Google Cloud Computing Foundation Course - Week 2 Lecture Notes Summary
Lecture 11: Billing in GCP
• Billing Setup:
• Billing is managed at the GCP project level.
• A billing account is linked to a project, allowing you to configure payment
options.
• Projects without a linked billing account can only use free services.
• Billing Account Management:
• Charges can occur automatically or based on threshold limits.
• Sub-accounts are useful for resellers who manage billing for clients.
• Cost Management Tools:
• Budgets and Alerts:
• Set budget limits and receive alerts when costs approach thresholds (e.g.,
alert at 90% of the budget).
• Automations can be triggered via webhooks to manage resources upon
alert triggers.
• Billing Export:
• Stores detailed billing information in BigQuery or Cloud Storage for
analysis.
• Reports:
• Visual tool in the console to monitor spending by project or service.
• Quotas:
• Limits resource usage to prevent unexpected billing spikes (e.g., Rate and
Allocation quotas).
Lecture 12: Install and Configure Cloud SDK
• Cloud SDK Overview:
• A set of command-line tools for managing GCP resources from your local
machine.
• Tools include:
• gcloud: Manages authentication, configuration, and interaction with APIs.
• gsutil: Manages cloud storage buckets and objects.
• bq: Works with BigQuery datasets.
• Installation Process:
• Download and install SDK from cloud.google.com/sdk.
• After installation, configure the SDK using the gcloud init command
(provides login, project, and region setup).
Lecture 13: Use Cloud Shell
• Cloud Shell Overview:
• Provides command-line access to GCP resources directly from the browser
without needing SDK installation.
• Runs on a Docker container hosted on a Compute Engine VM.
• Comes with built-in tools like gcloud, gsutil, and bq, all pre-configured and
authenticated.
• Features:
• Persistent 5 GB storage that remains available across sessions.
• Web preview functionality and code editor for real-time editing within the
browser.
• Use Cloud Shell for quick access to manage resources.
• Launching Cloud Shell:
• Access via the "Activate Cloud Shell" icon on the GCP Console.
Lecture 14: GCP APIs
• Introduction to APIs:
• APIs provide an interface for interacting with GCP services.
• RESTful APIs allow communication using HTTP, with resources identified via
URLs and data passed as JSON.
• API Features:
• APIs offer quotas to prevent overuse.
• Authentication is managed through OAuth 2.0 for secure access.
• Client Libraries:
• Google provides client libraries (e.g., for Node.js, Python) to ease API usage.
• Admin APIs allow resource management for automated tasks.
• API Explorer:
• The GCP Console includes an API Explorer to interactively test APIs and view
available versions.
• Example: Testing compute.instances.list from Compute Engine API.
QUESTION & ANSWERS
Lecture 11: Billing in GCP
1. What is the role of billing in GCP?
• Billing in GCP is set up at the project level, and you link a billing account to
manage billing information and payment options.
2. Can you link multiple projects to one billing account?
• Yes, one billing account can be linked to multiple projects.
3. What happens to projects not linked to a billing account?
• Projects not linked to a billing account can only use free GCP services.
4. How are billing accounts charged in GCP?
• Billing accounts can be charged automatically every month or at set threshold
limits.
5. What are billing sub-accounts used for in GCP?
• Sub-accounts are used to separate billing for customers or clients, especially for
reselling GCP services.
6. How can you prevent accidentally running up a high GCP bill?
• GCP provides tools like Budgets, Alerts, Billing Exports, Reports, and Quotas to
help manage costs.
7. What is a budget in GCP, and how is it used?
• Budgets are set at the billing or project level, and you can receive alerts when
costs approach or exceed the budget.
8. Can you automate actions when a billing alert occurs?
• Yes, you can set up a Webhook to automate actions, like shutting down resources,
in response to billing alerts.
9. Where can billing information be exported for external analysis?
• Billing information can be exported to BigQuery datasets or Cloud Storage
buckets.
10.What are quotas in GCP?
• Quotas limit resource consumption to avoid unforeseen billing charges or
overuse, especially due to errors or malicious attacks.
11.What is the difference between rate quotas and allocation quotas?
• Rate quotas reset after a specific time, while allocation quotas govern the number
of resources you can use in your projects.
12.How do you request a quota increase in GCP?
• You can request a quota increase from Google Cloud Support or via the console
Lecture 12: Install and Configure Cloud SDK
13.What is the Cloud SDK used for in GCP?
• The Cloud SDK allows users to run GCP command-line tools to manage
resources and applications hosted on GCP.
14.What is the ‘gcloud’ CLI?
• The 'gcloud' CLI manages authentication, configuration, and interactions with
GCP APIs.
15.What is ‘gsutil’ used for?
• 'gsutil' provides command-line access to manage cloud storage buckets and
objects.
16.What does the 'bq' command do?
• 'bq' allows running queries and manipulating datasets in BigQuery.
17.Where can you download the Cloud SDK?
• You can download the Cloud SDK from cloud.google.com/sdk.
18.What command is used to initialize the Cloud SDK after installation?
• The command gcloud init is used to configure Cloud SDK with login
credentials, project, region, and zone.
Lecture 13: Use Cloud Shell
19.What is Cloud Shell in GCP?
• Cloud Shell is a command-line interface accessed through a web browser without
needing to install the Cloud SDK locally.
20.What is the main benefit of using Cloud Shell?
• It provides command-line access to GCP resources directly from a browser, with
tools that are always up-to-date and authenticated.
21.What virtual machine does Cloud Shell run on?
• Cloud Shell runs on a Compute Engine virtual machine instance.
22.How much persistent disk storage does Cloud Shell provide?
• Cloud Shell provides 5 GB of persistent disk storage.
23.What happens to the Cloud Shell VM when you stop using it?
• The VM is ephemeral and will stop when you stop using it but will restart with
storage intact when you re-enter Cloud Shell.
24.What is the Cloud Shell Code Editor used for?
• It is a tool for editing files inside the Cloud Shell environment in real-time within
the web browser.
25.How do you activate Cloud Shell in GCP?
• Click on the Cloud Shell icon located at the top right of the GCP console to
activate it.
Lecture 14: GCP APIs
26.What is an API in GCP?
• An API is a well-defined interface that abstracts the complexity of GCP services,
allowing developers to interact with these services programmatically.
27.How do GCP APIs work with REST?
• GCP APIs follow the RESTful paradigm, using URLs to identify resources and
JSON to exchange data.
28.What security mechanism does GCP API use for authentication?
• GCP APIs use OAuth 2.0 for user login and access control.
29.What are the two main purposes of GCP client libraries?
• App APIs provide access to GCP services, while Admin APIs are for managing
resources.
30.What tool in the GCP Console helps users explore APIs?
• The APIs Explorer helps users interactively learn and try out APIs with built-in
documentation.
31.What message is returned if an API request succeeds?
• A 200 HTTP status code is returned along with the requested data.
32.What happens if incorrect parameters are passed in an API request?
• You will receive a 400 error, and no data will be displayed.
33.What languages are supported by GCP client libraries?
• GCP client libraries support languages like Node.js and Python, among others.
34.What are daily quotas in GCP APIs used for?
• Daily quotas help control usage to prevent overspending or overuse of resources.
General GCP Concepts
35.What is Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?
• GCP is a cloud computing service that offers a range of computing, storage, and
networking services managed by Google.
36.What are GCP projects used for?
• GCP projects are containers for all GCP resources, managing billing, permissions,
and settings.
37.What are the three main types of services provided by GCP?
• Compute, Storage, and Networking services.
38.What is Google Compute Engine?
• It is GCP's infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) that allows users to run virtual
machines on Google’s infrastructure.
39.What is Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)?
• GKE is a managed service for deploying and managing containerized applications
using Kubernetes.
40.What is BigQuery in GCP?
• BigQuery is a fully-managed data warehouse service for running fast SQL-like
queries on large datasets.
41.What is Google Cloud Storage?
• Cloud Storage provides scalable, secure, and durable object storage for various
types of data.
42.What is Google App Engine?
• App Engine is a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for building and deploying scalable
web applications on GCP.
43.What is the difference between App Engine and Compute Engine?
• App Engine is a fully managed platform for applications, while Compute Engine
provides virtual machines that require user management.
44.What is Google Cloud VPC?
• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a GCP service that enables users to create private
networks within the cloud.
45.What is the purpose of Cloud IAM in GCP?
• Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) allows administrators to control
access to GCP resources.
46.What is a service account in GCP?
• A service account is a special account used by applications or virtual machines to
interact with GCP resources.
47.What is the Google Cloud Marketplace?
• It is a store where users can deploy pre-configured solutions, such as virtual
machines and software, directly into their GCP environment.
48.What is Google Cloud SQL?
• Cloud SQL is a fully-managed relational database service for MySQL,
PostgreSQL, and SQL Server.
49.What is Cloud Spanner?
• Cloud Spanner is a fully-managed, scalable, and strongly consistent database
service in GCP.
50.How does Google Cloud Pub/Sub work?
• Pub/Sub is a messaging service that allows asynchronous communication
between applications by sending messages between services.
51.What is Google Cloud Functions?
• Cloud Functions is a serverless compute service that automatically scales based
on demand and only charges for the time the code runs.
52.What is the benefit of using GCP’s load balancers?
• GCP's load balancers distribute traffic across multiple servers to ensure high
availability and reliability.
53.What is the Google Cloud Console?
• The Cloud Console is a web-based interface used to manage GCP resources,
projects, and services.
54.What is Cloud Monitoring?
• Cloud Monitoring allows you to track the performance and uptime of your
applications and infrastructure hosted on GCP.
55.What are labels used for in GCP?
• Labels are used to organize and filter resources in GCP projects based on
attributes such as environment or team.
56.What is the purpose of Cloud DNS in GCP?
• Cloud DNS is a scalable, reliable, and managed DNS service in GCP that allows
users to publish and manage domain names.
57.What is the Google Cloud Free Tier?
• The Free Tier offers limited access to GCP services without charge, including
$300 in credits for new users.
58.How do you secure access to your GCP resources?
• You can secure access using IAM policies, service accounts, and enabling multi-
factor authentication.
59.What is the Cloud Identity service in GCP?
• Cloud Identity is a service for managing user identities, enforcing security
policies, and managing device access in the cloud.
60.What are Google Cloud AI and Machine Learning services?
• These are services provided by GCP that include pre-built models and
infrastructure for training, deploying, and managing AI models.
