GCP Console walkthrough - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

The GCP Console is a web interface that helps you manage your Google Cloud resources easily. It solves the problem of managing cloud services without needing to use complex commands.

When you want to create a new virtual machine without using command line tools

When you need to check the status of your cloud resources quickly

When you want to monitor usage and billing information in one place

When you want to configure access permissions for your team members

When you want to deploy a simple app using Google Cloud services with guided steps

Commands

This command opens a browser window to log in to your Google account and authenticate your CLI session with GCP.

Terminal

gcloud auth login

Expected Output

Go to the following link in your browser:

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?...

You are now logged in as [[e-mail]].

This command lists all the Google Cloud projects you have access to, helping you choose which project to work on.

Terminal

gcloud projects list

Expected Output

PROJECT_ID           NAME              PROJECT_NUMBER

my-sample-project    Sample Project    123456789012

This command shows all the virtual machine instances running in your current project, so you can see what resources are active.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances list

Expected Output

NAME           ZONE           MACHINE_TYPE   PREEMPTIBLE  INTERNAL_IP  EXTERNAL_IP     STATUS

example-vm     us-central1-a  e2-medium     false        10.128.0.2   34.68.123.45    RUNNING

This command creates a new virtual machine named example-vm in the specified zone with a medium machine type.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances create example-vm --zone=us-central1-a --machine-type=e2-medium

Expected Output

Created [https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-sample-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm].

NAME       ZONE           MACHINE_TYPE  PREEMPTIBLE  INTERNAL_IP  EXTERNAL_IP  STATUS

example-vm us-central1-a  e2-medium    false        10.128.0.3   34.68.123.46 RUNNING

→

--zone - Specifies the location where the VM will run

→

--machine-type - Defines the size and power of the VM

This command deletes the example-vm virtual machine without asking for confirmation, cleaning up resources you no longer need.

Terminal

gcloud compute instances delete example-vm --zone=us-central1-a --quiet

Expected Output

Deleted [https://www.googleapis.com/compute/v1/projects/my-sample-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances/example-vm].

→

--quiet - Skips confirmation prompt to delete immediately

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else, remember: the GCP Console and gcloud CLI let you manage cloud resources easily without complex setup.

Common Mistakes

Trying to create a VM without specifying the zone

The command fails because GCP needs to know where to place the VM physically.

Always include the --zone flag with a valid zone like us-central1-a.

Not logging in before running gcloud commands

Commands fail because you are not authenticated to access your cloud resources.

Run 'gcloud auth login' first to authenticate your session.

Deleting a VM without the --quiet flag and expecting no prompt

The command pauses asking for confirmation, which can interrupt scripts.

Use --quiet to skip confirmation when you want automated deletion.

Summary

Use 'gcloud auth login' to authenticate your Google Cloud session.

List projects and resources with 'gcloud projects list' and 'gcloud compute instances list'.

Create and delete virtual machines with 'gcloud compute instances create' and 'gcloud compute instances delete'.