Google Cloud Platform Tutorial : Getting Started With Google Cloud Platform

Are you having trouble in choosing a reliable Cloud Service Provider? If that is the case, this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial will solve your Cloud Conundrum for sure. So fasten your seat belts so that we can take a quick ride through the world of Google Cloud Platform. For starters let me tell you:

“Google Cloud Platform, offered by Google, is a suite of cloud computing services that run on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products. Alongside a set of management tools, it provides a series of modular cloud services including computing, data storage, data analytics and machine learning.“ 

You can get an in-depth understanding of the concepts from the Google cloud course. Now that I have given you a simple definition about what Google Cloud Platform(GCP) is, let me also give the agenda of what this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial has to offer you:

1. 1. Why Cloud?
   2. Why Google Cloud Platform?
   3. What Is Google Cloud Platform?
   4. Demo : Creating A VM Instance
   5. Use Case

Before we get started you can check out Google Cloud Certification Course Curriculum where our Training expert will be discussing each & every nitty-gritty of the technology.

Why Cloud?

Shortcomings Of The Pre-Cloud Era:

Let us start by taking a look at this image which illustrates some of the issues that existed before Cloud came into existence.

From the above image it is evident that the Pre-Cloud World was marred by problems like:

• Inability to Secure Databases properly
• Cost Optimization
• Incapability to scale and manage your servers
• Producing robust and fault tolerant devices

Did Cloud solve these problems? Definitely yes.

Now, “Cloud is a collection of servers and computers connected by a network which is owned by a third party vendor somewhere on the globe“

Cloud made sure following things were taken care of:

• Utmost care of Data Security by implementing stringent policies
• Ensures use of Dynamically Scalable Servers
• Provide you with Fast Computation and Remote Access to devices 
• Flexible Pricing ensures high Cost Optimization

Thus Cloud emerged as a saviour and with it we saw different Cloud Service Providers like Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure etc make their mark in the Cloud domain. 

Next in this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial you would understand  Why GCP came to the forefront:

Why Google Cloud Platform?

As I have just mentioned that there are various Cloud service providers in the market, so what makes Google Cloud Platform different? Following image will give you some of the major reasons why one should opt for it:

• Pricing: GCP leaves all the competition way behind with its highly flexible pricing and is rightly a leader here
• Scalability: Scaling down can always be an issue with cloud services. GCP lets you scale up and down with extreme ease 
• Custom Machines: With Custom Machine Types you can easily create a machine type customized to your needs with discount implications up to 50% off
• Integrations: Easily use various API’s, practice Internet of Things and Cloud Artificial Intelligence
• Big Data Analytics: Use Big Query and Big Data Analytics to carry out plethora of analytical practices
• Serverless: Serverless is a new paradigm of computing that abstracts away the complexity associated with managing servers for mobile and API back-ends, ETL, data processing jobs, databases, and more.

In case you wish to know more about Google Cloud Platform and also get introduced to its practical aspect then the following video is highly recommended.

Google offers a wide range of Services. In case you wish to know more about Google Cloud Platform Services this blog talks about it in detail.

You can also watch the below video from our Google Cloud expert, discussing about Google Cloud Platform.

Let us now dig deeper in this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial and understand what it is exactly.

What Is Google Cloud Platform?

You can think of it as collection of Cloud Services offered by Google. The platform hosts a wide range of services like comprising of

• Compute
• Storage
• Application development 

Now who can access these services? Well these can be accessed by developers, cloud administrators and other enterprise IT professionals. This can be done through the public internet or through a dedicated network connection. Check out Azure Cloud Training Program to learn more about cloud.

Next I will putforth some of the core functionalities and services of GCP:

• Google Compute Engine: Google Compute Engine helps you deliver VM that runs in Google’s innovative data centers and worldwide fiber network. It lets you scale from single instances to global and implement load-balanced cloud computing.
• App Engine: This PaaS offering lets developers access Google’s scalable hosting. Developers are also free to access software SDK’s to develop software products that run on App Engine.
• Cloud Storage: Google Cloud Storage platform enables you to store large, unstructured data sets. Well, Google also offers database storage options such as Cloud Datastore for NoSQL non relational storage, Cloud SQL for MySQL fully relational storage and Google’s native Cloud Big table database.
• Google Container Engine: It is a management and orchestration system for Docker containers that runs within Google’s public cloud. Google Container Engine is based on the Google Kubernetes container orchestration engine.

Let me now continue with this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial and give you a demo to create an instance using Google Compute Engine which is a Compute service:

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Google Cloud Platform Tutorial Demo

Creating a VM instance:

It is important you are signed up for Google Cloud Platform Free Tier. If you do not have an account please refer this blog which walks you through the account creation process in a step by step manner:

Step 1: Once you have an account, click on this link to open the below shown web page. Go ahead and click on Go To Console.

Step 2:

Following web page should open. On top left corner you will have a drop down option. It has a by default project selected. Click on it to explore more options. 

Step 3:

The Web page that appears next, lets you select an existing project which you can by searching in the search tab or can click on plus sign to add a new one. When you add a new project, first timers will require to set billing option which is two step simple process. I am will continue with the default option here:

Step 4:

Next click on drop down option on the top left corner and select the Compute Engine Option.

Step 5: 

Now, click on create instance to create the same.

Step 6:

Next go ahead and fill in the details for your instance. You may customise your instance specifications to suit your needs. Note that the cost for instance may vary as per the location and memory you choose. You are free to explore that part of the concern.

Step 7:

Fill in the details and then click on create.

Step 8:

And there you go, you have an instance for your use.

Let me know finish the final leg of this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial with a Use Case.

Use Case:

Following is the case study taken from Google Cloud Platform’s official website:

Google Cloud Platform Tutorial : Global Fishing Watch: Protecting global fisheries

About The Company:

Global Fishing Watch, a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google. It aims to increase the awareness about fisheries and influence sustainable fishery policies through transparency. It gives citizens, governments, industry, and researchers a free online platform to visualize, track, and share information about fishing activity worldwide.

Business Problem:

The fish stocks across the globe have plummeted and the process is in continuation. The population of some fish species has plunged by 90% percent in the last generation. One in five fish in global markets are caught illegally, or are unreported or unregulated. This situation becomes worse by following challenges: 

Challenges:

• Many countries lack the resources to crack down on unlawful fishing and don’t have adequate data to design and manage sustainable fishery programs
• Most of the ocean is out of sight
• Historically, analysts would monitor vessels in a small region looking for patterns, but were always constrained by time and resource.

Solution:

• GCP enables use of satellite data to track the global movement of fishing boats with more than 200,000 vessels continually broadcasting their locations using the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
• Google Cloud ML Engine models are built by feeding thousands of “training data tracks” that humans have manually classified so it can then analyze movement patterns to determine the class of each vessel and when and where fishing activity occurs
• Global Fishing Watch used the Google Maps JavaScript API to build the basemap for its website to show fishing information on an interactive map, letting anyone can visit the site to see fishing activity around the world in near real time.

Results

Thus Global Fishing Watch Used GCP and achieved following results and now they can:

• Enable unprecedented global visibility of fishery data with Google Cloud Platform
• Develop new understanding of human interactions with ocean ecosystems
• Identify boats that may be fishing illegally and provides supporting evidence for enforcement actions
• Provide new tools to governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, and private industry

In case if you wish to know about this use case then refer this link. This link also re-directs you to various other use cases that talk about how GCP played an integral role in overcoming different challenges that bothered various businesses.

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This brings us to the end of this Google Cloud Platform Tutorial. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. I will be coming up with more blogs in the coming days on Google Cloud Platform. Stay tuned for the same.

If you wish to master Google Cloud Platform, Edureka has a curated course, Cloud Architect Masters Program . It is designed to help you pass the Professional Cloud Architect – Google Cloud Certification. With this course, you will get an in-depth understanding of all the GCP Services in Networking , Storage , Databases, Containers, Virtual Machines, App Engine, Security etc

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section and we will get back to you at the earliest or join our GCP Training in UAE today.