Getting Started with Compute Engine Virtual Machines

Virtual machines are the fundamental building blocks of cloud infrastructure, but deploying them efficiently requires a solid understanding of cloud resources. This course guides you through the essentials of provisioning, configuring, and managing virtual compute instances on Cloud Platform. By reading this text-only course and working through the practical written scenarios, you will gain the confidence to deploy and scale virtual machines while balancing cost, performance, and security. You will learn to: Understand foundational cloud virtualization concepts and machine families; Create and configure virtual machine instances using the web console; Manage instances programmatically using the gcloud command-line interface; Configure persistent disks, metadata startup scripts, and basic networking; Apply modern security practices using service accounts and access scopes; Monitor VM performance and resource utilization with cloud observability tools. The course begins with key terminology, basic concepts, and foundational definitions before moving into step-by-step configuration workflows. This text-based course is designed for beginner system administrators, developers, and cloud enthusiasts with no prior cloud experience required. Start building your cloud infrastructure skills today.