Getting Started with Google Cloud Platform: A Beginner’s Guide to Cloud Excellence

📘 Chapter 3: Deploying Your First Application on GCP

🔍 Overview

After setting up your GCP account and understanding core services, it’s time to deploy your first real-world application. Google Cloud makes it easy to host applications using a variety of compute options—whether it's a static site, a containerized service, or a dynamic backend API.

This chapter walks you through:

• Deploying a static website with Cloud Storage
• Running a dynamic app on App Engine
• Serving containers with Cloud Run
• Managing VM-based apps via Compute Engine
• Connecting to databases like Cloud SQL
• Enabling logging and monitoring

🧱 1. Prerequisites

Before deploying:

• Set up a billing account
• Enable the necessary APIs:

bash

gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com \

                        appengine.googleapis.com \

                        run.googleapis.com \

                        sqladmin.googleapis.com \

                        cloudbuild.googleapis.com

• Install the Google Cloud CLI (gcloud) or use Cloud Shell

🖼️ 2. Deploying a Static Website on Cloud Storage

✅ Step-by-Step:

1. Create a Bucket

bash

gsutil mb -l US gs://your-bucket-name

2. Make the Bucket Public

bash

gsutil iam ch allUsers:objectViewer gs://your-bucket-name

3. Enable Static Website Hosting

bash

gsutil web set -m index.html gs://your-bucket-name

4. Upload Files

bash

gsutil cp index.html gs://your-bucket-name

5. Visit the Public URL
   http://storage.googleapis.com/your-bucket-name/index.html

🚀 3. Deploying a Dynamic Web App with App Engine

✅ Use Case: Python Flask App

1. Create App Engine Project

bash

gcloud app create --region=us-central

2. Sample main.py

python

from flask import Flask

app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/')

def hello():

    return 'Hello from App Engine!'

3. app.yaml

yaml

runtime: python310

entrypoint: gunicorn -b :$PORT main:app

handlers:

- url: /.*

  script: auto

4. Deploy

bash

gcloud app deploy

5. Visit URL:
https://<your-project-id>.appspot.com

⚙️ 4. Deploying a Containerized App with Cloud Run

✅ Use Case: Dockerized Node.js App

1. Dockerfile

dockerfile

FROM node:18

WORKDIR /app

COPY . .

RUN npm install

CMD ["node", "server.js"]

2. Build Image

bash

gcloud builds submit --tag gcr.io/your-project-id/hellorun

3. Deploy to Cloud Run

bash

gcloud run deploy hellorun \

  --image gcr.io/your-project-id/hellorun \

  --platform managed \

  --region us-central1 \

  --allow-unauthenticated

💻 5. Hosting on Compute Engine (VM)

1. Launch a VM

bash

gcloud compute instances create web-vm \

  --zone=us-central1-a \

  --machine-type=e2-micro \

  --image-family=debian-11 \

  --image-project=debian-cloud \

  --tags=http-server

2. Install Web Server

bash

sudo apt update

sudo apt install apache2 -y

3. Make Web Page

bash

echo "Hello GCP VM!" | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html

4. Add Firewall Rule

bash

gcloud compute firewall-rules create allow-http \

  --allow tcp:80 \

  --target-tags http-server

5. Visit:
http://<EXTERNAL_IP>

🗃️ 6. Connecting to Cloud SQL from Your App

1. Create Cloud SQL Instance

bash

gcloud sql instances create mydb \

  --database-version=MYSQL_8_0 \

  --tier=db-f1-micro \

  --region=us-central

2. Create User & Database

bash

gcloud sql users set-password root --host=% --instance=mydb --password=your-password

gcloud sql databases create appdata --instance=mydb

3. Connect via App Engine (using Cloud SQL Proxy)
Add to app.yaml:

yaml

beta_settings:

  cloud_sql_instances: your-project:us-central:mydb

Use connection string in your app (Python example):

python

pymysql.connect(unix_socket='/cloudsql/your-project:us-central:mydb', ...)

📈 7. Enabling Monitoring and Logs

1. View Logs

bash

gcloud logging read "resource.type=gae_app"

2. Open Logs Explorer:

• Go to Cloud Console → Logging → Logs Explorer

3. Create Uptime Checks

• Go to Cloud Monitoring → Uptime Checks
• Enter URL and set alerting policy

✅ 8. Summary Table – Deployment Options

🎯 Final Thoughts

GCP offers multiple deployment options to suit every need—from static websites to containerized microservices. With simple commands and intuitive interfaces, you can launch apps in minutes and scale them globally.

Once your app is running, make sure to monitor it using Cloud Monitoring, optimize costs with budgets, and secure your endpoints with IAM and firewall rules.

In the next chapter, we’ll explore IAM, billing management, and cloud security best practices.