Google Cloud Platform : From Zero to Hero

This blog series is designed to take you on a journey through Google Cloud Platform, starting from foundational knowledge and moving toward advanced, production-grade implementations.

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Stage 1: Getting Started with GCP

1. Why Learn GCP? Google Cloud in the Real World
GCP vs AWS/Azure, use cases, GCP ecosystem overview
2. Setting Up Your GCP Project: Console, Billing & IAM Basics
GCP Console, project structure, billing account, IAM roles
3. Cloud Shell & SDK: Your GCP CLI Toolkit
Installing gcloud, Cloud Shell, authentication, useful commands
4. Compute Options on GCP: VM, App Engine, Cloud Run, Kubernetes
When to use Compute Engine vs Cloud Run vs GKE
5. Deploy Your First App: Hello World on Cloud Run & App Engine
Deploy a simple app with Cloud Run and App Engine

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Stage 2: Core GCP Services

1. Understanding IAM & Service Accounts in GCP
Roles, principles, least privilege, service accounts
2. Cloud Storage Deep Dive: Buckets, Objects, and Lifecycle Rules
Storage classes, signed URLs, gsutil basics
3. Networking 101 in GCP: VPC, Subnets, Firewalls
VPC architecture, peering, NAT, load balancing
4. Cloud SQL & Cloud Spanner for Relational Databases
Deploy MySQL/PostgreSQL, backups, replicas
5. Logging & Monitoring with Cloud Operations
Logs Explorer, Metrics, Alerts, Dashboards

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Stage 3: Tooling & Automation

1. CI/CD with Cloud Build & Cloud Deploy
Pipeline setup, Docker build, GitHub triggers
2. Artifact Registry for Docker Images
Create repo, push/pull images, secure with IAM
3. Infrastructure as Code with Terraform on GCP
Deploy infrastructure using Terraform
4. Secrets Management on GCP: Secret Manager
Store and retrieve secrets securely
5. Cloud Scheduler & Cloud Tasks: Serverless Cron Jobs
Scheduled tasks, HTTP target, retry policies

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Stage 4: Kubernetes with GKE

1. Intro to GKE: Google Kubernetes Engine Overview
GKE vs self-managed, auto-scaling, node pools
2. Deploying a Microservice on GKE
Deployment YAML, service, ingress controller
3. CI/CD for GKE with GitHub Actions + Cloud Build
4. Automate build & deploy pipelines
5. Securing GKE Workloads
Pod security, RBAC, Workload Identity
6. Monitoring and Autoscaling GKE Clusters
HPA, metrics-server, observability tools

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Stage 5: Advanced Practices

21. Setting Up a Production-Ready VPC Architecture
    Multi-region setup, Shared VPC, Private Service Access
22. Multi-environment CI/CD on GCP
    Promotion pipelines, environment isolation
23. Using GCP Load Balancers & Cloud Armor
    Traffic splitting, SSL, WAF protection
24. High Availability & Disaster Recovery on GCP
    Backups, failover, regional vs multi-regional
25. Cost Optimization Strategies on GCP
    Budgets, committed use discounts, cost visibility

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Stage 6: Real Projects & Case Studies

26. Deploying a Full-Stack App on GCP
    Cloud Run backend, Firestore DB, Cloud Storage assets
27. Terraform + GitHub Actions + GKE: Complete CI/CD Pipeline
    End-to-end deployment workflow
28. Serverless Event-Driven App with Pub/Sub + Cloud Functions
    Event triggers, fan-out architecture
29. Secure API Gateway with Identity-Aware Proxy
    Protect access with OAuth and IAP
30. Observability Case Study: From Logs to Metrics to Alerts
    End-to-end troubleshooting with Cloud Operations

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Bonus Topics

• Managing Hybrid Cloud with Anthos
• Using BigQuery for Log Analytics
• Integrating GCP with GitHub/GitLab CI
• Migrating from AWS to GCP: Step-by-step
• Common GCP Interview Questions & Answers

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Each post will contain practical code samples, diagrams, and actionable insights to help build cloud-native applications and infrastructure efficiently.