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Google Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide

Name: Google Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide
Author: Patrick Haggerty
ISBN: 9781098154769

by Patrick Haggerty

August 2026

Intermediate to advanced

350 pages

11h 24m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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Brief Table of Contents (Not Yet Final)
1. Certification 101
Certification, What is the Big Deal?The real world vs. the certification worldThe examRegistering for the examOnline test takingIn-person test-takingIs in-person or online testing the right choice?Exam failures, cancelations, no-shows, and reschedulingProhibited behaviorThe three steps to testing successApproaching multiple-choice and multiple-selection questionsApproaching the exam as a wholeWhat you will need to know to pass the examWhat you will need to know about the case studiesBuilding yourself a study planTime to get to work
2. Cloud Computing: What a Cloud Architect Does
Cloud ComputingMy Favorite Cloud Story: The British BankerCloud Computing DefinedWhy Cloud Computing is so TransformativeA Cloud Architect’s JobSolving Business Problems Through TechnologyTypical Cloud Architect ResponsibilitiesWhy Become a Cloud ArchitectNext Steps
3. GCP Core Compute and Data Services
Compute: Powering Your WorkloadsGoogle Compute Engine: Familiar, and Often the Wrong ChoiceGoogle Kubernetes Engine: Running Containers Your WayGoogle Cloud Run: The Stateless Container Easy ButtonGoogle App Engine: A Pioneer in Platform as a Service (PaaS)Google Cloud Functions: Serverless, Event-Driven ComputingCompute Technologies: That’s a WrapStorage: Where Your Data LivesGoogle Cloud Storage: Offsite File Storage at Its BestBlock Storage in Google Cloud: Persistent Disks and Local SSDsGoogle Cloud Filestore: A Managed NASGoogle Cloud SQL: Classic Relational Databases Made EasyAlloyDB: PostgreSQL, But with a Nitro BoostCloud Spanner: A Database That (almost) Defies PhysicsFirestore: The Flexible, Scalable Database for Modern AppsBigtable: Your Database for When Things Get Seriously FastMemorystore: Because Sometimes, Speed is EverythingBigQuery: Its Name Sorta Says it AllHow This Fits in the ExamThe Art of Compromise (and Exam Success)Matching Business Requirements to Services: The “GCP Dating Game”Playing GCP MatchmakerNext Steps
4. The Virtual Private Cloud: Connecting Your Services
Networking: Building Your Cloud HighwaysVirtual Private Cloud (VPC): A Global Box of Networking StuffSubnets and IP Addressing: Dividing Your Network LogicallyDNS and NAT: Working With the InternetDesigning Network Connectivity: It’s ImportantInternal Communication: VPC Peering, Shared VPCs, and Network Segmentation StrategiesExternal Connectivity: Getting Traffic InNetwork Security: Protecting Your Cloud AssetsSecurity Perimeter and Access Controls: Your Cloud’s First Line of DefenseCloud Armor: Protecting Against DDoS and Web AttacksAdvanced Network Security: Fortifying Your Cloud DefensesPut your network skills to the test!Next Steps
5. Security & IAM, it Starts Day 0
IAM: The GatekeeperIdentitiesUsers, Groups, and Service AccountsPermissions and RolesBuilding and Using Resource Hierarchies (No, It’s Not Just to Keep Things Organized)Managing Permissions: And Not Working Harder Than You ShouldBeyond the IAM BasicsIdentity-Aware Proxy (IAP). VPNless Web App SecuritySecuring Workload Service AccessOrg Policies: When Permissions Aren’t EnoughEncryption at Rest and in TransitEncryption at RestEncryption in TransitCompliance and AuditingKey Google Cloud Security CertificationsCloud Logging and MonitoringVulnerability Scanning: Stay Ahead of Potential ThreatsHow This Fits in the ExamSample QuestionsNext Steps
6. Design Principles: Business Use Cases and Trade-Offs
Understanding Business RequirementsGathering RequirementsMeasuring Success: KPIs and Metrics to Track the Solution’s EffectivenessThe Importance of FlexibilityBalancing Agility and Stability: Building for Change Without Sacrificing ReliabilityModular Design and Microservices: Breaking Down the MonolithPlanning for the Future: Designing for AdaptabilityCost Optimization: It’s Not Just About Cutting CostsThe Right Tool for the Job: Efficient Service Selection for a Workload’s NeedsPay-as-you-go vs. Committed Use: Balancing Flexibility and PredictabilityResource Optimization: Autoscaling, Right-sizing Instances, and Eliminating WasteDesigning for Availability and ResilienceSLIs, SLOs, and SLAs: Defining what ‘up’ means for your businessRedundancy and Failover: Using Regions, Zones, and Load Balancing EffectivelyDisaster Recovery Planning: Protecting Against the Worst-Case ScenarioTrade-offs: The Architect’s Constant CompanionCost vs. Performance: Striking the Right Balance for the WorkloadSecurity vs. Convenience: Protecting Data While Ensuring UsabilityComplexity vs. Speed of Execution: When Simpler is the Faster WayHow This Fits into the ExamAnalyzing Questions and Identifying Key Business RequirementsEvaluating Design DecisionsJustifying Trade-offsSample QuestionsNext Steps
7. Compute and Data Service Selection: The Right Service in the Right Place
Making Smart Compute ChoicesThe Art of Right-Sizing: From VMs to ServerlessWhen Containers Make Sense (And When They Don’t)Cost-Performance Tradeoffs in Compute SelectionReal-World Compute Selection ScenariosStorage Solutions: Picking Your Digital ShelvesMatching Storage Types to Your NeedsBalancing Performance, Cost, and Regional ConsiderationsHow This Fits into the ExamCommon Exam Scenarios and Solution ApproachesService Selection Decision TreesNext Steps
8. Design for Cost Optimization: Saving Money While Getting Things Done
Understanding GCP Pricing ModelsPricing Information and Getting EstimatesPer-Second Billing: Moving From Fine China to Paper PlatesOptimizing Compute CostsCompute Engine: Right Sizing, Spot Instances, CUDs, and Other Ways to Make Pricing Work for YouGKE Standard and Autopilot: Pricing & Pros and ConsCloud Run, Cloud Functions, and App Engine: If It’s Running, Then You Are PayingOptimizing Cloud Storage CostsLocation Types: Regional, Dual-Regional, and Multi-RegionalStorage Classes: Matching Cost to Access FrequencyAutoclass: Hands-Free Storage OptimizationObject Lifecycle Management: Automating Cost Reduction for Aging DataData Compression and Deduplication: Reducing the Storage FootprintPractical Implementation StrategiesDatabases: Cool Features Come at a CostRelational Databases: From Cloud SQL to Spanner, Know What You’re Paying ForNoSQL Choices: How the Spend Really WorksBigQuery: Core CostsMaking Intelligent Trade-offsNetwork Cost OptimizationUnderstanding Egress and the Money You Spend for ItChoosing the Right Regions and Zones: Communication Costs TooCDNs and Caching: Spend Money to Save MoneyOptimizing Data Transfer Paths: Minimizing Cross-Zone and Cross-Region TrafficPractical Implementation StrategiesMonitoring SpendCloud Billing Reports: Detailed Breakdowns of Your SpendingSetting Budgets and Alerts: Proactive Cost ControlIdentifying Cost Anomalies: Spotting Unexpected Changes or Spikes EarlyQuotas: Your Secret WeaponPractical Implementation StrategiesHow This Fits into the ExamTypes of Cost-Related Questions You’ll EncounterKey Knowledge AreasExam Strategy for Cost QuestionsSample QuestionsNext Steps
9. Monitoring, Logging, and Observability: SRE the Google Way
The SRE Approach to System ReliabilitySLIs, SLOs, SLAs, and Error BudgetsBuilding a Culture of ObservabilityMonitoring and Alerting SystemsCreating Effective Dashboards and AlertsUptime Checks, Synthetic Checks, and Health MonitoringBuilding Custom MetricsError Reporting and Trace AnalysisComprehensive Logging StrategyAnalyzing Logs with Logs Explorer and AnalyticsCreating Log-Based MetricsLog Routing and Export OptionsUnderstanding Resource Scopes for Observability DataThe Unified Scoping ModelImplementing Multi-Project ScopesStrategic Recommendations for Scope DesignIncident Management and RecoveryDesigning Incident Response WorkflowsDisaster Recovery StrategiesConducting Effective PostmortemsHow This Fits into the ExamDesigning for Observability from the StartChoosing Appropriate Monitoring and Logging ToolsAnalyzing Scenarios to Identify Potential Failures and Recovery PlansSample QuestionsNext Steps

10. Migration and Deployment Strategies: The Journey and Destination
Why Migration is More Than Moving BitsCommon Migration Pitfalls: What makes migrations fail and how to avoid themAssess and Plan Your MoveUnderstanding Your Workloads: Know Before You GoWorkload Prioritization: Because You Can’t Move it All at OnceEstimating Migration Effort: The Complexity CalculationMigration Drivers: Know the Motivation for the MoveTechnical Debt: The Cost of Moving As-IsChoosing a Migration Strategy: Rehost, Replatform, Refactor, Replace, Retain, and RetireTools for MigrationMigrate to Virtual Machines: Moving VMs to GCE with Minimal ChangesMigrate to Containers: Autocontainerization, the Good and BadDon’t Forget the Data: Database Migration OptionsBigQuery Transfer Service: Moving to Your New Data WarehouseTransfer Jobs and Transfer Appliances: Getting Data into Cloud StorageDeployment StrategiesCanary Releasing: It Might Not Be a Coal Mine, But Same IdeaBlue/Green Deployments: Your Safety Net After SuccessCI/CD Pipelines with Cloud Build: Automating Your Moving CrewInfrastructure as Code and Terraform: The Implementation of DRYHybrid Deployment OptionsSecurely Integrating with Existing On-Premises SystemsMulti-Cloud Deployments: Leveraging the Best of Multiple WorldsManaging Distributed Workloads: Considerations for Latency and GovernanceGoogle Distributed Cloud: GKE All Dressed Up for Different EnvironmentsPost-Migration OptimizationRight-sizing Resources: Don’t Waste MoneyLeveraging GCP-Native Services: Moving Cloud NativeMonitoring and Iterative Improvement: Migration is a Journey, Not a DestinationDisaster Recovery Evolution: Revisiting DR Strategies in Your New Cloud EnvironmentManaging the Human Side of MigrationCultural Change Management: Bringing People Along on the JourneyOperational Readiness: Preparing Teams for New Ways of WorkingTraining and Skill Development: Building Cloud Fluency Across the OrganizationHow This Fits in the ExamCommon Migration Scenarios on the ExamKey Decision Points to RememberWatch for Trade-offsNext Steps
11. Data Analytics and Big Data on GCP: Piles of Data to Gold
Introduction to Data Analytics on GCP: Something Google’s Good AtThe Value of Data-Driven Decisions: They Don’t Call it BI for NothingGCP’s Data Analytics Ecosystem: Know the ToolsBatch vs. Streaming Analytics: And Why Batch is EasierData Warehousing and Data LakesBigQuery: The Name Says It AllCloud Storage and Data Lakes: Building Scalable Data RepositoriesData Preparation and TransformationDataform and Data Fusion: SQL transformations and Visual PipelinesDataflow: Managed Beam runner for batch and stream ETLDataproc: Managed Spark and Hadoop for a More Traditional ApproachChoosing Your Data Processing Tool: Decision Framework for Dataflow vs. Dataproc vs. BigQueryReal-time Data IngestionPub/Sub for Streaming: The Backbone of Real-time AnalyticsStreaming patterns and architecturesData Visualization and ExplorationLooker Studio (formerly Data Studio): Creating Dashboards and ReportsLooker: Data-driven Decisions with Someone Else Writing the SQLConnected Sheets: Analyzing BigQuery Data Directly in SpreadsheetsExploratory Analysis in Notebooks: AI Platform Notebooks, Colab EnterpriseBigQuery ML: When your data warehouse learns new tricksHow This Fits into the ExamNext Steps
About the Author

Content preview from Google Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide

About the Author

Patrick Haggerty was never quite sure what he wanted to be when he grew up, so he decided he’d just try things until he figured it out. Thrown out of college at 20, he spent 4 years in the USMC learning responsibility (and to be a better apex predator). Out on a disability, he turned wrenches in a mechanic shop, worked tech support, studied Actuarial Science, and coded in more languages than he wants to remember. When a job asked him to run some internal training, he discovered a lifelong passion: helping people learn.

Patrick has worked as a professional trainer for 25+ years and spends most of his days working for ROI Training and Google, helping people learn to leverage Google Cloud.

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Google Cloud Certified Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide, 2nd Edition

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781098154752Errata Page

Cloud Computing

Data Engineering

Data Science

AI & ML

Programming Languages

Software Architecture

IT/Ops

Security

Design

Business

Soft Skills

Google Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide

by Patrick Haggerty

About the Author

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.