Create a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine

Overview

This section shows you how to provision a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using the c4a-standard-4 (4 vCPUs, 16 GB memory) machine type in the Google Cloud Console.

Provision a Google Axion C4A Arm VM

To create a virtual machine based on the C4A instance type:

• Navigate to the Google Cloud Console .

• Go to Compute Engine > VM Instances and select Create Instance.

• Under Machine configuration:

  • Populate fields such as Instance name, Region, and Zone.
  • Set Series to C4A.
  • Select c4a-standard-4 for machine type.

  Creating a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine in Google Cloud Console

• Under OS and Storage, select Change, then choose an Arm64-based OS image. For this Learning Path, use SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or Ubuntu.

  • If using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, select “Pay As You Go” for the license type.
  • If using Ubuntu, under the Version tab, scroll down and select the aarch64 version of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

• Once appropriately selected, select Select.

• Under Networking, enable Allow HTTP traffic.

• Select Create to launch the instance.

• Once created, you see an SSH option to the right in your list of VM instances. Select this to launch an SSH shell into your VM instance:

SSH button in VM instances list

• A browser window opens and displays a shell into your VM instance:

Terminal shell in your VM instance

Explore your instance: run uname

Use the uname utility to verify that you are using an Arm-based server. For example:

    

        
        
uname -m

    

The output identifies the host machine as aarch64.

Run hello world

Install the gcc compiler:

    

        
        

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y build-essential
  

    

    

        
        

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install -y gcc
  

    

Using a text editor of your choice, create a file named hello.c with the contents below:

    

        
        
#include <stdio.h>
int main(){
    printf("hello world\n");
    return 0;
}

    

Build and run the application:

    

        
        
gcc hello.c -o hello
./hello

    

The output is:

    

        
        hello world

        
    

Automate Arm infrastructure deployment

Cloud infrastructure deployment is typically done via Infrastructure as Code (IaC) automation tools. There are Cloud Service Provider-specific tools like Google Cloud Deployment Manager .

There are also Cloud Service Provider-agnostic tools like Terraform . Review the Learning Path Deploy Arm virtual machines on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Terraform next.