Profile
Google Cloud Deployment Manager is a native infrastructure-as-code service for Google Cloud Platform that automates the creation and management of cloud resources through declarative configurations. The service enables organizations to define, version, and deploy complex cloud infrastructures using YAML configurations with Python or Jinja2 templates. While historically serving as Google's primary infrastructure automation tool, the service is being phased out in favor of Infrastructure Manager, with organizations needing to plan migrations before the announced end-of-life date.
Focus
The tool addresses the fundamental challenge of managing complex cloud infrastructure deployments consistently and reliably across environments. It eliminates manual configuration processes by enabling infrastructure to be defined as code, allowing version control, automated testing, and repeatable deployments. The service particularly benefits platform engineering teams and cloud architects who need to maintain standardized infrastructure patterns across multiple projects while enforcing security policies and operational best practices. Its declarative approach reduces human error and enables infrastructure changes to be reviewed, tested, and rolled back systematically.
Background
Developed by Google as part of its cloud platform offerings, Deployment Manager emerged from Google's internal infrastructure management practices. The service has been owned and operated by Google LLC throughout its lifecycle, with development historically managed by Google Cloud's infrastructure and automation teams. Notable production usage includes financial technology company Current, which leveraged Deployment Manager alongside Google Kubernetes Engine to improve development time-to-market by 400% while eliminating downtime for their debit card application users. Google is now transitioning users to Infrastructure Manager, built on Terraform.
Main features
Declarative resource management with state tracking
The service implements a declarative approach where users specify desired infrastructure states in YAML configurations, with Deployment Manager handling the orchestration details. It maintains internal state tracking to determine necessary operations during updates, managing dependencies and ensuring resources are created in the correct order. The system supports parallel deployment capabilities for independent resources while respecting both explicit dependencies declared through metadata and implicit dependencies derived from resource references, enabling efficient scaling for large infrastructures.
Template-based infrastructure standardization
Deployment Manager's templating system enables organizations to create reusable infrastructure components using either Jinja2 or Python implementations. Templates support parameterization through property definitions, allowing standardized patterns to be customized for different deployment contexts. The system includes schema validation capabilities to enforce parameter requirements and types, enabling teams to create robust, validated templates that encode best practices and security policies while maintaining flexibility through parameterization.
Preview and validation workflow
The service provides comprehensive preview functionality that enables teams to examine the effects of configuration changes before applying them to production infrastructure. When preview mode is enabled, Deployment Manager analyzes configurations and determines necessary resource operations without executing them, allowing validation of complex changes. This capability extends to both initial deployments and updates of existing infrastructure, supporting safe iteration on infrastructure definitions through detailed preview output that shows exactly what changes would be applied.
