Hands On Google Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner: Deployment, Administration and Use Cases with Python

Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner solve different database problems, and choosing between them calls for more than a glance at product names. This hands-on guide connects the concepts to the work of planning, provisioning, administering, and using Google Cloud’s relational database services, with Python examples to make the application connection concrete.

Navin Sabharwal and Shakuntala Gupta Edward start with Google Cloud Platform fundamentals, then build toward practical work with Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner. The result is a focused technical read for people designing or developing cloud-based database applications.

Start with the foundations, then build

The opening material covers GCP access, projects, billing, Cloud Console, Cloud Shell, and the Cloud SDK. From there, the book introduces relational database concepts and moves into Cloud SQL, including instance provisioning, sample data, queries, and a Python development setup.

Cloud SQL in day-to-day practice

Dedicated chapters explore working with and administering Cloud SQL. Alongside operational topics, the coverage includes authorization and security. This progression helps readers see the database not just as an instance to create, but as a service that must be configured and managed within a cloud project.

Understand Cloud Spanner’s model

The Cloud Spanner sections explain its concepts and transaction behavior before walking through instance provisioning and connection. The book also considers distributed transactions, giving readers a conceptual frame for the practical setup material that follows.

Python examples and design guidance

Python-based examples demonstrate connecting applications to Cloud SQL and Cloud Spanner. The closing best-practices chapter turns to choices that matter during system design, including resource planning, migration considerations, referential integrity, co-located joins, primary keys, and index directives.

Who will find it useful?

The book is aimed at application and database architects, software developers, data engineers, and cloud architects who want a practical introduction to these GCP database services. Readers can use it to orient themselves to the platforms and their design considerations; for present-day implementation details, pair its 2019–2020 material with current Google Cloud documentation.