GCP Fundamentals
Overview
This 5-day, hands-on course introduces Google Cloud Platform (GCP) concepts, core services,
security foundations, and practical skills to deploy simple workloads end-to-end. By the end,
participants will:
Understand cloud concepts, service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), and GCP’s global
infrastructure.
Navigate the Google Cloud Console, Cloud Shell, and SDK; manage projects, billing, and
budgets.
Configure IAM (roles, permissions, service accounts) and apply least-privilege at the
resource hierarchy.
Launch and secure Compute Engine VMs; design basic VPC networking (subnets,
firewalls, routes).
Use Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL, and BigQuery (overview) with banking-style scenarios.
Build a small, browser-accessible two-tier app using VM + Cloud Storage/Cloud SQL.
Get exposure to serverless/containers (Cloud Run, GKE overview), observability, and cost
control.
Target audience: Developers, sysadmins, data practitioners, and IT staff new to GCP.
Prerequisites: Basic Linux/CLI and networking concepts recommended.
Course Chapters & Objectives
Day 1 — Cloud & GCP Basics
Chapter 1: Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Objectives
Define cloud computing; compare on-prem vs cloud benefits (agility, elasticity, OpEx).
Differentiate IaaS, PaaS, SaaS with real examples.
Explain the shared responsibility model and its implications.
Chapter 2: Getting Started with GCP
Objectives
Describe GCP core services (compute, storage, database, networking, analytics).
Explain regions, multi-regions, and zones; choose locations for latency/resilience.
Understand projects, folders, organizations, billing accounts, and budgets.
Recognize multi-layered security, data privacy, and resource hierarchy basics.
Hands-on (Included Training)
Create a Project in Google Cloud Console; set default region/zone.
Activate Cloud Shell, run gcloud init, and enable required APIs.
Link billing, set a budget & alert, and tour the Console (navigation, search, IAM,
billing pages).
Day 2 — Identity, Compute & Networking Foundations
Chapter 3: Identity & Access Management (IAM)
Objectives
Understand principals, roles, and permissions; custom vs predefined roles.
Create and use Service Accounts; keys vs keyless (Workload Identity) fundamentals.
Apply policy inheritance across Organization → Folder → Project → Resource.
Audit access using Cloud Audit Logs; practice least-privilege design.
Chapter 4: Interacting with GCP & Networking Primer
Objectives
Use Console, Cloud Shell, gcloud SDK; understand config (project, region, zone).
Explore Google Cloud Marketplace (quickstarts, solution templates).
Explain VPC basics: subnets (auto/custom), routes, firewall rules, tags/service
accounts on VMs.
Understand external vs internal IPs, SSH access options, and basic connectivity tests.
Hands-on (Included Training)
Create a service account and bind a least-privilege role to a resource.
With gcloud, list resources, set configs, and test IAM via allowed/denied actions.
Prepare a custom VPC with subnets and initial firewall rules.
Day 3 — Compute Engine + Storage, Database & Mini Project
Chapter 5: Compute Engine & VPC in Practice
Objectives
Choose machine families/types, images, disks (standard/SSD), and startup scripts.
Create firewall rules (allow SSH/ICMP/HTTP) and validate routes.
Attach service accounts to VMs; secure access (OS Login/SSH).
High-level overview: load balancing options, Cloud NAT (concepts only).
Hands-on (Included Training)
Deploy a VM (Compute Engine), open HTTP via firewall, serve a simple web page.
Test connectivity: SSH/ICMP/HTTP from your workstation and via Cloud Shell.
Chapter 6: Storage & Database Fundamentals (with Banking Use Cases)
Objectives
Compare Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL, and BigQuery (overview) and when to use each.
Banking-style patterns: document retention (GCS), transactional workloads (Cloud
SQL), analytics/reporting (BigQuery).
Understand durability, lifecycle policies, basic performance/cost levers.
Hands-on
Create Cloud Storage buckets; upload/download objects; set object lifecycle rule.
Provision a Cloud SQL instance (MySQL/PostgreSQL); create DB/user; connect from
VM.
Mini Project (Part 1): Two-tier app baseline
o VM hosts a simple web app.
o Store static assets in Cloud Storage and transactional data in Cloud SQL.
o App is accessible via browser using the firewall rule from Chapter 5.
Day 4 — Serverless, Containers & DevOps Foundations
Chapter 7: Serverless & Containers on GCP (Overview)
Objectives
Differentiate Compute Engine vs Cloud Run vs GKE (use cases, trade-offs).
Basics of container images and Artifact Registry.
Understand request-based autoscaling (Cloud Run) vs cluster-based scaling (GKE).
Hands-on
Containerize a simple service (provided Dockerfile), push to Artifact Registry.
Deploy to Cloud Run (public endpoint); test request/response.
Chapter 8: Observability, Reliability & Cost Control
Objectives
Use Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring to view logs, metrics, and alerts.
Configure uptime checks and simple alerting policies.
Reinforce billing concepts: labels, budgets, and basic chargeback/showback patterns.
Hands-on
Create a dashboard in Cloud Monitoring to track VM CPU and HTTP uptime for the
app.
Set a budget alert threshold and generate a test event (if feasible).
Day 5 — Data & Analytics Fundamentals + Capstone
Chapter 9: BigQuery & Analytics (Overview)
Objectives
Understand BigQuery storage/compute separation, datasets, tables, and SQL basics.
Loading data from Cloud Storage; partitioning and clustering (conceptual).
Cost management (on-demand vs flat-rate overview) and basic performance tips.
Hands-on
Create a dataset and table; load CSV from Cloud Storage.
Run simple SQL (aggregations/filters) and export query results back to GCS.
Optional: Visualize with Looker Studio (overview/demo).
Chapter 10: Capstone, Security Wrap-Up & Best Practices
Objectives
Review resource hierarchy, IAM guardrails, and data protection basics.
Discuss baseline landing zone concepts and naming/labeling conventions.
Summarize patterns from the week and map them to typical enterprise/banking
scenarios.
Hands-on (Capstone & Hardening)
Mini Project (Part 2 – Finalize):
o Add a read-only BigQuery report path (exported to GCS) relevant to the app’s
data.
o Tighten IAM (least-privilege on service accounts, buckets, and SQL).
o Add Monitoring alert for app availability or VM CPU.
Knowledge check / Q&A / next steps.
