This guide explains how to install the OpenOps Docker Compose release on a newly created GCP Compute Engine VM instance.

It assumes you have appropriate permissions on an existing Google Cloud Platform (GCP) project.

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Initial deployment

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Create a new VM instance

  1. In the Google Cloud Console, navigate to Compute Engine → VM instances.
  2. Click Create Instance.
  3. Enter a name for your virtual machine.
  4. Under Machine configuration, configure the following:
    • Region and zone: Choose a region and zone close to your users (e.g., us-east1-b).
    • Series: Choose any recommended series (e.g., E2) or another family you prefer.
    • Machine type: Choose a machine size similar to e2-standard-2 or larger. Avoid very small machines, as OpenOps may need additional CPU/RAM for running Docker containers smoothly.
  5. Under OS and storage:
    • Click Change.
    • Select Ubuntu as the operating system (Ubuntu 24.04 LTS if available, or a close alternative).
    • Increase the Size to at least 50GB to accommodate Docker images and databases.
    • Click Select.
  6. Under Networking, check Allow HTTP traffic. This will automatically create a firewall rule to open port 80.
  7. Leave other settings as defaults (or adjust according to your preferences), then click Create to launch the VM.

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Configure firewall for SSH and HTTP

Depending on your project settings, a default firewall rule might already allow SSH access. By checking Allow HTTP traffic while creating the instance, HTTP (port 80) is also open. If you need to adjust or review these rules:

  1. In the VPC network menu, go to Firewall.
  2. Locate or create firewall rules for:
    • SSH (TCP/22) from your IP or a limited source range.
    • HTTP (TCP/80) for public access or your desired source range.

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Connect to the instance

  1. Once your VM is running, go to the VM instances list.
  2. Click SSH next to your instance to open an in-browser terminal.

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Download OpenOps release files

  1. In your SSH session, create a new directory and download the release files: 
    mkdir -p openops && cd openops

wget https://github.com/openops-cloud/openops/releases/download/0.2.2/openops-dc-0.2.2.zip

python3 -m zipfile -e openops-dc-0.2.2.zip .

cp -u .env.defaults .env
  2. Update the application URL to use the instance’s external IP address: 
    EXTERNAL_IP=$(curl -4 -s ifconfig.co)

sed -i "s|http://localhost|http://$EXTERNAL_IP|g" .env

Feel free to edit the .env file with vim or another editor. It’s highly recommended to change the default passwords.

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Install Docker and start the containers

  1. Install Docker (for Ubuntu): 
    sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y docker.io

sudo systemctl enable docker

sudo systemctl start docker
  2. Install Docker Compose (using docker compose plugin): 
    sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/

sudo curl -SL https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.24.6/docker-compose-linux-x86_64 -o /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/lib/docker/cli-plugins/docker-compose
  3. Pull the images and start the Docker containers: 
    sudo COMPOSE_PARALLEL_LIMIT=4 docker compose pull -q && sudo docker compose up -d
    If you encounter rate limits, rerun the pull command. Pulling images may take several minutes.

You can now access the OpenOps application by navigating to the external IP address of your VM (e.g., http://<YOUR_EXTERNAL_IP>). The login credentials are configured in the .env file. If unchanged, the default username is admin@openops.com, and the password is please-change-this-password-1.

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External databases

To use external PostgreSQL or Redis databases, modify the relevant variables in the .env file. You can disable the corresponding containers by adding a profile in the docker-compose.yml file, for example:

services:

  postgres:

    profiles: ["db"]

If you remove or disable the db profile in .env or in Docker Compose, that container won’t start. After making any changes, restart Docker Compose:

sudo docker compose down

sudo docker compose up -d

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TLS

For production usage, it’s recommended to serve the application over HTTPS. One way to achieve this on GCP is by using a HTTPS Load Balancer to terminate SSL/TLS and forward traffic to your VM. Alternatively, you can configure a TLS proxy or run a reverse proxy like Nginx with Certbot on your VM.

Without TLS, some features (such as certain cloud templates) may not load properly in Safari.

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Updating OpenOps to a newer version

See Updating OpenOps.

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Support

Feel free to join our Slack community if you have any questions or need help with the installation.

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