1. The GCP family
Hello there! In the last video we discussed some core GCP services. The GCP family has many other members, and they help in specific situations.
2. The storage cousins
We have met Cloud Storage and Cloud SQL. Cloud Storage offers efficient storage for files, while Cloud SQL is the go-to place for tables and structured data.
3. Where do the trees go?
Now, imagine storing organization charts for thousands of institutions. These are constructed like trees, starting with the CEO and branching out until all employees are included. This type of data cannot be stored efficiently as a table.
This is in fact non-relational data. That is, they do not conform to the traditional row-column structure of conventional data.
4. Say hello to Bigtable
This is in fact a use case for GCP’s Bigtable which can handle row-and-column tabular data as well as non-relational data, like a tree. Bigtable is optimized for large operational and analytical workloads. It provides low latency and high throughput performance and is ideal for applications like IoT, finance, and ad tech.
5. App dilemma
We also learned about App Engine in the last video. Imagine you have an application that converts Word documents uploaded by users to PDFs. We may consider App Engine to host this application. But App Engine was designed to host full-fledged web applications with user interfaces and complex backend logic.
6. Cloud Functions
Enter Google Cloud Functions. This is the appropriate service for single-purpose functions. It runs only when triggered by an event, for example the uploading of a document. This sort of sporadic usage is cheaper on Cloud Functions compared to App Engine, as Cloud Functions is charged per request.
7. Going serverless
Both App Engine and Cloud Functions are “serverless”. This means that instead of setting up and managing all the computer servers that would be required to host an app, you just tell GCP what you need, and it handles all the behind-the-scenes work. To understand serverless, imagine you want a cup of coffee. Instead of buying coffee beans, a grinder, a coffee maker, and then brewing it yourself, you just walk to a café and order a cup. The barista handles everything, and you only pay for the finished cup of coffee.
8. Containers
Some applications, however, require fine-grained control. They may require other applications and the right computational environment to function properly. To meet these requirements we have containers: Developers pack their applications, with all the necessary parts, into a virtual "container". This is a tiny home for the application which ensures that the application runs the same, regardless of where the container is run, be it on a developer's personal computer, a test server, or a massive cloud platform.
9. So what were virtual machines?
Notice how this is different from virtual machines. Virtual machines provide a comprehensive environment with a full operating system, which is excellent for running software with very specific needs. Containers offer a lightweight solution, and contain only what is essential to run the application. In fact, you could run up to 20 containers on the same computer!
10. Containerized applications
Imagine an online shopping platform that uses containers. The platform's backend might consist of various containers: one for user authentication, another for product listings, another for payment processing, and so on. Each container provides a small part of the platform’s service, a “microservice”.
11. The power of microservices
Microservices break large applications into small units, improving development, scalability, and reliability. On a shopping platform, if a sale boosts the number of searches, only the search container is replicated. If payments processing sees a large increase in activity, more payments containers are executed. They are also less prone to system-wide failures. If user reviews can’t be posted due to a container failure, payments remain unaffected.
12. Let's practice!
Now let’s head over to the exercises to test our knowledge of the GCP family!