Preparing for Your

Associate Cloud
Engineer Journey

Module 2: Planning and Configuring Cloud Solutions

Welcome to Module 2: Planning and Configuring Cloud Solutions.

Review and
study planning

Now let’s review the diagnostic questions together, paying attention to the areas
where you need to focus your study time. Some of this may be content you’re already
very familiar with, while other aspects may be new to you.
Your study plan:
Planning and configuring cloud solutions

2.1 Planning and estimating using

the Pricing Calculator

2.2 Planning and configuring

compute resources

2.3 Planning and configuring

data storage options

2.4 Planning and configuring

network resources

Just like we did with the previous module, we’ll approach this review by looking at the
objectives of this exam section and the questions you just answered about each one.
We’ll introduce an objective, briefly review the answers to the related questions, then
talk about where you can find out more in the learning resources and/or in Google
Cloud documentation. As we go through each section objective, use the page in your
workbook to mark the specific documentation, courses (and modules!), and quests
you’ll want to emphasize in your study plan.
 Planning and estimating
2.1 using the Pricing Calculator

At the start of this module we discussed how an Associate Cloud Engineer would plan
and configure Cymbal Superstore’s cloud applications and some of the considerations
involved. Google’s pricing calculator can help you estimate costs and make decisions
about compute and storage choices, as you saw in the first diagnostic question.
2.1 Diagnostic Question 01 Discussion

The projected amount of cloud storage A. Use the pricing calculator to estimate
required for Cymbal Superstore to the costs for 10 TB of regional Standard
enable users to post pictures for storage, 30 TB of regional Coldline storage,
project reviews is 10 TB of immediate and egress charges for reads from storage.
access storage in the US and 30 TB of B. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of regional
storage for historical posts in a bucket Standard storage, 30 TB of regional Nearline storage, and ingress
located near Cymbal Superstore’s charges for posts to the bucket.
headquarters. The contents of this
C. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of
bucket will need to be accessed once
multi-region standard storage, 30 TB for regional Coldline storage,
every 30 days. You want to estimate
and ingress charges for posts to the bucket.
the cost of these storage resources to
ensure this is economically feasible. D. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of
multi-region Standard storage, 30 TB for regional Nearline, and
egress charges for reads from the bucket.
What should you do?

Question:
The projected amount of cloud storage required for Cymbal Superstore to enable
users to post pictures for project reviews is 10 TB of immediate access storage in the
US and 30 TB of storage for historical posts in a bucket located near Cymbal
Superstore’s headquarters. The contents of this bucket will need to be accessed once
every 30 days. You want to estimate the cost of these storage resources to ensure
this is economically feasible. What should you do?
2.1 Diagnostic Question 01 Discussion

The projected amount of cloud storage A. Use the pricing calculator to estimate
required for Cymbal Superstore to the costs for 10 TB of regional Standard
enable users to post pictures for storage, 30 TB of regional Coldline storage,
project reviews is 10 TB of immediate and egress charges for reads from storage.
access storage in the US and 30 TB of B. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of regional
storage for historical posts in a bucket Standard storage, 30 TB of regional Nearline storage, and ingress
located near Cymbal Superstore’s charges for posts to the bucket.
headquarters. The contents of this
C. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of
bucket will need to be accessed once
multi-region standard storage, 30 TB for regional Coldline storage,
every 30 days. You want to estimate
and ingress charges for posts to the bucket.
the cost of these storage resources to
ensure this is economically feasible. D. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of
multi-region Standard storage, 30 TB for regional Nearline,
and egress charges for reads from the bucket.
What should you do?

Feedback:
A. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the costs for 10 TB of regional Standard
storage, 30 TB of regional Coldline storage, and egress charges for reads from
storage.
Feedback: Incorrect. The storage is US which indicates multi-region storage instead
of regional Standard storage. The 30-day requirement points to Nearline storage, not
Coldline.

B. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of regional Standard
storage, 30 TB of regional Nearline storage, and ingress charges for posts to the
bucket.
Feedback: Incorrect. The storage is US which indicates multi-region storage instead
of regional Standard storage and ingress (data writes) is free. There are no costs
associated with ingress.

C. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of multi-region standard
storage, 30 TB for regional Coldline storage, and ingress charges for posts to the
bucket.
Feedback: Incorrect. The 30-day requirement points to Nearline storage, not Coldline
and ingress (data writes) is free, there are no costs associated with ingress.

*D. Use the pricing calculator to estimate the price for 10 TB of multi-region standard
storage, 30 TB for regional Nearline, and egress charges for reads from the bucket.
Feedback: Correct! Data storage pricing is based on the amount of data and storage
type. Standard storage is immediately available. Nearline storage is for data accessed
roughly every 30 days. Egress is the amount of data read from the bucket and is also
chargeable.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator/

Content mapping:
● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)
○ M3 Virtual Machines
○ M6 Resource Management

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)

○ M3 Virtual Machines

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

○ M3 Resource Management

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slides.
Pricing Calculator 1
Select a product from
scrolling list at top of the
form

Form for each product

2 will show expense
variables

Enter target
3
configuration in form

https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator/

Submit each section to

4 add to your overall
estimate

https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator/

The Pricing Calculator is a multi-section form that lets you estimate the costs of
different cloud services based on how you are going to use and configure them. For
example, you can estimate costs of implementing a database in Cloud SQL, object
storage in Cloud Storage, data warehouse needs using BigQuery, among others.

Once you have some possible configurations in mind, you can use the pricing
calculator to estimate costs for the different products you will be using.
 Total estimated cost:
Pricing Calculator daily, weekly, monthly,
quarterly, yearly and
3-year increments

Cost is only an estimate

Question to ask:
How closely your
estimated usage
matches your actual
usage?

Not a binding contract,

just a planning tool

Keep in mind pricing estimates generated by the calculator are not binding in any
way. Please just use them as a planning tool. Real costs are going to be determined
by actual usage.
 Planning and estimating
2.1 using the Pricing Calculator

Courses Documentation

Google Cloud Pricing Calculator

Architecting with Google Essential Google Cloud
Compute Engine Infrastructure: Foundation
● M3 Virtual Machines ● M3 Virtual Machines
● M6 Resource
Management = Essential Google Cloud
Infrastructure: Core Services
● M3 Resource
Management

Now that we’ve reviewed the diagnostic question related to Section 2.1, let’s take a
moment to consider resources that can help you build your knowledge and skills in
this area.

The concepts in the diagnostic questions we just reviewed are covered in these
modules and in this documentation. You’ll find this list in your workbook so you can
take a note of what you want to include later when you build your study plan. Based
on your experience with the diagnostic questions, you may want to include some or all
of these in your plan.

Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)
Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator/
 Planning and configuring
2.2 compute resources

Considerations include:
● Selecting appropriate compute choices for a given workload
(e.g., Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions)
● Using preemptible VMs and custom machine types as appropriate

A cloud architect will typically design a cloud solution. As an Associate Cloud

Engineer, it’s important for you to be able to plan and configure compute resources to
align with Google recommended practices. That means you should be comfortable
with the different compute options available in Google Cloud and when to use each
one.

You encountered these types of considerations in the following questions:

● Question 2: Differentiate between available compute options in Google Cloud.

● Question 3: Determine when to use serverless solutions such as Cloud Run,
e.g. code focus, quick development, minimal overhead.
● Question 4: Determine when to use Google Compute Engine, e.g. more
control, OS level dependencies, customization.
● Question 5: Determine when to use Kubernetes Engine, e.g. platform
independence, deployment velocity, container management.
2.2 Diagnostic Question 02 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore decides to migrate A. Implement an application using containers

their supply chain application to Google on Cloud Run.
Cloud. You need to configure specific B. Implement an application using code on
operating system dependencies. App Engine.
C. Implement an application using containers
What should you do? on Google Kubernetes Engine.
D. Implement an application using virtual
machines on Compute Engine.

Question:
Cymbal Superstore decides to migrate their supply chain application to Google Cloud.
You need to configure specific operating system dependencies. What should you do?
2.2 Diagnostic Question 02 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore decides to migrate A. Implement an application using containers

their supply chain application to Google on Cloud Run.
Cloud. You need to configure specific B. Implement an application using code on
operating system dependencies. App Engine.
C. Implement an application using containers
What should you do? on Google Kubernetes Engine.
D. Implement an application using virtual
machines on Compute Engine.

Feedback:
A. Implement an application using containers on Cloud Run.
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Run deploys containers in Google Cloud without you
specifying the underlying cluster or deployment architecture.

B. Implement an application using code on App Engine.

Feedback: Incorrect. App Engine is a platform as a service for deployment of your
code on infrastructure managed by Google. You don’t manage operating system
dependencies with App Engine.

C. Implement an application using containers on Google Kubernetes Engine.

Feedback: Incorrect. Google Kubernetes Engine is a container management platform
as a service and doesn’t give you control over operating system dependencies.

* D. Implement an application using virtual machines on Compute Engine.

Feedback: Correct! Compute Engine gives you full control over operating system
choice and configuration.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/choosing-the-right-compute-option-in
-gcp-a-decision-tree

Content mapping:
 ● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M3 Virtual Machines and Networks in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M3 Virtual Machines

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)

○ M3 Virtual Machines

Summary:
There are five distinct ways to interact with compute resources in Google Cloud. They
can be divided into server-based services, where manage and pay for infrastructure,
and serverless options, where you just pay for execution time.
Infrastructure as a service:

Google Compute Engine Google Kubernetes Engine

Virtual machines running in Logical infrastructure powered by Kubernetes,
Google’s global data centers the open source container orchestration system

● Complete control ● No dependencies on a specific OS

● Ability to make OS level changes ● Increased velocity and operability
Use When You
Need... ● To be able to move to the cloud without ● To manage containers in production
rewriting your code
● To use custom VM images

● Any workload requiring a specific OS or

● Containerized workloads
Typical Use Cases configuration
● On-premises software that you want to ● Cloud-native distributed systems
run in the cloud ● Hybrid applications

Compute Engine and Google Kubernetes Engine are server-based.

Platform as a service:

Google App Engine Google Cloud Run Google Cloud Functions

Flexible, zero-ops platform Deploy code or containers that Serverless execution environment for
for building apps listens for requests or events building and connecting cloud services

● To just focus on writing code ● Scales to meet demand ● For event-driven workloads
Use When You ● Developer velocity ● Pay for what you use ● Scales to meet demand
Need...
● To minimize operational overhead ● Supports API endpoints ● Minimal configuration

● Web sites ● Web frameworks ● Statistical analysis

● Apps (of course!) ● Microservices ● Image thumbnail generation
Typical Use Cases
● Gaming back ends ● Post a comment to a Slack channel
after a GitHub commit
● IoT applications

App Engine, Cloud Functions, and Cloud Run are serverless options, where you
focus on code and Google manages the underlying hardware and operating system
for you.
2.2 Diagnostic Question 03 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore decides to pilot a A. SSH into a Compute Engine VM and

cloud application for their point of sale execute your code.
system in their flagship store. You want B. Package your code to a container
to focus on code and develop your image and post it to Cloud Run.
solution quickly, and you want your
C. Implement a deployment manifest and
code to be portable.
run kubectl apply on it in Google
Kubernetes Engine.
How do you proceed?
D. Code your solution in Cloud Functions.

Question:
Cymbal Superstore decides to pilot a cloud application for their point of sale system in
their flagship store. You want to focus on code and develop your solution quickly, and
you want your code to be portable. How do you proceed?
2.2 Diagnostic Question 03 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore decides to pilot a A. SSH into a Compute Engine VM and

cloud application for their point of sale execute your code.
system in their flagship store. You want B. Package your code to a container
to focus on code and develop your image and post it to Cloud Run.
solution quickly, and you want your
C. Implement a deployment manifest and
code to be portable.
run kubectl apply on it in Google
Kubernetes Engine.
How do you proceed?
D. Code your solution in Cloud Functions.

Feedback:
A. SSH into a Compute Engine VM and execute your code.
Feedback: Incorrect. Configuring SSH connectivity to a Compute Engine VM does not
meet the focus on code requirement of this scenario.

*B. Package your code to a container image and post it to Cloud Run.
Feedback: Correct! Cloud Run provides serverless container management. It lets you
focus on code and you can deploy your solution quickly.

C. Implement a deployment manifest and run kubectl apply on it in Google

Kubernetes Engine.
Feedback: Incorrect. Google Kubernetes Engine requires you to build and manage
resources of a cluster to host your container in GKE. This does meet the requirement
of focusing on code.

D. Code your solution in Cloud Functions.

Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Functions manages your code as short, executable
functions and does not manage your code in containers, which are more portable.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/hosting-options

Content Mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
 ○ M6 Applications in the Cloud

Summary:
The three serverless compute options available in Google Cloud are App Engine,
Cloud Run, and Cloud Functions. All of these services abstract the underlying
infrastructure so you can focus on code. You only pay for how long your application
runs.

This is different than Compute Engine and GKE. In Compute Engine you implement
and manage virtual machines that your apps run on. With GKE you implement and
manage clusters of compute nodes you deploy your container images to.

App Engine has two environments: standard and flexible. Standard provides a
sandbox environment and totally abstracts the infrastructure for you. The flexible
environment gives you more choices for deploying your app. It supports more
languages, supports different runtimes, and lets you load dependencies you need in
the underlying architecture.

Cloud Run, which is also serverless, enables you to run stateless containers via web
requests and Google Cloud service events. Cloud Run operates using Knative, an
open-source, Kubernetes-based platform. It builds, deploys, and manages modern
serverless workloads. Cloud Run gives you the choice of running your containers
either fully-managed or in your own GKE cluster.
2.2 Diagnostic Question 04 Discussion

An application running on a A. Create Compute Engine Virtual

highly-customized version of Ubuntu Machines and migrate the app to
needs to be migrated to Google Cloud. that infrastructure.
You need to do this in the least amount B. Deploy the existing application to
of time with minimal code changes. App Engine.
C. Deploy your application in a
How should you proceed? container image to Cloud Run.
D. Implement a Kubernetes cluster and
create pods to enable your app.

Question:
An application running on a highly-customized version of Ubuntu needs to be
migrated to Google Cloud. You need to do this in the least amount of time with
minimal code changes. How should you proceed?
2.2 Diagnostic Question 04 Discussion

An application running on a A. Create Compute Engine Virtual

highly-customized version of Ubuntu Machines and migrate the app to
needs to be migrated to Google Cloud. that infrastructure.
You need to do this in the least amount B. Deploy the existing application to
of time with minimal code changes. App Engine.
C. Deploy your application in a
How should you proceed? container image to Cloud Run.
D. Implement a Kubernetes cluster and
create pods to enable your app.

Feedback:
*A. Create Compute Engine Virtual Machines and migrate the app to that
infrastructure
Feedback: Correct! Compute Engine is a great option for quick migration of traditional
apps. You can implement a solution in the cloud without changing your existing code.

B. Deploy the existing application to App Engine.

Feedback: Incorrect. You would need to change your code to run it on App Engine.

C. Deploy your application in a container image to Cloud Run.

Feedback: Incorrect. You would need to re-engineer the current app to work in a
container environment.

D. Implement a Kubernetes cluster and create pods to enable your app.

Feedback: Incorrect. You would need to build and manage your Kubernetes cluster,
and re-engineer the current app to work in a container environment.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/hosting-options,
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/tutorials

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
 ○ M3 Virtual Machines and Networks in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M3 Virtual Machines

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)

○ M3 Virtual Machines

Summary:
Compute Engine is Google Cloud’s infrastructure-as-a-service offering. It gives you
maximum flexibility of developing on a virtual machine (VM). It does require more
management than serverless options, though.

A VM has an operating system. You choose how and if it autoscales. Autoscaling can
add more machines based on monitored performance thresholds.

A common use case for Compute Engine is migrating an enterprise application

designed to run on a server infrastructure. If you set up an architecture similar to your
on-premise solution you can port your code quite easily.

To monitor performance you can connect Cloud Logging and Monitoring from the
operations suite.
2.2 Diagnostic Question 05 Discussion

You want to deploy a microservices A. Cloud Run

application. You need full control of how B. App Engine
you manage containers, reliability, and
C. Google Kubernetes Engine
autoscaling, but don’t want or need to
manage the control plane. D. Compute Engine

Which compute option should you use?

Question:
You want to deploy a microservices application. You need full control of how you
manage containers, reliability, and autoscaling, but don’t want or need to manage the
control plane. Which compute option should you use?
2.2 Diagnostic Question 05 Discussion

You want to deploy a microservices A. Cloud Run

application. You need full control of how B. App Engine
you manage containers, reliability, and
C. Google Kubernetes Engine
autoscaling, but don’t want or need to
manage the control plane. D. Compute Engine

Which compute option should you use?

Feedback:
A. Cloud Run
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Run does not give you full control over your containers.

B. App Engine
Feedback: Incorrect. App Engine does not give you full control over your containers.

*C. Google Kubernetes Engine

Feedback: Correct! Google Kubernetes Engine gives you full control of container
orchestration and availability.

D. Compute Engine
Feedback: Incorrect. Deploying in Compute Engine would require you to load and
manage your own container management software.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/docs/choosing-a-compute-option

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M5 Containers in the Cloud

● Getting Started with GKE (ILT and On-demand)

 ○ M2 Introduction to Containers and Kubernetes

● Quests
○ Set Up and Configure a Cloud Environment in Google Cloud
(https://www.qwiklabs.com/quests/119)

Summary:
GKE is a platform-as-a-service offering for running containerized applications in the
cloud. Google manages the control plane for you, under your administrative control.
Containers abstract application dependencies from the host operating system. This
makes container architectures highly portable. It saves costs compared to
implementing multiple VMs on a host hypervisor, which each requiring a copy of the
operating system. Kubernetes lets you orchestrate code in containers.

If you have containerized applications that use a native Kubernetes architecture in

your on-premise environment, it can be straightforward to migrate to Google Cloud.
 Planning and configuring
2.2 compute resources
Courses Skill Badge

Google Cloud Fundamentals: Getting Started with Google

Core Infrastructure Kubernetes Engine Google Cloud
Set Up and Configure a
● M3 Virtual Machines and ● M2 Introduction to Containers Cloud Environment in
Networks in the Cloud and Kubernetes Google Cloud Quest

● M5 Containers in the Cloud

● M6 Applications in the Cloud

Architecting with Google Essential Google Cloud Documentation

Compute Engine Infrastructure: Foundation Choosing the right compute option in
● M3 Virtual Machines = ● M3 Virtual Machines GCP: a decision tree
Application Hosting Options
Tutorials | Compute Engine
Documentation

Let’s take a moment to consider resources that can help you build your knowledge
and skills in this area.

The concepts in the diagnostic questions we just reviewed are covered in these
modules, skill badge, and documentation. You’ll find this list in your workbook so you
can take a note of what you want to include later when you build your study plan.
Based on your experience with the diagnostic questions, you may want to include
some or all of these in your plan.

Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (On-demand)

Getting Started with Google Kubernetes Engine (On-demand)
Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)
Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)

Set Up and Configure a Cloud Environment in Google Cloud Quest

https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/compute/choosing-the-right-compute-option-in
-gcp-a-decision-tree
https://cloud.google.com/hosting-options
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/tutorials
 Planning and configuring
2.3 data storage options

Considerations include:
● Product choice
(e.g., Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Firestore, Cloud Spanner, Cloud Bigtable)
● Choosing storage options
(e.g., Zonal persistent disk, Regional balanced persistent disk, standard, Nearline,
Coldline, Archive)

Along with compute resources, an Associate Cloud Engineer needs to be able to plan
and configure data storage in Google Cloud. That requires understanding of the
different product choices and storage options, and how to make recommended
choices for a given use case.

You encountered these types of considerations in the following questions:

Question 6: Associate Google Cloud data services with modern data constructs, e.g.
relational, non-relational or no-sql, object or warehouse.
Question 7: List the storage classes available for cloud storage including regional,
multiregional, near and cold line.
Question 8: Differentiate between relational databases and data warehouses, e.g.
relational databases can be transactional, while data warehouses are analytical and
based on historical data.
2.3 Diagnostic Question 06 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore needs to analyze whether A. BigQuery

they met quarterly sales projections. Analysts B. Cloud SQL
assigned to run this query are familiar with SQL.
C. Cloud Spanner
D. Cloud Firestore

What data solution should they implement?

Question:
Cymbal Superstore needs to analyze whether they met quarterly sales projections.
Analysts assigned to run this query are familiar with SQL. What data solution should
they implement?
2.3 Diagnostic Question 06 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore needs to analyze whether A. BigQuery

they met quarterly sales projections. Analysts B. Cloud SQL
assigned to run this query are familiar with SQL.
C. Cloud Spanner
D. Cloud Firestore

What data solution should they implement?

Feedback:
*A. BigQuery
Feedback: Correct! BigQuery is Google Cloud’s implementation of a modern data
warehouse. BigQuery analyzes historical data and uses a SQL query engine.

B. Cloud SQL
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud SQL is optimized for transactional reads and writes. It is
not a good candidate for querying historical data as described in the scenario.

C. Cloud Spanner
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Spanner is an SQL-compatible relational database, but it
is not built for analyzing historical data.

D. Cloud Firestore
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Firestore is a NoSQL document database used to define
entities with attributes. It is not a good choice for the analysis of historical data as
described in the scenario.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/storage-options/

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
 ○ M4 Storage in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M5 Storage and Database Services

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

○ M2 Storage and Database Services

● Quests
○ Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud
(https://www.qwiklabs.com/quests/118)

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slide.
Comparing Data Storage and Database Options

Relational Non-relational Object Warehouse

Cloud Cloud Cloud Cloud

BigQuery
SQL Spanner Firestore Bigtable Storage

Good for: Good for: Good for: Good for: Good for: Good for:
Web RDBMS+scale, Hierarchical, Heavy read + Binary or object data Enterprise data
frameworks HA, HTAP mobile, web write, events warehouse

Such as: Such as: Such as: Such as: Such as: Such as:
CMS, User metadata, User profiles, AdTech, Images, media Analytics, dashboards
eCommerce Ad/Fin/MarTech Game State financial, IoT serving, backups

This question relates to Google Cloud data services and what data construct they are
based on.

Firestore and Cloud Bigtable are NoSQL implementations. Firestore is a document

database that supports entities and attributes. Bigtable is based on column families
where rows of data are referenced by a key that combines commonly queried
columns. Related columns can additionally be organized into column families such as
username and address.

Cloud Storage is Google Cloud’s recommended object storage service. Think of

pictures and videos, as well as file objects with an implicit schema, such as logs and
csv files.

Google’s relational database offerings include Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner. Use
them when you need a transactional processing system you can query with SQL.
Cloud SQL is a managed version of databases you can implement on-premises, while
Cloud Spanner is horizontally scalable and globally available.

BigQuery is a serverless distributed query engine that is primarily used as a modern

data warehouse. It does have a native storage format but can also query external
data where it resides. You interact with it by using a form of SQL. Keep in mind its
native storage format is not a good solution for a backend store for an application. It
does, however, improve performance of analytical queries you run against it using the
query engine.
2.3 Diagnostic Question 07 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore’s supply chain A. Archive

application frequently analyzes large B. Coldline
amounts of data to inform business
C. Nearline
processes and operational dashboards.
D. Standard

What storage class would make

sense for this use case?

Question:
Cymbal Superstore’s supply chain application frequently analyzes large amounts of
data to inform business processes and operational dashboards. What storage class
would make sense for this use case?
2.3 Diagnostic Question 07 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore’s supply chain A. Archive

application frequently analyzes large B. Coldline
amounts of data to inform business
C. Nearline
processes and operational dashboards.
D. Standard

What storage class would make

sense for this use case?

Feedback:
A. Archive
Feedback: Incorrect. Archive storage is the best choice for data that you plan to
access less than once a year.

B. Coldline
Feedback: Incorrect. Dashboards need current data to analyze. Coldline is good for
storing data accessed only every 90 days.

C. Nearline
Feedback: Incorrect. Dashboards need current data to analyze. Nearline is good for
storing data accessed only every 30 days.

*D. Standard. Correct. Standard storage is best for data that is frequently accessed
("hot" data) and/or stored for only brief periods of time. In addition, co-locating your
resources by selecting the regional option maximizes the performance for
data-intensive computations and can reduce network charges.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/storage-classes

Content mapping:
 ● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M4 Storage in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M5 Storage and Database Services

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

○ M2 Storage and Database Services

● Quests
○ Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud
(https://www.qwiklabs.com/quests/118)

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slide.
Storage Classes and use cases summary

Standard Nearline Coldline Archive

● No retrieval cost ● Very low cost per GB ● Even lower cost per GB ● Lowest cost per GB
stored and can accept stored and can accept stored and can accept
Use when ● No minimum storage
higher per-operation higher per-operation the highest
you need... duration
costs costs per-operation costs
● 30-day minimum storage ● 90-day minimum storage ● 365-day minimum
duration duration storage duration

“Hot” data and/or stored Infrequently (i.e., no more Very infrequently accessed Data archiving, online
for only brief periods of than once per month) data - ie, once a year. backup, and disaster
Typical use time like data-intensive accessed data. Ideal for Typically this is for disaster recovery
cases
computations back-up and serving long-tail recovery, or for financial data
multimedia content. that has to be kept for a
certain length of time to meet
regulatory needs.

Data location and storage class affect the availability and cost of storing your data in
Cloud Storage. You can choose regional, dual-region, and multi-regional location
options. Storage classes include Standard, Nearline, Coldline and Archive storage.
The different storage classes determine pricing based on how long your data is stored
and how often you access it.

Standard storage is the default storage class. Data stored using this class is
immediately available. It is the recommended storage class for frequently accessed
data. You should locate your data in the same region as the services you are going to
use to ingest and analyze the data to reduce latency as much as possible. Specifying
a dual-region location that includes the region where your application resides will still
give you low latency, but your data will also be available in another region in case of
an outage. Extending your storage settings to a multi-region will make data available
over a large geographic area such as US, Europe, or Asia.

The other storage classes implement ways to store infrequently accessed data.
Nearline storage is for data that is only accessed around every 30 days. Coldline
storage is for data that is only accessed around once every quarter, or 90 days.
Archive storage is long-term storage for data accessed only once a year. These
storage classes have optimized pricing, but also expect you to keep your data in them
for the minimum limits specified above. If you access your data before the minimum
amount of time you will be charged a data access fee.
2.3 Diagnostic Question 08 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore has a need to populate visual A. BigQuery

dashboards with historical time-based data. This B. Cloud Storage
is an analytical use-case.
C. Cloud Firestore
D. Cloud SQL
Which two storage solutions could they use? E. Cloud Bigtable

Question:
Cymbal Superstore has a need to populate visual dashboards with historical
time-based data. This is an analytical use-case. Which two storage solutions could
they use?
2.3 Diagnostic Question 08 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore has a need to populate visual A. BigQuery

dashboards with historical time-based data. This B. Cloud Storage
is an analytical use-case.
C. Cloud Firestore
D. Cloud SQL
Which two storage solutions could they use? E. Cloud Bigtable

Feedback:
*A. BigQuery
Feedback: Correct! BigQuery is a data warehouse offering optimized to query
historical time-based data. BigQuery can run queries against data in its own
column-based store or run federated queries against data from other data services
and file stores.

B. Cloud Storage
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Storage is a large object store and is not queryable. It is
not transactional or analytical.

C. Cloud Firestore
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud Firestore is a transactional NoSQL store where you define
attribute key-value pairs describing an entity.

D. Cloud SQL
Feedback: Incorrect. Cloud SQL is a transactional relational database optimized for
both reads and writes used in an operational context, but not for analyzing historical
data.

*E. Cloud Bigtable

Feedback: Correct! Cloud Bigtable is a petabyte scale, NoSQL, column family
database with row keys optimized for specific queries. It is used to store historic,
time-based data and answers the need for this requirement.
Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M4 Storage in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M5 Storage and Database Services

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

○ M2 Storage and Database Services

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slide.
Comparing storage options: use cases

Firestore Cloud Bigtable Cloud Storage Cloud SQL Cloud Spanner BigQuery

NoSQL Relational SQL for Relational SQL for Relational SQL for
Type NoSQL document Blobstore
wide column OLTP OLTP OLAP

Structured and Large-scale

“Flat” data, Heavy Web frameworks, Interactive
Storing, syncing, unstructured database
Best for read/write, events, existing querying, offline
and querying data binary or object applications (> ~2
analytical data applications analytics
data TB)

Mobile, web, and Images, large Whenever high I/O,

AdTech, Financial User credentials,
Use cases server media files, global consistency Data warehousing
and IoT data customer orders
development backups is needed

Two common workloads required in a modern business environment are transactional

workloads and analytical workloads.

Transactional workloads are optimized for more writes and updates than reads.
Transactional means either all parts of an update happen or none of them do. For
example, think of the importance of making sure deposits and withdrawals are
recorded in a financial system. Both of these are part of one transaction.

Relational database management systems are commonly used for applications that
are transactional in nature. Relational database services used to support transactional
systems in Google Cloud include Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner.

Cloud SQL is a managed database service that gives you access to common
database types you might implement in your own infrastructure, like MySql or
PostGre. It is implemented on virtual machines in the cloud with different options for
size and availability.

Cloud Spanner shards your database across a cluster of database nodes, offering
strong consistency and global availability. It is fully managed service, so you don’t
need to worry about underlying virtual machines.

The other type of workload is analytical. It is based on querying historical data that
doesn’t change often, and is optimized for writes. BigQuery is a good option for this
kind of workload.
 Planning and configuring
2.3 data storage options

Courses Skill Badge Documentation

Cloud Storage Options

Google Cloud Fundamentals:
Core Infrastructure Storage classes
Google Cloud
● M4 Storage in the Cloud Perform Foundational Data lifecycle | Cloud Architecture
Infrastructure Tasks in Center
Google Cloud Quest
Architecting with Google
Compute Engine
● M5 Storage and Database
Services
=
Essential Google Cloud
Infrastructure: Core Services
● M2 Storage and
Database Services

Let’s take a moment to consider resources that can help you build your knowledge
and skills in this area.

The concepts in the diagnostic questions we just reviewed are covered in these
modules, skill badge, and documentation. You’ll find this list in your workbook so you
can take a note of what you want to include later when you build your study plan.
Based on your experience with the diagnostic questions, you may want to include
some or all of these in your plan.

Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (On-demand)

Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)
Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)

Perform Foundational Infrastructure Tasks in Google Cloud Quest

https://cloud.google.com/storage-options/
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/storage-classes
https://cloud.google.com/architecture/data-lifecycle-cloud-platform
 Planning and configuring
2.4 network resources

Considerations include:
● Differentiating load balancing options
● Identifying resource locations in a network for availability
● Configuring Cloud DNS

Together with compute and storage decisions, an associate cloud architect should be
able to plan and configure network resources in Google Cloud - including load
balancing, resource locations, and Cloud DNS.

You explored these types of tasks in the following questions:

Question 9: Match Google Cloud load balancing options to the appropriate TCP layer:
Global https: Layer 7, Global SSL: Layer 4: Global TCP Proxy: Layer.
Question 10: List regional load balancing options and when to use each one: regional,
regional internal (for use inside a VPC).
2.4 Diagnostic Question 09 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore is piloting an A. Implement a premium tier pass-through

update to its ecommerce app for the external https load balancer connected
flagship store in Minneapolis, to the web tier as the frontend and a regional
Minnesota. The app is implemented as internal load balancer between the web tier and backend.
a three-tier web service with traffic B. Implement a proxied external TCP/UDP network load balancer
originating from the local area and connected to the web tier as the frontend and a premium
resources dedicated for it in network tier ssl load balancer between the web tier and the
us-central1. You need to configure a backend.
secure, low-cost network
C. Configure a standard tier proxied external https load balancer
load-balancing architecture for it.
connected to the web tier as a frontend and a regional
internal load balancer between the web tier and the backend.
How do you proceed? D. Configure a proxied SSL load balancer connected to the web
tier as the frontend and a standard tier internal TCP/UDP load
balancer between the web tier and the backend.

Question:
Cymbal Superstore is piloting an update to its ecommerce app for the flagship store in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. The app is implemented as a three-tier web service with
traffic originating from the local area and resources dedicated for it in us-central1. You
need to configure a secure, low-cost network load-balancing architecture for it. How
do you proceed?
2.4 Diagnostic Question 09 Discussion

Cymbal Superstore is piloting an A. Implement a premium tier pass-through

update to its ecommerce app for the external https load balancer connected
flagship store in Minneapolis, to the web tier as the frontend and a regional
Minnesota. The app is implemented as internal load balancer between the web tier and backend.
a three-tier web service with traffic B. Implement a proxied external TCP/UDP network load balancer
originating from the local area and connected to the web tier as the frontend and a premium
resources dedicated for it in network tier ssl load balancer between the web tier and the
us-central1. You need to configure a backend.
secure, low-cost network
C. Configure a standard tier proxied external https load balancer
load-balancing architecture for it.
connected to the web tier as a frontend and a regional
internal load balancer between the web tier and the backend.
How do you proceed? D. Configure a proxied SSL load balancer connected to the web
tier as the frontend and a standard tier internal TCP/UDP load
balancer between the web tier and the backend.

Feedback:
A. Implement a premium tier pass-through external https load balancer connected to
the web tier as the frontend and a regional internal load balancer between the web
tier and backend.
Feedback: Incorrect. Premium external https load balancer is global and more
expensive. All the resources for the scenario are in the same region. Also, https load
balancer is proxied, not pass-through.

B. Implement a proxied external TCP/UDP network load balancer connected to the

web tier as the frontend and a premium network tier ssl load balancer between the
web tier and the backend.
Feedback: Incorrect. TCP/UDP is a pass-through balancer. Premium tier SSL is global
and is not the proper solution between web and backend within a region.

*C. Configure a standard tier proxied external https load balancer connected to the
web tier as a frontend and a regional internal load balancer between the web tier and
the backend.
Feedback: Correct! A standard tier proxied external load balancer is effectively a
regional resource. A regional internal load balancer doesn’t require external IPs and is
more secure.

D. Configure a proxied SSL load balancer connected to the web tier as the frontend
and a standard tier internal TCP/UDP load balancer between the web tier and the
backend.
Feedback: Incorrect. SSL load balancer is not a good solution for web front ends. For
a web frontend, you should use an HTTP/S load balancer (layer 7) whenever
possible.
Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing/docs/load-balancing-overview

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M3 Virtual Machines and Networks in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M2 Virtual Networks
○ M9 Load Balancing and Autoscaling

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundations (On-demand)

○ M2 Virtual Networks

● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Scaling and Automation (On-demand)

○ M2 Load Balancing and Autoscaling

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slide.
Google VPC offers a suite of load balancing options

Global HTTP(S) Global SSL Proxy Global TCP Proxy Regional Regional internal

Layer 4 load balancing of

Layer 7 load balancing Layer 4 load balancing of Load balancing of any Load balancing of traffic
non-HTTPS SSL traffic
based on load non-SSL TCP traffic traffic (TCP, UDP) inside a VPC
based on load

Can route different URLs Supported on any port

Supported on specific port Supported on specific port Use for the internal tiers of
to different backends number
numbers numbers multi-tier applications

An important consideration when designing an application accessed by end users is

load balancing. Load balancing takes user requests and distributes them across
multiple instances of your application. This helps to keep your application from
experiencing performance issues if there is a spike in user activity.

Load balancing options available in Google Cloud can be divided into those that
operate at layer 7 of the OSI model and those that operate at layer 4 of the stack. As
a review, layer 7 is the the application layer of the protocol stack. It is where
applications, or processes, share data with each other. It uses lower levels of the
stack to pipe connections to other processes. The hypertext transfer protocol (http)
and file transfer protocol (ftp) are examples of Layer 7 protocols. Layer 4 of the OSI
model encapsulates host-to-host communication in both the Transport and Network
levels.

Google cloud offers both internal and external load balancers. The external load
balancers include https, SSL, and TCP load balancers. Internal load balancers include
TCP/UDP, http(s), and network pass-through load balancers.

The http(s) load balancers live at Layer 7 of the OSI model. TCP/UDP, SSL and
network load balancers reside at Layer 4 of the OSI model.

In Google Cloud, load balancers can be be proxied or pass-through. Proxied load

balancers terminate connections and proxy them to new connections internally.
Pass-through load balancers pass the connections directly to the backends.
2.4 Diagnostic Question 10 Discussion

A. Global http(s)
What Google Cloud load balancing option
runs at Layer 7 of the TCP stack? B. Global SSL Proxy
C. Global TCP Proxy
D. Regional Network

Question:
What Google Cloud load balancing option runs at Layer 7 of the TCP stack?
2.4 Diagnostic Question 10 Discussion

A. Global http(s)
What Google Cloud load balancing option
runs at Layer 7 of the TCP stack? B. Global SSL Proxy
C. Global TCP Proxy
D. Regional Network

Feedback:
*A. Global http(s)
Feedback: Correct! https(s) is an application protocol, so it lives at layer 7 of the TCP
stack.

B. Global SSL Proxy

Feedback: Incorrect. SSL is a layer 4 load balancer.

C. Global TCP Proxy

Feedback: Incorrect. TCP is a layer 4 load balancer.

D. Regional Network
Feedback: Incorrect. Regional network is a layer 4 load balancer.

Where to look:
https://cloud.google.com/architecture/data-lifecycle-cloud-platform

Content mapping:
● Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (ILT and On-demand)
○ M4 Storage in the Cloud

● Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)

○ M5 Storage and Database Services
 ● Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)
○ M2 Storage and Database Services

Summary:
Explanation/summary on the following slide.
Summary of load balancers
Global/ External/
Load balancer Traffic type External ports for load balancing
Regional Internal
HTTP(S) HTTP or HTTPS Global External HTTP on 80 or 8080; HTTPS on 443
IPv4
SSL Proxy TCP with SSL offload IPv6 25, 43, 110, 143, 195, 443, 465, 587, 700, 993, 995,
1883, 5222

TCP Proxy ● TCP without SSL offload 25, 43, 110, 143, 195, 443, 465, 587, 700, 993, 995,
● Does not preserve client 1883, 5222
IP addresses

Network TCP/UDP ● TCP/UDP without SSL Regional Any

offload IPv4
● Preserves client IP
addresses

Internal TCP/UDP TCP or UDP Internal Any

Internal HTTP(S) HTTP or HTTPS HTTP on 80 or 8080; HTTPS on 443

When load balancing in a particular region, external connectivity to your front ends
can happen through an external http(s) load balancer with the proper forwarding rules
and the standard networking tier. For connectivity internal to your defined vpc
network, you should use the internal https and internal TCP/UDP load balancing
options. As an Associate Cloud Engineer, you’ll need to be familiar with when to use
each option.
 Planning and configuring
2.4 network resources
Courses Documentation

Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure

Cloud Load Balancing overview
● M3 Virtual Machines and Networks in the Cloud
● M4 Storage in the Cloud
Cloud Load Balancing

Architecting with Google Essential Google Cloud

Compute Engine Infrastructure: Foundation
● M2 Virtual Networks ● M2 Virtual Networks
● M5 Storage and Database
Services = Essential Google Cloud
Infrastructure: Core Services
● M9 Load Balancing ● M2 Storage and Database
and Autoscaling Services
Elastic Google Cloud Infrastructure:
Scaling and Automation
● M2 Load Balancing
and Autoscaling

Let’s take a moment to consider resources that can help you build your knowledge
and skills in this area.

The concepts in the diagnostic questions we just reviewed are covered in these
modules and in this documentation. You’ll find this list in your workbook so you can
take a note of what you want to include later when you build your study plan. Based
on your experience with the diagnostic questions, you may want to include some or all
of these in your plan.

Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (On-demand)

Architecting with Google Compute Engine (ILT)
Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation (On-demand)
Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Core Services (On-demand)
Elastic Google Cloud Infrastructure: Scaling and Automation (On-demand)

https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing/docs/load-balancing-overview
https://cloud.google.com/load-balancing