Startup scripts for automation in GCP - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Startup scripts for automation

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a Google Cloud virtual machine (VM) that needs to automatically install and start a web server when it boots up. This automation saves time and ensures the server is ready without manual setup.

🎯 Goal: Create a startup script that installs the Apache web server and starts it automatically on a Google Cloud VM instance.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a startup script variable with the exact shell commands to install Apache

Add a configuration variable to specify the Apache service name

Write the core logic to include the startup script in the VM instance metadata

Complete the VM instance creation with the startup script attached

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Automating VM setup with startup scripts is common in cloud environments to save time and reduce manual errors when deploying servers.

💼 Career

Cloud engineers and DevOps professionals use startup scripts to automate instance configuration and ensure consistent environments.

1

Create the startup script variable

Create a variable called startup_script that contains the exact shell commands to update package lists, install Apache2, and start the Apache2 service using systemctl. Use the following commands exactly: sudo apt-get update -y, sudo apt-get install apache2 -y, and sudo systemctl start apache2 separated by semicolons.

GCP

# Create the startup_script variable with the exact commands
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a single string with commands separated by semicolons.

2

Add the Apache service name configuration

Create a variable called apache_service and set it to the string "apache2" to specify the Apache service name.

GCP

startup_script = "sudo apt-get update -y; sudo apt-get install apache2 -y; sudo systemctl start apache2"
apache_service = ""  # Set the Apache service name here
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Set the variable exactly as shown.

3

Add the startup script to VM instance metadata

Create a dictionary called instance_metadata with a key "startup-script" and set its value to the startup_script variable.

GCP

startup_script = "sudo apt-get update -y; sudo apt-get install apache2 -y; sudo systemctl start apache2"
apache_service = "apache2"
instance_metadata = {}  # Add startup-script key with startup_script value
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use a dictionary with the key exactly as "startup-script".

4

Complete VM instance creation with startup script

Create a dictionary called vm_instance with keys "name" set to "web-server", "machine_type" set to "n1-standard-1", and "metadata" set to the instance_metadata variable.

GCP

startup_script = "sudo apt-get update -y; sudo apt-get install apache2 -y; sudo systemctl start apache2"
apache_service = "apache2"
instance_metadata = {"startup-script": startup_script}
vm_instance = {}  # Define VM instance dictionary with name, machine_type, and metadata
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Include all keys exactly as specified.