Google Cloud consists of a set of physical assets, such as computers and hard disk drives, and virtual resources, such as virtual machines (VMs), that are contained in Google's data centers around the globe. Each data center location is in a region. Regions are available in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Each region is a collection of zones, which are isolated from each other within the region. Each zone is identified by a name that combines a letter identifier with the name of the region. For example, zone a in the East Asia region is named asia-east1-a.
This distribution of resources provides several benefits, including redundancy in case of failure and reduced latency by locating resources closer to clients. This distribution also introduces some rules about how resources can be used together.
In cloud computing, what you might be used to thinking of as software and hardware products, become services. These services provide access to the underlying resources. The list of available Google Cloud services is long, and it keeps growing. When you develop your website or application on Google Cloud, you mix and match these services into combinations that provide the infrastructure you need, and then add your code to enable the scenarios you want to build.
Some resources can be accessed by any other resource, across regions and zones. These global resources include preconfigured disk images, disk snapshots, and networks. Some resources can be accessed only by resources that are located in the same region. These regional resources include static external IP addresses. Other resources can be accessed only by resources that are located in the same zone. These zonal resources include VM instances, their types, and disks.
The following diagram shows the relationship between global scope, regions and zones, and some of their resources:
The scope of an operation varies depending on what kind of resources you're working with. For example, creating a network is a global operation because a network is a global resource, while reserving an IP address is a regional operation because the address is a regional resource.
As you start to optimize your Google Cloud applications, it's important to understand how these regions and zones interact. For example, even if you could, you wouldn't want to attach a disk in one region to a computer in a different region because the latency you'd introduce would make for poor performance. Thankfully, Google Cloud won't let you do that; disks can only be attached to computers in the same zone.
Depending on the level of self-management required for the computing and hosting service you choose, you might or might not need to think about how and where resources are allocated.
For more information about the geographical distribution of Google Cloud, see Geography and Regions.
Cloud computing today allows hardware and software products to co-exist remotely (in data centers) and at-scale. Together these products work to deliver specific services. Users typically can access, manage, and use the tools they require via a web-interface – and that’s true for Google Cloud Platform services as well.
In addition to service accessibility, users also gain flexibility and choice when working with Google Cloud Platform: Each service is available ‘a la carte’ so that users can leverage different resources to develop the infrastructure they need.
Once they have identified the Google Cloud Platform services that would benefit them, users simply create a “project†via the intuitive, web-based GCP Console. Better still, project owners can manage which team members or admins have access to which services.
Google Cloud Platform services are robust. One way to navigate them is to consider which solutions are available based on your primary computing needs: infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS).
• IaaS enables IT to run virtual machines without having to invest in or manage this computing infrastructure themselves. Often IT will opt for an IaaS solution when the workload is temporary, experimental, or subject to unexpected changes (e.g. sandbox projects).
• PaaS is the next step, building on the IaaS model. Customers opt for all of the benefits of IaaS, plus they get underlying infrastructure – like operating systems and middleware. Their vendor hosts and manages all of these elements.
• SaaS goes one more step – everything is available via the web: the provider hosts, manages, and delivers the entire infrastructure including applications. Users simply log in to access the resources the specific solution delivers, e.g. backup and recovery tools.
Another way to navigate Google Cloud Platform is by service-offering type. Core service categories include:
Service integrations can make powerful tools even more robust. That’s why niche vendors and hyperscalers like Google look to partner with each other – to expand their reach and deliver more value to their customers. Consider this Google Cloud Platform integration:
Leading cyber protection and hybrid cloud storage vendor, Acronis, delivers easy, reliable, efficient, secure, and private solutions to more than 5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses worldwide. Acronis’ backup as a service solution – Acronis Cyber Backup Cloud – is integrated with Google Cloud Storage in order to deliver a truly flexible cloud infrastructure, which IT service providers require. By leveraging native Google Cloud Storage integrations with Acronis, customers can:
In this way, Google Cloud Platform services can extend its impact and enrich other niche solutions that benefit customers.
While GCP is designed to be user-friendly, certain Google Cloud Platform certifications can help you work more efficiently, demonstrate technical expertise, and boost your career. There are three primary tracks:
Google boasts no up-front costs, pay-as-you-go services, and no fees for termination. In addition, Google offers pricing discounts and delivers innovations like rightsizing. Customers can also leverage a pricing calculator via their website. This tool helps customers anticipate costs. Meanwhile a total cost of ownership (TCO) tool is available to help estimate costs between Google Cloud Platform vs. AWS.
Pricing varies by individual service, so you’ll also want to look across the platform at each respective offering and evaluate prices accordingly.
Reliability is a big factor in choosing any IT provider – businesses can’t afford downtime, which makes business continuity a priority and a key factor when assessing cloud providers. Meanwhile, customers are rightfully concerned about how capable industry leaders like Google are when it comes to delivering reliable cloud infrastructure and services – Microsoft’s own challenge to ensure uptime of its Microsoft 365 solution has brought this challenge to the forefront.
According to Google, Google Cloud Platform users can expect 99.95% reliability. They achieve this level of performance by building in safety nets to their application and network architecture, assuming that any one element is fallible. With integrated redundancy and robust failover capabilities, data is always accessible through another system. Last but not least, Google is constantly running performance tests – pressure-testing systems in order to proactively prevent problems and troubleshoot quick remedies.
Google Cloud Platform may be the ‘new kid on the block’ compared with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, but their offerings are worth serious consideration. The company is constantly evolving its services and improving so even if you conducted research somewhat recently, you’ll want to keep evaluating their capabilities for your needs.
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