Although the research and education community is largely multi-cloud, it doesn’t mean that all platforms are resourced equally. Some organizations fully support Google Cloud, some that focus on other cloud platforms tolerate its use, and others actively block it because they don’t have the staff and/or skills to set it up.
Internet2 is working with Google to create a GCP Admin Basic Training course. We’ve just started working with the course developer and trainer from ROI Training that Google has asked to do this. Yesterday he joined the monthly NET+ GCP Tech Share to hear from a group of experienced GCP admins from the R&E community. I’m happy to say, you guys did not hold back!
The discussion covered everything from the basics like the separation of GWE and GCP management in many institutions, to down-in-the-weeds topics like best practices around API usage and org policies. We discussed how to best deal with the notifications admins get and useful esoterica like the Essential Contacts list. Naturally, we dealt with the biggies, like understanding billing IDs and folder structure, the “joys” of abandoned projects, dealing with research and teaching credits, and, of course, the difference between Google Drive storage and Google Cloud Storage.
Let’s face it, there is a lot of stuff that makes GCP administration unique. Sadly, I’ve never been able to find lessons or learning paths to cover the administration of Google Cloud, including in the vast Google Skills Boost library. They have a Professional Google Workspace Administrator certification, but not Google Cloud. We are going to take a shot at correcting that.
It was clear from the discussion that there is plenty of material here, not just for a basic course, but an advanced one as well. The plan is to run this as a pre-conference tutorial session at the 2024 Technology Exchange in Boston in December. If your institution is just starting out with Google Cloud or you just want to have a deeper bench so you can take a holiday and be left in peace on the beach, you should send staff to this training.
If you have additional topics you think should be covered in a Google Cloud Admin training, basic or advanced, please post them to the NET+ GCP tech list netplus-gcp-campus-technical@internet2.edu or send them to me bflynn@internet2.edu.