How to launch Omniscope on Google Cloud

Modified on Wed, 17 Jun at 9:16 AM

Run a full Omniscope server on a Google Cloud virtual machine in about five minutes - no building, no installing. You launch a ready-made image with one command, activate it with your licence, and open it in your browser.

Like the AWS and Azure options, this is Bring Your Own License: the Omniscope app is pre-installed on the machine, and you activate it with a Business or Enterprise licence from Visokio.

Why use it

Fast - a working Omniscope server in minutes, from a single command.
Right-sized - pick the machine and disk to match your data; pay only while the VM runs.
Always current - get the latest build automatically, or pin a specific version.
Your cloud, your data - it runs in your own Google Cloud project, under your licence.

What you need

A Google Cloud account with billing enabled, and a project to launch into.
A Business or Enterprise Omniscope licence.
Nothing installed locally - the steps below use Google Cloud Shell, which runs in your browser.

One thing to know up front: this is a public image, not a Marketplace listing. It will not show up if you browse Compute Engine, and it will not appear in the Console's image picker (that only lists your own projects). You launch it with the command below, which points Google Cloud straight at Visokio's image - you need no access to Visokio's project.

Step 1 - Launch the virtual machine

Open the Google Cloud Console and select (or create) your project. Make sure billing is enabled.

Click Activate Cloud Shell (the terminal icon, top-right). A terminal opens in your browser, already signed in as you.

Paste this command - change --zone to a region near you - and press Enter:
Disk size. We recommend 256 GB for production (--boot-disk-size=256), but Omniscope can run on a smaller disk for testing. Disks can be increased later but not reduced in place.

gcloud compute instances create omniscope \

--image-project=visokio-public-images \

--image-family=omniscope-evo \

--zone=us-east1-c \

--machine-type=e2-standard-2 \

--boot-disk-size=30 \

--tags=http-server,https-server

If asked to enable the Compute Engine API, accept.

That's the whole launch. The http-server and https-server tags open ports 80 and 443 so you can reach Omniscope in a browser. e2-standard-2 is a good starting size - choose a bigger machine for heavier data.

On your own machine instead? Run the same command in a terminal with the Google Cloud SDK installed and signed in (gcloud auth login).

Step 2 - Activate Omniscope

Get the VM's public IP address:

gcloud compute instances describe omniscope --zone=us-east1-c \

--format="get(networkInterfaces[0].accessConfigs[0].natIP)"

Connect as the ubuntu user (Omniscope lives under /home/ubuntu):

gcloud compute ssh ubuntu@omniscope --zone=us-east1-c

Run the setup script:

./setup.sh

It asks for your licence key and an administrator password. Use a Business or Enterprise licence (this is a headless server), and make the password.

Step 3 - Open Omniscope

In your browser, go to your VM's public IP:

http://YOUR_VM_PUBLIC_IP/

Not sure it's up yet? Check http://YOUR_VM_PUBLIC_IP/

In Omniscope, open Admin and set the external base URL to your public IP or domain, so shared links resolve correctly.

You're done. Omniscope restarts automatically with the VM - you won't need to run setup again.

Good to know

Keep the disk, keep your activation. Activation is tied to the VM's disk. Preserve the boot disk (don't recreate the VM) and you won't have to re-activate every time it stops and starts.
Want a stable web address? The IP is temporary by default and changes if the VM is recreated. Reserve a static external IP, or use a domain name - especially before setting up HTTPS.
Costs. The image is free; you pay only for the Google Cloud VM and disk while it runs. Stop the VM when idle to save money.
Latest vs. a fixed version. --image-family=omniscope-evo always gives the newest build. To pin one, swap it for the exact image, e.g. --image=omniscope-2026-1-22492.

Troubleshooting

If you see this	Do this
The image isn't in the Console picker / "No resources to display" for visokio-public-images.	That's expected - public images aren't browsable. Launch with the gcloud command above; it references the image directly.
The browser can't reach Omniscope (it just times out).	Ports 80/443 aren't open. Recreate the VM with --tags=http-server,https-server, or open them with the firewall command below.
"Image not found" or a permission error when launching.	Check --image-project=visokio-public-images is exact, and that you're signed in with a Google account (use Cloud Shell, or gcloud auth login).
An HTTPS / Let's Encrypt certificate request times out.	Your domain must point to the VM's current IP, and port 80 must be reachable from the internet. Use a static IP so the address doesn't change.
Omniscope asks you to activate again after a restart.	The boot disk was recreated. Preserve the disk to keep your activation.

Opening the firewall manually (only if needed)

If you launched the VM without the http-server / https-server tags, or on a custom network, open ports 80 and 443 in your project:

gcloud compute firewall-rules create omniscope-web \

--allow=tcp:80,tcp:443 --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 --network=default