NVMe Storage on Google Cloud
Google Cloud provides local NVMe SSDs on Compute Engine instances and Hyperdisk for persistent NVMe-class block storage. For the lowest latency shared storage on GKE or GCE, a self-managed NVMe-oF/TCP layer outperforms managed disk offerings.
NVMe-Equipped Instance Types
| Instance Family | NVMe Characteristics |
|---|---|
| n2d / n2 with Local SSD | 375GB Local SSD NVMe disks, up to 24 per VM, 2.4M IOPS aggregate |
| c3 with Local SSD | Compute-optimized, latest generation with NVMe local SSDs |
| m3 with Local SSD | Memory-optimized with local NVMe for in-memory databases |
| a2 (A100 GPUs) | AI/ML instances with local NVMe for checkpoint storage |
| z3 storage-optimized | Up to 9TB local NVMe — highest storage density on GCE |
GCP Local SSDs are NVMe and deliver up to 2.4M IOPS per VM, but are ephemeral (lost on VM stop unless using NVME interface mode with live migration). Pair with Hyperdisk or NVMe-oF for persistence.
NVMe-oF/TCP on Google Cloud
Deploy NVMe-oF/TCP storage nodes on z3 or n2d instances with Local SSD. The storage layer serves NVMe namespaces to GCE compute instances or GKE nodes over the VPC network (25Gbps+). Total latency: 25–40µs vs 100–500µs for Hyperdisk.
For the NVMe/TCP protocol deep-dive, see nvme-tcp.com → For a full NVMe-oF architecture overview, see the NVMe-oF guide.
Recommended Storage Architecture
| Tier / Use Case | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Ephemeral scratch / cache | GCE Local SSD (NVMe interface, up to 2.4M IOPS) |
| Persistent single-node | Hyperdisk Extreme (sub-1ms, 350K IOPS per disk) |
| Shared cluster (low latency) | NVMe-oF/TCP on GCE (25–40µs, 1M+ IOPS) |
| GKE PersistentVolumes | NVMe-oF CSI driver or GCP PD CSI driver |
| Network | VPC with Tier 1 networking (200Gbps on large instances) |
simplyblock: NVMe/TCP storage for Google Cloud
simplyblock deploys as a software-defined NVMe/TCP storage cluster on standard Google Cloud instances. It provides Kubernetes CSI, dynamic provisioning, and sub-40µs persistent block storage — without proprietary hardware or cloud-managed disk limits.
Managed PostgreSQL on Google Cloud
vela.run provides managed PostgreSQL on Google Cloud with NVMe/TCP storage — consistent sub-millisecond latency for GCP-based applications.
vela.run →