Use image families to simplify image versioning. Add an image to an imagefamily to set it as the most recent image version. If you determine that youmust roll back the image family to a previous image version, deprecatethe most recent image in the family.

For best practices when working with image families, seeImage families best practices.

Optionally, you can specify theimage's storage location by using theGoogle Cloud console, thegcloud compute images create commandwith the--storage-location flag, or theimages().insert method.

Before you begin

• Read theImages document.
• If you haven't already, set upauthentication. Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:

  Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:

  Console

  When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.

  gcloud

  1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation,initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:

     gcloudinit

     If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

     Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by runninggcloud components update.
  2. Set a default region and zone.

  REST

  To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.

  Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation,initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:

  gcloudinit

  If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.

  Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by runninggcloud components update.

  For more information, seeAuthenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Set the image version in an image family

gcloud compute images create image-v1 \    --source-disk disk-1 \    --source-disk-zone us-central1-f \    --family my-image-family

gcloud compute images create image-v2 \    --source-disk disk-2 \    --source-disk-zone us-central1-f \    --family my-image-family

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/images{  "name": "image-v2",  "sourceDisk": "/zones/us-central1-f/disks/disk-2",  "family":"my-image-family",}

The image family points toimage-v2 because it is the most recent image thatyou added to the image family.

gcloud compute images describe-from-family my-image-familyfamily: my-image-familyid: '8904691942610171306'kind: compute#imagename: image-v2selfLink: https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/global/images/image-v2sourceDisk: https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-f/disks/disk-v2sourceDiskId: '1677449456001963379'sourceType: RAWstatus: READY

GET https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/images/family{  "resourceId":"my-image-family",}

If you determine that you must roll back the image family so that it no longerpoints toimage-v2, deprecateimage-v2 and the family will againpoint toimage-v1.

gcloud compute images deprecate image-v2 \    --state DEPRECATED \    --replacement image-v1

Check to make sure that the image family is pointing toimage-v1.

gcloud compute images describe-from-family my-image-familyfamily: my-image-familyid: '2741732787056801255'kind: compute#imagename: image-v1selfLink: https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/global/images/image-v1sourceDisk: https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-project/zones/us-central1-f/disks/disk-v1sourceDiskId: '1677449456001963379'sourceType: RAWstatus: READY