Creating an instance with a local SSD

Question

I have read that local SSDs give higher performance value when compared to persistent disks. What is the process to create an instance with a local SSD?

Answer 1

Because local SSDs are located on the physical machine where your virtual machine instance is running, they can be created only during the instance creation process. Local SSDs cannot be used as boot devices.

After creating a local SSD, you must format and mount the device before you can use it.

You can create an instance with a local SSD using the Google Cloud Platform Console, the gcloud tool, or the Compute Engine API.

Here's how you can do it using console:

1. In the GCP Console, go to the VM Instances page.

2. Click Create instance.

3. On the Create a new instance page, fill in the properties for your instance.

4. Expand Management, security, disks, networking, sole tenancy.

5. Click Disks and under Additional disks , click Add new disk.

6. Under the Name field, enter a name for the new disk.

7. Under Type, choose Local SSD scratch disk (maximum 8).

8. Click Done.

9. Click Create to create the instance.

10. After creating a local SSD, you must format and mount the device before you can use it.