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Chapter 4 · Configuring and operating compute and data·v1.0.0·Updated 6/16/2026·~15 min

What's changed: Created Professional Cloud Architect Chapter 4 (Domain 2 "Manage and provision" part 2: compute/container config = machine types/MIG/templates, GKE Autopilot/Standard/node pools, Cloud Run revisions/traffic splitting, Spot VMs/CUDs/SUDs; data config and ops/monitoring = Cloud SQL HA/read replicas/Spanner, Cloud Storage lifecycle/uniform access, Cloud Monitoring/Logging/Trace, SLOs/error budgets).

4.2Configuring data and operating/monitoring

Key points

Understand configuring managed databases (Cloud SQL HA and read replicas, Spanner scaling), Cloud Storage lifecycle and access control, and operations via Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, and alerts with SLO-based reliability management.

Data-tier configuration and post-launch operations/monitoring determine system reliability. Design managed-service availability features and observability.

4.2.1Configuring managed databases

In Cloud SQL, raise availability with an HA configuration (auto-failover to a standby in another zone) and distribute read load via read replicas. To scale globally, Spanner scales by adding nodes. For storage, Cloud Storage lifecycle rules move/delete old data to cheaper classes, and uniform bucket-level access keeps permissions simple and safe. Map "scale reads = read replicas" and "DB that tolerates zone failure = Cloud SQL HA."

4.2.2Operations, monitoring, and reliability

After launch, observe with Cloud Monitoring (metrics, dashboards, alerts) and Cloud Logging (log collection/search). Manage reliability via SLOs and error budgets, throttling releases when nearing the limit. Use Cloud Trace (distributed tracing) to track issues. Map "metric monitoring/alerts = Cloud Monitoring," "log investigation = Cloud Logging," and "reliability targets = SLOs/error budgets."

Exam point

Common: requirement → means. E.g., "distribute read load" = read replicas; "DB resilient to zone failure" = Cloud SQL HA; "auto-cheapen old data" = Cloud Storage lifecycle; "alert on metrics" = Cloud Monitoring alerts; "investigate via logs" = Cloud Logging; "quantify reliability" = SLOs/error budgets.

Warning

Watch the mix-ups: (1) HA config (availability) and read replicas (read scaling) have different purposes. (2) Cloud Monitoring (metrics) and Cloud Logging (logs) have different roles. (3) An SLO is a user-facing target, not an internal metric itself.

Diagram of Cloud SQL HA/read replicas/Spanner, Cloud Storage lifecycle/uniform access, Cloud Monitoring/Logging/Trace, and SLOs/error budgets.
Underpinning reliability

4.2.3Section summary

  • Cloud SQL: HA for availability, read replicas for read scaling; global = Spanner
  • Cloud Storage: lifecycle + uniform access optimize operations
  • Operations = Cloud Monitoring (metrics/alerts)/Cloud Logging (logs); reliability via SLOs/error budgets

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Quick check

(just a quick review)

Q1. To make Cloud SQL resilient to zone failure with auto-failover, which configuration best fits?

Q2. To distribute database read load and improve performance, which best fits?

Q3. To monitor metrics and get notified on threshold breaches, what do you use?

Q4. To investigate failure causes by searching logs, which service best fits?

Q5. To manage service reliability with quantitative targets and throttle releases near the limit, which concept?

Q6. In Cloud Storage, to auto-move/delete old data to cheaper classes to cut cost, what do you use?

Check your understandingPractice questions for Chapter 4: Configuring and operating compute and data

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