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Create a MIG with a multi-host Cloud TPU slice

This document describes how to create a managed instance group (MIG) with a multi-host TPU slice.

Prerequisites

Complete the following prerequisites:

  1. Create a project for your TPUs as described in Set up a project for TPUs.
  2. Determine your TPU requirements as described in Plan your resources.

Create a MIG with multi-host TPU slices

  1. Create an instance template.
  2. Create a workload policy.
  3. Create the MIG.

Create an instance template

The command to create an instance template depends on the consumption option you use: on-demand, Spot, reservation-bound, or flex-start. For more information about consumption options, see Plan your TPU resources.

Create an instance template for an on-demand TPU VM

The following command creates an instance template using the on-demand consumption option:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
  --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
  --maintenance-policy=TERMINATE \
  --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY \
  --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
    "properties": {
      "machineType": "MACHINE_TYPE",
      "scheduling": {
        "onHostMaintenance": "TERMINATE"
      },
      "disks": [
        {
          "boot": true,
          "initializeParams": {
            "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/family/IMAGE_FAMILY"
          }
        }
      ],
      "networkInterfaces": [
        {
          "network": "global/networks/default"
        }
      ]
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create an instance template for a TPU Spot VM

The following command creates an instance template using the Spot consumption option:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
  --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
  --maintenance-policy=TERMINATE \
  --instance-termination-action=STOP \
  --provisioning-model=SPOT \
  --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY \
  --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
    "properties": {
      "machineType": "MACHINE_TYPE",
      "disks": [
        {
          "boot": true,
          "initializeParams": {
            "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/family/IMAGE_FAMILY"
          }
        }
      ],
      "scheduling": {
        "onHostMaintenance": "TERMINATE",
        "provisioningModel": "SPOT",
        "instanceTerminationAction": "STOP"
      },
      "networkInterfaces": [
        {
          "network": "global/networks/default"
        }
      ]
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create an instance template for a TPU reservation-bound VM

The following command creates an instance template using the reservation-bound consumption option:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
  --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
  --maintenance-policy=TERMINATE \
  --instance-termination-action=DELETE \
  --reservation-affinity=specific \
  --provisioning-model=reservation-bound \
  --reservation=RESERVATION_NAME \
  --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY \
  --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
    "properties": {
      "machineType": "MACHINE_TYPE",
      "disks": [
        {
          "boot": true,
          "initializeParams": {
            "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/family/IMAGE_FAMILY"
          }
        }
      ],
      "scheduling": {
        "onHostMaintenance": "TERMINATE",
        "provisioningModel": "RESERVATION_BOUND",
        "instanceTerminationAction": "DELETE"
      },
      "reservationAffinity": {
        "consumeReservationType": "SPECIFIC_RESERVATION",
        "key": "compute.googleapis.com/reservation-name",
        "values": [
          "RESERVATION_NAME"
        ]
      },
      "networkInterfaces": [
        {
          "network": "global/networks/default"
        }
      ]
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create an instance template for a TPU Flex-start VM

The following command creates an instance template using the flex-start consumption option:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-templates create INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME \
    --machine-type=MACHINE_TYPE \
    --maintenance-policy=TERMINATE \
    --instance-termination-action=DELETE \
    --provisioning-model=FLEX_START \
    --max-run-duration=DURATION \
    --image-family=IMAGE_FAMILY \
    --image-project=IMAGE_PROJECT

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_NAME",
    "properties": {
      "machineType": "MACHINE_TYPE",
      "disks": [
        {
          "boot": true,
          "initializeParams": {
            "sourceImage": "projects/IMAGE_PROJECT/global/images/family/IMAGE_FAMILY"
          }
        }
      ],
      "scheduling": {
        "onHostMaintenance": "TERMINATE",
        "provisioningModel": "FLEX_START",
        "instanceTerminationAction": "DELETE",
        "maxRunDuration": {
          "seconds": "DURATION"
        }
      },
      "networkInterfaces": [
        {
          "network": "global/networks/default"
        }
      ]
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/global/instanceTemplates"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create a workload policy

You must create a workload policy with the accelerator-topology parameter (for example, 4x4, 8x8, or 4x4x4). The accelerator topology configures the MIG to treat the instances as a single, interconnected slice.

The following command creates a workload policy for a specific topology:

gcloud 

gcloud compute resource-policies create workload-policy WORKLOAD_POLICY_NAME \
  --type=high-throughput \
  --accelerator-topology=TOPOLOGY \
  --region=REGION

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "WORKLOAD_POLICY_NAME",
    "workloadPolicy": {
      "type": "HIGH_THROUGHPUT",
      "acceleratorTopology": "TOPOLOGY"
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/resourcePolicies"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create a MIG

To create a zonal MIG containing a multi-host TPU slice, use the following command:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-groups managed create MIG_NAME \
   --size=MIG_SIZE \
   --target-size-policy-mode=bulk \
   --template=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL \
   --zone=ZONE \
   --default-action-on-vm-failure=do-nothing \
   --workload-policy=WORKLOAD_POLICY_URL

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "MIG_NAME",
    "targetSize": MIG_SIZE,
    "targetSizePolicy": {
      "mode": "BULK"
    },
    "instanceTemplate": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL",
    "instanceLifecyclePolicy": {
      "defaultActionOnFailure": "DO_NOTHING"
    },
    "resourcePolicies": {
      "workloadPolicy": "WORKLOAD_POLICY_URL"
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/zones/ZONE/instanceGroupManagers"

Replace the following placeholders:

To create a regional MIG containing a multi-host TPU slice, use the following command:

gcloud 

gcloud compute instance-groups managed create MIG_NAME \
   --size=MIG_SIZE \
   --target-size-policy-mode=bulk \
   --template=INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL \
   --region=REGION \
   --default-action-on-vm-failure=do-nothing \
   --workload-policy=WORKLOAD_POLICY_URL \
   --target-distribution-shape=any-single-zone \
   --instance-redistribution-type=none

REST 

curl -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "MIG_NAME",
    "targetSize": MIG_SIZE,
    "targetSizePolicy": {
      "mode": "BULK"
    },
    "instanceTemplate": "INSTANCE_TEMPLATE_URL",
    "instanceLifecyclePolicy": {
      "defaultActionOnFailure": "DO_NOTHING"
    },
    "resourcePolicies": {
      "workloadPolicy": "WORKLOAD_POLICY_URL"
    },
    "distributionPolicy": {
      "targetShape": "ANY_SINGLE_ZONE"
    },
    "updatePolicy": {
      "instanceRedistributionType": "NONE"
    }
  }' \
  "https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/PROJECT_ID/regions/REGION/instanceGroupManagers"

Replace the following placeholders:

Create VMs with custom names in a MIG

You can create VMs in a MIG by specifying custom names for each VM. This is useful for debugging and ensuring instances are created in a specific order.

MIGs that contain a multi-host TPU slice use the bulk mode of target size policy. When creating VMs with custom names in such a MIG, the following applies:

Create VMs with custom names by using one of the following REST API methods:

Replace the following placeholders:

What's next

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Last updated 2026-08-11 UTC.

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