1. https://console.cloud.google.com/
2. Active Cloud Shell (Top right)'

Reserve a static external IP

gcloud compute addresses create qbft-ip --region=us-central1

Create the VM (Debian 11)

gcloud compute instances create qbft-node \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --machine-type=e2-medium \
  --image-family=debian-11 \
  --image-project=debian-cloud \
  --address=qbft-ip \
  --tags=qbft-node \
  --scopes=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform

Open all QBFT-related ports in firewall

TCP 30300–30304 (p2p)  
TCP 22000–22004 (HTTP-RPC)  
TCP 32000–32004 (WS-RPC, optional)  
TCP 25000 (Explorer UI)

gcloud compute firewall-rules create qbft-fw \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:30300-30304,tcp:22000-22004,tcp:32000-32004,tcp:25000 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=qbft-node \
  --description="Allow QBFT p2p + RPC + explorer ports"

SSH in & install Docker & Docker-Compose

gcloud compute ssh qbft-node --zone=us-central1-a

# on the VM:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y docker.io docker-compose git
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
exit

Clone QBFT-Network repo (Re-ssh to pick up the new group)

gcloud compute ssh qbft-node --zone=us-central1-a

git clone https://github.com/FramedStone/GoQuorum-QBFT-5-Nodes
cd GoQuorum-QBFT-5-Nodes

Configure .env.production

cp .env.template .env.production

Modify docker-compose.yaml

env_file --> .env.production
volumes --> remove .env.production directory

Launch the network

docker-compose up -d

Verify it's up

# From Cloud Shell, grab the VM’s external IP:
gcloud compute instances describe qbft-node \
  --format='get(networkInterfaces[0].accessConfigs[0].natIP)'

# Test the HTTP-RPC on port 22000:
curl http://<VM_EXTERNAL_IP>:22000 \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'