Harnessing the Power of Google Cloud Platform: Strategies and Applications

Google Cloud
Platform
Dr Hitesh Mohapatra
Associate Professor
School of Computer Engineering
KIIT University

What is Cloud Computing?
• Cloud computing is defined as the services offered through
remote servers on the internet. These services might include
database storage, applications, compute power and other IT
resources over the pay-as-you-go pricing approach. The remote
server allows users to save, modify, or process data on the
internet or cloud-based platform instead of storing it on a local
server or their devices.
• Cloud computing is evolving due to fast performance, better
manageability, and less maintenance. It helps organizations to
minimize the number of resources and overall infrastructure
costs. It also helps IT teams focus on the important
applications, services, and processes and achieve the
company's goals.

Cont.
Typically, cloud-computing providers offer their services
according to the following three standard models:
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

What is Google Cloud Platform?
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing
services provided by Google. It is a public cloud computing
platform consisting of a variety of services like computing,
storage, networking, application development, Big Data, and
more, which run on the same cloud infrastructure that Google
uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google
Search, Photos, Gmail and YouTube, etc.
• The services of GCP can be accessed by software developers,
cloud administrators and IT professionals over the Internet or
through a dedicated network connection.

Why Google Cloud Platform?
• Google Cloud Platform is known as one of the leading cloud
providers in the IT field.
• The services and features can be easily accessed and used by
software developers and users with little technical knowledge.
• Google has been on top amongst its competitors, offering the
highly scalable and most reliable platform for building, testing
and deploying applications in a real-time environment.

Cont.
• Apart from this, GCP was announced as the leading cloud
platform in the Gartner's IaaS Magic Quadrant in 2018. Gartner
is one of the leading research and advisory company. Gartner
organized a campaign where Google Cloud Platform was
compared with other cloud providers, and GCP was selected as
one of the top three providers in the market.
• Most companies use data centers because of the availability of
cost forecasting, hardware certainty, and advanced control.
However, they lack the necessary features to run and maintain
resources in the data center. GCP, on the other side, is a fully-
featured cloud platform that includes:

Cont.
• Capacity: Sufficient resources for easy scaling whenever required. Also,
effective management of those resources for optimum performance.
• Security: Multi-level security options to protect resources, such as assets,
network and OS -components.
• Network Infrastructure: Number of physical, logistical, and human-
resource-related components, such as wiring, routers, switches, firewalls,
load balancers, etc.
• Support: Skilled professionals for installation, maintenance, and support.
• Bandwidth: Suitable amount of bandwidth for peak load.
• Facilities: Other infrastructure components, including physical equipment
and power resources.
Therefore, Google Cloud Platform is a viable option for businesses,
especially when the businesses require an extensive catalogue of services
with global recognition.

Benefits of Google Cloud Platform
Some of the main benefits of the Google Cloud Platform are explained
below:
• Best Pricing: Google enables users to get Google Cloud hosting at the
cheapest rates. The hosting plans are not only cheaper than other hosting
platforms but also offer better features than others. GCP provides a pay-
as-you-go option to the users where users can pay separately only for the
services and resources they want to use.
• Work from Anywhere: Once the account is configured on GCP, it can be
accessed from anywhere. That means that the user can use GCP across
different devices from different places. It is possible because Google
provides web-based applications that allow users to have complete access
to GCP.
• Private Network: Google has its own network that enables users to have
more control over GCP functions. Due to this, users achieve smooth
performance and increased efficiency over the network.

Cont.
• Scalable: Users are getting a more scalable platform over the private
network. Because Google uses fibreoptic cables to extend its network
range, it is likely to have more scalability. Google is always working to
scale its network because there can be any amount of traffic at any time.
• Security: There is a high number of security professionals working at
Google. They always keep trying to secure the network and protect the
data stored on servers. Additionally, Google uses an algorithm that
encrypts all the data on the Cloud platform. This gives assurance to the
users that their data is completely safe and secure from unauthorized
sources.
• Redundant Backup: Google always keeps a backup of users’ data with
built-in redundant backup integration. In case a user has lost the stored
data, it's not a big problem. Google always has a copy of the users' data
unless the data is deleted forcefully. This adds data integrity, reliability and
durability with GCP.

Key Features of Google Cloud Platform
The following are some key features of the Google Cloud Platform:
• On-demand services: Automated environment with web-based
tools. Therefore, no human intervention is required to access the
resources.
• Broad network access: The resources and the information can be
accessed from anywhere.
• Resource pooling: On-demand availability of a shared pool of
computing resources to the users.
• Rapid elasticity: The availability of more resources whenever
required.
• Measured service: Easy-to-pay feature enables users to pay only
for consumed services.

Working of Google Cloud Platform
• When a file is uploaded on the Google cloud, the unique
metadata is inserted into a file.
• It helps identify the different files and track the changes made
across all the copies of any particular file.
• All the changes made by individuals get synchronized
automatically to the main file, also called a master file.
• GCP further updates all the downloaded files using metadata to
maintain the correct records.

Example
Let's understand the working of GCP with a general example:
• Suppose that MS Office is implemented on Cloud to enable several people
to work together. The primary aim of using cloud technology is to work on
the same project at the same time. We can create and save a file on the
cloud once we install a plugin for the MS Office suite. This will allow
several people to edit a document at the same time. The owner can assign
access to specific people to allow them to download and start editing the
document in MS Office.
• Once users are assigned as an editor, they can use and edit the
document's cloud copy as desired. The combined, the edited copy is
generated which is known as the master document. GCP helps to assign a
unique URL to each specific copy of the existing document given to
different users. However, any of the authorized users' changes will be
visible on all the copies of documents shared over the cloud. In case
multiple changes are made to the same document, then GCP allows the
owner to select the appropriate changes to keep.

Google Cloud Platform Services
Google provides a considerable number of services with several
unique features. That is the reason why the Google Cloud Platform is
continually expanding across the globe. Some of the significant
services of GCP are:
• Compute Services
• Networking
• Storage Services
• Big Data
• Security and Identity Management
• Management Tools
• Cloud AI
• IoT (Internet of Things)

Compute Services [IaaS]
GCP offers a scalable range of computing services, such as:
• Google App Engine: It is a cloud computing platform that follows
the concept of Platform-as-a-Service to deploy PHP, Java and other
software. It is also used to develop and deploy web-based software
in Google-managed data centers. The most significant advantage of
Google App Engine is its automatic scaling capability. This means
that the App Engine automatically allocates more resources for the
application when there is an increase in requests.
• Compute Engine: It is a cloud computing platform that follows the
concept of Infrastructure-as-a-Service to run Windows and Linux-
based virtual machines. It is an essential component of GCP. It is
designed on the same infrastructure used by the Google search
engine, YouTube and other Google services.
• Kubernetes Engines: This computing service is responsible for
offering a platform for automatic deployment, scaling, and other
operations of application containers across clusters of hosts. The
engine supports several container tools like a docker, etc.

Networking [IaaS]
GCP includes the following network services:
• VPC: VPC stands for Virtual Private Network. The primary function of
VPC is to offer a private network with routing, IP allocation, and
network firewall policies. This will help to create a secure
environment for the application deployments.
• Cloud Load Balancing: As its name states, Cloud balancing is used
to distribute workload across different computing resources to
balance the entire system performance. This also results in cost
reduction. The process also helps in minimizing the availability and
maximise the capability of the resources.
• Content Delivery Network: CDN is a geographically distributed
network of proxy servers and their data centers. The primary aim of
using CDN is to provide maximum performance to the users.
Additionally, it also helps deliver high availability of resources by
equally distributing the related services to the end-users.

Storage Services [IaaS]
GCP has the following storage services:
• Google Cloud Storage: It is an online data storage web service that
Google provides to its users to store and access data from
anywhere. The service also includes a wide range of features like
maximum performance, scalability, security and sharing.
• Cloud SQL: It is a web-service that enables users to create,
manage, and use relational databases stored on Google Cloud
servers. The service itself maintains and protects the databases,
which helps users focus on their applications and other operations.
• Cloud Bigtable: It is known for its fast performance and highly
manageable feature. It is a highly scalable NoSQL database service
that allows collecting and retaining data from as low as 1 TB to
hundreds of PB.

Big Data
GCP provides a variety of services related to big data; they are:
• BigQuery: It is a fully managed data analysis service by Google. The
primary aim of Google BigQuery service is to help businesses to analyze
Big Data. It offers a highly scalable data management option. This means
BigQuery allows users to perform ad-hoc queries and share data insights
across the web.
• Google Cloud Datastore: Google Cloud Datastore is a kind of datastore
service that is fully managed, schema-less, and non-relational. This
service enables businesses to perform automatic transactions and a rich
set of queries. The main advantage of Google Cloud Datastore is the
capability of automatic scaling. This means that the service can itself scale
up and down, depending on the requirement of resources.
• Google Cloud Dataproc: It is a very fast and easy-to-use big data service
offered by Google. It mainly helps in managing Hadoop and Spark
services for distributed data processing. The service allows users to create
Hadoop or Spark clusters sized according to the overall workload and can
be accessed whenever users want them.

Security and Identity Management
GCP includes the following services related to Security and
Identity management:
• Cloud Data Loss Prevention API: It is mainly designed to
manage sensitive data. It helps users manage sensitive data
elements like credit card details, debit card details, passport
numbers, etc. It offers fast and scalable classification for
sensitive data.
• Cloud IAM: It stands for Cloud Identity and Access
Management. It is a framework that contains rules and policies
and validates the authentication of the users for accessing the
technology resources. That is why it is also known as Identity
Management (IdM).

Management Tools
GCP includes the following services related to management tools:
• Google Stackdriver: Google Stackdriver service is primarily
responsible for displaying the overall performance and diagnostics
information. This may include insights into data monitoring, tracing,
logging, error reporting, etc. The service also prompts an alert
notification to public cloud users.
• Google Cloud Console App: It is a native mobile application
powered by Google. The primary aim of this service is to enable
users to manage the core features of Google Cloud services directly
from their mobile devices anytime, anywhere. The primary functions
of this service are alerting, monitoring, and performing critical actions
on resources.

Cloud AI
When it comes to Cloud AI, GCP offers these services:
• Cloud Machine Learning Engine: It is another fully managed
service that allows users to create Machine Learning models.
The service is mainly used for those ML models, which are
based on mainstream frameworks.
• Cloud AutoML: It is the type of service that is based on
Machine Learning. It helps users to enter their data sets and
gain access to quality trained pre-designed ML models. The
service works by following Google's transfer learning and
Neural Architecture Search method.

IoT (Internet of Things)
GCP contains the following IoT services:
• Cloud IoT Core: It is one of the fully managed core services. It
allows users to connect, control, and ingest data from various
devices that are securely connected to the Internet. This allows
other Google cloud services to analyze, process, collect and
visualize IoT data in real-time.
• Cloud IoT Edge: The Edge computing service brings memory
and other computing-power resources near to the location
where it is required.

Advantages of Google Cloud Platform
There are several advantages of using Google Cloud Platform, such
as:
• Google Cloud Offers Quick and Easy Collaboration: Multiple
users can access the data and simultaneously contribute their
information. This is possible because the data is stored on the cloud
servers, not on the user's personal computers.
• Higher Productivity with Continuous Development: Google is
always working on adding new features and functionalities to provide
higher productivity to the customers. Therefore, Google delivers
frequent updates to its products and services.
• Less Disruption with Adopting New Features: Instead of pushing
huge disruptive updates of changes, Google provides small updates
weekly. This helps users to understand and adopt new features
easily.

Cont.
• Least or Minimal Data is stored on Vulnerable Devices:
Google does not store data on local devices unless a user
explicitly tries to do it. This is because the data stored on local
devices may get compromised compared to the cloud's data.
• Users can access Google Cloud from Anywhere: The best
thing is that a user can easily access the information stored on
Google cloud from anywhere because it is operated through
web-based applications.
• Google provides Maximum Security with its Robust
Structure: Google hires leading security professionals to
protect user's data. Users get process-based and physical
security features made by Google.

Cont.
• Users have Full Control over their Data: Users gain full
control over services and the data stored in Google Cloud. If a
user does not want to use Google services any longer and
wants to delete the cloud data, it can be easily performed.
• Google provides Higher Uptime and Reliability: Google uses
several resources to provide higher and reliable up-time
servers. If a data center is not working for technical issues, the
system will automatically communicate with the secondary
center without interruption visible to users.

Creating a Free Tier Account on GCP
Let's start with the steps of creating a free tier account on Google
Cloud Platform:
• Step 1: First, we are required to navigate to the following
link: https://cloud.google.com/gcp/
• Step 2: On the next screen, we need to click on 'Get started for
free', as shown below:

Navigation
• Step 3: Next,
we are required
to login to the
Google
Account. We
can use the
'create an
account' button
if we don't have
an existing
Google
account.

Navigation
• Step 4:
Once we
have
logged in,
we will get
to the
following
screen:
Here, we must
select the
Country, agree to
the Terms of
Service, and then
click on the
'CONTINUE'
button.

Navigation
• Step 5: On the
next screen, we
have to enter some
necessary details
such as name and
address details.
Also, we have to
enter payment
details like the
method of
payments and
credit card details.
After filling all the
details, we need to
click on the button
'START MY FREE
TRIAL' from the
bottom of the page:

Navigation
• Step 6: Google
asks for
confirmation to
use the credit
card for the
small
deduction to
ensure that the
card
information is
correct.
However, the
amount is
refunded back
to the same
account. Here,
we need to
click on the
'CONTINUE'
button:

Navigation
• Step 7: On
the next
screen, we
must click on
the 'GO TO
CONSOLE'
button:

Navigation
• After clicking
on the 'GO
TO
CONSOLE'
button, we
will be
redirected to
the
Dashboard
that includes
a summary of
GCP services
along with
projects and
other
insights. It
looks like
this:

GCP Console
To be specific, a Dashboards of GCP displays the summarized view of the
followings:
• Project Info: contains project details such as project name, ID, and
number.
• Resources: contains a list of resources being used in the related project.
• APIs: contains various API requests running with the project (in
request/sec form).
• Google Cloud Platform Status: displays an overall summary of services
that are part of GCP.
• Monitoring: displays alerts, performance stats, Uptime, etc. to ensure that
systems are running reliably.
• Error Reporting: displays errors occurring in the projects, but it needs to
be configured first.

Cont.
• Trace: displays latency data of existing applications across a
distributed tracing system.
• Compute Engine: displays the insights of CPU usage in
percentage (%).
• Tutorials: contains Getting Started guides (basic guides) to
explain how the GCP features work.
• News: displays news and other important updates regarding
Google Cloud Platform.
• Documentation: contains in-depth guides to teach more about
Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, and App Engine.

Google Cloud Platform Pricing
When it comes to pricing, Google Cloud Platform is the cheapest
solution in the market. GCP is not only low on price but also
offers more features and services than other providers.
When comparing GCP with other leading competitors, it has
more benefits over them. Google provides its users a massive
60% savings, including:
• 15% rightsizing recommendation
• 21% list price differences
• 24% of sustained usage discounts

Cont.
Some of the main benefits of GCP pricing are:
• No Hidden Charges: There are no hidden charges behind the GCP
pricing. Google's pricing structure is straightforward and can be
easily understood.
• Pay-as-you-go: Google offers its customer 'use now, pay later'
option. So, users will have to pay only for those services which they
want to use or already using.
• No Termination Fee: Users are free to stop using Google services
whenever they want, and there will not have to pay any termination
fee. That means the moment users stop using Google services; they
stop paying for it.

Difference between Google Cloud Platform,
AWS and Azure
Google Cloud AWS Azure
It uses GCE (Google Compute
Engine) for computing purposes.
AWS EC2 offers core compute
services.
It uses virtual machines for
computation purposes.
It uses Google Cloud Storage for
storage purposes.
It uses Amazon S3 for storing the
data.
It uses a storage block bob that
comprises blocks for storing the data.
It offers the lowest price to the
customers to beat other cloud
providers.
AWS pricing is generally keen to
have inscrutable. The overall
structure of granular pricing is a bit
complex.
Like AWS, Azure pricing structure is
also difficult to understand unless
you have considerable experience.
It uses Cloud Test labs for App
Testing purposes.
It uses a device farm for App Testing
purposes.
It uses DevTest labs for App Testing
purposes.
It uses Subnet as a virtual network. It uses VPC as a virtual network. It uses VNet as a virtual Network.
It follows the Cloud Load Balancing
configuration.
It follows the Elastic Load Balancing
configuration.
It follows the Load-Balancer
Application Gateway configuration.

Job Opportunities with GCP
There are many job opportunities with GCP. Some popular job roles are listed below:
• Technical Lead Manager
• Sales Engineer
• Technical Solutions Engineer
• Account Executive
• Technical Program Manager
• Cloud Software Engineer
• Data Center Software Engineer
• Solutions Architect
• Strategic Customer Engineer
Source:
https://medium.com/google-cloud/what-are-the-google-cloud-platform-gcp-services-285f1988957a

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