Google Compute Engine allows you to make custom images from a running virtual machine. The documentation provides a sufficient example but is a little bit scattered. This article collects and presents all the steps necessary to create your own Compute Engine images that you can use as a base for virtual machines.
1. Create a Packaged Image
Once your have booted your instanced and ssh’d in you can create your image
using the gcimagebundle command.
sudo gcimagebundle -d <boot-device> -o <output-directory>
The boot device is /dev/sda so a complete example might look like this.
sudo gcimagebundle -d /dev/sda -o /tmp
2. Upload to Cloud Storage
Once you have a Compute Engine image you need to upload it to Cloud Storage by logging into your gcloud account and copying your file to a Cloud Storage bucket. Thankfully, Compute Engine installs the necessary gcloud and gsutil executables in the base virtual machines.
# login to your gcloud account
gcloud auth login
# make a bucket for compute engine images
gsutil mb gs://<bucket-name>
# copy your image to the bucket
gsutil cp /tmp/<image-name>.image.tar.gz gs://<bucket-name>
3. Create a Compute Engine Image
We don’t need our virtual machine any more. You can exit the machine and head
back to your console. From your console you can create a compute engine image
using gcloud compute.
gcloud compute images create <image-name> --source-uri gs://<bucket-name>/<image-name>.image.tar.gz
4. Use your Image to Create a Compute Engine Instance
Finally, now that we have a predefined image, you can create a compute engine instance using your image name.
gcloud compute instances create --image <image-name>
Your images offer the same functionality as the Google provided versions. You
can mark them as DEPRECATED, OBSOLETE or DELETED to manage your
deployment.