Selecting a Google Compute Engine Virtual Machine Type and Size


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Introduction

The Google Cloud Platform offers many types of Google Compute Engine (GCE) virtual machines (VMs) in various sizes. Choosing the right VM for your workload is an important factor for a successful Tableau Server deployment. You can choose from a wide range of VMs. For a complete list of all available VM types and sizes, see the Machine Types(Link opens in a new window) page at the Google website.

It is important to select a VM that can run Tableau Server. The VM must meet the Tableau Server hardware guidelines (a minimum of 8 cores and 128 GB of RAM).

At minimum, a 64-bit Tableau Server requires a 4-core CPU (the equivalent of 8 Google Compute Engine vCPUs) and 64 GB RAM. However, a total of 8 CPU cores (16 Google Compute Engine vCPUs) and 128 GB RAM are strongly recommended for a single production Google Compute Engine VM.

The Windows Operating system will recognize these 16 vCPU as 8 cores, so there is no negative licensing impact.

Typical VM types and sizes for development, test, and production environments

  • n2-standard-16
Component/Resource Google Cloud Platform

CPU

16+ vCPU

Operating System
  2019.x 2020.1.0 -
2021.2.x		 2021.3.0 - 2023.1x, 2023.3.0 2023.3.1 - 2025.1.x
Windows Server 2008 R2      
Windows Server 2012    
Windows Server 2012 R2    
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2022

Note: Windows Server 2022 is not supported in versions prior to 2023.3.1. Beginning in April 2023, installers for all versions of Tableau Server on Windows prior to 2023.3.1 block installation on Windows 2022.

Memory

128+ GB RAM (4GB RAM per vCPU)

Storage

Two volumes:

30-50 GiB volume for the operating system

100 GiB or larger volume for Tableau Server

Storage type

SSD persistent disk, 200GB++

For more information about SSD persistent disks, see Storage Options at the Google Cloud Platform website.

Disk latency

Less than or equal to 20ms as measured by the Avg. Transfer disk/sec Performance Counter in Windows.

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