stream 8CentOS 8CentOS 7CentOS 6

Licenses

OS versionLicenseCentOS Stream 9Freeyum-cron8CentOS Stream 8Freeyum-cron9CentOS 8EOLEOLCentOS 7Freednf-automatic0CentOS 6EOLEOL

Container-Optimized OS (COS)

Container-Optimized OS from Google is an operating system image for your Compute Engine instances that is optimized for running Docker containers. Google Cloud builds and supports the Container-Optimized OS images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Container-Optimized OS with Compute Engine.

For more information about Container-Optimized OS, see the Container-Optimized OS overview or release notes.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using Automatic updates. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

Network configuration

• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

General information

OS versionImage projectx86 image familyArm image familyEOL and image deprecation dateCOS 101 LTSdnf-automatic2dnf-automatic3dnf-automatic4AllGASeptember 2024COS 97 LTSdnf-automatic2dnf-automatic6dnf-automatic7All except T2AGAMarch 2024COS 93 LTSdnf-automatic2dnf-automatic9dnf-automatic7All except T2AGAOctober 2023COS 89 LTSdnf-automatic202dnf-automatic7All except T2AGAMarch 2023COS 85 LTSEOLEOLdnf-automatic7N/AEOLSeptember 2022COS 81 LTSEOLEOLdnf-automatic7N/AEOLSeptember 2021

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceCOS 101 LTSCOS 97 LTSCOS 93 LTSCOS 89 LTSCOS 85 LTSCOS 81 LTS

License

OS versionLicenseCOS 101 LTSFree06COS 97 LTSFree06COS 93 LTSFree06COS 89 LTSFree06COS 85 LTSEOLEOLCOS 81 LTSEOLEOL

Debian

Debian is a free operating system offered by the Debian community. Google Cloud builds and supports the Debian images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Debian with Compute Engine.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Debian noop0 tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The noop0 tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The noop0 tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Debian security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

The Debian image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository.

• Debian build tools come from the Debian Cloud team image project.

Debian images are always built with the latest Debian packages which reflect the most recent Debian point release.

The Debian images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Debian images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, noop5 is enabled.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • Root login is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.
• Debian 9 does not use predictive network interface naming. In the grub kernel command-line arguments, noop7 is set. Therefore, network interfaces still use the traditional ethN naming, with the default interface always being noop8.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI. The guest environment packages and the Google Cloud CLI packages are installed and enabled by default.
• The APT sources are set to use the Debian CDN.
• The persistent mode0 package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in persistent mode1 and persistent mode2.
• The persistent mode3 package is removed and replaced with the Google supported persistent mode4 package.
• Debian 10+ includes the following:
  • The persistent mode5 kernel instead of the generic Debian kernel.
  • The persistent mode6 package to provide entropy.

Storage configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

OS versionImage projectx86 image familyArm image familyEOL and image deprecation dateDebian 11oneshot0oneshot1oneshot2AllGAJune 2026Debian 10oneshot0oneshot4N/AAll except T2A, M3LTS*June 2024Debian 9N/AN/AN/AN/AEOLJune 2022Debian 8N/AN/AN/AN/AEOLJune 2018

*Debian LTS: Debian is supporting this release with Debian LTS. Critical security updates are provided via the Debian LTS project for the duration of the LTS lifecycle.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportDebian 11*Debian 10Debian 9Debian 8

*Debian 11: T2A doesn't currently support Secure boot. If you are using a Debian OS you must set the Secure boot flag to
oneshot5. See

User space features

Note: Suspend and resume is supported for Debian 8, 9, and 11, but some is required for Debian 8 and 9.

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedDebian 11Debian 10Debian 9Debian 8

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesDebian 11Debian 10Debian 9*Debian 8*

*Has support for NVMe but does not include all optimizations for NVMe.

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedDebian 11Debian 10Debian 9Debian 8

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedDebian 11Debian 10Debian 9Debian 8

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceDebian 11Debian 10Debian 9Debian 8

License

OS versionLicenseDebian 11Freeoneshot6Debian 10Freeoneshot7Debian 9EOLoneshot8Debian 8EOLEOL

Fedora CoreOS

Fedora CoreOS is a distribution that provides features that are needed to run modern infrastructure stacks. Fedora CoreOS uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. Google Cloud provides Fedora CoreOS images built and supported by Fedora. There is no license fee for using Fedora CoreOS with Compute Engine.

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the FedoraCoreOS automatic update tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

Network configuration

• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

General information

OS versionImage projectImage familyEOL and image deprecation dateFedora CoreOS StableServerAliveInterval0ServerAliveInterval1All except T2A, M3GATBDFedora CoreOS TestingServerAliveInterval0ServerAliveInterval3All except T2A, M3GATBDFedora CoreOS NextServerAliveInterval0ServerAliveInterval5All except T2A, M3GATBD

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceFedora CoreOS StableFedora CoreOS TestingFedora CoreOS Next

License

OS versionLicenseFedora CoreOS StableFreeServerAliveInterval6Fedora CoreOS TestingFreeServerAliveInterval7Fedora CoreOS NextFreeServerAliveInterval8

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is an open-source Linux operating system that provides both server and desktop operating systems. Google Cloud builds and supports the RHEL OS images available for Compute Engine.

RHEL images are that incur additional fees to use. If you want to use an existing RHEL subscription, you can use the Red Hat Cloud Access feature.

To view a list of frequently asked questions when running RHEL on Compute Engine, see Red Hat Enterprise Linux FAQ.

Note: For compliance with Red Hat licensing requirements, Google reports to Red Hat your billing entity name, region, country, SKU and total hours of usage.Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the RHEL yum-cron (RHEL 7) or dnf-automatic4 (RHEL 8+) tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• These automatic updates from the operating system vendor do not upgrade instances between major versions of the operating system.
• Starting with RHEL 7, the operating system is also configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

The RHEL image build configuration is available in an open source GitHub repository.

RHEL images are always built with the latest RHEL packages, which reflect the most recent point release. Currently, you cannot pin a VM to a point release.

RHEL for SAP images are tagged to the specific point release they are built for as supported by Red Hat.

The RHEL images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard RHEL images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• The I/O scheduler is set to noop.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveInterval and ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• dnf-automatic0 is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal RHEL methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Package and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI.
• For RHEL 7, EPEL is enabled.
• RHEL for SAP yum vars are set to peg the client to the supported RHEL for SAP point release.
• RHEL content comes from the Compute Engine Red Hat Update Infrastructure (RHUI) servers.
• The Google dnf-automatic00 client package, which contains the configuration needed to access RHEL content, is installed.
• The Red Hat dnf-automatic01 package is removed because it is not used for pay as you go images.
• Automatic updates are enabled as follows:
  • For RHEL 7, by using yum-cron.
  • For RHEL 8+, by using dnf-automatic4.
  • For all versions, the dnf-automatic5 property is set to dnf-automatic6.
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the dnf-automatic7 or dnf-automatic8 files.

Storage configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB. This is the recommended minimum size.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

OS versionImage projectx86 image familyArm image familyEOL and image deprecation dateRHEL 9dnf-automatic11dnf-automatic12dnf-automatic13AllGAMay 2032RHEL 8dnf-automatic11dnf-automatic15N/AAll except T2AGAMay 2029RHEL 7dnf-automatic11dnf-automatic17N/AAll except T2AGAJune 2024RHEL 6N/AN/AN/AN/AEOS*
ELS†November 30, 2020
June 30, 2024RHEL 8.6 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic19N/AAll except T2AGAMay 2026RHEL 8.4 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic21N/AAll except T2AGAMay 2025RHEL 8.2 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic23N/AAll except T2AGAApril 2024RHEL 8.1 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic25N/AAll except T2A, M3GANovember 2023RHEL 7.9 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic27N/AAll except T2AGAJune 2024RHEL 7.7 for SAPdnf-automatic18dnf-automatic29N/AAll except T2A, M3GAAugust 2023RHEL 7.6 for SAPN/AN/AN/AN/AEOS*October 2022RHEL 7.4 for SAPN/AN/AN/AN/AEOS*August 2021

*EOS: end of support

†ELS: To use this OS image, you must have a subscription or an Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On. You can append the ELS Add-On to your RHEL 6 VMs as described in Append RHEL ELS licenses.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6*RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

*Has support for NVMe but does not include all optimizations for NVMe.

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceRHEL 9RHEL 8RHEL 7RHEL 6RHEL 8.6 for SAPRHEL 8.4 for SAPRHEL 8.2 for SAPRHEL 8.1 for SAPRHEL 7.9 for SAPRHEL 7.7 for SAPRHEL 7.6 for SAPRHEL 7.4 for SAP

License

OS versionLicenseRHEL 9On-demanddnf-automatic30RHEL 8On-demand (Default)dnf-automatic31BYOSdnf-automatic32RHEL 7On-demand (Default)dnf-automatic33BYOSdnf-automatic34RHEL 6BYOSdnf-automatic35ELS†dnf-automatic36RHEL 8.6 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic37RHEL 8.4 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic37BYOSN/ARHEL 8.2 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic37BYOSN/ARHEL 8.1 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic37BYOSN/ARHEL 7.9 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic41BYOSN/ARHEL 7.7 for SAPOn-demanddnf-automatic41BYOSN/ARHEL 7.6 for SAPBYOSN/ARHEL 7.4 for SAPBYOSN/A

†ELS: To use this OS image, you must have a subscription or an Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On. You can append the ELS Add-On to your RHEL 6 VMs as described in Append RHEL ELS licenses.

Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux is a free, open, community enterprise operating system designed to be 100% bug-for-bug compatible with Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Google Cloud builds and supports the Rocky Linux images available for Compute Engine. There is no license fee for using Rocky Linux with Compute Engine.

The following two versions of Rocky Linux operating systems are available on Compute Engine:

• A fully open source version
• A version optimized for Google Cloud: this version has the suffix dnf-automatic43 and is pre-configured to use the latest version of the Google virtual network interface (gVNIC).

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the dnf-automatic tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• dnf-automatic does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The upgrade tool is configured to only apply updates marked by the vendor as security updates.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

The Rocky Linux images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Rocky Linux images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The DHCP client is set to retry every 10 seconds instead of every 5 minutes. The client is also set to persistent mode instead of oneshot.
• The SSH server configuration is set up as follows:
  • Password authentication is disabled.
  • To prevent SSH disconnections, ServerAliveIntervaland ClientAliveInterval are set to 7 minutes.
  • Root login is disabled.
• dnf-automatic0 is disabled.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.
• By default, all traffic is allowed through the guest firewall because the VPC firewall rules overrides the guest firewall rules. The guest firewall rules remains enabled and can be configured through normal Rocky Linux methods.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Package system and repository configuration

• Google Cloud repositories are enabled to install packages for the Compute Engine guest environment and the Google Cloud CLI.
• Repositories are set to use the Rocky Linux default mirror network.
  • The PowerTools repository is enabled.
• Automatic updates are configured as follows:
  • Automatic updates are enabled by using dnf-automatic4.
  • For all versions, thednf-automatic5 property is set to dnf-automatic6.However, by default Rocky Linux does not offer security tagged repositories.
  • IPv6 endpoints are disabled in the dnf-automatic8 file.

Storage configuration

• By default, images are 20 GB.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine .

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

OS versionImage projectx86 image familyArm image family*EOL and image deprecation datednf-automatic61dnf-automatic62dnf-automatic63AllGAMay 2032Rocky Linux 9dnf-automatic61dnf-automatic65dnf-automatic66AllGAMay 2032dnf-automatic61dnf-automatic68dnf-automatic69AllGAMay 2029Rocky Linux 8dnf-automatic61dnf-automatic71N/AAll except T2AGAMay 2029

*EOS: end of support

†ELS: To use this OS image, you must have a subscription or an Extended Life Cycle Support (ELS) Add-On. You can append the ELS Add-On to your RHEL 6 VMs as described in Append RHEL ELS licenses.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supported*Rocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

*Patch compliance reporting: For all supported Rocky Linux operating systems, you can run patch jobs and create patch deployments. However, patch compliance reporting is not supported and these VMs are displayed in the dnf-automatic72 category on the OS patch management dashboard.

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 9Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudRocky Linux 8

License

OS versionLicenseRocky Linux 9 optimized for Google CloudFreednf-automatic73Rocky Linux 9Freednf-automatic74Rocky Linux 8 optimized for Google CloudFreednf-automatic75Rocky Linux 8Freednf-automatic76

SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server images are similar to the standard Windows Server operating system images, but they include Microsoft SQL Server preinstalled.

Microsoft SQL Server images are not supported for VMs created on the .

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to "Auto download and schedule the install" for Microsoft updates. To configure Windows Server automatic updates, see .

Image configuration

• Microsoft SQL Server images have the same .
• Windows images provided by Google have a hardcoded MTU. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Version support

To use Microsoft SQL Server on a Linux VM with an on-demand / pay-as-you-go (PAYG) license, see Using Microsoft SQL Server on Linux.

VersionImage projectImage familyEnterpriseStandardWebExpressMicrosoft SQL Server 2019dnf-automatic77dnf-automatic78GAMicrosoft SQL Server 2017dnf-automatic77dnf-automatic80GAMicrosoft SQL Server 2016dnf-automatic77dnf-automatic82GAMicrosoft SQL Server 2014dnf-automatic77dnf-automatic84GAMicrosoft SQL Server 2012dnf-automatic85dnf-automatic86EOL

Windows Server version support

VersionWindows 2012 R2Windows 2016Windows 2019Windows 2022Microsoft SQL Server 2019 EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server 2019 StandardMicrosoft SQL Server 2019 WebMicrosoft SQL Server 2017 EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server 2017 StandardMicrosoft SQL Server 2017 WebMicrosoft SQL Server 2017 ExpressMicrosoft SQL Server 2016 EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server 2016 StandardMicrosoft SQL Server 2016 WebMicrosoft SQL Server 2014 EnterpriseMicrosoft SQL Server 2014 StandardMicrosoft SQL Server 2014 Web

License

VersionLicenseMicrosoft SQL Server 2019 EnterpriseOn-demanddnf-automatic87Microsoft SQL Server 2019 StandardOn-demanddnf-automatic88Microsoft SQL Server 2019 WebOn-demanddnf-automatic89Microsoft SQL Server 2017 EnterpriseOn-demanddnf-automatic90Microsoft SQL Server 2017 StandardOn-demanddnf-automatic91Microsoft SQL Server 2017 WebOn-demanddnf-automatic92Microsoft SQL Server 2017 ExpressOn-demanddnf-automatic93Microsoft SQL Server 2016 EnterpriseOn-demanddnf-automatic94Microsoft SQL Server 2016 StandardOn-demanddnf-automatic95Microsoft SQL Server 2016 WebOn-demanddnf-automatic96Microsoft SQL Server 2014 EnterpriseOn-demanddnf-automatic97Microsoft SQL Server 2014 StandardOn-demanddnf-automatic98Microsoft SQL Server 2014 WebOn-demanddnf-automatic99Microsoft SQL Server 2012 EnterpriseEOLyum-cron00Microsoft SQL Server 2012 StandardEOLyum-cron01Microsoft SQL Server 2012 WebEOLyum-cron02

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), a versatile server operating system for deploying highly available enterprise-class IT services in mixed IT environments with improved performance and reduced risk.

SUSE builds and supports the SUSE images available for Compute Engine. SUSE images are that incur additional fees to use.

To view a list of frequently asked questions when running SLES on Compute Engine, see SUSE Linux Enterprise Server FAQ.

Note: For compliance with SUSE licensing requirements, Google reports to SUSE your billing entity name, region, country, SKU, and total hours of usage.Automatic updates

This operating system is not configured to install updates by default. For more information about configuring automatic updates for SLES, see SUSE documentation.

Image configuration

SLES and SLES for SAP images are built and maintained by SUSE. SLES images are built with the latest SLES packages reflected in their release.

The SUSE images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard SUSE images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• SLES does not use predictive network interface naming. In the grub kernel command-line arguments, noop7 is set. Therefore, network interfaces use the traditional ethN naming, with the default interface always being noop8.
• VMs based on Google-provided Linux images get their interface MTU from the attached VPC MTU. VMs based on custom images or older Linux images may have their MTU's hardcoded. In these cases, you have to change the setting yourself if you want to connect the interface to a network with an MTU other than dnf-automatic2. For more information about network and interface MTU, see the maximum transmission unit overview.

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the packages that are supplied by SUSE.
• SLES instances register with a SUSE run SMT service for Compute Engine and are configured to use SUSE regional mirrors in Compute Engine.

Storage configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

OS versionImage projectx86 image familyArm image familyEOL and image deprecation dateSLES 15 SP4yum-cron09yum-cron10sles-15-arm64AllGATBDSLES 15 SP3yum-cron11dnf-automatic7N/AAll except T2AGADec 2025SLES 15 SP2yum-cron11N/AN/AAll except T2AGADec 2024SLES 15 SP1yum-cron11N/AN/AAll except T2A, M3GAJan 2024SLES 15yum-cron11N/AN/AAll except T2A, M3GADec 2022SLES 12 SP5yum-cron09yum-cron17N/AAll except T2AGAOct 2027SLES 12 SP4yum-cron11N/AN/AAll except T2A, M3GAJune 2023SLES 12 SP3N/AN/AN/AN/AEOLJune 2022SLES 12 SP2N/AN/AN/AN/AEOLMarch 2021SLES 12 SP1N/AN/AN/AN/AEOLMay 2020SLES 11 SP4yum-cron11yum-cron20N/AAll except T2ALTSS†March 2022SLES 15 SP4 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron22N/AAll except T2AGATBDSLES 15 SP3 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron24N/AAll except T2AGADec 2025SLES 15 SP2 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron26N/AAll except T2AGADec 2024SLES 15 SP1 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron28N/AAll except T2A, M3GAJan 2024SLES 15 for SAPN/AN/AN/AAll except T2A, M3ESPOS†Dec 2022SLES 12 SP5 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron30N/AAll except T2AGAOct 2027SLES 12 SP4 for SAPyum-cron21yum-cron32N/AAll except T2AGAJune 2023SLES 12 SP3 for SAPN/AN/AN/AN/AEOLJune 2022SLES 12 SP2 for SAPN/AN/AN/AN/AEOLMarch 2021SLES 12 SP1 for SAPN/AN/AN/AN/AEOLMay 2020

*LTSS: Support for this operating system is only offered through the Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) that is available when using BYOS licenses from SUSE.

†ESPOS: Extended Service Pack Overlay Support images are set to deprecated 6 months before their EOL date. Deprecated images are still available for use.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportSLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3SLES 12 SP2SLES 12 SP1SLES 11 SP4SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAPSLES 12 SP2 for SAPSLES 12 SP1 for SAP

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedSLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3SLES 12 SP2SLES 12 SP1SLES 11 SP4SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAPSLES 12 SP2 for SAPSLES 12 SP1 for SAP

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesSLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3*SLES 12 SP2*SLES 12 SP1*SLES 11 SP4*SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAP*SLES 12 SP2 for SAP*SLES 12 SP1 for SAP*

*Has support for NVMe but does not include all optimizations for NVMe.

Compute optimization

Note: V100 GPUs are not supported on SLES.OS versionGPU supportedSLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3SLES 12 SP2SLES 12 SP1SLES 11 SP4SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAPSLES 12 SP2 for SAPSLES 12 SP1 for SAP

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supported*SLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3SLES 12 SP2SLES 12 SP1SLES 11 SP4SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAPSLES 12 SP2 for SAPSLES 12 SP1 for SAP

*Patch compliance reporting: For all SUSE Enterprise Linux Server (SLES) operating systems, including SLES for SAP and openSuse, you can run patch jobs and create patch deployments. However, patch compliance reporting is not supported and these VMs are displayed in the dnf-automatic72 category on the OS patch management dashboard.

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceSLES 15 SP4SLES 15 SP3SLES 15 SP2SLES 15 SP1SLES 15SLES 12 SP5SLES 12 SP4SLES 12 SP3SLES 12 SP2SLES 12 SP1SLES 11 SP4SLES 15 SP4 for SAPSLES 15 SP3 for SAPSLES 15 SP2 for SAPSLES 15 SP1 for SAPSLES 15 for SAPSLES 12 SP5 for SAPSLES 12 SP4 for SAPSLES 12 SP3 for SAPSLES 12 SP2 for SAPSLES 12 SP1 for SAP

License

OS versionLicenseSLES 15 SP4On-demand (Default)yum-cron34BYOSyum-cron35SLES 15 SP3BYOSyum-cron35SLES 15 SP2BYOSyum-cron35SLES 15 SP1BYOSyum-cron35SLES 15BYOSyum-cron35SLES 12 SP5On-demand (Default)yum-cron40BYOSyum-cron41SLES 12 SP4BYOSyum-cron41SLES 12 SP3BYOSyum-cron41SLES 12 SP2EOLN/ASLES 12 SP1EOLN/ASLES 11 SP4BYOS with LTSS‡yum-cron44SLES 15 SP4 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron45BYOSyum-cron46SLES 15 SP3 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron45BYOSyum-cron46SLES 15 SP2 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron45BYOSyum-cron46SLES 15 SP1 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron45BYOSyum-cron46SLES 15 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron45BYOSyum-cron46SLES 12 SP5 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron55BYOSyum-cron56SLES 12 SP4 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron55BYOSyum-cron56SLES 12 SP3 for SAPOn-demand (Default)yum-cron55BYOSyum-cron56SLES 12 SP2 for SAPEOLN/ASLES 12 SP1 for SAPEOLN/A

*LTSS: Support for this operating system is only offered through the Long Term Service Pack Support (LTSS) that is available when using BYOS licenses from SUSE.

Ubuntu LTS

Ubuntu is a free operating system developed and supported by Canonical.

Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) images receive bug fixes and security updates for five years after their release date. LTS images can run on your instances for several years without having to upgrade to a newer release.

• For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, you can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.
• To use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, you must Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro

Ubuntu Minimal images are supported the same as Ubuntu LTS images.

Regular (non LTS) Ubuntu images are supported for 9 months from their release date. To continue to use a regular Ubuntu image, you will have to upgrade to the next regular Ubuntu release or LTS release after the support cycle ends to receive fixes and updates. Compute Engine recommends using Ubuntu LTS images unless you require features or software packages that are not yet included in an LTS release. If your instances run Ubuntu releases that are no longer supported, .

Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu yum-cron61 tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The yum-cron61 tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The yum-cron61 tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

Ubuntu images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

The Ubuntu images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• Ubuntu uses yum-cron64 to do some boot time initialization. The yum-cron65 file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the yum-cron64 modules that are used.
• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, noop5 is enabled.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages.
• For Ubuntu 18.04+, the Google Cloud CLI is installed and maintained as a snap package.
• The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via yum-cron64.
• The yum-cron71 package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in persistent mode1 and persistent mode2.
• The yum-cron74 kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

Storage configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

For information about non LTS Ubuntu releases, see Ubuntu release wiki.

OS versionImage projectImage familyArm image familyEOL and image deprecation dateUbuntu 22.04 LTSyum-cron78yum-cron79yum-cron80AllGAApril 2027 (ESM April 2032)Ubuntu 20.04 LTSyum-cron78yum-cron82yum-cron83AllGAApril 2025 (ESM April 2030)Ubuntu 18.04 LTSyum-cron78yum-cron85yum-cron86AllGAApril 2023 (ESM April 2028)Ubuntu 16.04 LTSN/AN/AN/AAll except T2A, M3Ubuntu ESM† / Ubuntu Pro‡April 2021 (ESM April 2026)Ubuntu 14.04 LTSN/AN/AN/AAll except T2A, M3Ubuntu ESM†April 2024

†Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

‡Ubuntu Pro: To continue using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS images by upgrading to Ubuntu Pro, see Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceUbuntu 22.04 LTSUbuntu 20.04 LTSUbuntu 18.04 LTSUbuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu 14.04 LTS

License

OS versionLicenseUbuntu 22.04 LTSFreeyum-cron87Ubuntu 20.04 LTSFreeyum-cron88Ubuntu 18.04 LTSFreeyum-cron89Ubuntu 16.04 LTSUbuntu ESM* / Ubuntu Pro†N/AUbuntu 14.04 LTSUbuntu ESM*N/A

*Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

†Ubuntu Pro: To use Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, you must Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.

Ubuntu Pro

Ubuntu Pro is a premium operating system developed and supported by Canonical.

Ubuntu Pro images running on Compute Engine receive bug fixes and security updates for 10 years after their release date, along with access to Ubuntu ESM. For Ubuntu 16.04, security updates and ESM are available for 8 years.

Ubuntu Pro images are premium resources that incur additional fees to use. For information about Ubuntu Pro license cost, see the pricing page. An Ubuntu Pro image running on Compute Engine has an on-demand license and does not require an additional Ubuntu Pro subscription.

To view a list of frequently asked questions when running Ubuntu Pro on Compute Engine, see Ubuntu Pro FAQ.

Note: For compliance with Canonical licensing requirements, Google reports to Canonical your billing entity name, region, country, SKU, and total hours of usage.Automatic updates

By default, this operating system is configured to install security updates by using the Ubuntu yum-cron61 tool. The updates have the following behaviors:

• The yum-cron61 tool does not upgrade VMs between major versions of the operating system.
• The yum-cron61 tool is configured to only automatically apply updates obtained from the Ubuntu security repository.
• Some updates require reboots to take effect. These reboots do not happen automatically.

Image configuration

Ubuntu Pro images are built and maintained by Canonical. Ubuntu Pro images are always built with the latest Ubuntu packages which reflect the most recent Ubuntu point release.

The Ubuntu Pro images that are provided by Compute Engine, have the following differences in configuration from standard Ubuntu images:

Account configuration

• There are no local users configured with passwords.

Bootloader configuration

• Ubuntu uses yum-cron64 to do some boot time initialization. The yum-cron65 file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the yum-cron64 modules that are used.
• To force faster boot times, the boot timeout in the grub configuration is set to 0.
• To allow SCSI block multi-queue usage, noop5 is enabled.

Network configuration

• IPv6 is enabled.
• The SSH server configuration is set to disable password authentication.
• To prevent MAC addresses from persisting, dnf-automatic1 is removed.

Package system and repository configuration

• The guest environment for Compute Engine packages are installed from the Ubuntu supplied packages.
• The Google Cloud CLI is installed and maintained as a snap package.
• The APT sources are set to use the Ubuntu Compute Engine mirrors via yum-cron64.
• The yum-cron71 package is installed and configured to download and install Debian security updates daily. This can be configured or disabled by changing the values in persistent mode1 and persistent mode2.
• The yum-cron74 kernel is used instead of the generic Ubuntu kernel. The Google Cloud kernel reflects the latest rolling HWE kernel for Ubuntu LTS.

Storage configuration

• Images are 10 GB by default.
• The partition table is dnf-automatic9, and there is an yum-cron0 partition to support booting on yum-cron1. There is also an MBR boot block to support BIOS.
• Ubuntu uses yum-cron64 to do some boot time initialization. The yum-cron65 file is configured for Compute Engine and enables only the yum-cron64 modules that are used.
• There are no local users configured with passwords.
• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.
• The floppy module is disabled because there is no floppy disk controller on Compute Engine.

Time configuration

• The NTP server is set to use the Compute Engine metadata server.

General information

For information about upgrading from Ubuntu LTS to Ubuntu Pro, see Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.

OS versionImage projectImage family*EOL and image deprecation dateUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSdnf-automatic10dnf-automatic11All except T2AGAApril 2032Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTSdnf-automatic10dnf-automatic13All except T2AGAApril 2030Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTSdnf-automatic10dnf-automatic15All except T2AGAApril 2028Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTSdnf-automatic10dnf-automatic17All except T2AGAApril 2026

†Ubuntu ESM: You can apply your existing ESM subscription to the Google provided OS image. The image that is provided by Google Cloud contains enhancements that might not be included if you bring your own OS image.

‡Ubuntu Pro: To continue using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS images by upgrading to Ubuntu Pro, see Upgrade from Ubuntu to Ubuntu Pro.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Supported interfaces

OS versionSCSINVMeGoogle Virtual NIC (gVNIC)Multiple network interfacesUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Compute optimization

OS versionGPU supportedUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

VM Manager

OS versionOS inventory supportedOS configuration supportedOS patch supportedUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

Import

For operating system support information on migrating VMs using Migrate to Virtual Machines, see supported operating systems.

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 20.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 18.04 LTSUbuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

License

OS versionLicenseUbuntu Pro 22.04 LTSOn-demanddnf-automatic18Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTSOn-demanddnf-automatic19Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTSOn-demanddnf-automatic20Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTSOn-demanddnf-automatic21

Windows client

Google doesn't provide Windows client images. You must bring your own Windows client images.

Windows client images are not supported for VMs created on the .

Automatic updates

The Windows client update settings determine how versions of Windows client use Windows Updates. To configure Windows automatic updates, see .

Storage

Google does not test the on any client images.

General information

OS versionBuilt by*Windows 11 x64**N/AVia migrationWindows 10 x64N/AVia migrationWindows 10 x86N/AVia migrationWindows 8.1 x64N/AVia migrationWindows 8.1 x86N/AVia migrationWindows 7 x64†N/AVia migration; EOLWindows 7 x86†N/AVia migration; EOL

*Google Support typically coincides with Extended Support End Date. For information about the end of support (EOS) date for each of the operating systems in the table below, see the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy.

**Windows 11 requires vTPM and Secure Boot to be enabled. Due to CPU requirements, N1 and M1 are not recommended. There is a known issue with Windows 11, Version 22H2 that may cause a VM built with that version to fail to boot.

†For information about Extended Security Updates (ESU) for Windows 7, see Microsoft's Extended Security Updates Lifecycle FAQ.

Security features

OS versionShielded VM supportConfidential VM supportWindows 11 x64Windows 10 x64Windows 10 x86Windows 8.1 x64Windows 8.1 x86Windows 7 x64Windows 7 x86

User space features

OS versionGuest environment installedgcloud CLI installedOS Login supportedSuspend and resume supportedWindows 11 x64N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 10 x64N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 10 x86N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 8.1 x64N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 8.1 x86N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 7 x64N/AN/AN/AN/AWindows 7 x86N/AN/AN/AN/A

Import

OS versionImport diskImport virtual applianceWindows 11 x64Windows 10 x64Windows 10 x86Windows 8.1 x64Windows 8.1 x86Windows 7 x64Windows 7 x86

Compute optimization

Note: The dnf-automatic22 machine types are not supported on Windows operating systems. When using A100 GPUs with Windows operating systems, choose a different machine type. For a list of machine types, see .

Which is the Linux based OS by Google?

The best-known Google operating system is Chrome OS, but inside Google itself, the company also uses its own Linux desktop distro — gLinux.

What is Chrome Linux called?

ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interface.

What's Google's operating system called?

Google Chrome OS is an open source lightweight operating system (OS). It uses one-sixtieth as much hard drive space as Windows 7 and is intended for netbooks or tablet PCs that access Web-based applications and stored data from remote servers.

What is the other name of Linux?

Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name "GNU/Linux" to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.