1. GCP's building blocks
Welcome back. Let's dive into the various tools and services GCP has to offer, all designed to make your tech lives easier.
2. Core components
Storage and compute are the backbone of any cloud platform. GCP offers two major storage services.
Cloud Storage, like a vast digital vault in the cloud, stores files and data objects.
Cloud SQL allows management and querying of tabular data at scale.
On the compute side, GCP has Compute Engine for virtual machines. GCP App Engine is a fully managed web application platform.
And Vertex AI is a unified platform to train, deploy, and monitor AI models.
3. A secure framework
Built on top of GCP's robust security, compute and storage services provide a framework for the smooth functioning of other services.
4. A secure framework
On the basis of storage and compute services, Google offers advanced analytics and artificial intelligence tools. Let's dive deeper.
5. The infinite disk
Cloud Storage and Cloud SQL offer petabyte-sized vaults for data. A petabyte is a thousand terabytes, or 500 billion pages of text! They store files and tables with a scalability that grows with your needs. And, as you'd expect, every piece of data is securely encrypted.
6. The infinite disk
GCP also ensures your data remains safe by replicating it across multiple locations. This removes the risk of losing access to the data due to a local accident.
7. Compute
GCP compute services are all about having your own digital workspace, tailored precisely to your needs. It's like being handed the keys to a customizable supercomputer that is accessible through the internet.
8. Compute
Within the Google Compute suite, there are two main components: the Compute Engine and the App Engine.
The Compute Engine enables you to customize virtual machine types, tailoring hardware requirements like CPU and memory according to specific needs. An example of infrastructure-as-a-service, here GCP is subletting its infrastructure for custom configuration. This makes it a great choice for running software with very specific requirements.
The App Engine is used to deploy applications developed with Java, Python, or C#. Considered an instance of platform-as-a-service, it allows for automatic scaling based on user traffic. This a great choice for developers who want to focus on their applications and leave the infrastructure management to GCP.
9. BigQuery
BigQuery is the ultimate companion to Cloud SQL. It is a data warehousing tool that can retrieve and analyze data at scale. It's built for speed, handling vast datasets with efficiency. With BigQuery there's no need to manage any underlying hardware or software, allowing you to focus solely on deriving value from your data. Therefore, BigQuery makes it easier to handle complex data analytics.
10. Vertex AI
Vertex AI, at its essence, is about exploring data and making predictions. Picture using Vertex AI as a one-stop shop to recognize patterns in images, translate languages in real-time, or predict market trends based on historical data. Whether tapping into no-code ready-made solutions or crafting bespoke models, Vertex AI allows you to create software that has learned from your data, and can perform complex functions without human intervention.
11. Services in harmony
The utility of GCP lies not just in the individual prowess of its services but in their orchestrated collaboration. Imagine GCP as an intricately connected city.
12. Services in harmony
In this city, storage is like a residential area, offering space to residents. This is where all the data resides.
Compute and App Engine, on the other hand, are like the commercial districts, offering platforms to run businesses and perform specific functions.
13. Services in harmony
BigQuery is the city's library. Here data is organized to create a central repository of information. Vertex AI is the university where intelligent workers are trained. These are the AI models that perform business functions.
Together, these services form a harmonious ecosystem.
14. Let's practice!
Now that you have an idea of some of the building blocks of GCP, let's do some exercises.