Understanding Cloud Spanner (Coursera)

You will learn how to create and manage Spanner databases using various tools on Google Cloud, learn to optimize relational schemas with Spanner’s distributed database model in mind, interact with your Spanner databases using the Spanner APIs, integrate Spanner with your applications, and learn how to use other Google tools for administering Spanner databases and managing your data.

What you'll learn

• Build scalable, managed, relational databases by using Cloud Spanner.
• Create and manage Cloud Spanner databases by using the CLI, Terraform, Python API, and the Google Cloud console.
• Program and run queries and transactions by using the Cloud Spanner API.
• Integrate Cloud Spanner with applications.

Syllabus

Introduction
Module 1
A brief introduction to the course structure, and it's contents.

The Need for Spanner
Module 2
This module discusses the core concepts and aspects of Cloud Spanner. You learn about the history of Cloud Spanner, understand how Cloud Spanner relates to the CAP theorem, and explain a variety of Cloud Spanner use cases.

Getting Started with Spanner
Module 3
This module discusses the options for architecting Spanner instances based on location, capacity, availability, and cost. You will learn how to create Spanner instances by using the Google Cloud console, Google Cloud CLI, Terraform, and Cloud Spanner databases by using SQL.

Optimizing Spanner Schemas
Module 4
This module discusses the options for optimizing database schemas to perform optimally in Spanner. You learn how to choose the appropriate primary key for your data. You learn how to manage relationships with primary and foreign keys and with interleaved tables.

Programming Spanner Applications, Queries, and Transactions
Module 5
This module introduces the methods for authenticating users and applications that connect to Spanner databases. You will learn how to create applications that connect to Cloud Spanner by using Google Cloud client libraries and Python. You optimize queries by using indexes, strong reads, and stale reads. You also learn how to manage transactions in Cloud Spanner.

Deploying Spanner Applications
Module 6
This module introduces the steps for deploying Cloud Spanner applications to Google Cloud serverless runtimes. You also learn how to migrate data to and from Cloud Spanner by using Dataflow jobs and Apache Beam.

Spanner Administration
Module 7
This module introduces administering Cloud Spanner instances. You learn how to backup, restore, import, and export data. You learn how to modify database schemas with no downtime. You also learn how to monitor your Cloud Spanner databases and applications.