> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://notes.vvkhash.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # GCP and Azure Quick Reference for Cloud Practitioners > Practical gcloud and az CLI notes, key service overviews, auth setup, and a cross-cloud comparison table for GCP and Azure practitioners. While AWS is my primary cloud platform, a good portion of consulting and cross-team work involves GCP and Azure environments. These notes are a practitioner-level reference — enough to get oriented, run essential CLI commands, and map familiar AWS concepts to their GCP and Azure equivalents without having to dig through full documentation every time. *** ## Authentication Setup Getting auth right is always the first step on a new machine or project. ```bash theme={null} # macOS via Homebrew brew install --cask google-cloud-sdk # Linux (interactive installer) curl https://sdk.cloud.google.com | bash exec -l $SHELL ``` ```bash theme={null} # Opens a browser for OAuth2 login gcloud auth login # Verify active account gcloud auth list ``` ```bash theme={null} gcloud config set project my-project-id gcloud config set compute/region us-central1 gcloud config set compute/zone us-central1-a # View full config gcloud config list ``` ```bash theme={null} # Sets credentials used by SDKs and Terraform google provider gcloud auth application-default login # Or point to a service account key file export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/sa-key.json" ``` ```bash theme={null} gcloud auth activate-service-account \ --key-file=/path/to/sa-key.json # Or use Workload Identity Federation (keyless, preferred) # Configure in IAM → Workload Identity Pools ``` Prefer **Workload Identity Federation** over service account key files for CI/CD pipelines. It eliminates long-lived credentials and works with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and other OIDC-capable providers. ```bash theme={null} # macOS brew install azure-cli # Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash ``` ```bash theme={null} # Opens browser for Microsoft account login az login # Device code login (headless servers) az login --use-device-code ``` ```bash theme={null} # List available subscriptions az account list --output table # Set the active subscription az account set --subscription "My Subscription Name" # or by ID az account set --subscription 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 # Confirm active context az account show ``` ```bash theme={null} # Create a service principal with Contributor role az ad sp create-for-rbac \ --name "my-ci-sp" \ --role Contributor \ --scopes /subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 # Login as a service principal az login \ --service-principal \ --username \ --password \ --tenant ``` For Azure, **Managed Identities** are the equivalent of AWS IAM roles — assign them to VMs, Functions, and AKS pods to avoid managing credentials entirely. *** ## GCP — Key Services and CLI ```bash theme={null} # List all VM instances across all zones gcloud compute instances list # Create a VM gcloud compute instances create web-server-01 \ --machine-type=e2-medium \ --image-family=debian-12 \ --image-project=debian-cloud \ --zone=us-central1-a \ --tags=http-server,https-server # SSH into a VM (uses OS Login or project metadata SSH keys) gcloud compute ssh web-server-01 --zone=us-central1-a # Stop / start / delete gcloud compute instances stop web-server-01 --zone=us-central1-a gcloud compute instances start web-server-01 --zone=us-central1-a gcloud compute instances delete web-server-01 --zone=us-central1-a # Create a snapshot of a disk gcloud compute disks snapshot web-server-01 \ --snapshot-names=web-server-snap-$(date +%Y%m%d) \ --zone=us-central1-a ``` ```bash theme={null} # List buckets gsutil ls # or gcloud storage buckets list # Create a bucket gsutil mb -p my-project-id -l us-central1 gs://my-bucket-name # Copy files gsutil cp ./file.txt gs://my-bucket-name/ gsutil cp gs://my-bucket-name/file.txt . # Sync directory gsutil -m rsync -r ./dist gs://my-static-site # Make a single object public gsutil acl ch -u AllUsers:R gs://my-bucket-name/public-file.html # List objects with sizes gsutil ls -lh gs://my-bucket-name/ # Set lifecycle policy (JSON file) gsutil lifecycle set lifecycle.json gs://my-bucket-name ``` ```json lifecycle.json theme={null} { "rule": [ { "action": {"type": "SetStorageClass", "storageClass": "NEARLINE"}, "condition": {"age": 30} }, { "action": {"type": "Delete"}, "condition": {"age": 365} } ] } ``` ```bash theme={null} # List clusters gcloud container clusters list # Create a cluster (Autopilot — recommended for most use cases) gcloud container clusters create-auto my-cluster \ --region=us-central1 # Create a Standard cluster gcloud container clusters create my-cluster \ --num-nodes=3 \ --machine-type=e2-standard-2 \ --region=us-central1 # Get credentials (populates ~/.kube/config) gcloud container clusters get-credentials my-cluster \ --region=us-central1 # Upgrade the control plane gcloud container clusters upgrade my-cluster \ --master --cluster-version=1.29 \ --region=us-central1 # Resize a node pool gcloud container clusters resize my-cluster \ --node-pool=default-pool \ --num-nodes=5 \ --region=us-central1 ``` ```bash theme={null} # Deploy a Cloud Function (Gen 2, HTTP trigger) gcloud functions deploy my-function \ --gen2 \ --runtime=python311 \ --region=us-central1 \ --source=. \ --entry-point=handle_request \ --trigger-http \ --allow-unauthenticated # Deploy with a Pub/Sub trigger gcloud functions deploy process-message \ --gen2 \ --runtime=nodejs20 \ --region=us-central1 \ --source=. \ --entry-point=processMessage \ --trigger-topic=my-topic # List functions gcloud functions list --region=us-central1 # View logs gcloud functions logs read my-function \ --region=us-central1 --limit=50 # Delete a function gcloud functions delete my-function --region=us-central1 ``` *** ## Azure — Key Services and CLI ```bash theme={null} # List all VMs az vm list --output table # Create a VM az vm create \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name web-server-01 \ --image Ubuntu2204 \ --size Standard_B2s \ --admin-username azureuser \ --generate-ssh-keys \ --tags Env=prod Owner=platform-team # Open port 80 az vm open-port --port 80 \ --resource-group my-rg --name web-server-01 # Start / stop / deallocate (stop billing for compute) az vm start --resource-group my-rg --name web-server-01 az vm stop --resource-group my-rg --name web-server-01 az vm deallocate --resource-group my-rg --name web-server-01 # SSH using native SSH (az CLI ≥ 2.47) az ssh vm --resource-group my-rg --name web-server-01 ``` ```bash theme={null} # Create a storage account az storage account create \ --name mystorageaccount \ --resource-group my-rg \ --location eastus \ --sku Standard_LRS # Get connection string az storage account show-connection-string \ --name mystorageaccount \ --resource-group my-rg \ --output tsv # Create a container (like an S3 bucket "folder") az storage container create \ --name my-container \ --account-name mystorageaccount # Upload a file az storage blob upload \ --account-name mystorageaccount \ --container-name my-container \ --name report.pdf \ --file ./report.pdf # List blobs az storage blob list \ --account-name mystorageaccount \ --container-name my-container \ --output table # Generate a SAS token (1-hour expiry) az storage blob generate-sas \ --account-name mystorageaccount \ --container-name my-container \ --name report.pdf \ --permissions r \ --expiry $(date -u -d '1 hour' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%MZ) ``` ```bash theme={null} # List clusters az aks list --output table # Create a cluster az aks create \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-aks-cluster \ --node-count 3 \ --node-vm-size Standard_D2s_v3 \ --enable-managed-identity \ --generate-ssh-keys # Get credentials (merges into ~/.kube/config) az aks get-credentials \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-aks-cluster # Scale a node pool az aks scale \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-aks-cluster \ --node-count 5 \ --nodepool-name nodepool1 # Upgrade cluster version az aks upgrade \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-aks-cluster \ --kubernetes-version 1.29.0 # Enable the cluster autoscaler az aks update \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-aks-cluster \ --enable-cluster-autoscaler \ --min-count 2 --max-count 10 ``` ```bash theme={null} # Create a Function App (consumption plan) az functionapp create \ --resource-group my-rg \ --consumption-plan-location eastus \ --runtime python \ --runtime-version 3.11 \ --functions-version 4 \ --name my-function-app \ --storage-account mystorageaccount # Deploy using the Azure Functions Core Tools func azure functionapp publish my-function-app # List function apps az functionapp list --output table # Stream live logs az webapp log tail \ --resource-group my-rg \ --name my-function-app ``` *** ## Cross-Cloud Service Comparison | Category | AWS | GCP | Azure | | -------------------------- | --------------- | -------------------------- | --------------------------------- | | **Virtual Machines** | EC2 | Compute Engine | Virtual Machines | | **Managed Kubernetes** | EKS | GKE | AKS | | **Serverless Functions** | Lambda | Cloud Functions | Azure Functions | | **Object Storage** | S3 | Cloud Storage (GCS) | Blob Storage | | **Block Storage** | EBS | Persistent Disk | Managed Disks | | **Managed PostgreSQL** | RDS / Aurora | Cloud SQL / AlloyDB | Azure Database for PostgreSQL | | **Container Registry** | ECR | Artifact Registry | Azure Container Registry (ACR) | | **DNS** | Route 53 | Cloud DNS | Azure DNS | | **CDN** | CloudFront | Cloud CDN | Azure Front Door / CDN | | **IAM / Identity** | IAM | Cloud IAM | Azure Active Directory / Entra ID | | **Secret Management** | Secrets Manager | Secret Manager | Azure Key Vault | | **Infrastructure as Code** | CloudFormation | Cloud Deployment Manager | Bicep / ARM Templates | | **Monitoring / Logging** | CloudWatch | Cloud Monitoring + Logging | Azure Monitor + Log Analytics | | **Load Balancer (L7)** | ALB | Cloud Load Balancing | Application Gateway | | **VPN / Private Network** | VPC | VPC | Virtual Network (VNet) | | **CI/CD** | CodePipeline | Cloud Build | Azure DevOps / GitHub Actions | | **Event Bus** | EventBridge | Eventarc / Pub/Sub | Event Grid | The Terraform providers for all three clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure) are mature and widely used. Writing Terraform is often the fastest path to provisioning resources consistently across clouds — see the [Terraform notes](cloud/terraform) for patterns that apply to all three. *** ## Related Notes Deep-dive CLI commands, IAM practices, S3 operations, and EC2 management for AWS. IaC patterns that work across AWS, GCP, and Azure with a unified workflow. Container orchestration patterns applicable to EKS, GKE, and AKS clusters. Cloud cost optimization strategies and tooling for multi-cloud environments.