Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Overview
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is a suite of cloud computing services offered by Google. It runs on the same infrastructure that Google uses internally for its end-user products, such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Drive, and YouTube.
Key Characteristics
- Global Network: GCP leverages Google's massive, high-performance private global fiber network.
- Data & Analytics: Strong focus on big data, machine learning, and analytics (BigQuery, Dataflow, TensorFlow).
- Open Source: Strong support for open-source technologies (Kubernetes was born here).
- Security: Enterprise-grade security model, the same that protects Google's own services.
Core Services Categories
- Compute: Compute Engine, App Engine, Kubernetes Engine (GKE), Cloud Functions.
- Storage: Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk, Filestore.
- Database: Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable.
- Networking: VPC, Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud CDN, Cloud DNS.
- Big Data: BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataproc, Pub/Sub.
- AI & ML: Vertex AI, Vision API, Natural Language API.