Updates on GoogleCloud - Issue No. 1

Welcome to "Updates on GoogleCloud - Issue No. 1" - I started sharing updates on GoogleCloud regularly at some time back, but found, that instead of sharing them one-by-one as they occur over time, a serious of articles might be more valuable. So here we go:

1. Daniel Villegas wrote a really good overview on Medium on how to setup and run Oracle Databases in Google Cloud. Check it out and give Daniel some "claps" > Link
2. GoogleCloud announced lower pricing for CloudCDN. This is not only good for customers already using CloudCDN, it also shows the commitment and confidence Google Cloud has in the capabilities and performance of it's CDN compared to others. So if you want to deliver your content fast and everywhere in the world, Google CloudCDN got you covered - and btw.: it's so easy to setup, that you're up and running in minutes. You can read more in the following GoogleCloud Blog > Link
3. One of my personal favorites this week was "Rapid cloud foundation buildout and workload deployment using Terraform". We're big fans of Hashicorp terraform at my company Wabion and always recommend it for building your cloud foundation / landing zone in GCP. Google is also throwing in massive efforts to make this even easier for you by giving you ready-to use templates / modules for terraform via the CloudFoundationToolkit, which is part of the GoogleCloudPlatform-Repo on GitHub - btw. a very valuable source for information around GCP on it's own.
4. As i just wrote about terraform from Hashicorp, there was another announcement this week that stroke my attendance and which is also very interesting for GCP users, as it tackles one of the big problems in cybersecurity out there. Hashicorp Boundary is out there in version 0.1 as an open source project, trying to help you provide simple and secure remote access — to any system anywhere based on trusted identity. Sounds promising? Check it out on the project-website "boundaryproject.io".
5. Also important to know is that GoogleCloud reduced their "LaunchStages" from previously four to two. Quoting the blog here, why this is important: "A product’s launch stage signals important information to the user about its production-worthiness, supportability, polish, and price. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) products have traditionally traveled through four launch stages—Early Access, Alpha, Beta and General Availability—and today, we are simplifying those down to just two: Preview and General Availability." Simplicity is very valuable in these days anmd this is again an effort where GoogleCloud is trying to make things simpler for their users. You can check more information on the GoogleCloud Blog > Link
6. Always wanted to understand more about BigQuery, GoogleCloud's serverless DataWarehouse, but didn't know where or how to start? There's a Blog-Series for it called BigQuery explained. You can find all Blogs of the series linked in the Overview-Article simply called "BigQuery explained: Blog series"
7. Last but not least GoogleCloud "outlined how their AI/ML Privacy Commitment reflects their belief that customers should have both the highest level of security and the highest level of control over data stored in the cloud." As i already wrote when i shared the original Blogpost from the GoogleCloud Blog, one of the key principles for good and healthy relationships, regardless if in business or private life, is trust. And trust can be established in multiple ways, one of them is being transparent and open. It's great to see that GoogleCloud once again takes a leading position in the area of AI and ML technologies by sharing their commitment to privacy with their customers.

I hope this article is a valuable source of information for at least some of you, enjoy the rest of your friday and have a nice weekend.

Joern