Frequently Asked Questions

A.

Sure, I can provide you with a detailed explanation of each option and the recommended approach for making your simple HTML application available on the internet.

Option A: Upload your application to Cloud Storage Cloud Storage is a scalable and highly available object storage service offered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It provides durable and cost-effective storage for your data, and you can use it to store any type of data, including static web content such as HTML, CSS, and images.

To make your HTML application available on the internet using Cloud Storage, you can create a bucket and upload your application files to it. You can then configure the bucket to serve your content as a website using the "Static website hosting" option. This option allows you to specify an index file (such as index.html) and an error file (such as 404.html), which Cloud Storage will serve when a user accesses your website.

In summary, using Cloud Storage to host your HTML application is a simple and cost-effective option that requires fewer steps than other alternatives. However, it has some limitations in terms of customization and flexibility compared to other options.

Option B: Upload your application to an App Engine environment App Engine is a fully managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering from GCP that allows you to build and deploy applications quickly and easily. It supports several programming languages and frameworks, and it offers automatic scaling and high availability out of the box.

To make your HTML application available on the internet using App Engine, you can create a new App Engine application and deploy your application files to it. App Engine supports several deployment options, including deploying from a source code repository or deploying a pre-built container image. Once your application is deployed, you can access it using the App Engine URL or a custom domain name.

In summary, using App Engine to host your HTML application provides a more fully-featured hosting solution that offers automatic scaling, high availability, and more customization options. However, it requires more setup and configuration compared to Cloud Storage, and it may not be the most cost-effective option for simple, static applications.

Option C: Create a Compute Engine instance with Apache web server installed Compute Engine is a virtual machine (VM) hosting service offered by GCP that allows you to create and manage VM instances in the cloud. It offers a high degree of control and flexibility over your computing environment, and you can install and configure any software or application you need.

To make your HTML application available on the internet using Compute Engine, you can create a new VM instance and install Apache web server on it. You can then upload your application files to the VM and configure Apache to serve your content. You'll also need to configure a firewall rule to allow incoming traffic to your VM.

In summary, using Compute Engine to host your HTML application provides the highest degree of flexibility and control over your hosting environment. However, it requires the most setup and configuration compared to the other options, and it may not be the most cost-effective option for simple, static applications.

Option D: Containerize your application first. Deploy this container to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and assign an external IP address to the GKE pod hosting the application. Containerization is a method of packaging and deploying applications in a portable, isolated environment called a container. Kubernetes is an open-source container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

To make your HTML application available on the internet using Kubernetes, you would need to first containerize your application using a containerization tool such as Docker. Once your application is containerized, you can deploy it to a Kubernetes cluster running on GKE. You'll need to create a Kubernetes deployment and service to manage your application and expose it to the internet. You'll also need to configure a load