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Google Cloud basics flashcards

Projects, IAM, Cloud Run, Cloud Storage, databases and BigQuery: run real apps on Google Cloud without surprise bills.

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Beginner friendly, starts from zero
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Google Cloud basicsStart from zero · 1 of 11

What is "the ", in plain words?

The means computers in big data centres that you rent over the internet. You do not buy or fix the machines; you use them and pay for the time and space you take.

Rent the computer, not buy it.
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All topics

What you will learn

  1. Start from zero

    • What the cloud is4 cards
    • Key words4 cards
    • Paying3 cards

  2. Core basics

    • Projects and billing3 cards
    • Tools3 cards
    • IAM2 cards
    • Compute Engine and choosing services4 cards
    • Cloud Storage3 cards
    • Cloud Run2 cards

  3. Next steps

    • Service accounts2 cards
    • Databases and secrets3 cards
    • Build, deploy and tune Cloud Run4 cards
    • Events and jobs2 cards
    • Observability2 cards
    • Networking and infrastructure as code4 cards

  4. Go deeper

    • Organisation guardrails2 cards
    • Identity without keys2 cards
    • Audit and data protection2 cards
    • Network design2 cards
    • Containers at scale2 cards
    • BigQuery2 cards
    • Reliability2 cards
    • Cost control and careers3 cards

Final test and certificate

10 questions drawn fresh from the whole topic, about 15 minutes. Sign in, score 80% or more and get a free certificate with your name and a public check link anyone can open, such as an employer or a teacher. Not signed in? Try a practice test from the cards.

Take the final test

About these cards

  • Reviewed 26 October 2026
  • CoversGoogle Cloud CLI (gcloud) current releaseCloud RunOctober 2026 console
How these cards are made

Google Cloud basics at a glance

Google Cloud lets you rent computers, storage and ready-made services in Google's data centres and pay only for what you use.

Google Cloud is like a huge shared kitchen you can rent by the minute. Bring your recipe, use their ovens and fridges, and pay for the time and space you take.

Words you will meet

Cloud
Computers in someone else's data centre that you rent over the internet
Project
A box in Google Cloud that holds your services, settings and bill
Region
A place in the world with Google data centres, like Mumbai or Iowa
Zone
One separate data centre area inside a region
IAM
The rules for who is allowed to do what
Service account
An identity for a program instead of a person
Billing account
The payment card or invoice account that pays for projects
Console
The Google Cloud website where you click to manage things

The steps

  1. 1. Start from zero (11 cards): What a cloud is, why people rent instead of buy, and the words Google Cloud uses for its boxes, places and permissions.
  2. 2. Core basics (17 cards): Projects and billing, the console and gcloud, IAM roles, Compute Engine, Cloud Storage and your first Cloud Run deploy.
  3. 3. Next steps (17 cards): Service accounts, Cloud SQL and Firestore, Secret Manager, Artifact Registry and Cloud Build, Pub/Sub, logging and networking.
  4. 4. Go deeper (17 cards): Organisation policies, Workload Identity Federation, VPC design, GKE, BigQuery costs, reliability across zones and cost control.
All 11 cards in Start from zero
What is "the cloud", in plain words?
The cloud means computers in big data centres that you rent over the internet. You do not buy or fix the machines; you use them and pay for the time and space you take.
What is Google Cloud?
Google Cloud is Google's rental service for computers, storage, databases and ready-made tools such as AI and data analysis. It runs on the same kind of data centres as Google Search and YouTube.
Why would a small shop rent instead of buying a server?
No big upfront cost, nothing to repair, and it can grow in minutes when a sale brings ten times the visitors, then shrink back so the bill shrinks too.
Where might you already use Google Cloud without knowing?
Many apps, online shops, games and school systems run on it. When you upload a photo to an app, it may land in Cloud Storage; when you chat with a support bot, it may run on Google Cloud AI.
What is a project?
A project is a labelled box that holds your services, settings and costs. Each app or environment usually gets its own project, so test work cannot break the live one.
What are a region and a zone?
A region is a city or area with Google data centres, like asia-south1 in Mumbai. A zone is a separate part inside it, like asia-south1-a. Spreading across zones survives one failing.
What does IAM mean?
IAM stands for Identity and Access Management: the list of who (a person or a program) may do what (view, change, delete) on which thing.
What is a service account?
A service account is an identity for a program, not a person. Your app logs in as it to read files or a database, with only the permissions it needs.
How does paying work, and how do beginners avoid a surprise bill?
A billing account (your card or invoice) pays for projects. New customers usually get free credits for a trial period. Set a budget with email alerts on day one.
What is the shared responsibility idea?
Google keeps the buildings, machines and its own services safe. You are responsible for what you put on them: who has access, your settings, your code and your data.
What do you need before starting, and what can you do after?
You need a Google account, a card for billing checks and some comfort with a terminal. After this topic you can deploy an app, store data safely and keep costs under control.
Google Cloud basics cheatsheet

gcloud setup

  • gcloud init Log in and pick defaults
  • gcloud config set project ID Default project
  • gcloud config list Show active settings
  • gcloud config configurations create prod Separate profile per environment
  • gcloud auth application-default login Credentials for local code
  • gcloud services enable run.googleapis.com Turn on an API

Cloud Run

  • gcloud run deploy NAME --source . Build and deploy from code
  • --image=REGION-docker.pkg.dev/P/R/I:TAG Deploy a built image
  • --set-secrets=KEY=secret:latest Secret as env var
  • --min-instances=1 --cpu-boost Fewer cold starts
  • gcloud run services update-traffic NAME --to-latest Send all traffic to newest
  • gcloud run services logs read NAME Recent logs

Storage

  • gcloud storage buckets create gs://B --location=asia-south1 New bucket
  • gcloud storage cp -r ./dist gs://B/site/ Upload a folder
  • gcloud storage rsync -r ./dist gs://B/site Sync a folder
  • gcloud storage sign-url gs://B/f.pdf --duration=15m Temporary link
  • --public-access-prevention Block public access

IAM

  • gcloud iam service-accounts create NAME Identity for an app
  • gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding P --member=... --role=... Grant a role on a project
  • gcloud projects get-iam-policy P See who has what
  • --impersonate-service-account=SA Act as a service account, no key
  • roles/run.invoker Allow calling a private service

Which service

  • Cloud Run Web apps, APIs, jobs in containers
  • Cloud Run functions Small event-driven code
  • Compute Engine Full virtual machines
  • GKE Managed Kubernetes
  • Cloud SQL / Firestore / Spanner Relational / documents / global relational
  • BigQuery SQL analytics on huge data
  • Pub/Sub Messages between services
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