Sign in into the **Google Cloud Platform**

To view the **Dashboard**, click on the triple bar on the left side, select the **Cloud overview** option, and then click on **Dashboard**.

**Dashboard** wizard will open, here you can view Project info, compute Engine CPU statistics and other Monitoring widgets

On the right side you can view **Billing** and **GCP status**

Scroll to the **APIs** section, here you can view the **API usage** and **Requests**

**What is an API?**\
\
An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information. APIs enable the integration of different systems, allowing them to share data and functionality, thereby enhancing the capabilities of applications without needing to understand their internal workings.

To view the **Activity** page, click on the **ACTIVITY** tab on the top left side

**What is the Activity Tab in GCP Console?**\
\
The Activity tab in the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Console provides a detailed log of actions and events that occur within your GCP projects. It includes information about resource creation, modification, deletion, and other administrative activities. This helps users monitor changes, track usage, audit operations, and ensure compliance with organizational policies. The Activity tab is essential for maintaining transparency and control over your cloud environment.

On the **Activity** page, click on the **Logs explorer** from the left bar

**What is Logs explorer?**\
\
Logs Explorer is a feature in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that allows users to search, view, and analyze log data generated by their applications and services. It provides a powerful interface to filter, sort, and visualize logs, helping users troubleshoot issues, monitor system performance, and gain insights into their operations. Logs Explorer supports custom queries, enabling detailed examination of specific events or patterns within the log data.

**Logs Explorer** wizard will open, here you can view all the Logs Activities

To view the **Recommendations** page, click on the **RECOMMENDATIONS** tab on the top left side

**What is RECOMENDATIONS tab?**\
\
The Recommendations tab in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides insights and suggestions to optimize your cloud resources and improve security, performance, and cost-efficiency. These recommendations are generated based on your usage patterns and best practices, helping you make informed decisions to better manage your cloud environment. They may include suggestions for resizing instances, deleting unused resources, enabling security features, and more.

**RECOMMENDATIONS** wizard will open, here you can view all recommendations

To view **All products**, click on the triple bar on the left side, select the **Solutions** option, and then click on **All products**.

**All products** wizard will open, here you can view all the products from the Google Cloud

To view your Projects, click on the **in28minutes project** dropdown on the top left side

**Select a project** wizard will open, here you can view all of your projects, switch between projects, and create and manage your projects.

**What is a project?**\
\
In Google Cloud Platform (GCP), a project is a fundamental organizational unit that encapsulates all the resources, settings, and permissions needed to manage and operate your cloud applications. Each project has a unique ID and can contain resources such as virtual machines, databases, and storage, as well as configurations like IAM policies and billing information. Projects help you organize and isolate your cloud resources, manage access control, and track costs.

On the top right side click on the **Notifications** icon, here you can view all the GCP Notifications and updates

Google Cloud

This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to navigate and use the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Web Console.

Playing with Google Cloud Platform (Web) Console