# Cloud Spanner: Qwik Start - GSP102

## **Overview**

Cloud Spanner is a fully managed, mission-critical, relational database service that offers transactional consistency at global scale, schemas, SQL (ANSI 2011 with extensions), and automatic, synchronous replication for high availability.

Cloud Spanner offers:

* **Strong consistency**, including strongly consistent secondary indexes.
    
* **SQL support**, with ALTER statements for schema changes.
    
* **Managed instances with high availability** through transparent, synchronous, built-in data replication.
    

Cloud Spanner offers regional and multi-region instance configurations.

### What it's good for

Cloud Spanner is ideal for relational, structured, and semi-structured data that requires high availability, strong consistency, and transactional reads and writes.

### Other storage options

Here are some common scenarios where you should probably consider an alternative to Cloud Spanner:

* If you do not want a strongly consistent and horizontally scaling relational database. Consider other storage offerings listed at [Storage Options in Google Cloud](https://cloud.google.com/storage-options) and [Data Lifecycle on Google Cloud](https://cloud.google.com/solutions/data-lifecycle-cloud-platform#store).
    
* If you need an open source database.
    

This hands-on lab shows you how to create a Cloud Spanner instance, database, and table; add a schema, write and modify data, and run a query.

## **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 are made available to you.

This hands-on lab lets you do the lab activities in a real cloud environment, not in a simulation or demo environment. It does so by giving you new, temporary credentials 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 (recommended) or private browser window to run this lab. This prevents 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:** Use only the student account for this lab. If you use a different Google Cloud account, you may incur charges to that 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 dialog opens for you to select your payment method. On the left is the Lab Details pane 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.
    
    ```apache
    student-04-46679608fe8b@qwiklabs.net
    ```
    
    You can also find the Username in the Lab Details pane.
    
4. Click **Next**.
    
5. Copy the **Password** below and paste it into the **Welcome** dialog.
    
    ```apache
    7zRuUXtzeYAU
    ```
    
    You can also find the Password in the Lab Details pane.
    
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 access Google Cloud products and services, click the **Navigation menu** or type the service or product name in the **Search** field.

![Navigation menu icon and Search field](https://cdn.qwiklabs.com/9Fk8NYFp3quE9mF%2FilWF6%2FlXY9OUBi3UWtb2Ne4uXNU%3D align="left")

## **Task 1. Create an instance**

When you first use Cloud Spanner, you must create an instance, which is an allocation of resources that are used by Cloud Spanner databases in that instance.

1. From the Console, from the **Navigation menu** select **Spanner**.
    
2. Then click **CREATE A PROVISIONED INSTANCE**.
    
3. Fill in the following field:
    
    Instance Name: **Test Instance**
    
4. Leave the **Instance ID** as default and click **Continue**.
    
5. In **Choose a configuration** page, select **Regional** configuration and from the drop-down menu select region as `us-central1`.
    
6. Click **Continue**.
    
7. Leave the **Configure compute capacity** page as default and click **CREATE**.
    

You will now see your instance on the Instance Details page.

## **Task 2. Create a database**

1. In the **Instance Overview** page, click **CREATE DATABASE**.
    
2. For the Database name, enter **example-db**, and click **CREATE**.
    

You're now on the **Database Overview** page for the new database you created.

Click **Check my progress** to verify the objective.

Create an instance and database

Check my progress

## **Task 3. Create a schema**

The Cloud Console provides two ways to create, alter, and delete tables and indexes in a database:

* Use the default Database editor to specify each part of tables, columns, and indexes.
    
* Enter SQL statements in Cloud Spanner Data Definition Language (DDL) syntax.
    

This lab uses DDL.

1. Now click **CREATE TABLE**.
    
2. In the **DDL TEMPLATES** field, replace the existing query with:
    

```apache
CREATE TABLE Singers (
  SingerId   INT64 NOT NULL,
  FirstName  STRING(1024),
  LastName   STRING(1024),
  SingerInfo BYTES(MAX),
  BirthDate  DATE,
) PRIMARY KEY(SingerId);
```

3. Click **RUN**.
    

Click **Check my progress** to verify the objective.

Create a schema for your database

Check my progress

## **Task 4. Insert and modify data**

The Cloud Console provides an interface for inserting, editing, and deleting data.

### Insert data

1. On the **Database Overview** page Click **Singers**
    
2. In the left menu click **Data**, then click the **INSERT** button.
    
3. Replace the placeholder values for the following fields:
    

| **Field** | **Value** |
| --- | --- |
| SingerID: INT64 | 1 |
| FirstName: STRING | 'Marc' |
| LastName: STRING | 'Richards' |
| SingerInfo: BYTES | `NULL` |
| BirthDate: DATE | `NULL` |

Your query should look similar to this:

![Lines 1 to 15 of code wherein the placeholder values have been updated with the aforementioned values](https://cdn.qwiklabs.com/MtoSKL2TGA25JiPtrCYLekLGXRXHTnb%2Fh8Wh6qI99fI%3D align="left")

**Note:** Make sure to replace `SingerID` with the given value in the **Where condition.**

4. Then click **RUN**.
    
5. On the **Database Overview** page, navigate to **Singers > Data** and you'll see that the **Singers** table now has one row.
    
6. Click **INSERT** to add an additional row and replace the placeholder values with the following:
    

| **Field** | **Value** |
| --- | --- |
| SingerID: INT64 | 2 |
| FirstName: STRING | 'Catalina' |
| LasteName: STRING | 'Smith' |
| SingerInfo: BYTES | `NULL` |
| BirthDate: DATE | `NULL` |

7. Then click **RUN**.
    
8. On the **Database Overview** page, navigate to **Singers > Data** and you'll see that the **Singers** table now has two rows.
    

You can also insert empty string values when you enter data.

9. Click **INSERT**.
    
10. Then enter in the following:
    

| **Field** | **Value** |
| --- | --- |
| SingerID: INT64 | 3 |
| FirstName: STRING | 'Kena' |
| LastName: STRING | ' ' |
| SingerInfo: BYTES | `NULL` |
| BirthDate: DATE | `NULL` |

11. Then click **RUN**.
    
12. On the **Database Overview** page, navigate to **Singers > Data** and you'll see that the **Singers** table now has three rows, and the row for **SingerID** `3` has a **LastName** that is an empty string.
    

### Edit data

You will continue working on the Singers table.

1. Check the box next to the row for **SingerId** `3`.
    
2. Then click **EDIT**.
    
3. Enter in the following:
    

| **Field** | **Value** |
| --- | --- |
| BirthDate: DATE | '1961-04-01' |
| SingerInfo: BYTES | NULL |
| `[all other fields]` | `[leave as-is]` |

Your query will look similar to this:

![The lines of code in the query dispalying the previously entered values for birth date and singer info](https://cdn.qwiklabs.com/x1EdQIXSQfDHujYHyf3phDZPTd%2BgHfXslYILr8lXoAE%3D align="left")

4. Then Click **RUN**.
    
5. On the **Database Overview** page, navigate to **Singers > Data**.
    

The row for **SingerId** `3` in the **Singers** table now has a **BirthDate** value.

### Delete data

Now try deleting some data from the table.

1. Check the box next to the row for **SingerId** `2`.
    
2. Then click **Delete**.
    

You can safely ignore the warning that appears in the dialog.

3. In the panel, click **Confirm**.
    

The **Singers** table now has two rows.

### Run a query

You can execute a SQL statement on the query page of your database.

1. Navigate to your Spanner database by selecting **Google Standard SQL Database** in the path at the top of your current table data page:
    

![Database highlighted in the navigation path](https://cdn.qwiklabs.com/Y1mx9mnyFUEy50RbRtX4MPzQDaqahZQf1FXeqi8HjhM%3D align="left")

2. Click **Spanner Studio** from the left menu.
    
3. Click **CLEAR** to clear the query you used for your table.
    
4. For the query enter:
    

```apache
SELECT * FROM Singers
```

5. Click **RUN**.
    

The Cloud Console displays the result of your query.

## **Task 5. Test your knowledge**

Test your knowledge about Cloud Spanner by taking the following quiz. (Please select multiple correct options if necessary.)

**Cloud Spanner is a Mission-critical, relational database service with transactional consistency, global scale and high availability.**

* True
    
* False
    

---

## Solution of Lab

%[https://youtu.be/mRNfyemRu3s] 

```apache
curl -LO raw.githubusercontent.com/ePlus-DEV/storage/refs/heads/main/labs/GSP102/lab.sh
source lab.sh
```

**Script Alternative**

```apache
export REGION=
```

![](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1740383810653/3458c8ac-3222-426f-b423-a33718cc3692.png align="center")

```apache
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Itsabhishek7py/GoogleCloudSkillsboost/refs/heads/main/Cloud%20Spanner%20Qwik%20Start/abhishek.sh
sudo chmod +x abhishek.sh
./abhishek.sh
```