Google Cloud Computing Foundations: Infrastructure in Google Cloud

A cloud application needs somewhere to keep its data, a way for services to communicate, and rules that govern access. Google’s Google Cloud Computing Foundations: Infrastructure in Google Cloud brings those decisions together in a beginner course. It introduces the infrastructure choices behind an application without treating every project as a reason to use the same database or service.

This is the second course in Google’s four-part Cloud Computing Foundations sequence. Its curriculum moves from storage into managed application services and cloud security, helping you connect individual product names with the jobs they perform. It is a useful direction for learners who understand the basic idea of cloud computing and want a clearer picture of what supports a working application.

Course at a glance

What you’ll learn

• Distinguish structured and unstructured data when considering storage choices.
• Explore object storage alongside managed SQL and NoSQL services.
• Understand the purpose of APIs and the role of API management.
• Recognize how messaging services fit into an application.
• Explain the shared security model and the purpose of encryption.
• Separate authentication from authorization and connect access decisions with IAM.

Skills you’ll gain

• Cloud storage literacy
• Database option comparison
• API concepts
• Messaging fundamentals
• IAM awareness
• Shared security responsibility

Choose infrastructure around the data

The storage section introduces Cloud Storage and several managed database options, including Cloud SQL, Spanner, AlloyDB, Firestore, and Bigtable. The important learning task is to understand the distinction between the kinds of data and workloads being discussed. Memorizing a list of names is less useful than being able to explain why two storage options might serve different purposes.

A helpful study exercise is to describe the information used by a fictional booking application: customer records, uploaded images, and events produced when a reservation changes. Keep each description short and avoid selecting a service immediately. As the course introduces storage and messaging concepts, add questions about structure, access, and communication beside those descriptions.

Connect application services with access decisions

The next part covers APIs, Cloud Endpoints, Apigee, and Pub/Sub. These topics broaden the picture from storing data to connecting the parts of an application. The final teaching section introduces security responsibilities, encryption, authentication, and authorization, with IAM as a central topic.

Return to your application sketch and identify who needs to interact with each part: a customer, an application component, or an administrator. Write the required action beside each actor. This turns access control into a question about responsibilities rather than a collection of settings, and gives you a useful framework for following the security material.

Who is this course for?

Consider it if you are beginning cloud study and want to understand the infrastructure terms that appear in technical conversations. It can help a developer, student, or technically curious colleague connect storage, application services, and access control within one system. The course is foundational; it is not a promise of database administration or production security expertise.

Google recommends taking the Cloud Computing Foundations courses in sequence, starting with Cloud Computing Fundamentals. After Infrastructure, the series continues into Networking and Security, followed by Data, ML, and AI. Use that order if you want a broader foundation rather than a single isolated introduction.

Study access and hands-on requirements

You can watch all 31 teaching videos and read the course document free with a Google Skills learner account. This study route requires no paid subscription, payment card, or trial. The six hosted labs have separate access conditions and may require credits or a subscription. Running cloud products independently can also involve costs, so check those conditions before launching a lab or deploying resources.

The curriculum includes practical activities involving storage, SQL, APIs, messaging, and identity controls. Studying the teaching material is separate from satisfying all formal completion requirements. No free badge, certificate, or professional certification is promised here. If you want to compare other learning options, explore the course library.

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