To create a Google Cloud server with Ubuntu, you launch a Compute Engine virtual machine (VM), select an Ubuntu public image, choose its hardware and location, and then connect through the Google Cloud console. The result is a cloud-hosted Linux computer; you do not buy or assemble physical hardware.
This guide follows Google Cloud’s beginner console workflow, including Ubuntu 24.04 LTS as the image named in the current walkthrough. It also explains billing, permissions, SSH access, web-firewall choices, alternative creation methods, and cleanup so you do not leave unwanted resources running.
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What a Google Cloud Ubuntu server actually is
In this context, “server” means a Compute Engine VM instance. Google supplies the physical infrastructure, networking, storage, and virtualization; you select a virtual CPU and memory configuration, attach a boot disk containing Ubuntu, and administer the resulting machine over the network.
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- LIVE OR INSTALL - On supported hardware, start the Ubuntu live environment to evaluate it or launch the installer.
- PLATFORM BOUNDARY - Not designed to boot Apple Silicon or other ARM-based computers. Confirm CPU architecture and USB-boot support before purchase.
- BOOT SETTINGS VARY - Boot-menu keys and UEFI settings differ by manufacturer; consult the computer maker's instructions if the USB is not listed.
- BACK UP BEFORE INSTALLING - Disk-partition and installation choices can erase files or operating systems. Disconnect nonessential drives and preserve the USB until it is no longer needed for installation or recovery.
Google’s official walkthrough is specifically for creating a Linux VM in the Google Cloud console: Google Cloud’s Linux VM walkthrough. Public images are maintained and refreshed regularly, including updates for critical vulnerabilities, so the Ubuntu version visible in your console can change over time.
Prerequisites and permissions
- A Google account that can sign in to the Google Cloud console.
- An existing Google Cloud project, or permission to create one. Creating a project requires the Project Creator permission.
- Billing enabled for the project. A VM can incur charges even when the software image itself is free.
- The Compute Engine API enabled for the project.
- Permission to create an instance. Google’s instance documentation identifies Compute Instance Admin (v1) as the role containing the relevant create-instance permission; organization policies can impose additional restrictions. See the instance-creation permission documentation.
If you are using a company or school project, an administrator may control allowed regions, machine types, external IP addresses, images, or firewall rules. A failed option in the console is often an organization policy rather than a problem with Ubuntu.
Prepare the project in Google Cloud
- Open the Google Cloud console and sign in.
- Use the project selector at the top of the page. Select an existing project or choose the option to create a new project. Supply a project name and complete the creation flow; you need Project Creator permission for this step.
- Confirm that billing is linked to the selected project. The console will normally prompt you to choose or create a billing account if one is not attached.
- Open APIs & Services > Library, search for Compute Engine API, open its entry, and click Enable. If the API is already enabled, the page will show that status.
- Open Compute Engine > VM instances. The first visit can take a moment while Google initializes Compute Engine for the project.
Configure the Ubuntu VM in the console
From Compute Engine > VM instances, click Create instance. The exact arrangement of fields can change as the console is updated, but the workflow is organized around the instance name, location, machine configuration, boot disk, identity, and networking.
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Name the instance
Choose a short, unique name using the naming rules shown by the console. Use a purpose-based name such as ubuntu-web-1 or dev-vm; names are easier to recognize later when a project contains several machines. The name is not a DNS hostname for the public internet.
Choose a region and zone
Select a region close to the people or systems that will use the VM, subject to the machine types and Ubuntu images available there. Then select a zone within that region. Location affects latency, availability choices, and price. Because the title does not specify a workload or geography, there is no universally correct region or machine size; use the console’s available options and your organization’s requirements.
Select the machine configuration
Choose a machine family and size that match the workload. A small general-purpose VM may be sufficient for a learning exercise or low-traffic service; a production database, build worker, or compute-heavy application may need more vCPUs, memory, or a different family. Do not treat the smallest option as a production recommendation.
Record the selected machine type, region, expected uptime, and network usage before creating the instance. Those values are necessary for a meaningful cost estimate.
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- 2. Try or install:Before installing on your PC, you can try them one by one without touching your hard disks.
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Choose Ubuntu as the boot image
- In the Boot disk section, click Change.
- Open the Public images tab.
- For the operating-system family, select Ubuntu.
- Select Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, the release named by Google’s current introductory walkthrough. Confirm the release currently shown in your console because public images are updated and retired over time.
- Choose a persistent-disk type and size appropriate to the operating system and the data you will store. The boot disk holds Ubuntu and the installed software; it is separate from temporary local storage.
- Click Select to return to the instance form.
Google describes the public-image process in its public-image VM documentation, and the image lifecycle is covered in the operating-system image documentation. Images can receive refreshed builds and security fixes without changing the overall Ubuntu family name.
Review identity and access settings
The instance uses a service account for calls to other Google Cloud services. Leave the default identity only if it has the access your workload needs; otherwise select a purpose-specific service account and the narrowest suitable access. Avoid granting broad project-wide permissions to software that only needs one service.
For console-based SSH, Google manages the browser connection and adds the user who creates the VM to the VM’s sudo group. That grants administrative capability inside the guest operating system, so protect the Google account and use additional least-privilege users for routine application work.
Decide whether to allow HTTP or HTTPS
The networking section includes checkboxes such as Allow HTTP traffic and Allow HTTPS traffic. These are not required for SSH administration. Selecting them creates ingress firewall rules for TCP port 80 and TCP port 443 respectively, as described in Google’s public-image documentation.
- Select Allow HTTP traffic only when the VM will serve an HTTP service on port 80.
- Select Allow HTTPS traffic only when the VM will serve an HTTPS service on port 443.
- Leave both unchecked for a private development VM, a command-line practice machine, or a server that will receive traffic through another controlled path.
Opening a port does not install a web server, configure TLS, or guarantee that an application is listening. It only permits matching network traffic through the applicable Google Cloud firewall rule. You can add, narrow, or remove firewall rules later.
Understand other security defaults
On supported Shielded VM configurations, Google’s public-image documentation says vTPM and integrity monitoring are enabled by default, while Secure Boot is disabled by default. Treat those as configuration-specific defaults rather than universal behavior; verify the settings shown for your selected image and machine type before relying on them.
Estimate the cost before you click Create
There is no single price for “an Ubuntu server.” The bill depends on machine type, region, disk type and size, hours running, network egress, and any additional resources. Use the estimate displayed in the console or Google’s Compute Engine pricing overview and calculator with the exact configuration you selected.
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- Live USB or install: You can either try on USB or install on hard drive.
| Offer or figure | What it covers | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| New-user trial credit | $300 in credits | The product overview states a 90-day use period. Eligibility and current terms must be checked when you sign up; the credit is not a permanent free allowance. |
| Compute Engine free tier | One e2-micro VM instance, up to 30 GB of standard persistent-disk storage, and up to 1 GB of outbound data transfer per month | This is a bounded offer subject to current eligibility, location and usage terms. It does not guarantee that every Ubuntu configuration, disk, IP address, or traffic pattern costs nothing. |
| General product-page starting figures | Illustrative VM, storage, or network starting rates | They are not a reliable estimate for this guide because region and configuration are unspecified. Use the calculator for your own machine. |
Set a budget alert if the project is for experimentation, but remember that an alert is not a hard spending cap. Check whether disks, static addresses, snapshots, load-balancing components, or other resources remain after you delete the VM.
Create the instance and wait for it to start
- Review the name, region, zone, machine type, boot disk, service account, and network settings.
- Confirm the HTTP and HTTPS choices reflect the service you actually intend to run.
- Click Create.
- Return to Compute Engine > VM instances and wait for the instance status to change to running. Provisioning can take longer than the page refresh interval, so refresh the list if necessary.
If creation fails, read the complete error message before changing settings. It commonly identifies a disabled API, missing permission, unavailable machine type in the selected zone, billing problem, or organization policy.
Connect through browser-based SSH
- In Compute Engine > VM instances, locate the new VM.
- Click SSH in that instance’s row.
- Allow the browser terminal to open and wait while Google establishes the connection and creates or retrieves the required user credentials.
- When the shell prompt appears, verify the host and user shown by the terminal before running administrative commands.
The creating user is placed in the guest’s sudo group according to Google’s walkthrough. If the SSH button is unavailable, check that the VM is running, the project has the required APIs and permissions, and your organization permits browser-based SSH.
Perform basic post-login maintenance
Immediately after connecting, update Ubuntu’s package metadata and installed packages:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -yReboot only if the package manager reports that a restart is required, then reconnect through the SSH button. For a real service, create separate user accounts for operators and applications, keep administrative access limited, and install only software you understand and can maintain.
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The console is the clearest one-off path, but Google also documents the Google Cloud CLI, REST API, and Terraform. They require the same fundamental decisions—project, authentication, location, machine, image, disk, and network—but the syntax and credential setup differ.
| Method | Best fit | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|
| Google Cloud console | Beginners, one-off VMs, visual review of every field | Easy to inspect, but manual steps are harder to repeat exactly. Google’s console can generate equivalent code to help you learn the syntax. |
Google Cloud CLI (gcloud) |
Command-line users and scripts | Repeatable and fast after authentication and project/zone configuration; flags must be correct for the selected image, machine, and network. |
| REST API | Applications or custom automation that call Compute Engine directly | Highly programmable, but requires authenticated requests and careful construction of instance, disk, and network objects. |
| Terraform | Infrastructure managed as code, code review, and repeatable environments | Good for lifecycle management and collaboration, but introduces state, provider configuration, and a plan/apply workflow. |
Google’s instance-creation guide lists these approaches, and its public-image guide shows the corresponding image-based workflow. Do not copy a console configuration into a CLI or Terraform command without translating the project, zone, image-family, disk, network, and firewall settings explicitly.
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Make the VM a web server only when you need public web traffic
SSH lets you administer the machine; it does not make a website available to visitors. To host a website, all of the following must be true:
- A web server or application is installed and listening on the intended port inside Ubuntu.
- The VM’s network interface and Google Cloud firewall rules allow the required traffic.
- The application is configured for its public hostname, if one is used.
- HTTPS is configured with a valid certificate when encrypted browser traffic is required.
During creation, the HTTP checkbox targets TCP 80 and the HTTPS checkbox targets TCP 443. If you selected a rule that you no longer need, remove or narrow it in VPC network > Firewall. Prefer the smallest exposure that supports the service; a database or administration port should not be opened to the entire internet merely because a website uses port 80 or 443.
Delete the VM and clean up resources
Stop paying for an experiment when it is over. Before deletion, decide whether any disk, snapshot, static external IP address, logs, or data must survive.
- Back up or export anything you need from the VM.
- Open Compute Engine > VM instances.
- Select the instance, click Delete, and confirm.
- Review the deletion dialog carefully. Delete the boot disk and other attached resources only when you no longer need them; retaining a disk can preserve data but can also continue to incur storage charges.
- Check VPC network > IP addresses, disks, snapshots, firewall rules, and any other resources created for the exercise. Remove unneeded items.
- If the project was created solely for testing, consider shutting down or deleting the project after verifying that it contains nothing valuable.
Google includes cleanup guidance in the Linux VM walkthrough. Deleting an instance does not automatically mean every separately managed resource disappears, so inspect the project rather than assuming the bill is zero.
Troubleshooting common failures
The Create button is disabled or creation is denied
- Confirm that billing is enabled and the Compute Engine API is enabled.
- Verify that your account has the required instance-creation role and that an organization policy is not blocking the region, image, machine type, or external IP.
- Try a zone where the selected machine type is available, if policy permits.
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is not listed
Open the Public images tab and select the Ubuntu family rather than searching only for an exact disk name. Public images are updated and retired; if the console presents a newer or differently labeled supported LTS release, follow the currently available image and record the exact version for your documentation.
The SSH window will not connect
- Wait until the instance status is running.
- Check that your browser account is the same account with access to the selected project.
- Review IAM permissions, organization policies, and any firewall or identity restrictions.
- Use the VM’s serial-console or diagnostic options only if your organization permits them and you understand the recovery implications.
The website is unreachable
- Confirm that the application is running and listening on the expected interface and port inside Ubuntu.
- Check whether the corresponding Google Cloud firewall rule allows TCP 80 or 443.
- Make sure the URL resolves to the VM’s current external address and that the service is actually configured for HTTP or HTTPS.
- Do not open additional ports until you know which component needs them.
The bill is higher than expected
Compare the running hours, machine type, region, disk size and type, external addresses, snapshots, and outbound traffic with the estimate you made before creation. A free-tier allowance or trial credit can be limited by eligibility, geography, resource type, or monthly quota; it is not proof that every associated resource is free.
Quick Recap
A practical launch checklist
- Project selected or created, with billing attached.
- Compute Engine API enabled.
- Instance-creation permissions confirmed.
- Region and zone chosen for the workload and budget.
- Machine type sized for the actual task.
- Ubuntu public image and exact release recorded.
- Boot-disk type and size reviewed.
- HTTP and HTTPS firewall choices made deliberately.
- Console estimate or pricing calculator checked with the real configuration.
- SSH connection tested after the VM reaches running status.
- Unneeded VM and related resources deleted after the exercise.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
