What this book covers
Chapter 1, GCP Cloud Architect Professional, discusses the benefits of becoming a certified architect, how to register for the exam, and what to expect when you are in the test center.
Chapter 2, Getting Started with Google Cloud Platform, covers the basics of GCP and how it positions itself on the market. You will learn about all the major GCP services that are available.
Chapter 3, Google Cloud Platform Core Services, examines the most important GCP services, including computing, storage, networking, big data, and machine learning.
Chapter 4, Working with Google Compute Engine, examines how to create and run virtual machine instances on top of the Google Compute Engine (GCE) service.
Chapter 5, Exploring Google App Engine as a Compute Option, discusses how to define and run applications on Google App Engine.
Chapter 6, Managing Kubernetes Clusters with Google Kubernetes Engine, explains the basis of containers and microservices. It looks at running and managing Kubernetes clusters on the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) service.
Chapter 7, Deploying Cloud-Native Workloads with Cloud Run, discusses running cloud-native workloads in GCP with a serverless experience. Cloud Run does this without the need to understand complex Kubernetes resource definitions.
Chapter 8, Managing Cloud-Native Workloads with Anthos, introduces one of the newest and most exciting GCP products available. We will learn how we can run cloud-native workloads on Kubernetes anywhere. This includes not only all three major public cloud providers, but also on-premises. We will see how to keep the Anthos clusters in sync with predefined configuration and polices as well as how to control and observe traffic in a microservice architecture using Anthos Service Mesh.
Chapter 9, Running Serverless Functions with Google Cloud Functions, looks into running serverless functions on Google Cloud Functions.
Chapter 10, Networking Options in GCP, discusses Google's networking services. Understanding networking is key to completing the architect exam. We will introduce you to concepts such as Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) before diving further into other concepts such as Virtual Private Network (VPN), networks, subnetworks, and routes.
Chapter 11, Exploring Storage and Database Options in GCP – Part 1, considers different storage options. This will allow us to choose the right storage for a given use case. We will discuss object storage alongside relational and non-relational databases.
Chapter 12, Exploring Storage and Database Options in GCP – Part 2, looks at storage options such as Cloud Spanner and BigTable.
Chapter 13, Analyzing Big Data Options, discusses how big data is another key topic in the architect exam. Understanding what big data is, and what services GCP offers to handle the complexities of data analytics, will really help you in the test center when taking the exam. In this chapter, we will look at the various services that are available, and when we might choose one over the other.
Chapter 14, Putting Machine Learning to Work, examines Machine Learning (ML) in general as well as GCP-related services. This will allow us to understand the use cases and possible implementations of machine learning using Google Cloud.
Chapter 15, Security and Compliance, covers security, which is a feature of all GCP services. In this chapter, we will cover IAM in more detail than we have in previous chapters, to allow you to understand custom roles and service accounts. Additionally, we will look at Google's commitments to compliance through the Payment Card Industry (PCI) regulations.
Chapter 16, Google Cloud Management Options, shows you that there are several ways to manage your GCP infrastructure and its services. In this chapter, we will look at how to manage your GCP infrastructure and the key management options that are available, including Cloud Shell, SDK, and G-Cloud, and the steps that are needed to access or install these tools.
Chapter 17, Monitoring Your Infrastructure, looks at monitoring your infrastructure using Stackdriver.
Chapter 18, Case Studies, discusses how, in the exam, some questions may refer you to several case studies. You should be familiar with these case studies before you take the exam. These involve hypothetical business and solution concepts. In this chapter, we will cover how to find these case studies; additionally, we will also take a look at an example case study and analyze it in order to design an appropriate solution.
Chapter 19, Test Your Knowledge, goes through exam tips and sample tests.