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Bigtable: Qwik Start - Command Line

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Bigtable: Qwik Start - Command Line

Lab 30 minutes universal_currency_alt 1 Credit show_chart Introductory
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GSP099

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Cloud Bigtable is Google's NoSQL Big Data database service. It's the same database that powers many core Google services, including Search, Analytics, Maps, and Gmail. Bigtable is designed to handle massive workloads at consistent low latency and high throughput, so it's a great choice for both operational and analytical applications, including IoT, user analytics, and financial data analysis.

In this lab you'll learn how to use the cbt command line to connect to a Cloud Bigtable instance, perform basic administrative tasks, and read and write data in a table.

Setup and requirements

Before you click the Start Lab button

Read these instructions. Labs are timed and you cannot pause them. The timer, which starts when you click Start Lab, shows how long Google Cloud resources will be made available to you.

This hands-on lab lets you do the lab activities yourself in a real cloud environment, not in a simulation or demo environment. It does so by giving you new, temporary credentials that you use to sign in and access Google Cloud for the duration of the lab.

To complete this lab, you need:

  • Access to a standard internet browser (Chrome browser recommended).
Note: Use an Incognito or private browser window to run this lab. This prevents any conflicts between your personal account and the Student account, which may cause extra charges incurred to your personal account.
  • Time to complete the lab---remember, once you start, you cannot pause a lab.
Note: If you already have your own personal Google Cloud account or project, do not use it for this lab to avoid extra charges to your account.

How to start your lab and sign in to the Google Cloud console

  1. Click the Start Lab button. If you need to pay for the lab, a pop-up opens for you to select your payment method. On the left is the Lab Details panel with the following:

    • The Open Google Cloud console button
    • Time remaining
    • The temporary credentials that you must use for this lab
    • Other information, if needed, to step through this lab
  2. Click Open Google Cloud console (or right-click and select Open Link in Incognito Window if you are running the Chrome browser).

    The lab spins up resources, and then opens another tab that shows the Sign in page.

    Tip: Arrange the tabs in separate windows, side-by-side.

    Note: If you see the Choose an account dialog, click Use Another Account.
  3. If necessary, copy the Username below and paste it into the Sign in dialog.

    {{{user_0.username | "Username"}}}

    You can also find the Username in the Lab Details panel.

  4. Click Next.

  5. Copy the Password below and paste it into the Welcome dialog.

    {{{user_0.password | "Password"}}}

    You can also find the Password in the Lab Details panel.

  6. Click Next.

    Important: You must use the credentials the lab provides you. Do not use your Google Cloud account credentials. Note: Using your own Google Cloud account for this lab may incur extra charges.
  7. Click through the subsequent pages:

    • Accept the terms and conditions.
    • Do not add recovery options or two-factor authentication (because this is a temporary account).
    • Do not sign up for free trials.

After a few moments, the Google Cloud console opens in this tab.

Note: To view a menu with a list of Google Cloud products and services, click the Navigation menu at the top-left. Navigation menu icon

Activate Cloud Shell

Cloud Shell is a virtual machine that is loaded with development tools. It offers a persistent 5GB home directory and runs on the Google Cloud. Cloud Shell provides command-line access to your Google Cloud resources.

  1. Click Activate Cloud Shell Activate Cloud Shell icon at the top of the Google Cloud console.

When you are connected, you are already authenticated, and the project is set to your Project_ID, . The output contains a line that declares the Project_ID for this session:

Your Cloud Platform project in this session is set to {{{project_0.project_id | "PROJECT_ID"}}}

gcloud is the command-line tool for Google Cloud. It comes pre-installed on Cloud Shell and supports tab-completion.

  1. (Optional) You can list the active account name with this command:
gcloud auth list
  1. Click Authorize.

Output:

ACTIVE: * ACCOUNT: {{{user_0.username | "ACCOUNT"}}} To set the active account, run: $ gcloud config set account `ACCOUNT`
  1. (Optional) You can list the project ID with this command:
gcloud config list project

Output:

[core] project = {{{project_0.project_id | "PROJECT_ID"}}} Note: For full documentation of gcloud, in Google Cloud, refer to the gcloud CLI overview guide.

Task 1. Create a Cloud Bigtable instance

  1. In the Cloud Console, go to Navigation menu (Navigation_menu), click on Bigtable in the Databases section, then click Create instance.

  2. Fill in the fields for your instance as follows:

Field Value
Instance name quickstart-instance
Instance ID quickstart-instance
Storage type SSD
Cluster ID quickstart-instance-c1
Region
Zone

The Create an instance page displaying the values in the Name your instance section

The Create an instance page displaying the values in the Select your storage type section

The Create an instance page displaying the values in the Configure your first cluster section

  1. Click Create to create the instance.

Task 2. Connect to your instance

  • In Cloud Shell, configure cbt to use your project and instance by modifying the .cbtrc file:
echo project = `gcloud config get-value project` > ~/.cbtrc echo instance = quickstart-instance >> ~/.cbtrc

Now you're ready to use the cbt command.

Click Check my progress to verify the objective.

Create a Cloud BigTable instance

Task 3. Read and write data

Cloud Bigtable stores data in tables, which contain rows. Each row is identified by a row key.

Data in a row is organized into column families, or groups of columns. A column qualifier identifies a single column within a column family.

A cell is the intersection of a row and a column. Each cell can contain multiple versions of a value.

  1. Create a table named my-table:
cbt createtable my-table
  1. List your tables:
cbt ls

The command displays output similar to the following:

my-table
  1. Add one column family named cf1:
cbt createfamily my-table cf1
  1. List your column families:
cbt ls my-table

The command displays output similar to the following:

Family Name GC Policy ----------- --------- cf1

Click Check my progress to verify the objective.

Create a table
  1. Put the value test-value in the row r1, using the column family cf1 and the column qualifier c1:
cbt set my-table r1 cf1:c1=test-value
  1. Use the cbt read command to read the data you added to the table:
cbt read my-table

The shell displays output similar to the following:

---------------------------------------- r1 cf1:c1 @ 2016/10/31-15:05:38.840000 "test-value"
  1. Delete the table my-table:
cbt deletetable my-table

Click Check my progress to verify the objective.

Delete the table

You have now used the cbt command line to access Bigtable.

Congratulations!

Next steps / learn more

This lab is part of a series of labs called Qwik Starts. These labs are designed to give you a little taste of the many features available with Google Cloud. Search for "Qwik Starts" in the lab catalog to find the next lab you'd like to take!

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Manual Last Updated: October 10, 2023

Lab Last Tested: October 10, 2023

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