Chapter 3 of 4 · Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer
Ensuring the successful operation of a cloud solution
Managing VMs, GKE, Cloud Run, storage, databases and networks, plus monitoring, logging and diagnostics.
- 8topics
- 35 minfast track
- 2diagrams and exhibits
- 30%of the exam
Topics in this chapter
Take them in order, or jump to the one you need.
- 1Managing Compute EngineConnecting to Compute Engine VMs with SSH and IAP, listing running instances, creating and scheduling snapshots, managing images…4 min
- 2Managing GKE WorkloadsViewing GKE nodes, Pods and Services, Artifact Registry access, node pools, StatefulSets, horizontal and vertical Pod autoscaling…4 min
- 3Managing Cloud Run, AI Agents and Developer EnvironmentsCloud Run revisions, traffic splitting and autoscaling, deploying agents to Agent Runtime, Workbench and BigQuery notebooks, and…Diagram5 min
- 4Managing Cloud StorageSecuring Cloud Storage objects with IAM, uniform access and signed URLs, lifecycle policies, estimating storage costs and…4 min
- 5Managing Databases and Data JobsQuerying Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Bigtable, Spanner, Firestore and AlloyDB, backing up and restoring databases, checking Dataflow and…4 min
- 6Managing Networking ResourcesExpanding a subnet's IPv4 range, reserving static external and internal IPs, adding custom static routes, using Cloud DNS and…5 min
- 7Monitoring, Alerting and AgentsCloud Monitoring alerts and custom metrics, the Ops Agent, Managed Service for Prometheus, Personalized Service Health, Active…4 min
- 8Logging, Audit Logs and DiagnosticsCloud Audit Logs, VPC Flow Logs and firewall logs, log sinks, buckets and Log Analytics, viewing and filtering logs, and Cloud…Diagram5 min
About this chapter
What this chapter covers
After deployment comes day-to-day operation. This section is worth about 30 percent of the exam. It covers managing compute resources (Compute Engine, GKE, Cloud Run, accelerators, agents, notebooks and developer environments), managing storage and data (Cloud Storage objects and lifecycle, queries, costs, backups, job status, Database Center, CMEK), managing networking resources (subnet expansion, static IPs, routes, Cloud DNS, Cloud NAT, firewall management) and monitoring and logging (alerts, custom metrics, audit and flow logs, log routing, diagnostics, Ops Agent, Managed Service for Prometheus, Gemini Cloud Assist, Active Assist and Cloud Hub).
How the topics fit together
- Managing Compute Engine covers connecting, listing instances, snapshots, images and accelerators.
- Managing GKE workloads covers inventory, Artifact Registry access, node pools, Kubernetes resources and Pod autoscaling.
- Managing Cloud Run, AI agents and developer environments covers revisions, traffic splitting, autoscaling, Agent Runtime, Workbench, BigQuery notebooks and Cloud Workstations.
- Managing Cloud Storage covers object security, lifecycle policies, cost estimates and CMEK.
- Managing databases and data jobs covers queries, backups and restores, job status and Database Center.
- Managing networking resources covers subnet expansion, static IPs, routes, Cloud DNS, Cloud NAT and firewall management.
- Monitoring, alerting and agents covers alerts, custom metrics, Ops Agent, Managed Service for Prometheus and AI-assisted operations.
- Logging, audit logs and diagnostics covers audit, flow and firewall logs, log routing and storage, viewing logs and diagnostic tools.
Many operations questions ask for the most direct command or the managed feature that removes manual work, such as snapshot schedules instead of cron jobs.
How to use these pages
Each topic page has the same shape, so you can skim for what you need.
- What it is: the idea in plain words.
- How it works: the mechanism, with examples, commands and tables.
- What to remember for the exam: the facts to memorise and how questions are phrased.
- Common mistakes: the classic traps.
- Check yourself: three questions to test your understanding.
Ready for more practice?
The full Google Cloud Associate Cloud Engineer question bank has 661 questions, with timed practice exams and an explanation for every answer.
This study guide is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google Cloud. Vendor names, certification names and exam codes are trademarks of their respective owners and are used for identification only.