Google Cloud Interview Questions and Answers for 10 years experience

1. What are the core services offered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?

   • Answer: GCP offers a wide range of services, categorized into Compute (Compute Engine, App Engine, Kubernetes Engine), Storage (Cloud Storage, Persistent Disk), Databases (Cloud SQL, Cloud Spanner, Bigtable), Networking (Virtual Private Cloud, Cloud Load Balancing), Big Data (BigQuery, Dataproc), Machine Learning (Vertex AI), and Management Tools (Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging).

2. Explain the difference between Compute Engine and App Engine.

   • Answer: Compute Engine provides virtual machines (VMs) giving you complete control over the operating system and software. App Engine is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) that handles infrastructure management, allowing you to focus on application code. App Engine is better suited for scalability and ease of management, while Compute Engine offers greater flexibility and customization.

3. Describe different types of Google Cloud Storage classes and their use cases.

   • Answer: Google Cloud Storage offers various storage classes: Standard (frequent access), Nearline (30-day retrieval fee), Coldline (90-day retrieval fee), Archive (retrieval in hours), and Multi-regional (data replicated across multiple regions for high availability). The choice depends on access frequency and cost considerations. Standard is for frequently accessed data, while Archive is for long-term storage with infrequent access.

4. What is Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and its benefits?

   • Answer: GKE is a managed Kubernetes service that simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications. Benefits include automated scaling, self-healing, high availability, and simplified cluster management. It abstracts away the complexities of Kubernetes, allowing developers to focus on their applications.

5. Explain the concept of regions and zones in GCP.

   • Answer: Regions are geographical areas with multiple zones. Zones are isolated locations within a region. Distributing resources across multiple zones within a region provides high availability and fault tolerance. If one zone fails, resources in other zones continue to operate.

6. How do you ensure high availability and fault tolerance in a GCP application?

   • Answer: High availability and fault tolerance are achieved through several strategies: using multiple zones for redundancy, load balancing across instances, using managed services with built-in redundancy, implementing automated failover mechanisms, and regularly backing up data.

7. What are different types of Cloud SQL databases offered by GCP?

   • Answer: Cloud SQL offers instances for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server. Each offers different features and levels of management. The choice depends on the specific application requirements and the developer's familiarity with the database system.

8. Explain the role of Cloud IAM in GCP.

   • Answer: Cloud IAM (Identity and Access Management) is a service that allows you to manage access control to GCP resources. It uses roles and permissions to grant users, groups, and services specific access to resources, ensuring security and compliance.

9. What is Cloud Functions and its use cases?

   • Answer: Cloud Functions is a serverless compute platform that allows you to run code in response to events. Use cases include processing data from Cloud Storage, responding to HTTP requests, and reacting to Pub/Sub messages. It's ideal for event-driven architectures.

10. Explain the difference between Cloud Storage and Persistent Disk.

    • Answer: Cloud Storage is object storage for unstructured data, while Persistent Disk is block storage attached to virtual machines for persistent storage of data required by the VM. Cloud Storage is designed for scalability and cost-effectiveness for large datasets, while Persistent Disk is for providing block-level storage to VMs needing fast, persistent data access.

11. Describe your experience with Google Cloud's networking services.

    • Answer: (This answer should be tailored to the candidate's experience, mentioning specific services like Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Cloud Load Balancing, Cloud Interconnect, Cloud VPN, and their usage in building secure and scalable network architectures.)

12. How do you monitor and log your GCP applications?

    • Answer: GCP provides Cloud Monitoring and Cloud Logging for monitoring and logging. Cloud Monitoring tracks metrics and provides alerts, while Cloud Logging collects and analyzes logs from various GCP services. These services are crucial for identifying issues, optimizing performance, and troubleshooting applications.

13. Explain your experience with deploying and managing applications on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

    • Answer: (This answer needs to reflect the candidate's experience with GKE, including topics like deploying applications using YAML manifests, managing deployments and services, using Ingress controllers, scaling applications, and monitoring cluster health.)

14. How do you manage costs in a GCP project?

    • Answer: Cost management involves using the Cloud Billing console to track spending, setting budgets and alerts, right-sizing instances, leveraging sustained use discounts, using preemptible VMs where appropriate, and regularly reviewing resource utilization to identify and eliminate unnecessary costs.

15. What are some best practices for securing GCP resources?

    • Answer: Best practices include using Cloud IAM for granular access control, enabling audit logging, using VPC networks with firewall rules, regularly patching and updating systems, implementing encryption for data at rest and in transit, and regularly reviewing security best practices for all services in use.

16. Describe your experience with BigQuery.

    • Answer: (This answer should detail the candidate's experience with BigQuery, including data loading, querying using SQL, optimizing queries, using data partitioning and clustering, and understanding BigQuery's pricing model.)

17. Explain your experience with Dataflow.

    • Answer: (This answer should detail the candidate's experience with Dataflow, including building and deploying pipelines, handling large datasets, using different runners, and monitoring pipeline performance.)

18. What is Cloud Pub/Sub and its use cases?

    • Answer: Cloud Pub/Sub is a fully managed real-time messaging service that allows for asynchronous communication between applications. Use cases include event-driven architectures, microservices communication, stream processing, and decoupling applications.

19. Explain your experience with Cloud Dataproc.

    • Answer: (This answer should detail the candidate's experience with Dataproc, including creating and managing clusters, running Spark and Hadoop jobs, optimizing cluster configurations, and monitoring job performance.)

20. What are some common challenges you've faced while working with GCP and how did you overcome them?

    • Answer: (This is an open-ended question, requiring a personalized answer based on the candidate's experiences. Examples include dealing with unexpected costs, troubleshooting networking issues, resolving deployment problems, or managing complex dependencies.)

21. How do you ensure data security and compliance in GCP?

    • Answer: Data security and compliance involve implementing various measures, including encryption, access control (IAM), data loss prevention, regular security audits, compliance with relevant regulations (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR), and using GCP's security features like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Cloud Security Command Center.

22. Explain your experience with Serverless computing on GCP.

    • Answer: (This answer should describe experience with Cloud Functions, Cloud Run, and App Engine, highlighting the benefits of serverless architectures and how to design and deploy applications using these services.)

23. Describe your experience with migrating applications to GCP.

    • Answer: (This answer needs to reflect the candidate's experience with migration strategies, including lift and shift, refactoring, and re-platforming. It should also cover aspects like planning, execution, and post-migration activities.)

24. What is your experience with DevOps practices in GCP?

    • Answer: (The candidate should discuss their use of tools like Terraform, Cloud Deployment Manager, or other infrastructure-as-code tools, CI/CD pipelines using Cloud Build or other similar services, and their experience with automation and monitoring.)

25. Explain your experience with Cloud Composer.

    • Answer: (The candidate should detail their experience with Cloud Composer, including creating and managing Apache Airflow environments, defining DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs), scheduling and monitoring workflows, and handling data pipelines.)

26. What is your experience with Cloud SDK?

    • Answer: (This answer should describe the candidate's familiarity with the Google Cloud SDK (gcloud), including common commands for managing resources, deploying applications, and interacting with various GCP services.)

27. Explain your understanding of Google Cloud's pricing model.

    • Answer: GCP uses a pay-as-you-go model, charging based on resource usage. The candidate should be able to discuss different pricing models for various services, sustained use discounts, committed use discounts, and how to optimize costs.

28. How would you troubleshoot a network connectivity issue in GCP?

    • Answer: Troubleshooting involves using tools like `gcloud compute instances list`, checking firewall rules, examining VPC network configurations, using Cloud Monitoring and Logging to identify network issues, and verifying connectivity between resources.

29. What are some of the key differences between GCP, AWS, and Azure?

    • Answer: The candidate should be able to compare and contrast the three major cloud providers, focusing on key differences in services, pricing models, strengths, and weaknesses. Their answer should reflect an understanding of the nuances of each platform.

30. Describe your experience with Cloud SQL replication and high availability.

    • Answer: The answer should demonstrate understanding of different replication types (e.g., synchronous, asynchronous) and how they impact availability and data consistency. The candidate should also discuss strategies for achieving high availability with Cloud SQL.

31. Explain your experience with using Terraform to manage GCP infrastructure.

    • Answer: The candidate should demonstrate familiarity with Terraform's concepts, including modules, states, providers, and how to use Terraform to provision and manage GCP resources in a declarative manner. They should be able to discuss best practices for managing Terraform state.

32. Describe your experience with Cloud Armor.

    • Answer: The candidate should describe their experience using Cloud Armor for DDoS protection, web application firewall (WAF) features, and managing security policies. They should understand the benefits of using Cloud Armor to improve application security.

33. How do you handle and manage different environments (dev, test, prod) in GCP?

    • Answer: The candidate should discuss strategies like using separate projects, leveraging Cloud Resource Manager for organization, utilizing infrastructure-as-code to manage environments consistently, and employing different configurations for each environment.

34. Explain your experience with Cloud Build.

    • Answer: The candidate should explain their experience using Cloud Build for CI/CD, creating build configurations, using build triggers, and integrating with other GCP services.

35. Explain your experience with Cloud Trace and Cloud Profiler.

    • Answer: The candidate should discuss using Cloud Trace for distributed tracing and performance analysis, and Cloud Profiler for CPU and memory profiling of applications running on GCP.

36. What are your preferred methods for testing and deploying applications in GCP?

    • Answer: This should encompass the candidate's experience with testing strategies (unit, integration, system), deployment methodologies (blue/green, canary), and their experience with using tools like Kubernetes deployments and rollouts.

37. How do you handle database backups and disaster recovery in GCP?

    • Answer: The candidate should discuss strategies for regular backups (using Cloud SQL backups or other methods), implementing disaster recovery plans, setting up replication, and utilizing features like Cloud Disaster Recovery.

38. Explain your experience with migrating on-premises databases to Cloud SQL.

    • Answer: The answer should detail the candidate's experience with various migration techniques, addressing considerations such as downtime, data transformation, and testing.

39. Describe your experience with managing and optimizing costs for BigQuery.

    • Answer: The candidate should discuss techniques for optimizing query performance, using appropriate data types, leveraging partitioning and clustering, and understanding BigQuery's pricing model to minimize costs.

40. What are your experiences with different types of networking topologies in GCP?

    • Answer: This should cover topics such as VPC networks, subnets, peering, and different methods for connecting on-premises networks to GCP using VPNs or Cloud Interconnect.

41. Explain your experience with Cloud Storage lifecycle management.

    • Answer: The candidate should demonstrate understanding of how to manage object lifecycle, automatically move objects to different storage classes based on access patterns, and using lifecycle policies for cost optimization.

42. What is your experience with using Cloud Functions for automating tasks?

    • Answer: The answer should demonstrate the candidate's ability to design and implement serverless functions for automating various tasks, such as processing data, responding to events, and integrating with other GCP services.

43. Describe your experience with implementing security best practices for Cloud Storage.

    • Answer: This should include discussion of access control lists (ACLs), encryption at rest and in transit, and using Cloud Storage features to enhance security.

44. How do you handle versioning and deployments in GCP?

    • Answer: The answer should cover different versioning strategies, rollbacks, and the use of tools like Cloud Build or other CI/CD pipelines.

45. Explain your experience with setting up and managing VPN connections to GCP.

    • Answer: The candidate should describe their experience setting up Cloud VPN gateways, configuring VPN tunnels, and troubleshooting connectivity issues.

46. Describe your experience with migrating on-premises workloads to GCP.

    • Answer: The answer should cover different migration approaches, assessing the suitability of various services for different workloads.

47. What are your preferred tools for monitoring and alerting in GCP?

    • Answer: The answer should include Cloud Monitoring, Alerting, and potentially other tools used to monitor application and infrastructure health.

48. How do you ensure compliance with relevant regulations when working with GCP?

    • Answer: The answer should discuss familiarity with relevant regulations (e.g., HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS) and the steps taken to ensure compliance in GCP.

49. Explain your experience with Google Cloud's Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) services.

    • Answer: This should cover experience with services like Vertex AI, pre-trained models, custom model training, and deploying AI/ML models.

50. What are your experiences with Cloud Healthcare API?

    • Answer: The answer should discuss experience with storing, processing, and analyzing healthcare data using Cloud Healthcare API. (If no experience, the candidate should mention their willingness to learn.)

51. Describe your experience with Cloud IoT Core.

    • Answer: The answer should detail experience with connecting and managing IoT devices, processing data from IoT devices, and using Cloud IoT Core features. (If no experience, the candidate should mention their willingness to learn.)

Thank you for reading our blog post on 'Google Cloud Interview Questions and Answers for 10 years experience'.We hope you found it informative and useful.Stay tuned for more insightful content!