Contents
- Configure a Compute Engine VM instance as a Windows container host
- Configure a Compute Engine VM instance as a Linux container host
Configure a Compute Engine VM instance as a Windows container host
Selecting a machine type
Any Compute Engine machine type with a sufficient amount of memory can be used to run a Windows container host. For building and running Unreal Engine containers a standard machine type with a minimum of 8GB of memory is recommended.
Selecting a virtual machine image
Google provides preconfigured VM images for Windows Server that come with Docker EE preinstalled and are named with the suffix “for Containers”:
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter for Containers
- Windows Server 2019 Datacenter Core for Containers
- Windows Server version 1803 Datacenter Core for Containers
- Windows Server version 1809 Datacenter Core for Containers
After launching an instance using an image that includes Docker EE it is recommended that you update Docker by following the official update instructions.
Configuring the instance
Once you have launched an instance and ensured your Docker EE installation is up-to-date, configure the Docker daemon by following the instructions in the Configuring Docker for building and running Windows containers section of the Windows Server environment configuration page.
Configure a Compute Engine VM instance as a Linux container host
Configure a CPU-only instance
Selecting a machine type
Any Compute Engine machine type with a sufficient amount of memory can be used to run a Linux container host without NVIDIA Container Toolkit support. For building and running Unreal Engine containers a standard machine type with a minimum of 8GB of memory is recommended.
Selecting a virtual machine image
Google does not currently provide preconfigured VM images for Linux with Docker CE preinstalled, so you will need to instead select a base image for one of Docker’s supported Linux distributions:
- CentOS 7
- Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Minimal
Configuring the instance
Once you have launched an instance running a supported Linux distribution then you will need to install Docker CE by following the instructions in the Installing and configuring Docker section of the Linux environment configuration page.
Configure a GPU-enabled instance with the NVIDIA Container Toolkit
Selecting a machine type
Compute Engine allows you to add GPU devices to any machine type. For building and running Unreal Engine containers a standard machine type with a minimum of 8GB of memory is recommended. It is worth noting that GPUs are not available in all Compute Engine regions and zones.
Selecting a virtual machine image
As discussed in the Configure a CPU-only instance section above, you will need to select a VM image for one of Docker’s supported Linux distributions.
Installing the NVIDIA drivers
If the VM image you selected for your instance does not include the appropriate NVIDIA GPU drivers then you will need to install or update the drivers manually.
Installing Docker and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit
Once you have ensured your instance is running the appropriate NVIDIA GPU drivers then you will need to install Docker CE and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit by following the instructions provided by the Linux environment configuration page.