IMAGES

1. What is a (boot disk) image?

Boot loader
OS
File system structure
Preconfigured Software
Any other Customizations

Image types

Public base images
- Google, third party vendors, and community (Linux CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu; Windows Server 2019, 2016, SQL Server;)
- Premium images (p) - Vary according to MT. But prices are global
Custom images
- Create new image from VM; pre-configured and installed
- Import images from On-prem, other cloud providers by simply installing an agent

2. Machine Images

Machine images store config, metadata, permissions and data from one or more disks, required to create a VM.

Machine images can be used in many scenarios

Use cases:

Single disk backup (PD snapshots; Custom images; can achieve this as well)
Multiple disk backup (Only Machine images)
Differential backup (PD snapshots; can achieve this as well)
Instance cloning and replication ( Custom image; Instance template; can achieve this as well)
VM instance confiuration (Instance template; can achieve this as well)