Thomas Kurian (born 1966) is an Indian-American business executive and Chief Executive Officer of Google Cloud (under Alphabet Inc.) since 2019. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as one of the most impactful Asians due to his extensive experience in the areas of leadership, engineering and enterprise relations.
The Google Cloud Console is a web-based interface provided by Google that allows you to manage and configure all Google Cloud services, including APIs, resources, and billing for cloud-based applications. It's where you can access various tools for cloud computing, storage, machine learning, big data, and other Google services.
Key Features of Google Cloud Console:
Project Management:
- Create, manage, and organize your projects in Google Cloud.
- Each project is an isolated container where you can enable APIs, set up services, and manage resources.
API & Services:
- You can enable or disable various Google APIs, like the Google Maps API or Firebase APIs, depending on the services you need for your app.
- It provides an interface for creating and managing API keys.
Cloud Resources:
- Google Cloud Console allows you to manage different cloud resources such as databases, storage, virtual machines, and Kubernetes clusters.
- It's also where you set up services like Google Cloud Storage, Google Firestore, Cloud Functions, and more.
Billing:
- You can view and manage your billing information, usage, and quotas for Google Cloud services.
- Google provides a $300 credit for new users for the first 90 days, which you can use for various services, including Maps API.
Monitoring and Alerts:
- You can set up monitoring, logs, and alerts to track your app’s performance, API usage, and errors across Google Cloud services.
IAM & Admin:
- You can manage access to your Google Cloud resources using Identity and Access Management (IAM) to control who has permission to do what with your resources.
Accessing Google Cloud Console:
- Go to Google Cloud Console.
- Sign in with your Google account, and you'll be able to create and manage projects, APIs, and other cloud services.
You will use the Google Cloud Console to obtain your API keys for services like Google Maps, manage Firebase configurations, and handle other cloud-based tasks for your app development.
What is the purpose of Google Cloud Console
The Google Cloud Console serves as the central hub for managing and interacting with all Google Cloud services and resources. Its main purposes include:
1. Project Management:
- Create and Organize Projects: Google Cloud Console allows you to create, manage, and organize projects, which are containers for all of your cloud resources. You can group services, APIs, and data related to a specific app or service within a project.
- Access Control: You can control who has access to each project and assign roles to users, ensuring that only authorized users can manage or interact with certain resources.
2. API Management:
- Enable and Disable APIs: You can enable various Google APIs, like Google Maps API, Firebase API, Google Cloud Storage API, etc. This is essential for integrating Google services into your app.
- API Key Management: The console allows you to generate and manage API keys, which are needed to authenticate and authorize requests to Google services.
3. Cloud Resource Management:
- Provision and Configure Resources: You can create, configure, and manage cloud-based resources such as databases, virtual machines (VMs), storage buckets, and Kubernetes clusters.
- Monitor and Scale Resources: The console provides tools to monitor the health, usage, and performance of cloud resources. It also lets you scale services up or down based on demand.
4. Billing and Usage Tracking:
- Track Costs and Budgets: The console allows you to view your billing information, track usage, and set up budgets to avoid unexpected charges. Google Cloud offers a $300 credit for new users, which can be used for a wide range of services.
- Monitor Quotas: You can track how much of your service quotas are being used to ensure you stay within limits.
5. Security and Identity Management (IAM):
- Manage Permissions: Through Identity and Access Management (IAM), the console lets you assign roles and permissions to different users within your organization. You can control who can access specific resources and perform certain actions.
6. Analytics and Monitoring:
- View Logs and Metrics: Google Cloud Console provides tools for monitoring and logging, such as Stack driver for viewing logs, setting alerts, and getting insights into your application’s performance and errors.
- Track Service Health: You can set up uptime monitoring and performance metrics for your services.
7. Deployment and Continuous Integration:
- Deploy Applications: You can deploy applications, APIs, and services to various Google Cloud products, such as Google App Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine, and Cloud Functions.
- CI/CD Integration: The console integrates with tools like Cloud Build to automate your deployment process.
8. Machine Learning and Data Services:
- Use AI and ML Models: Google Cloud Console gives you access to AI and machine learning tools, such as Google Cloud AI and Big Query, for analyzing large datasets and deploying pre-trained models.
- Data Analytics: You can use the console to manage and analyze data with Big Query or store it using Cloud Storage.
9. Support and Documentation:
- Access Documentation: Google Cloud Console provides quick links to the documentation for all services, making it easier to get help and learn how to use various tools.
- Create Support Tickets: If you're having issues with your Google Cloud services, you can open support tickets directly through the console.