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Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect Study Guide

Google Cloud Certified - Professional Cloud Architect

Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect is Google Cloud's professional-level certification for architects who design, develop and manage secure, scalable, highly available and cost-effective solutions. It covers solution design and planning, provisioning infrastructure, security and compliance, technical and business processes, managing implementation and operations excellence, and each exam includes questions on two of four published case studies. Google recommends 3 or more years of industry experience, including 1 or more years designing and managing solutions on Google Cloud.

  • Professional level
  • 6 exam sections
  • 50 to 60 questions

This guide is free, with no sign-up. It explains every Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect exam topic in plain English, one chapter at a time. Read them in order or jump straight to the topic you need.

  • 6chapters
  • 29topics
  • 10diagrams and exhibits
  • 1 h 54 minfast track
Start with Designing and planning a cloud solution architecture
  • Every topic follows the same simple pattern: what it is, how it works, common mistakes
  • Diagrams and real command output where a picture explains it best
  • Exam tips and worked subnetting and IPv6 practice, with answers

How the exam is weighted

Each domain is worth this share of the exam, so spend your study time in proportion. Select a domain to open its chapter.

Chapters

Open a chapter to see its topics and how long each takes.

1Designing and planning a cloud solution architecture8 topics · 31 min fast trackBusiness and technical requirements, compute, storage and network choices, migration plans and the four case studies.
  1. 1Business Requirements and Design Trade-offs4 min
  2. 2Technical Requirements, Availability and Recovery4 min
  3. 3Choosing Compute and AI Platforms4 min
  4. 4Choosing Storage, Databases and Data Processing3 min
  5. 5Cloud-Native and Hybrid Network Design4 min
  6. 6Migration Planning4 min
  7. 7Future Improvements and Cloud-First Design4 min
  8. 8Working with the Case Studies4 min
Read the chapter overview →
2Managing and provisioning a solution infrastructure6 topics · 24 min fast trackHybrid and VPC network topologies, storage and compute configuration, Agent Platform ML workflows and prebuilt AI APIs.
  1. 1Hybrid and Multicloud Connectivity4 min
  2. 2VPC Design, Load Balancing and Network Security4 min
  3. 3Configuring Storage Systems4 min
  4. 4Configuring Compute Systems4 min
  5. 5ML Workflows on Agent Platform and AI Hypercomputer4 min
  6. 6Prebuilt AI APIs, Gemini Enterprise and Model Garden4 min
Read the chapter overview →
3Designing for security and compliance5 topics · 19 min fast trackIAM and hierarchy, keys and secrets, perimeters and access, supply chain, AI security and regulations.
  1. 1IAM, Resource Hierarchy and Separation of Duties3 min
  2. 2Encryption Keys, Secrets and Data Protection4 min
  3. 3Perimeters, Context-Aware and Remote Access4 min
  4. 4Software Supply Chain and Securing AI4 min
  5. 5Designing for Compliance and Audits4 min
Read the chapter overview →
4Analyzing and optimizing technical and business processes4 topics · 16 min fast trackSDLC, CI/CD, testing, troubleshooting, service catalogs and disaster recovery, plus stakeholders, change, skills and cost.
  1. 1SDLC, CI/CD and Testing4 min
  2. 2Troubleshooting, Service Catalogs and Disaster Recovery4 min
  3. 3Stakeholders, Change and Skills Readiness4 min
  4. 4Cost Optimization and Business Continuity4 min
Read the chapter overview →
5Managing implementation3 topics · 12 min fast trackAdvising teams on deployment, Apigee, testing and migration tools, and working with Google Cloud in code.
  1. 1Advising Teams on Deployment, Testing and Migration4 min
  2. 2API Management with Apigee4 min
  3. 3Tools, SDKs, Emulators and Infrastructure as Code4 min
Read the chapter overview →
6Ensuring solution and operations excellence3 topics · 12 min fast trackThe operational excellence pillar, observability, release management, support, quality measures and reliability testing.
  1. 1Operational Excellence and Observability4 min
  2. 2Release Management and Supporting Deployed Solutions4 min
  3. 3Quality Control and Reliability Testing4 min
Read the chapter overview →

Ready for more practice?

The full Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect question bank has 877 questions, with timed practice exams and an explanation for every answer.

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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.