GCP Runners allow you to deploy Ona’s runner infrastructure directly within your own Google Cloud VPC, giving you complete control over your development environments while maintaining security and compliance requirements. When you deploy a GCP Runner, development environments are created as Compute Engine instances that are automatically sized based on your environment class requirements. The runner orchestrator itself runs as a containerized service within Compute Engine instances in your GCP project. The entire deployment is automated through Terraform modules that we provide, making setup straightforward while ensuring best practices for security and scalability.

GCP Runner Overview

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Prerequisites

Before deploying your GCP Runner, ensure you have:
  1. GCP Project with billing enabled and sufficient quotas for your expected workload
  2. VPC and Networking - A custom VPC with properly configured subnets:
    • Runner subnet: Private subnet for development environment VMs (with Private Google Access enabled)
    • Proxy subnet (internal LB only): REGIONAL_MANAGED_PROXY subnet for internal load balancer
  3. Domain Name that you control with DNS modification capabilities
  4. SSL/TLS Certificate provisioned based on your load balancer choice:
    • External LB: Certificate stored in Google Certificate Manager
    • Internal LB: Certificate stored in Google Secret Manager with both certificate and private key
  5. Required APIs enabled in your GCP project (automatically enabled by Terraform)

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Load Balancer Configurations

The GCP Runner supports two load balancer configurations, each designed for different network architectures and security requirements.

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External Load Balancer (Default)

The external load balancer configuration provides internet-accessible development environments through Google Cloud’s global load balancer. This configuration is simpler to set up and doesn’t require additional networking configuration. Use Cases:
  • Development teams accessing environments from various locations
  • Simplified setup with internet connectivity
  • No additional network infrastructure required
Requirements:
  • SSL certificate managed by Google Certificate Manager
  • Public internet access to development environments
  • Standard VPC subnet for development environments

GCP Runner External NLB

The internal load balancer configuration keeps all traffic within your VPC and corporate network, providing the highest level of security and control. This configuration is ideal for enterprise environments with existing network infrastructure and security policies. Use Cases:
  • Enterprise environments with strict security requirements
  • Corporate networks with VPN or interconnect access
  • Zero internet exposure for development environments
Requirements:
  • SSL certificate stored in Google Secret Manager (both certificate and private key)
  • Dedicated proxy-only subnet with purpose REGIONAL_MANAGED_PROXY
  • Corporate network connectivity to your GCP VPC (VPN, Interconnect, etc.)

GCP Runner Internal NLB

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Certificate Requirements

SSL certificates are required for both load balancer configurations but have different storage and format requirements:

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External Load Balancer Certificate

  • Storage: Google Certificate Manager
  • Format: Managed certificate or uploaded certificate
  • SANs required: Root domain (yourdomain.com) and wildcard (*.yourdomain.com)

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Internal Load Balancer Certificate

  • Storage: Google Secret Manager
  • Format: JSON object with both certificate and private key
  • SANs required: Root domain (yourdomain.com) and wildcard (*.yourdomain.com)
  • Secret format: 
    {
  "certificate": "-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\n...\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----",
  "privateKey": "-----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----\n...\n-----END PRIVATE KEY-----"
}

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Next Steps