Accessing the Hedgehog Virtual Lab with Google Cloud

Beginner 15 minutes
hedgehog virtual-lab gcp onboarding access

Welcome! This guide will help you create a Google Cloud virtual machine that's ready to run the Hedgehog Virtual Lab. We'll walk through each step to get you up and running quickly, and we'll make sure you understand what's happening along the way.

What You'll Learn

  • Understand the VM requirements for running Hedgehog VLAB
  • Create a properly configured Google Cloud VM with nested virtualization
  • Connect to your VM and prepare for VLAB installation

Prerequisites

  • A Google Cloud account with an active project
  • Google Cloud SDK (gcloud) installed on your local machine
  • Basic familiarity with command-line tools

Need to install gcloud? Visit the Google Cloud SDK installation guide.

Understanding the Requirements

The Hedgehog Virtual Lab creates a complete virtual network fabric using multiple virtual machines to simulate switches, servers, and a control node. While Hedgehog's control software is lightweight, the lab uses Broadcom SONiC Virtual Switch VMs, which require substantial resources.

Recommended VM Size

We recommend the n2-standard-32 machine type for the default VLAB topology. This provides:

  • 32 vCPUs (16 physical cores with 2 threads each)
  • 128 GB RAM
  • Nested virtualization support

Note: This is slightly below the official VLAB documentation requirements (which are based on conservative SONiC virtual switch recommendations), but works well in practice for learning and testing. If you plan to run larger topologies or need guaranteed performance, consider a larger instance.

Important: We make no performance guarantees for the VLAB environment—different use cases may require different VM sizes. The VLAB is designed for learning and testing, not production workloads.

Step 1: Set Up Your Google Cloud Environment

First, let's make sure you're authenticated and ready to create resources.

Verify gcloud Installation

gcloud --version

You should see output showing the Google Cloud SDK version. If not, please install the SDK first.

Authenticate to Google Cloud

gcloud auth login

This will open your browser for authentication. Follow the prompts to sign in.

Set Your Project and Preferred Zone

Replace YOUR_PROJECT_ID with your actual GCP project ID, and choose a zone close to you:

gcloud config set project YOUR_PROJECT_ID
gcloud config set compute/zone us-west1-c

Tip: You can list available zones with gcloud compute zones list.

Step 2: Create Your VLAB Virtual Machine

Now we'll create a VM configured specifically for running the Hedgehog Virtual Lab. The command below looks long, but we'll break down what it does.

The Command

gcloud compute instances create hedgehog-vlab \
  --project=YOUR_PROJECT_ID \
  --zone=us-west1-c \
  --machine-type=n2-standard-32 \
  --enable-nested-virtualization \
  --network-interface=network-tier=PREMIUM,stack-type=IPV4_ONLY,subnet=default \
  --maintenance-policy=MIGRATE \
  --provisioning-model=STANDARD \
  --create-disk=auto-delete=yes,boot=yes,image=projects/ubuntu-os-cloud/global/images/ubuntu-minimal-2404-noble-amd64-v20250930,mode=rw,size=200,type=pd-balanced \
  --threads-per-core=2 \
  --visible-core-count=16

What This Command Does

Let's break down the key flags:

  • --machine-type=n2-standard-32: Creates a VM with 32 vCPUs and 128GB RAM
  • --enable-nested-virtualization: Critical! Allows the VM to run other VMs inside it (required for VLAB). This flag can only be set from the command line.
  • --image=...ubuntu-minimal-2404...: Uses Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which is tested and recommended for VLAB
  • --create-disk=...size=200...: Creates a 200GB disk (VLAB needs substantial disk space for all the virtual switches and servers)
  • --threads-per-core=2 --visible-core-count=16: Configures 16 physical cores with hyperthreading enabled

Prefer using the GUI? You can configure most of these settings in the Google Cloud Console, then click "EQUIVALENT COMMAND LINE" at the bottom of the VM creation form to get the gcloud command. Just make sure to add the --enable-nested-virtualization flag—it's only available via the command line!

Customize for Your Environment

Before running the command, replace:

  • YOUR_PROJECT_ID with your GCP project ID
  • us-west1-c with your preferred zone (if different)
  • hedgehog-vlab with a different name if you prefer

Run the Command

Copy the command with your values and run it. It will take a couple of minutes to create and start your VM.

You should see output indicating the VM was created successfully and is now running.

Step 3: Connect to Your VM

Once your VM is running, connect via SSH:

gcloud compute ssh hedgehog-vlab --zone=us-west1-c

This will open an SSH connection to your new VM. You should see an Ubuntu welcome message and a command prompt.

Next Steps: Installing the VLAB

Congratulations! You now have a VM ready for the Hedgehog Virtual Lab. The installation process from here is identical regardless of whether you're running on Google Cloud, AWS, Azure, or bare metal.

What Comes Next

You'll need to:

  1. Install Docker, QEMU/KVM, and other prerequisites
  2. Install the hhfab utility
  3. Initialize and run the VLAB
  4. Access the control node and switches

All of these steps are covered in detail in the VLAB Overview documentation starting at the "Installing Prerequisites" section.

Look for our companion module: We're creating a separate "Setting up the VLAB" module that will walk through the installation steps in the same friendly format as this guide—stay tuned!

Troubleshooting

"gcloud: command not found"

Install the Google Cloud SDK following the official installation guide.

Authentication Issues

Make sure you're logged in with gcloud auth login and your account has the necessary permissions to create compute instances in your project.

VM Creation Fails

  • Quota issues: Your project may not have enough quota for a 32-vCPU instance. Check your quotas in the GCP Console under IAM & Admin → Quotas.
  • Zone availability: Try a different zone if the machine type isn't available in your selected zone.

Can't SSH to the VM

  • Wait a minute or two after creation for SSH keys to propagate
  • Check that your firewall rules allow SSH (port 22)
  • Try gcloud compute ssh hedgehog-vlab --zone=YOUR_ZONE --tunnel-through-iap if direct SSH isn't working

Cost Considerations

The n2-standard-32 instance is a substantial VM and will incur meaningful costs if left running. Here are some tips:

  • Stop when not in use: gcloud compute instances stop hedgehog-vlab --zone=YOUR_ZONE
  • Start when needed: gcloud compute instances start hedgehog-vlab --zone=YOUR_ZONE
  • Delete when done: gcloud compute instances delete hedgehog-vlab --zone=YOUR_ZONE

Even when stopped, you'll be charged for disk storage, but it's much less than the running VM cost.

Resources

Ready to continue? Once you've completed the VLAB installation steps from the official documentation, you'll have a complete Hedgehog Fabric environment to explore and learn!