References - Section 1 - Section 2 - Section 3 - Section 4 - Section 5 - Section 6 - Combined
I created some diagrams & tables for last minute certification prep and wanted to share them.
This guide covers detail from each subsection with explanatory diagrams and decisions trees to help you master key trade-offs and references for the exam.
Enjoy!
Section 1 – Designing Cloud Solution Architectures
- Exam Weight: 28%
- Post Word Count: 1733
Design scalable, reliable, and secure architectures. Learn how to map business and technical requirements to GCP services.
Key References:
- GCP Architecture Center
- Cost Optimization Techniques
- GCP Networking Overview
- Cloud Migration Center
- Cloud Run vs Cloud Functions 1
- BigQuery Best Practices
- Spanner Design Guide
- GCP PCA Study Guide
- GCP Whitepapers and Reference Architectures
Section 2 – Managing and Provisioning Infrastructure
- Exam Weight: 18%
- Post Word Count: 943
Manage infrastructure with Terraform, Infrastructure Manager, and GCP-native tools. Choose compute/storage/network resources to meet SLAs.
Key References:
- Google Cloud Architecture Framework
- GCP Networking Overview
- Interconnect, Cloud VPN
- VPC Private Google Access, VPC SC
- Cloud Armor
- Cloud Storage Classes & Lifecycle
- Firestore, Cloud SQL, BigQuery, Bigtable, Spanner, Memorystore
- Compute Engine: Machine Types, Preemptible VMs
- Cloud Build, Cloud Deploy
- Terraform for GCP
- Infrastructure Manager 2
Section 3 – Designing for Security and Compliance
- Exam Weight: 15%
- Post Word Count: 1579
Design secure architectures with IAM, data protection, auditability, and compliance built-in.
Key References:
- Cloud IAM Overview, Google Cloud Identity
- VPC SC, Cloud Audit Logs
- Secret Manager, DLP, Confidential Computing
- IAP, Context-Aware Access
- Cloud Armor, Security Command Center
- Shared Responsibility Model
- Encryption at Rest, Compliance Offerings
- Google’s PCA Exam Guide
- Cloud Skills Boost Training
Section 4 – Analyzing and Optimizing Cloud Solution Performance
- Exam Weight: 13%
- Post Word Count: 1699
Design for high availability, cost efficiency, performance, and scalability. Use GCP’s observability tools and reliability practices.
Key References:
- Google SRE Book
- GCP Pricing Guide
- Cloud Monitoring, Build, Deploy
- GCP Architecture Center
- GCP Solutions Library
- GCP Cost Controls & Optimization
- DevOps Capabilities
Section 5 – Managing Implementations
- Exam Weight: 10%
- Post Word Count: 588
Manage deployments with CI/CD, testing, gated releases, versioning, and automation pipelines.
Key References:
- Cloud Build Overview
- Migrate to Virtual Machines
- Migrate to Containers
- Database Migration Service
- API Gateway
- Cloud Shell & Google Cloud CLI
- Storage Transfer Service
- Cloud Endpoints & OpenAPI
- Terraform
- Secure service-to-service auth (IAM service agents, workload identity federation)
Section 6 – Ensuring Solution and Operations Reliability
- Exam Weight: 16%
- Post Word Count: 626
Design for operational excellence: observability, incident response, error budgets, progressive delivery, and monitoring.
Key References:
- Cloud Monitoring, Logging, Trace, Profiler, Error Reporting
- Artifact Registry, Cloud Build, Deploy
- Uptime Checks, SLOs
- Google SRE Workbook
- SRE Incident Management, GCP Data incident response process
- LaunchDarkly on Progressive Delivery
Case Studies
If you’re concerned about the length of the exam, you can save some time on exam day reading the case studies ahead of time.
📚 Reference List
Below is a master list of all referenced sources across sections:
GCP Official Docs & Services
- GCP Pricing Calculator
https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator - GCP Architecure Center
https://cloud.google.com/architecture - GCP Well Architected Framework
https://cloud.google.com/architecture/framework - GCP Solutions Library
https://cloud.google.com/solutions - GCP Migration Center
https://cloud.google.com/migration-center/docs/ - Migrate to Virtual Machines
https://cloud.google.com/migrate/virtual-machines/docs - Migrate to Containers
https://cloud.google.com/migrate/containers/docs - Database Migration Service
https://cloud.google.com/database-migration/docs/overview - GCP Reference Architectures
https://cloud.google.com/architecture/all-reference-architectures - GCP Whitepapers
https://cloud.google.com/whitepapers - GCP Networking Overview
https://cloud.google.com/networking - VPC Service Controls
https://cloud.google.com/vpc-service-controls - Private Google Access
https://cloud.google.com/vpc/docs/private-google-access - Interconnect
https://cloud.google.com/interconnect - Cloud VPN
https://cloud.google.com/network-connectivity/docs/vpn - Google Cloud Armor
https://cloud.google.com/armor - Storage Classes
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/storage-classes - Storage Lifecycle
https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/lifecycle - Cloud Firestore
https://cloud.google.com/firestore - Cloud SQL
https://cloud.google.com/sql - BigQuery
https://cloud.google.com/bigquery - BigQuery Best Practices
https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/best-practices - Bigtable
https://cloud.google.com/bigtable - Cloud Spanner
https://cloud.google.com/spanner - Cloud Spanner Schema Design
https://cloud.google.com/spanner/docs/schema-design - Cloud Memorystore
https://cloud.google.com/memorystore - Compute Engine Machine Types
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/machine-types - Compute Engine Preemptible VM Instances
https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/instances/preemptible - Cloud Build
https://cloud.google.com/build - Cloud Build Overview
https://cloud.google.com/build/docs/overview - Cloud Deploy
https://cloud.google.com/deploy - Terraform Provider for Google Cloud
https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/latest/docs - Cloud IAM Overview
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/overview - Cloud IAM Service Agents
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/service-agents - Cloud IAM Workload Identity Federation
https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/workload-identity-federation - Cloud Identity
https://cloud.google.com/identity - Cloud Audit Logging
https://cloud.google.com/logging/docs/audit - Secret Manager
https://cloud.google.com/secret-manager - Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
https://cloud.google.com/dlp - Confidential Computing
https://cloud.google.com/confidential-computing - Identity-Aware Proxy (IAP)
https://cloud.google.com/iap - Access Context Manager
https://cloud.google.com/access-context-manager - Security Command Center
https://cloud.google.com/security-command-center - Encryption at Rest
https://cloud.google.com/security/encryption-at-rest - Security Compliance Offerings
https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/offerings - Shared Responsibility Model
https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/shared-responsibility-model - Cloud Monitoring
https://cloud.google.com/monitoring - Cloud Logging
https://cloud.google.com/logging - Cloud Trace
https://cloud.google.com/trace - Cloud Profiler
https://cloud.google.com/profiler - Artifact Registry
https://cloud.google.com/artifact-registry - Error Reporting
https://cloud.google.com/error-reporting - Uptime Checks
https://cloud.google.com/monitoring/uptime-checks - Cloud Shell Docs
https://cloud.google.com/shell/docs - gcloud SDK
https://cloud.google.com/sdk/gcloud - Storage Transfer Service
https://cloud.google.com/storage-transfer/docs - Endpoints OpenAPI
https://cloud.google.com/endpoints/docs/openapi - API Gateway
https://cloud.google.com/api-gateway/docs - Cloud Run vs Cloud Functions
https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/serverless/cloud-run-vs-cloud-functions-for-serverless
Google Study Resources
- GCP PCA Exam Guide https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/professional_cloud_architect_exam_guide_english.pdf
- Google Cloud Skills Boost https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/paths/12
Google DevOps/SRE
- SRE Book
https://sre.google/sre-book/table-of-contents/ - SRE Workbook
https://sre.google/workbook/table-of-contents/ - DevOps Capabilities
https://cloud.google.com/architecture/devops - Cost & Usage Management
https://cloud.google.com/docs/costs-usage
External Resources
- Progressive Delivery
https://launchdarkly.com/blog/what-is-progressive-delivery-all-about/ - SRE Incident Management Guide
https://sre.google/resources/practices-and-processes/incident-management-guide/ - Data incident response process
https://cloud.google.com/docs/security/incident-response
References - Section 1 - Section 2 - Section 3 - Section 4 - Section 5 - Section 6 - Combined