chapter 1.1 Creating Your Personal Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Account and Setting Up a Virtual Machine (VM)

How to Create Your Personal GCP (Google Cloud Platform) Account:

Step 1: Go to www.console.cloud.google.com.

Step 2: Sign in with your Gmail account.

Step 3: Activate the free $300 credits provided by GCP to encourage learning GCP. These credits are typically enough for learning GCP services.

Step 4: While activating, add the required information to activate the offer.

Congratulations! After completing these steps, you will be able to access the GCP console.

Now, let's proceed with creating a virtual machine (VM) instance on GCP:

Select a Project:

1. Go to your GCP console.

2. Select or create a GCP project.

Create a VM Instance:

1. Navigate to "Compute Engine" and select "VM instances."

2. Create a VM instance with the following characteristics:

Boot Disk:

• Change the space to 15 GB.

• Use a new standard persistent disk. These disks do not require high I/O performance or very low latency and are less expensive.

Machine Type (e2 medium):

• 2 vCPUs

• 4GB memory

• 1 core

• Used for general purposes

Firewall:

• Allow HTTPS traffic (allows secure web traffic).

• Allow HTTP traffic (allows more common incoming traffic).

Access Scopes:

• Allow default scopes (default GCP access settings selected).

Now, create the VM instance by clicking the "Create" button. This VM instance is not using your local computer; it is using GCP's data center infrastructure.

Cloud Firewalls:

• Cloud providers offer cloud-based firewall services to protect virtual machines and resources hosted in the cloud.

• These firewalls are configured and managed through the cloud provider's interface.

After creating a VM instance, you can proceed to create a new firewall rule:

Firewall Rule Settings:

• Name: inbound-sample-ssh

• Select port as TCP points 22

• IPv4 address: 0.0.0.0/0 (It means it is a wildcard, allowing any IP address or all destinations to be reachable).

Now, you need to SSH (Secure Shell) into your VM. SSH is a protocol that provides a secure and encrypted way to access and manage remote computers. When you SSH into a VM, all communication between your local computer and the VM is encrypted.

Understanding Compute Instances, Persistent Disks, and Firewall:

• Compute Instance in a Zone (Zone in a Region):

  • Compute instances are virtual machines running your applications.

  • Different sizes of compute instances are available based on your needs.

  • They are owned by GCP, so you cannot directly make changes to these instances like you would with your own servers.

• Persistent Disks:

  • VMs need storage to store and run applications. This storage is known as persistent disks.

  • SSD (Solid State Drive) persistent disks are commonly used.

• Firewall:

  • Firewalls decide which applications on the instance can be accessed by which IP addresses.

  • They control access to your VM instances, allowing multiple users to have access to the application.

How to Create a VM:

1. Search for "Compute Engine."

2. Select "Create VM instance" and set the settings according to your needs.