tech
Defaultdeesfrzh

Google Cloud

Google's cloud infrastructure - home of Kubernetes, BigQuery, and cutting-edge AI/ML with global network

TL;DR

One-liner: Google Cloud is Google’s cloud platform with 100+ services - the birthplace of Kubernetes and leader in data/ML.

Core Capabilities:

  • Compute - VMs, containers, serverless (Cloud Run is excellent)
  • Data - BigQuery for analytics, Firestore for NoSQL
  • ML/AI - Vertex AI, pre-trained models
  • Kubernetes - GKE, the best managed K8s experience

Architecture

Service Categories

  • Compute: Compute Engine (VMs), Cloud Run (serverless), GKE (Kubernetes), Cloud Functions
  • Storage: Cloud Storage (objects), Persistent Disk, Filestore
  • Database: Cloud SQL (relational), Firestore (NoSQL), Bigtable, Spanner
  • Analytics: BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, Dataproc
  • ML/AI: Vertex AI, Vision AI, Speech-to-Text, Translation

Core Concepts

  • Project: Container for resources and billing
  • Region/Zone: Geographic locations for resources
  • Service Account: Identity for applications (not users)
  • IAM: Identity and Access Management - roles and permissions

Quick Start

Create Account

  1. Go to cloud.google.com
  2. Click “Get started for free” ($300 credit for 90 days)
  3. Create a project in Cloud Console
  4. Enable billing for the project

Install CLI

# macOS
brew install google-cloud-sdk

# Linux
curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash
exec -l $SHELL

# Verify
gcloud --version

Initialize and Authenticate

# Initialize (opens browser for auth)
gcloud init

# Set project
gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID

# Verify
gcloud config list

First Commands

# List projects
gcloud projects list

# List compute instances
gcloud compute instances list

Core Services

Compute

ServiceUse CasePricing Model
Compute EngineVirtual machinesPer second
Cloud RunServerless containersPer request + CPU/memory
GKEManaged KubernetesCluster + nodes
Cloud FunctionsEvent-driven functionsPer invocation

Storage & Database

ServiceUse CasePricing Model
Cloud StorageObject storagePer GB + operations
Cloud SQLManaged MySQL/PostgreSQLInstance + storage
FirestoreNoSQL document DBPer operation + storage
BigQueryData warehousePer query (TB scanned)

Gotchas

Cost Traps

  • BigQuery queries: Scan entire columns → Use LIMIT, partitioning, and preview
  • Idle GKE clusters: Control plane charges → Use Autopilot or delete unused clusters
  • Network egress: Cross-region charges → Keep resources in same region
  • Persistent disks: Unattached disks still charge → Delete unused disks

Permission Issues

  • 403 Forbidden: Check IAM roles → Ensure service account has correct roles
  • API not enabled: Enable API in console or gcloud services enable SERVICE_NAME

Common Errors

# "The project PROJECT_ID does not exist"
gcloud projects list  # Verify project name

# "PERMISSION_DENIED: Request had insufficient authentication"
gcloud auth login  # Re-authenticate

# "API not enabled"
gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com

Next Steps