Cloud Storage Basics

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Lab Objective

In this lab, you'll learn how to create a Cloud Storage bucket in Google Cloud Platform and upload files to it. Cloud Storage buckets are containers for storing objects (files) in the cloud with high durability and availability.

Requirements to Pass This Lab

Before You Begin

Step 0: Authentication

How this works: You need a Google account that uses the same email address as your GCP Study Hub account. When you sign into that Google account, the system will be able to grant you temporary access to a GCP project when you start the lab.

Click the button below to start your lab:

Start Lab

Instructions

Step 1: Open Google Cloud Console

Once your lab starts, use the "Open GCP Console" button from the lab portal to open the Google Cloud Console with your temporary lab project already selected.

Step 2: Navigate to Cloud Storage

  1. In the left navigation menu, click on the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines)
  2. Scroll down and find Cloud Storage
  3. Click on Buckets

Alternatively, you can search for "Cloud Storage" in the search bar at the top.

Step 3: Download Sample File

First, download the sample text file to your computer that you'll upload to your bucket.

  1. Click the button below to download the sample file (1 KB):
Download Sample File

Note: The file will be saved to your Downloads folder. Remember where it's located - you'll need it in Step 8!

Step 4: Create a New Bucket

  1. Click the CREATE button at the top of the page
  2. You'll see a form with several configuration options

Step 5: Configure Your Bucket Name

  1. Enter a name that starts with: gcp-lab-bucket
  2. You can add a unique suffix, for example: gcp-lab-bucket-12345
  3. Bucket names must be globally unique across all of Google Cloud
  4. If you get an error that the name is taken, add more unique characters to the end

Step 6: Choose Location Settings

  1. Select Region for location type
  2. Choose us-central1 (Iowa) from the dropdown

The us-central1 region is required for this lab due to an organization policy that restricts resources to specific regions for cost and compliance purposes.

Step 7: Complete Bucket Creation

  1. For storage class, leave as Standard (default)
  2. For access control, leave the default settings
  3. Skip the optional protection tools for now
  4. Review your settings:
    • Name starts with gcp-lab-bucket
    • Location is us-central1
  5. Click CREATE at the bottom of the form
  6. Wait a few seconds for the bucket to be created

Step 8: Upload the Sample File to Your Bucket

  1. After your bucket is created, click on the bucket name to open it
  2. Click the UPLOAD FILES button
  3. Navigate to your Downloads folder and select the sample_upload_file.txt file you downloaded in Step 3
  4. Wait for the upload to complete
  5. You should see sample_upload_file.txt listed in the bucket

Tip: You can also drag and drop the file directly into the browser window to upload it.

Validate Your Work

Get Your Completion Token

Click the button below to open the lab checker in a new window. Sign in with Google to verify your work and get your completion token.

Open Lab Checker

Submit Your Token

Paste your token below and click Validate. If valid, a button will appear to mark the lesson complete.


            
            
        

What You Learned

Troubleshooting

Validation Fails

If your validation fails, check that: