Planning and implementing a cloud solution · Topic 9 of 9

Infrastructure as Code and AI-Assisted Tools

Infrastructure as Code with Terraform, Config Connector, Helm and Fabric FAST, plus Gemini CLI, Antigravity, Cloud Assist and App Design Center.

4 min

In a nutshell

Terraform: declarative IaC with state; init, plan, apply, destroy; remote state in Cloud Storage.
Config Connector: Google Cloud resources as Kubernetes objects.
Helm: Kubernetes package manager using charts.

What it is

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) describes infrastructure in files that are versioned, reviewed and applied automatically, so environments are repeatable. The exam names Terraform, Config Connector, Helm and Fabric FAST. It also names AI-assisted tools for planning and implementation: Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, Gemini Cloud Assist and Application Design Center.

How it works

IaC tools

Tool	What it is	Best for
Terraform	Open source declarative IaC tool; the Google provider manages Google Cloud resources; keeps a state file	Provisioning most Google Cloud resources across projects and environments
Config Connector	A Kubernetes add-on that manages Google Cloud resources as Kubernetes objects (YAML)	Teams that manage everything through Kubernetes and GitOps
Helm	Package manager for Kubernetes; charts template sets of Kubernetes manifests	Deploying and upgrading applications on GKE
Fabric FAST	Google's open source set of Terraform modules and blueprints for building an enterprise landing zone (organization, folders, networking, security)	Bootstrapping a well-structured organization quickly

A typical Terraform workflow:

terraform init      # download providers and modules
terraform plan      # preview changes
terraform apply     # create or update resources
terraform destroy   # remove resources

Store Terraform state remotely, for example in a Cloud Storage bucket with versioning, so the team shares one state safely. Infrastructure Manager is a Google Cloud service that runs Terraform deployments for you.

Exam tip

"Manage Google Cloud resources with kubectl and YAML" is Config Connector. "Package and version a Kubernetes application" is Helm. "Landing zone for a new organization following Google's recommended structure" is Fabric FAST.

Benefits of IaC

Benefit	Example
Repeatability	Identical dev, test and production environments
Review and audit	Changes go through code review and history
Speed and recovery	Rebuild an environment from code
Less drift	Detect manual changes that differ from code

AI-assisted planning and implementation

Tool	What it does
Gemini CLI	An open source AI agent in the terminal that helps write and run commands, code and scripts using natural language
Google Antigravity	Google's agent-focused development environment where AI agents help plan, write and test code
Gemini Cloud Assist	AI assistance inside the Google Cloud console: design and deploy, troubleshoot, analyze costs and resources, and answer questions about your environment
Application Design Center	A visual way to design, configure and deploy application architectures on Google Cloud from templates, generating Terraform you can deploy and manage

AI assistance speeds up planning and implementation, but engineers still review suggestions, especially IAM and network changes, before applying them.

A worked scenario

A company sets up a new organization with Fabric FAST to create folders, Shared VPC and security baselines. Application teams provision their resources with Terraform, with state in a Cloud Storage bucket and changes applied through a pipeline. A platform team that runs everything on GKE manages Cloud SQL instances through Config Connector, and deploys apps with Helm charts. Engineers use Gemini Cloud Assist to troubleshoot a failing deployment and Application Design Center to sketch a new three-tier app.

How the exam asks about this

"Preview changes before applying them." terraform plan.
"Manage Google Cloud resources as Kubernetes objects." Config Connector.
"Package a Kubernetes app for repeatable installs and upgrades." Helm.
"Ask questions about resources and troubleshoot in the console with AI." Gemini Cloud Assist.
"Design an application architecture visually and generate deployable infrastructure." Application Design Center.

What to remember for the exam

Terraform: declarative IaC with state; init, plan, apply, destroy; remote state in Cloud Storage.
Config Connector: Google Cloud resources as Kubernetes objects.
Helm: Kubernetes package manager using charts.
Fabric FAST: Terraform-based enterprise landing zone blueprints.
AI tools: Gemini CLI (terminal), Antigravity (agent development environment), Gemini Cloud Assist (console), Application Design Center (visual design and deploy).

Watch out

Keeping Terraform state only on a laptop causes conflicts and lost changes. Use a shared remote backend.

Common mistakes

Making manual console changes to Terraform-managed resources. They drift from the code and get overwritten.

Confusing Helm with Config Connector. Helm packages Kubernetes apps; Config Connector manages Google Cloud resources.

Applying AI-generated changes without review. Always review, especially IAM and firewall changes.

Check yourself

Which Terraform command previews changes without applying them?
terraform plan.
Which tool manages Google Cloud resources as Kubernetes objects?
Config Connector.
What is Gemini Cloud Assist?
AI assistance in the Google Cloud console for designing, troubleshooting, analyzing costs and resources, and answering questions.

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