Before you build anything, note that Deployment Manager reached end of support on March 31, 2026. Google says existing users can keep managing, migrating, or deleting existing resources at their own risk, but it does not answer standard support tickets for the service and does not support new customers or organizations using it. The replacement is Infrastructure Manager, which uses Terraform. Treat this guide as background for understanding how the service works and for maintaining an existing deployment.<\/p>\r\n
This walks through listing the resource types you can use, writing a configuration file for a virtual machine, previewing it before anything is created, and then either deploying the preview or cancelling and deleting it.<\/p>\r\n
Step by Step Process of Deploying Manager Configuration File<\/h2>\r\nStep 1: List the Supported Resource Types<\/h3>\r\n
This shows the resource types Deployment Manager supports, which is where the type in a configuration file comes from:<\/p>\r\n
gcloud deployment-manager types list<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Create a file with the extension .yaml. This will be your configuration file:<\/p>\r\n nano vm.yaml<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Paste in the following. The header comments are Google’s licence notice for this sample, so keep them if you reuse the code. The only change from the original is the image family, now debian 12 instead of debian 9.<\/p>\r\n # Copyright 2016 Google Inc. All rights reserved. To close the editor, press control x, then y to confirm, then enter. The file is saved. The screenshots may still show the original code, so check them and retake any that do before you publish.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A preview lets you see the resources Deployment Manager would create without creating any real ones. It builds placeholder resources instead, so you can check the plan before committing to it.<\/p>\r\n gcloud deployment-manager deployments create example-config –config vm.yaml –preview<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Steps Five, Six, and Seven below are choices, not a sequence. Google’s documentation gives you these options after a preview.<\/p>\r\n Do not run all three in order on the same deployment. Once you delete it, there is nothing left to deploy. Google also advises cancelling and deleting any previewed deployments you no longer need, so they do not pile up.<\/p>\r\n gcloud deployment-manager deployments cancel-preview example-config<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n gcloud deployment-manager deployments delete example-config<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n gcloud deployment-manager deployments update example-config<\/p>\r\n This turns the previewed placeholder resources into real ones. Because the service is out of support, these commands may still work in a project that already uses Deployment Manager, but a new project may not be able to use it at all, and I have not tested them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For new work, use Infrastructure Manager, which runs Terraform for you, or Terraform itself. Deployment Manager configuration files and templates map onto Terraform configuration and modules. Google provides a tool called DM Convert to convert existing ones, and the Adding Templates guide in this series covers the replacement and the migration route in more detail.<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nStep 2: Create the Configuration File<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nStep 3: Paste In the Configuration<\/h3>\r\n
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the “License”);
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
# \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.apache.org\/licenses\/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.
resources:
– name: vm-created-by-deployment-manager
\u00a0\u00a0type: compute.v1.instance
\u00a0\u00a0properties:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0zone: us-central1-a
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0machineType: zones\/us-central1-a\/machineTypes\/n1-standard-1
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0disks:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0– deviceName: boot
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0type: PERSISTENT
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0boot: true
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0autoDelete: true
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0initializeParams:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sourceImage: projects\/debian-cloud\/global\/images\/family\/debian-12
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0networkInterfaces:
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0– network: global\/networks\/default<\/p>\r\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/3-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nReading the Sample Line by Line<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n
Step 4: Preview the Configuration<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nChoosing What to Do After a Preview<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n
Step 5: Cancel a Preview You Do Not Want<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nStep 6: Delete the Deployment<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/image-60.png\")
<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nStep 7: Deploy the Preview Instead<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/prwatech.in\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/image-61.png\")
<\/figure>\r\nWhat to Use Instead<\/h2>\r\n
Common Mistakes to Avoid<\/h2>\r\n