Sole-Tenant Nodes provide dedicated physical servers for workloads with compliance, licensing, or isolation requirements.
What are Sole-Tenant Nodes?
Sole-Tenant Nodes are dedicated physical servers in Google Cloud used exclusively by a single customer. Unlike regular Compute Engine VMs running on multi-tenant hardware, Sole-Tenant Nodes provide physical isolation at the server level. This meets requirements for compliance, licensing, and workload isolation that are not possible with shared hardware.
Each Sole-Tenant Node is a physical server with dedicated CPU, memory, and storage. You can place multiple VMs of different sizes on a node as long as total resources are not exceeded. Affinity labels control VM placement on specific nodes or node groups. Anti-affinity rules prevent certain VMs from running on the same physical server.
A key use case is Bring Your Own License (BYOL). Many software licenses, especially Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server, require dedicated hardware or license by physical cores. Sole-Tenant Nodes enable using your own licenses and significantly reduce licensing costs. Google only charges for compute capacity, you use your existing license agreements.
Common Use Cases
Windows Server BYOL
A company with existing Windows Server licenses migrates to Google Cloud. Sole-Tenant Nodes enable using existing licenses instead of new cloud licenses. Savings can be 40-60% of compute costs, depending on license type.
Regulatory Compliance
A financial services company must demonstrate physical isolation for certain workloads. Sole-Tenant Nodes provide documented hardware separation for audits. Compliance reports show that no other customer workloads run on the same hardware.
Noisy Neighbor Avoidance
A trading platform requires consistent, predictable performance. Sole-Tenant Nodes eliminate noisy neighbor effects from shared hardware. Latency-sensitive workloads benefit from guaranteed resources without competition.
Oracle Database Licensing
A company with Oracle licenses uses Sole-Tenant Nodes for license optimization. Oracle licenses by physical cores, Sole-Tenant Nodes provide transparent core counts. Licensing costs remain controllable despite cloud migration.
Healthcare HIPAA Compliance
A healthcare company requires physical isolation for HIPAA-compliant data. Sole-Tenant Nodes combined with VPC Service Controls and encryption meet compliance requirements. Audit trails document hardware isolation.
Integration with innFactory
As a Google Cloud partner, innFactory supports you with Sole-Tenant Nodes: sizing, BYOL optimization, compliance documentation, and cost analysis.
Contact us for a consultation on Sole-Tenant Nodes and Google Cloud Compute.
Available Tiers & Options
Sole-Tenant Nodes
- Physical isolation
- BYOL support
- Compliance-ready
- Consistent performance
- Higher cost than shared VMs
- Minimum size required
Typical Use Cases
Technical Specifications
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Sole-Tenant Nodes?
Sole-Tenant Nodes are dedicated physical servers in Google Cloud used exclusively by a single customer. Unlike regular VMs running on shared hardware, Sole-Tenant Nodes provide physical isolation for workloads with special requirements.
When should I use Sole-Tenant Nodes?
Sole-Tenant Nodes are useful for BYOL scenarios (Windows Server, Oracle), regulatory requirements for physical isolation, workloads with noisy neighbor problems, or when license agreements require dedicated hardware.
How does BYOL work with Sole-Tenant Nodes?
You can use your own Windows Server or other licenses on Sole-Tenant Nodes, saving licensing costs. Google only charges for compute capacity, you use your existing licenses. This is particularly relevant for Windows Server and SQL Server.
Can I run multiple VMs on one node?
Yes, a Sole-Tenant Node can host multiple VMs of different sizes as long as total node resources are not exceeded. You place VMs on specific nodes via affinity labels.
How are Sole-Tenant Nodes billed?
Sole-Tenant Nodes are billed per node-hour, regardless of VM utilization. You pay for the entire node but can place any number of VMs on it. Committed Use Discounts reduce costs for longer usage.
What node types are available?
Available node types include n1-node (standard), n2-node (general workloads), c2-node (compute-optimized), and m1-node (memory-optimized). Each type offers different vCPU and memory configurations.
