A GCE image is a copy of the primary virtual disk of an instance, which can be used to create additional instances. Cloudmin supports creation of new private images, but there is a catch - unlike with EC2 or other virtualization types, the system being imaged must be deleted as part of the process.
The exact steps involved are :
- Configure a GCE instance the way you want, such as by installing any needed packages, creating users and configuration files, and so on.
- Go to System State -> Delete System, and check the box Leave virtual disk images after system is deleted.
- Click the Delete System button. This will remove the instance, but leave all GCE disks associated with it behind.
- Go to Google Compute Engine -> GCE Images , and scroll down to the GCE image creation options form.
- Enter a short unique name for your image in the Image name box (like
test-image-1) - Select the original instance's virtual disk from the Create image from disk menu.
- Optionally enter a description for the image.
- Click the Create Image button.
Once the image creation process is complete, you can test it out by creating a new GCE instance from the image. Private images that you no longer need can be removed on the GCE Images page - because Google charges for image storage, cleaning unused images up occasionally is a good idea.