Import virtual disks

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Console

To import a virtual disk image to Compute Engine using the Google Cloud console, use the following steps.

1. Open the Migrate to Virtual Machines page in the Google Cloud console.
   Go to the Migrate to Virtual Machines page
2. Select the Image Imports tab.
3. Click Create Image.
4. Define the characteristics of the image. The following table lists the parameters that you can set for your image.

   Section title	Field name	Description
   General	Name	The name of the image that you want to create. For more information on the naming rules, see Naming convention.
   	Image import ID	An ID that represents the image import resource. When you import an image to Compute Engine, Migrate to Virtual Machines first creates an image import resource. The image import resource represents the image import process. You can use the Image import ID to get the link to the image that was imported as part of the image import process.
   	Source Cloud Storage file	The file from which you want to import the image. Click Browse to view the list of buckets in your current project, and select the file from which you want to import the image. If you want to import an image from a bucket from another project, you must enter the path in the format bucket/folder/file. To get the path of an object inside a bucket, see View object metadata. When you copy the path, ensure that you don't copy the gs:// prefix. Note that you can only import images from .vmdk and .tar.gz files.
   	Region	The region in which you want to create the image. For a list of supported regions, see Regions and zones.
   	Target project	The target project in which you want to create the image. If you've not already added a target project, do so using the instructions given in Add a target project.
   	Family	(Optional) Select the image family. Compute Engine provides image families to help you ensure that your automation systems can reference the latest images. As an administrator, you can group a set of images as an image family. For more information, see Public image families.
   	Description	(Optional) Add a description for the image.
   	Skip OS adaptation	To skip OS adaptation, click the Skip OS adaptation toggle to the on position. To function properly on Google Cloud, VMs created from imported images require changes to be made to their configuration. These changes are referred to as OS adaptations. Migrate to Virtual Machines performs OS adaptations automatically in the image import process. For more information, see Adapt VM instances to run on Google Cloud.
   	Generalize	To generalize the image, click the Generalize toggle to the on position. When you create an instance from an image, Windows adds some unique information to the instance. Generalize is a process that removes this information so that you can create multiple instances from the same image.
   Licenses	License type	Compute Engine supports pay as you go (PAYG) licenses and bring your own licenses (BYOL) for your deployed VMs. The default license type for a migrated VM is assigned by Migrate to Virtual Machines based on the migrated operating system, as described in Supported operating systems. If your operating system supports multiple license types, you can override the default license type to explicitly specify a license type of PAYG or BYOL.
   Additional licenses	Additional licenses	You can add up to 10 additional licenses to the VM instance created from the imported image using a valid URL format. For example, you can add additional licenses using the following URL format: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2012-enterprise
   	Labels	To organize your project, add labels as key-value pairs to your resources. See Organize resources using labels.
   Encryption	Google-managed encryption key	Choose this option to use Google-owned and Google-managed encryption keys to encrypt your data during the import process. For more information, see encrypts data when it is at rest.
   	Customer managed encryption key	Choose this option to use customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) to encrypt your data during the import process, and the data of the image created by the import process. If you have specific compliance or regulatory requirements related to the keys that protect your data, you can use CMEK to encrypt and decrypt your data. These encryption keys are created, managed, and owned by you. For more information, see Protect resources by using Cloud KMS keys. When you add a CMEK, you must grant permissions as described in the following table. Role Permissions required Description Cloud VM Migration Service Account roles/vmmigration.serviceAgen Grant this permission to the Compute Engine service account to encrypt data of the image created during the import process. Compute Engine Service Agent roles/compute.serviceAgent Grant this permission to the Migrate to Virtual Machines service agent to encrypt the data during the import process.

5. Select Create.

gcloud

To import a virtual disk image to Compute Engine using the Google Cloud CLI, use the following request.

gcloud migration vms image-imports create IMAGE_NAME \
--source-file=SOURCE_FILE \
--location=REGION_ID \
--target-project=projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT

Replace the following:

• IMAGE_NAME: the name of the image that you want to create. For more information on the naming rules, see Naming convention.
• SOURCE_FILE: the file from which you want to import the image. Enter the path in the format gs://bucket/folder/file. To get the path of an object inside a bucket, see View object metadata. Note that you can only import images from .vmdk and .tar.gz files.
• REGION_ID: the region in which you want the image import process to run. The image is created in the closest multi-region. If you want the image to be created in a region, ensure that singleRegionStorage is set to true. For a list of supported regions, see Regions and Zones.
• HOST_PROJECT_ID: the name of the host project from which you want to migrate the virtual disk image.
• TARGET_PROJECT: the target project in which you want to create the image. If you've not already added a target project, do so using the instructions given in Add a target project.

For more information, see gcloud migration vms image-imports.

REST

To import a virtual disk image to Compute Engine using the REST API, use the following steps.

1. Create an image import resource using the following request.

   POST https://vmmigration.googleapis.com/v1/projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION_ID/imageImports?imageImportId=IMPORT_NAME
   {
   "cloudStorageUri": "SOURCE_FILE",
   "diskImageTargetDefaults": {
   "imageName": "IMAGE_NAME",
   "targetProject": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT",
   ...
   }
   }
   

   Replace the following:

   • HOST_PROJECT_ID: the name of the host project from which you want to migrate the virtual disk image.
   • REGION_ID: the region in which you want the image import process to run. The image is created in the closest multi-region. If you want the image to be created in a region, ensure that singleRegionStorage is set to true. For a list of supported regions, see Regions and Zones.
   • SOURCE_FILE: the file from which you want to import the image. Enter the path in the format gs://bucket/folder/file. To get the path of an object inside a bucket, see View object metadata. Note that you can only import images from .vmdk and .tar.gz files.
   • IMAGE_NAME: the name of the image that you want to create. For more information on the naming rules, see Naming convention.
   • TARGET_PROJECT: the target project in which you want to create the image. If you've not already added a target project, do so using the instructions given in Add a target project.

   In this example, IMPORT_NAME is an ID that represents the image import resource. When you import an image to Compute Engine, Migrate to Virtual Machines creates an first creates an image import resource. The image import resource represents the image import process. You can use the IMPORT_NAME to get the link to the image that was imported as part of the image import process.

   See the following table for the full list of image import create request fields supported fields.

   Field name	Description
   cloudStorageUri	string The path of the file from which you want to import the image. Enter the path in the format gs://bucket/folder/file. To get the path of an object inside a bucket, see View object metadata. Note that you can only import images from .vmdk and .tar.gz files.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.targetProject	string The path of the TargetProject. The target project in which you want to create the image. For more information, see target project API reference. For example, projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT In the example, replace the following: HOST_PROJECT_ID: the name of the host project from which you want to migrate the virtual disk image. TARGET_PROJECT: the target project in which you want to create the image.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.imageName	string The name of the image to be created. For more information on the naming rules, see resource naming convention.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.description	string (Optional) A description of the image.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.familyName	string (Optional) Select the image family. Compute Engine provides image families to help you ensure that your automation systems can reference the latest images. As an administrator, you can group a set of images as an image family. For more information, see Public image families. For more information, see Public image families.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.labels	map (key: string, value: string) To organize your project, add labels as key-value pairs to your resources. See Labeling resources.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.additionalLicenses	string[] You can add up to 10 additional licenses to the VM instance created from the imported image using a valid URL format. For example, you can add additional licenses using the following URL format: https://www.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/windows-sql-cloud/global/licenses/sql-server-2012-enterprise
   diskImageTargetDefaults.singleRegionStorage	boolean Set this flag to true if you want the image storageLocations to be a region. If you set this flag to false, the closest multi-region is selected.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.dataDiskImageImport	boolean Set this flag to true if you want to skip OS adaptation. To function properly on Google Cloud, VMs created from imported images require changes to be made to their configuration. These changes are referred to as OS adaptations. Migrate to Virtual Machines performs OS adaptations automatically in the image import process. For more information, see Adapt VM instances to run on Google Cloud.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.osAdaptationParameters.licenseType	string The license type you want to use for your image. Compute Engine supports pay as you go (PAYG) licenses and bring your own licenses (BYOL) for your deployed VMs. The default license type for a migrated VM is assigned by Migrate to Virtual Machines based on the migrated operating system, as described in Supported operating systems. If your operating system supports multiple license types, you can override the default license type to explicitly specify a license type of PAYG or BYOL.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.osAdaptationParameters.generalize	boolean Set this flag to true if you want to generalize the image. When you create an instance from an image, Windows adds some unique information to the instance. Generalize is a process that removes this information so that you can create multiple instances from the same image.
   diskImageTargetDefaults.encryption	string The Google-owned and Google-managed encryption key that you want to use to encrypt your data during the import process. For more information, see encrypts data when it is at rest.
   encryption	string Choose this option to use customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) to encrypt your data during the import process, and the data of the image created during the import process. If you have specific compliance or regulatory requirements related to the keys that protect your data, you can use CMEK to encrypt and decrypt your data. These encryption keys are created, managed, and owned by you. For more information, see Protect resources by using Cloud KMS keys. When you add a CMEK, you must grant permissions as described in the following table. Role Permissions required Description Cloud VM Migration Service Account roles/vmmigration.serviceAgent Grant this permission to the Compute Engine service account to encrypt data of the image created during the import process. Compute Engine Service Agent roles/compute.serviceAgent Grant this permission to the Migrate to Virtual Machines service agent to encrypt the data during the import process.

   You should see a response similar to the following sample response.

   {
     "name": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID",
     "metadata": {
       "createTime": "2023-10-31T09:12:26.94928636Z",
       "target": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/us-central1/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME",
       "verb": "create",
       "apiVersion": "v1",
       "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.vmmigration.v1.OperationMetadata"
     }
   }
   

2. Check if the image import job is complete by polling the operation using the following command.

   GET https://vmmigration.googleapis.com/v1/projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID
   

   Replace the following:

   • HOST_PROJECT_ID: the name of the host project from which you are migrating the virtual disk image.
   • REGION_ID: the region in which you want the image import process to run. The image is created in the closest multi-region. If you want the image to be created in a region, ensure that singleRegionStorage is set to true. For a list of supported regions, see Regions and Zones.
   • OPERATION_ID: the operation ID of the migrate job.

   You should see an operation completion response similar to the following sample response.

     {
       "done": true,
       "name": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION_ID/operations/OPERATION_ID",
       "response": {
         "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.vmmigration.v1.ImageImport",
         "name": "projects/<HOST_PROJECT_ID>/locations/us-central1/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME",
         "cloudStorageUri": "SOURCE_FILE",
         "createTime": "2023-10-31T09:04:04.413664947Z",
         "diskImageTargetDefaults": {
           "imageName": "IMAGE_NAME",
           "targetProject": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT"
         },
         "recentImageImportJobs": [
           {
             "name": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/us-central1/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME/imageImportJobs/image-import-job",
             "diskImageTargetDetails": {
              "imageName": "IMAGE_NAME",
              "targetProject": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT"
           },
            "state": "PENDING"
          }
         ]
       },
       "metadata": {
         "createTime": "2023-10-31T09:04:04.416740716Z",
         "endTime": "2023-10-31T09:05:36.79987142Z",
         "target": "projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/us-central1/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME",
         "verb": "create",
         "apiVersion": "v1",
         "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.cloud.vmmigration.v1.OperationMetadata"
       }
     }
   

3. Monitor the image import job for completion using the following command.

   GET https://vmmigration.googleapis.com/v1/projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/REGION_ID/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME/imageImportJobs/image-import-job
   

   Replace the following:

   • HOST_PROJECT_ID: the name of the host project from which you are migrating the virtual disk image.
   • REGION_ID: the region in which you want the image import process to run. The image is created in the closest multi-region. If you want the image to be created in a region, ensure that singleRegionStorage is set to true. For a list of supported regions, see Regions and Zones.
   • IMPORT_NAME: the ID that represents the image import resource. When you import an image to Compute Engine, Migrate to Virtual Machines creates an first creates an image import resource. The image import resource represents the image import process. You can use the IMPORT_NAME to get the link to the image that was imported as part of the image import process.

   You should see a job completion response similar to the following sample response.

   {
     "createTime":"2023-10-31T09:12:27.053788394Z",
     "createdResources":[
       "https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/USER_PROJECT/global/images/IMAGE_NAME"
     ],
     "diskImageTargetDetails": {
       "imageName":"IMAGE_NAME",
       "targetProject":"projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/global/targetProjects/TARGET_PROJECT"
     },
     "endTime":"2023-10-31T09:16:50.224865783Z",
     "name":"projects/HOST_PROJECT_ID/locations/us-central1/imageImports/IMPORT_NAME/imageImportJobs/image-import-job",
     "state":"SUCCEEDED"
   }