Professional Cloud Architect (PCA)
Build real cloud skills with guided labs on AWS and Google Cloud. Practice in live environments with instant access to real cloud resources. No cloud account required.
1 lab available
In this lab, you'll learn how to design and implement a multi-region infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform. You will focus on achieving high availability (HA) across different regions, ensuring failover between primary and secondary regions, and optimizing costs. The lab will guide you through setting up Global HTTP(S) Load Balancing, Cloud SQL with cross-region replicas, and managing IP addresses with Cloud NAT. You'll integrate IAM roles for security and explore how to use Cloud Monitoring and Logging to observe the system's behavior and troubleshoot issues efficiently.
1 lab available
In this lab, you will leverage Google Cloud Platform's observability tools to achieve operational excellence. You'll implement monitoring and logging for a microservices architecture running on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). The focus will be on setting up a scalable and reliable environment, complete with alerting and dashboards to ensure ongoing operational quality. Advanced techniques like profiling and benchmarking will also be explored, providing a comprehensive understanding of maintaining an optimal operations framework.
2 labs available
In this advanced lab, you will design a multi-region, highly available architecture using VPC Peering and compute resources distributed across us-central1 and us-east1. The objective is to ensure business continuity and optimize failover processes. You will configure network architectures, deploy scalable applications on Compute Engine using Managed Instance Groups (MIGs), and setup load balancing for seamless traffic distribution. Your goal is to meet specific performance and reliability metrics, including a maximum downtime of 5 minutes and an SLA of 99.9%.
In this lab, you will design and implement a high availability architecture across multiple regions. You will set up Compute Engine instances behind a global HTTPS load balancer, configure failover strategies, and integrate Cloud SQL for database redundancy. The goal is to create a resilient architecture that ensures availability and continuity during regional outages, all while considering cost optimization and security best practices.
2 labs available
In this lab, you will build a comprehensive multi-project architecture on Google Cloud Platform focusing on advanced networking configurations, resource management, and security implementations essential for enterprise environments. You will start by creating a resource hierarchy using organization and project structures and configure the necessary Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies. Later, you will develop a robust VPC network design utilizing shared VPCs and Private Service Connect to facilitate secure, cross-departmental communication within a simulated company environment. Additionally, you'll configure essential security features including Cloud Network Firewall policies and IAM roles to protect your environment. For the compute layer, you will set up a combination of Compute Engine instances and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters, tailored to handle workload volatility and scalability. This architecture will integrate cloud-native networking solutions such as global HTTP(S) load balancing and Cloud CDN for optimized content delivery. You will also implement backup and disaster recovery strategies using Cloud Storage and Datastore along with monitoring and logging solutions to maintain high availability and ensure business continuity. By the end of this lab, you will have developed a scalable and secure multi-project infrastructure, enhancing your understanding of best practices in multi-project environments and GCP's enterprise-grade solutions.
In this advanced lab, you will design and implement a multi-region VPC network that utilizes Google Cloud's load balancing capabilities. The scenario simulates a multinational retail company that requires a robust and secure infrastructure to support its cloud-based e-commerce platform. The network must support high availability and failover between the US Central and East regions, adhering to the organization's security and compliance policies. You will start with configuring VPC networks and progress to deploying load balancers, setting up firewall rules, and configuring Cloud NAT to manage traffic across regions. The lab includes real-world architectural decisions and justification of trade-offs to optimize for cost, performance, and security within a budget of $12.
1 lab available
In this hands-on lab, you will develop a comprehensive understanding of designing and implementing complex VPC architectures and hybrid connectivity solutions. You will start by creating a shared VPC and configure Cloud NAT for outbound internet access. As part of this lab, you will also integrate on-premises resources with your Google Cloud VPC using Cloud VPN. This lab simulates a real-world scenario requiring secure, reliable, and scalable network solutions to interconnect your distributed infrastructure.
2 labs available
In this lab, you will design and implement IAM policies and configure access controls for a multi-department organization called "Tech Solutions Corp". The company's IT department needs to ensure secure access to resources while maintaining organizational hierarchy and separation of duties. Throughout this lab, you will work on configuring identity and access management strategies, set up resource hierarchies, and implement IAM roles and policies to meet security and compliance standards. This hands-on experience will prepare you for real-world scenarios where precise control over access to resources is critical in cloud environments.
In this lab, learners will build a secure environment in Google Cloud to process sensitive data while ensuring compliance with industry regulations. Participants will create a multi-tier application using Compute Engine and secure data storage with Cloud Storage, configuring robust access controls and encryption using Cloud KMS. The lab will guide students through setting up organization policies and configuring IAM roles to uphold security and compliance standards. This experience will bolster understanding of designing secure architectures in a controlled environment where sensitive operations require validation.
