GCP - Cloud Shell Persistence

👉 Overview

👀 What ?

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) offers a service known as Cloud Shell, which is an interactive shell environment that you can use directly in your web browser. The service is free to use and comes with a pre-authenticated Google Cloud SDK and other popular development tools pre-installed. One of the remarkable features of Cloud Shell is its persistence, meaning that your files persist across sessions. This persistence is provided through Cloud Shell's 5GB of storage mounted on the home directory, which is backed by Google Cloud Storage.

🧐 Why ?

The persistence feature of GCP Cloud Shell is important as it allows users to save their work and continue from where they left off, even if they switch devices or their session is disconnected. This feature eliminates the need for manual data backup and reduces the risk of data loss, which can be particularly beneficial for developers working on complex projects. For readers working in cloud environments, understanding and leveraging this feature can significantly improve their productivity and data management practices.

⛏️ How ?

To take advantage of GCP Cloud Shell persistence, you simply need to save your work in the home directory. When you start a new session, you will find all your files from the previous session intact. Note that any changes outside the home directory, such as system-wide installations, will not persist across sessions. Also, Cloud Shell sessions are automatically terminated after an hour of inactivity, but the persistent disk ensures that your data is saved.

⏳ When ?

Cloud Shell was introduced to the GCP suite of tools in 2016, and since then, it has been widely used by developers for its convenience and robust features. The persistence feature has been part of Cloud Shell since its inception, providing a continuous work environment for users.

⚙️ Technical Explanations

Underneath the hood, GCP Cloud Shell's persistence is achieved through the use of Persistent Disks, a high-performance block storage service provided by Google Cloud. When a Cloud Shell session is initiated, a Persistent Disk is attached to the Cloud Shell instance and mounted to the home directory. All changes made within this directory are automatically saved to the Persistent Disk. When the session is closed or times out due to inactivity, the Persistent Disk is unmounted but the data remains intact. This data is then available for the next session when the Persistent Disk is remounted. This cycle allows for seamless persistence across Cloud Shell sessions.