Revision management in GCP - Commands & Configuration

Introduction

Revision management helps you keep track of changes in your cloud resources or applications. It lets you save versions so you can go back if something breaks or compare what changed over time.

When you deploy a new version of your app and want to keep the old one safe in case you need to revert.

When you update infrastructure settings and want to track what changed between deployments.

When multiple team members work on the same cloud project and need to see who changed what and when.

When you want to audit changes for security or compliance reasons.

When you want to test new features without affecting the current live version.

Commands

This command lists all deployed versions of your Google App Engine app so you can see the current and past revisions.

Terminal

gcloud app versions list

Expected Output

SERVICE   VERSION   TRAFFIC_SPLIT   LAST_DEPLOYED              SERVING_STATUS

default   v1        0.00           2024-06-01T12:00:00Z       SERVING

default   v2        1.00           2024-06-02T15:30:00Z       SERVING

This command switches traffic back to version v1, effectively rolling back to a previous revision of your app.

Terminal

gcloud app versions migrate v1

Expected Output

Migrating all traffic to version [v1]...done.

You can now access your app at https://PROJECT_ID.REGION_ID.r.appspot.com

This command deletes version v2 of your app to clean up old revisions you no longer need.

Terminal

gcloud app versions delete v2 --quiet

Expected Output

Deleting version [v2]...done.

→

--quiet - Skip confirmation prompt to delete version

Key Concept

If you remember nothing else from this pattern, remember: managing app versions lets you safely update, test, and roll back your cloud app.

Common Mistakes

Deleting a version without migrating traffic away from it first

This can cause downtime because the app might still be serving traffic from the deleted version.

Always migrate traffic to a stable version before deleting an old one.

Not listing versions before migrating or deleting

You might try to migrate or delete a version that does not exist or is misspelled.

Run 'gcloud app versions list' first to confirm available versions.

Summary

Use 'gcloud app versions list' to see all deployed app revisions.

Use 'gcloud app versions migrate VERSION' to switch traffic to a specific version.

Use 'gcloud app versions delete VERSION' to remove old versions after migrating traffic.

Practice

1. What is the main purpose of revision management in Google Cloud services?

easy

A. To track and control different versions of your cloud services

B. To increase the storage capacity of your cloud database

C. To monitor network traffic between services

D. To automatically scale the number of virtual machines

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand revision management concept

   Revision management is about keeping track of different versions of your cloud services.

2. Step 2: Identify the main goal

   The main goal is to control versions for safe updates and rollbacks.

3. Final Answer:

   To track and control different versions of your cloud services -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Revision management = version control [OK]

Hint: Revision management means version control of services [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing revision management with scaling
• Thinking it manages storage or network
• Mixing it with monitoring tools

2. Which gcloud command is used to list all revisions of a Cloud Run service named my-service?

easy

A. gcloud run revisions list --service=my-service

B. gcloud run services list --revisions=my-service

C. gcloud revisions describe my-service

D. gcloud run deploy revisions --service=my-service

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify correct command structure

   The command to list revisions uses gcloud run revisions list with the service flag.

2. Step 2: Match service name parameter

   Using --service=my-service correctly specifies the service.

3. Final Answer:

   gcloud run revisions list --service=my-service -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   List revisions = gcloud run revisions list --service [OK]

Hint: List revisions with 'gcloud run revisions list --service' [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using 'services list' instead of 'revisions list'
• Mixing 'describe' with listing
• Wrong command order or flags

3. Given the following commands, what will be the output of gcloud run revisions list --service=my-app after deploying twice?

gcloud run deploy my-app --image=image:v1 --no-traffic
gcloud run deploy my-app --image=image:v2 --no-traffic

medium

A. One revision with image:v2

B. No revisions because traffic is zero

C. Two revisions: one with image:v1 and one with image:v2

D. Error because --no-traffic disables revisions

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand deployment with --no-traffic

   Deploying with --no-traffic creates a new revision but does not route traffic to it.

2. Step 2: Analyze multiple deployments

   Deploying twice with different images creates two separate revisions.

3. Final Answer:

   Two revisions: one with image:v1 and one with image:v2 -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   Each deploy creates a revision even with no traffic [OK]

Hint: Each deploy creates a revision, traffic doesn't affect revision count [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming no traffic means no revision
• Thinking only latest revision exists
• Confusing traffic routing with revision creation

4. You deployed a new revision but it is not receiving traffic. Which command fixes this by routing 100% traffic to the latest revision named my-app-00002?

medium

A. gcloud run revisions set-traffic my-app-00002 --percent=100

B. gcloud run services update-traffic my-app --to-revisions my-app-00002=100

C. gcloud run services update my-app --traffic my-app-00002=100

D. gcloud run services update-traffic my-app --to-revision my-app-00002=100

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify correct command to update traffic

   The command to update traffic routing is gcloud run services update-traffic.

2. Step 2: Use correct syntax for traffic split

   The syntax --to-revisions my-app-00002=100 routes 100% traffic to that revision.

3. Final Answer:

   gcloud run services update-traffic my-app --to-revisions my-app-00002=100 -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   Update traffic with 'services update-traffic' and '--to-revisions' [OK]

Hint: Use 'gcloud run services update-traffic' with '--to-revisions' [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using 'update' instead of 'update-traffic'
• Wrong flag names like '--percent'
• Trying to set traffic on revision directly

5. You want to roll back your Cloud Run service web-app to a previous revision web-app-00003 safely without downtime. Which sequence of commands achieves this?

hard

A. gcloud run deploy web-app --image=web-app-00003

B. gcloud run services update web-app --revision web-app-00003

C. gcloud run revisions delete web-app-00004 && gcloud run services update-traffic web-app --to-revisions web-app-00003=100

D. gcloud run services update-traffic web-app --to-revisions web-app-00003=100

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand rollback via traffic routing

   Rolling back means routing traffic back to an existing previous revision.

2. Step 2: Use traffic update command

   Use gcloud run services update-traffic to send 100% traffic to the old revision.

3. Step 3: Avoid deleting revisions or redeploying

   Deleting or redeploying is unnecessary and may cause downtime.

4. Final Answer:

   gcloud run services update-traffic web-app --to-revisions web-app-00003=100 -> Option D

5. Quick Check:

   Rollback by routing traffic to old revision [OK]

Hint: Rollback by updating traffic to old revision, no redeploy needed [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Trying to redeploy old revision as image
• Deleting newer revisions unnecessarily
• Using wrong commands to update revision