Container image option in google_compute_instance_template

[JasperWoo]

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Description

We can simplify application deployment by deploying containers to instances in managed instance groups. This is supported in GCP as here.

New or Affected Resource(s)

• google_compute_instance_template

Potential Terraform Configuration

resource "google_compute_instance_template" "default" {
...
  // New option: Deploy container from Google Container Registry
  container {
    source_image = "http://us.gcr.io/path_to_image:latest"
  }
  // Create a new boot disk from an image
  disk {
    source_image = "debian-cloud/debian-9"
    auto_delete  = true
    boot         = true
  }
...
}

References

1. https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/containers/deploying-containers#managedinstancegroupcontainer
2. https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/google/r/compute_instance_template.html

• #0000

[mercuriete]

Hi i wanted this feature but I saw this is a beta feature:

https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/beta/compute/instance-templates/create-with-container

It is posible to add create with container to the google-beta terraform provider?

anyways, I would like to have in addition to container.source_image the following:

container.env

--container-env=[KEY=VALUE, …,…]
Declare environment variables KEY with value VALUE passed to container. Only the last value of KEY is taken when KEY is repeated more than once.
Values, declared with --container-env flag override those with the same KEY from file, provided in --container-env-file.

container.arg

--container-arg=CONTAINER_ARG
Argument to append to container entrypoint or to override container CMD. Each argument must have a separate flag. Arguments are appended in the order of flags. Example:
Assuming the default entry point of the container (or an entry point overridden with --container-command flag) is a Bourne shell-compatible executable, in order to execute 'ls -l' command in the container, the user could use:

and so on.

Thank you very much.

[mjrlee]

This is currently possible by using https://registry.terraform.io/modules/terraform-google-modules/container-vm/google/1.0.0 to generate the metadata.

Would rather see it natively though!

[paddycarver]

There's more information on this here: #1022 (comment)

[AlistairB]

Hi,

--container-env, --container-arg and --container-image are now appearing in gcloud stable https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud/reference/compute/instance-templates/create-with-container . As such I believe this is no longer blocked on upstream? Can we get these properties added?

There are also multiple other --container-* commands that would be nice to support.

FWIW, https://registry.terraform.io/modules/terraform-google-modules/container-vm/google/2.0.0 is nice, but custom modules add another layer of misdirection and can be hard to customize and understand what you are getting. I think they should be additive on existing working terraform google provider functionality.

[AlistairB]

@paddycarver Sorry for the ping. Can the upstream label be removed as per my above comment?

[melinath]

Is this supported by the REST API? If so, could someone provide a docs link? Thanks!

[AarshDhokai]

b/262532046

[AarshDhokai]

• The user wants to deploy an application by deploying containers to instances in managed instance groups, based on my observations of this issue. This feature is available in the GUI.
• Applications can be deployed by giving a "command" and a "container image." We can set up the image to run on a virtual machine via GUI.
• I attempted to deploy a container using the GUI option, and after providing appropriate information in the configure container section, I looked up the equivalent REST for that. There, I noticed that the container's configuration is passed along with the VM instance's "metadata" element.

"metadata": {
    "items": [
      {
        "key": "gce-container-declaration",
        "value": "spec:\n  containers:\n  - name: instance-1\n    image: gcr.io/google-containers/busybox\n    command:\n    - echo \"Hello world\"\n    stdin: false\n    tty: false\n  restartPolicy: Always\n# 
        This container declaration format is not a public API and may change without notice. Please\n# use gcloud command-line tool or Google Cloud Console to run Containers on Google Compute Engine."
      }
    ]
  },

• However, it is evident from the warning that this container declaration format is not a public API.
  In light of the fact that this is not a public API and may change without notice.
• So Terraform cannot support this feature, until the API becomes public.