Google Cloud fundamentals (GCP) with practices and labs

This lecture introduces cloud computing, an on-demand, pay-per-use model that rents scalable resources (servers, networks, storage) via the internet, with self-service access and cost control.

Explore cloud deployment modes—public, private, and hybrid—and compare IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, outlining provider versus user responsibilities and practical examples.

Cloud computing democratizes access to computing resources, letting small businesses rent servers and experiment without heavy upfront investments, and adapt flexibly to market changes.

Discover Google Cloud, a cloud platform by Google offering virtual machines, storage, databases, AI, containers, and services including BigQuery, with a global network of regions and availability zones.

Explore Google's infrastructure by examining regions, zones, availability zones, network locations, and edge nodes, and learn how services like Compute Engine and App Engine deploy regionally.

Choose a region by weighing four pillars—legal or juridical reasons, data protection regulations, price, latency, and availability of services—ensuring regulatory compliance, cost efficiency, and proximity to end users.

Explore core Google Cloud services, including Compute Engine, Kubernetes Engine, App Engine, Cloud Functions, databases, Pub/Sub messaging, AI and ML tools, and security features like IAM and CDN.

Create a Google Cloud account to access $300 in free credits and a free-tier layer with more than 25 products, including App Engine and VM hours, before the trial ends.

Create a new Google Cloud account, enable the free tier, verify your email, and enter payment details to access $300 in free credits with no charges during the trial.

Explore the Google Cloud web console at cloud.google.com to manage projects and a range of services from Compute Engine to BigQuery, using search, notifications, and settings.

Explore the Google Cloud resource hierarchy, from organizational units and folders to projects and resources, noting that organizational units and folders are optional, while projects and resources are mandatory.

Explore Google Cloud project management on the free trial, including viewing the project name, number, and id; adding people, setting budget alerts, and using project settings and IAM.

Create and manage Google Cloud projects by selecting new project, assigning a project ID, and switching between projects in a free-trial account that allows up to ten projects.

Create a billing alert to monitor spending, set a monthly budget (for all projects and services), and trigger email or in-app alerts at 50, 90, and 100 percent.

Explore Google Cloud VPC fundamentals, including global VPC, subnets and private IP ranges, firewall rules, high availability, routing, load balancing, and connectivity options.

Activate the Compute Engine API to enable and manage virtual machines, virtual networks, and related resources in Google Cloud through the web console or command line.

Explore Google Cloud VPC networks and subnets, including the default VPC with subnets, IP ranges, gateways, routing modes regional or global, and firewall rules, plus how to edit these properties.

Learn how CIDR blocks allocate IP addresses for a VPC, how block size affects usable IPs, why subnets must reside inside the parent block, and use calculators to plan.

Create a new VPC, name it, choose auto or custom subnets with IPv4/IPv6 CIDR ranges, and enable private Google access, VPC flow logs, firewall rules, and Cloud Router routing.

Add a new subnet to an existing GCP network, choosing region, access configuration, and IP ranges, including an optional secondary IPv4 range, then create and use the subnet.

Learn how firewall rules on a network control traffic by allowing icmp and ssh on port 22, with priorities determining rule order within VPC and network security.

Create a firewall rule in a GCP network to permit inbound MySQL traffic on port 3309, using lowercase rule names, source ranges, and optional destination tags and service accounts.

Describe how Google Cloud VPC routes define outbound traffic paths, enabling subnets and virtual machines to access the internet via default and personalized routes, with destination prefixes and next hops.

Explore how to view, create, and delete routes in Google Cloud VPC networks across regions, including default and subnet routes with next hops like the default internet gateway.

Explore Google Cloud Shell, a command-line environment with a ready-to-use virtual machine, Python and editor, to manage cloud infrastructure from the terminal using gcloud.

Explore how to manage Google Cloud infrastructure with the gcloud command in Cloud Shell, list and create projects, and automate batch tasks using loops with Linux shell or Python.

Explore gcloud workflows with VPCs and subnets by listing, describing, and filtering networks in Google Cloud, and practice hands-on with compute networks and subnets.

Create and configure a virtual machine in compute engine by using virtual machine instances, choosing region and zone. Compare machine types and costs, including e2 options and vcpus memory settings.

Create and customize a Google Cloud virtual machine, compare default and custom settings, and learn cost implications, standard versus spot provisioning, and maintenance behaviors.

Create and configure a Google Cloud virtual machine from a Docker container, selecting operating systems like Debian Linux 11 or Ubuntu, disk types, and firewall rules for a web environment.

Review virtual machine properties in Google Cloud, including status, zone, internal and external IPs, and SSH access. Explore configuration, observability metrics, and basic management actions like stop, restart, and delete.

Connect to the virtual machine via browser SSH, install apache2, start and enable the service, then test by opening the VM’s IP on port 80 to see the default page.

Learn to add a disk to a Google Cloud virtual machine by creating a disk in the same region, optionally enabling snapshots and encryption, and linking it to the VM.

Create and manage virtual machine snapshots to back up persistent disks, choosing between normal, instant, and archival types, and set regional or multi-regional schedules for automated backups.

Explore cloud images, filter by name, family, and architecture to choose or create virtual machine images, including custom images like my ubuntu for rapid virtual machine deployment.

Explore Google Cloud App Engine, a serverless, fully managed platform for deploying web and mobile apps with automatic scalability, multi-language support, and standard or flexible environments.

Explore App Engine architecture by organizing code as services with versions run on instances within a single application per project, a container for all services, versions, and resources.

Create an App Engine by configuring a project, selecting a region, and setting up a service account, then deploy apps in standard or flexible environments using cloud SDK and gcloud.

Deploy a Python Flask app to Google App Engine using Cloud Shell, an editor, and gcloud deploy, configuring app.yaml and dependencies, and access the deployed service via its URL.

Explore the App Engine panel to view version details, access URLs, requests and cost summaries, and see services, versions, traffic allocation, and instance memory for a complete deployment overview.

Learn how Cloud Run delivers a serverless container platform that auto-scales, requires no administration, and supports pay-per-use deployments of web apps and APIs.

Create a Cloud Run service using the Apache httpd container from Docker Hub, configure networking, port 80, and access controls, and verify deployment via the generated URL.

Explore the service properties to view metrics such as request count, latency, memory and CPU usage, and inspect logs, revisions, containers, environment variables, volumes, networks, and YAML deployment in K-native.

Create and deploy a configurable blog service from a repository, then publish a second revision by adding variables like site name and banner color to route traffic.

Explore how cloud run creates jobs, a standalone automated task distinct from services, and practice deploying a sample container to run, monitor, and complete backups or migrations.

Explore cloud functions as serverless, event-driven code that runs on triggers. This enables automation, microservices, and scalable tasks with languages like Python, Go, and Node.

Create a cloud function by enabling the cloud functions api, choosing the second-generation environment, writing an http hello function in node.js, and configuring triggers, region, and testing with deployment logs.

Test the cloud function by providing a name in the query or body; observe the hello world default when empty, and monitor invocations, memory, and billing metrics via the url.