ck gce

Commands for Compute Engine VMs in the active gcloud configuration. Log in first with ck gcloud login.

Command	What it does
`ls`	List VMs
`ls-running`	List running VMs
`ls-stopped`	List stopped VMs
`start` / `stop` / `reset`	Change a VM’s power state
`ssh`	SSH to a VM, run a command, or hold tunnels open
`scp`	Copy files to or from a VM
`port-forward`	Forward a port through IAP

Common options

All instance commands accept:

Option	Meaning
`--zone <zone>`	VM zone. When left out, it’s looked up from the VM name; if the name exists in more than one zone, you must pass it.
`--project <project>`	Project to use instead of the configuration’s default

Flags can go anywhere on the line. Everything after a bare -- is passed through as-is.

ck gce ls

ck gce ls [--filter <pattern>]

List VMs. --filter matches the name against a pattern.

ck gce ls
ck gce ls --filter web

ck gce ls-running

ck gce ls-running

List VMs with status RUNNING.

ck gce ls-stopped

ck gce ls-stopped

List VMs with status TERMINATED (stopped).

ck gce start / stop / reset

ck gce start <instance-name> [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>]
ck gce stop  <instance-name> [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>]
ck gce reset <instance-name> [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>]

Start, stop, or hard-reset a VM.

ck gce start my-vm
ck gce stop my-vm --zone us-central1-a

ck gce ssh

ck gce ssh [instance-name] [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>]
           [--tunnel-iap | --no-iap] [--forward <local:host:remote>]...
           [--tunnel-only] [--] [command]

SSH to a VM. Leave out the name to pick from running VMs.

Option	Meaning
`--tunnel-iap`	Connect through IAP, so the VM needs no public IP. On by default when `--forward` is used.
`--no-iap`	Never connect through IAP
`--forward <local:host:remote>`	Forward a local port to `host:remote` as seen from the VM. Repeatable.
`--tunnel-only`	With `--forward`: hold the tunnels open without a shell
`command`	Run this command instead of opening a shell

ck gce ssh                                   # pick a running VM
ck gce ssh my-vm --tunnel-iap
ck gce ssh my-vm "df -h"                     # run a remote command

# MySQL on the VM at localhost:3308, tunnel only (no shell)
ck gce ssh my-vm --forward 3308:127.0.0.1:3306 --tunnel-only

# two forwards at once
ck gce ssh my-vm --forward 3308:127.0.0.1:3306 --forward 6380:127.0.0.1:6379

ck gce scp

ck gce scp <source>... <destination> [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>] [--tunnel-iap] [-r]

Copy files to or from a VM. Write remote paths as instance:path; the zone is looked up from the first remote path.

Option	Meaning
`--tunnel-iap`	Copy through IAP
`-r`, `--recurse`	Copy directories

ck gce scp ./app.env my-vm:/tmp/
ck gce scp my-vm:/var/log/syslog ./syslog --zone us-central1-a
ck gce scp -r ./dist my-vm:/srv/app --tunnel-iap

ck gce port-forward

ck gce port-forward <remote-port> <local-port> <instance-name> [host] [--zone <zone>] [--project <project>]

Forward a port to localhost through IAP. Arguments are in the same order as ck ec2 port-forward.

Without host: opens an IAP TCP tunnel to the VM’s own port.
With host: tunnels through the VM over SSH to a host it can reach, such as a Cloud SQL private IP.

ck gce port-forward 8080 8080 my-vm
ck gce port-forward 3306 3308 my-vm 10.20.0.5     # Cloud SQL private IP through the VM