Virtual machine running the application
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Google Persistent Disk
Provides durable network block storage for Compute Engine instances
Why learn Google Persistent Disk?
Teams use Google Persistent Disk to adopt virtual block storage without building the complete underlying platform themselves.
The problem it solves
Provides persistent block devices for virtual machines and stateful workloads
Where it came from
Google Persistent Disk is Google Cloud's offering for virtual block storage. Its closest catalog counterparts are Azure Managed Disks and Amazon EBS; they address the same broad need but are not feature-for-feature identical.
Build your understanding
Work through these exercises in order. Try the task before opening a reference.
- Explain the main responsibility of Google Persistent Disk.
- Choose a workload that fits Google Persistent Disk.
- Identify one operational tradeoff of Google Persistent Disk.
- Compare Google Persistent Disk with Azure Managed Disks.
- Compare Google Persistent Disk with Amazon EBS.
Documentation and sources
- Google Cloud products at a glance (docs.cloud.google.com)
Connect the ideas
Alternatives
Real World Example
Persistent Disk for Stateful Inventory Management
Retailers managing high-volume inventory databases that require consistent, durable storage attached to virtual machines.
The business problem
Standard ephemeral storage attached to virtual machines is lost when the instance is stopped or terminated, leading to potential data loss for stateful inventory applications.
How this topic solves it
Google Persistent Disk provides durable network block storage that persists independently of the Compute Engine instance lifecycle, ensuring data remains intact even if the virtual machine is restarted or deleted.
- Provision a Compute Engine instance within the desired zone.
- Create a Persistent Disk resource specifying the required size and disk type.
- Attach the Persistent Disk to the running Compute Engine instance.
- Format and mount the disk within the guest operating system to enable file system access.
- Configure the application to store inventory database files on the mounted persistent volume.
Shows the relationship between the compute resource and the durable storage layer.
Durable network block storage
Mount point for the disk
- Persistent Disk → attached_to (1:1) → Compute Engine Instance
- Compute Engine Instance → manages_mount (1:1) → Guest OS
Expected business outcome
Inventory data remains durable and accessible across instance reboots, allowing for reliable stateful application management.
Limitations and checks
Persistent Disks are zonal resources, meaning they cannot be attached to instances in different zones; check disk availability by verifying the zone property in the resource metadata.