Cloud Platforms
GCP provides scalable services and SRE-friendly operations tooling.
On this page
Use this page for fast recall. Use Full documentation when you want the complete end-to-end path.
A simple 5-step flow you can follow when using GCP in real work.
1) Setup
Install/run the tool and confirm version. Create a minimal config.
2) Small change
Do one small action end-to-end to prove the workflow.
3) Validate
Check output, logs, and status. Catch mistakes early.
4) Automate
Convert it into a repeatable script or pipeline step.
5) Productionize
Add safety: secrets, rollback, observability, and docs.
These are practical sequences you can copy into your own checklist or runbook.
Goal: Get a clean project with permissions and a first deploy.
- Set the project and enable required APIs.
- Use service accounts for workloads (least privilege).
- Deploy to Cloud Run or GKE depending on runtime needs.
- Add logging/monitoring and basic alerts.
- Document the deploy and rollback steps.
- Projects
- IAM
- Managed platforms
Learning path (high-level):
- Project setup
- Service deployment
- Reliability operations
Init CLI
Command
gcloud initSet project
Command
gcloud config set project <project-id>List compute
Command
gcloud compute instances listShort descriptions and practical intent. Search, filter, copy, and reuse.
Showing 10
gcloud auth listList authenticated accounts.
gcloud projects listList available projects.
gcloud config set project <project-id>Set the current project.
gcloud compute instances listList VM instances.
gcloud container clusters listList GKE clusters.
gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster> --region <region>Configure kubectl for GKE.
gcloud run services listList Cloud Run services.
gcloud run deploy <svc> --image <img> --region <region>Deploy to Cloud Run.
gcloud logging read 'severity>=ERROR' --limit=20Read recent error logs.
gcloud iam service-accounts listList service accounts.
Small blocks you can drop into your terminal, config, or runbook.
Set project and list services
bash
gcloud auth list
gcloud config set project <project-id>
gcloud run services listWhen things break, follow this order to stay calm and move fast.
- If gcloud fails: check active account, project, and API enablement.
- If deploy fails: check build logs, IAM permissions, and region settings.
The common mistakes that slow people down when using GCP.
- Copy-pasting commands without understanding inputs/outputs and side effects.
- Not documenting defaults (ports, paths, credentials) and then getting stuck in prod.
- Skipping logs and metrics when troubleshooting; always collect evidence first.
Do these tasks in order. You will feel the tool instead of just reading about it.
- Install or run the tool locally (or in Docker) and verify it works with a hello-world action.
- Create a minimal config and run the most common command 3 times (with a small change each time).
- Break something on purpose and document how you debugged it in your Notes.
Use these to test if you truly understand the basics (and can explain them clearly).
- Explain the tool’s role in a real CI/CD pipeline from commit to production.
- Describe the most common failure you’ve seen with this tool and how you fixed it.
- What would you monitor/alert on for this tool in production?