Skip to main content

How to get over Qwiklabs glitches to learn GCP

This blog entry is primarily recorded for Dev/Sys/Ops people who have little to no experience with javascript. I have been using different services offered by different cloud providers for some time now. For any cloud provider, the learning curve is linear and the only catch is you should have prior knowledge of the service you are consuming, be it VM, load balancer, database, code repository or container-related services. Just like any random guy in IT, my first cloud experience came with AWS, I deployed some hobby projects to experiments, and I also used the same to deliver some MVP for official work. There was a difference between working as a sole developer utilizing personal account and using IAM under enterprise cloud account but I guess they are all part of the learning curve.

The second provider I worked on is Google Cloud, I wanted to evaluate their GKE service. This was about 3 years back, some months ago I came across an offer from Google, the offered an SRE course with a certificate in Coursera platform. Since the course was tutored by Google themselves I happily signed up, the course had a different and intuitive approach towards teaching, it included hands-on lab. Unlike the Oracle Cloud's self-learning courses which only had video lectures, I went through those videos sleepless to complete my OCI certification. Separately while scrolling through OCI docs I found links for the hands-on lab: https://go.oracle.com/hols. 

All these hands-on labs were hosted in Qwiklabs. This platform also had labs that will help us learn AWS, for the sake of this blog post I'd limit myself to GCP because I discovered Qwiklabs only when I tried to learn GCP. To be honest with you Coursera didn't introduce me to Qwiklabs, that badge would go to GDG Cloud Chennai, they organized a study group for GDP certification preparation, I never wanted to take the certification, nonetheless, I wanted the knowledge. I highly encourage you to join such groups, they'd give you coupons and discounts for both Qwiklabs and GDP certifications. If you are a member, I highly discourage you from putting such coupon code in public as the repercussions might that they stop releasing such coupons.

On to the main topic, Qwiklabs generate a temporary credential to access GCP/AWS and in some cases also provisions some services and permissions and they use APIs to test the user's progress after every checkpoint. And this temporary credential is nothing but a google account and so every lab is preceded with a warning that requests people to use incognito/private browsing so they don't accidentally get charged for the cloud resources/services they are required to provision/use as per the lab. And this caused many glitches for me, since UI is javascript heavy it is better if you let cookies to be stored so that state can be better maintained. And solving this problem is very easy, simply use Guest account in chrome browser and you safe yourselves a ton of time and mal-functioning UI.

But the second problem that I faced was more irritating, as I progressed I started doing the labs faster and it seems at one point I did so fast that I confused the system and the client-side authorization broke down! In this window, we have to accept the Terms of Services, before we can use GCP service, nothing out of ordinary, but a couple of times the javascript refuses to display the 'Accept' checkbox, however much I refreshed the checkbox won't appear. I did what I used to do for ads, Right-click => Inspect => 'Press Delete key", repeat this till you see normal-looking GCP console window (the last layer you'd delete would be partially opaque layer added all over the window). Now click on 'Cloud Shell' icon on the right top, in the Cloud Shell dock you should again see the 'Accept' checkbox, click accept and enjoy the rest of the lab.

The regular authorization window, take not of checkbox and partially opaque window

Auth broke down and the GCP Terms of Services checkbox is not being displayed and so there is no way to AGREE AND CONTINUE.
Now do the right click > inspect > delete routine

Now the window is 100% visible, click Cloud shell icon.
Ah! Terms of Service checkbox is again visible
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this month

Puththu kovilum Putho tilesum, as they are built

Its the grand Aadi season here in Tamil Nadu wherever you go you'd be followed by awful noise from no mercy speakers masqueraded as a devotional song. Yes, this is the first post dedicated to it. Hindu is not a religion but it's idealism, a way to unite people, that's perfectly constructed by assuming separate task to every God, no single God worship. Hindus moved from nature worship to idol worship, but that doesn't mean that we don't have nature worship we have created an idol for them and continued to worship them in a different form. Snake is a beautiful reptile, I have made friend with few too... Our ancestor found the natural law, 'every living creature on earth is important for the ecosystem to be balanced'. Maybe to make sure snakes are not killed fearing their venom they made them as God too! Not just idol snakes, they are worshipped as they are at their  conquered (from rats and termite)   nest or  puthu . Puthu...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Up and Close with Sudalai Madan: The Encounter

Night of 13th April all the preparations for the rituals were done in the temple, Sudalaimadan swamy was decorated with flowers, fruits and coconuts; the dedications reached above his chest. My cousin Sudalai Muthu, senior priest of the shrine reached home by late-night got blessings of his father Late Shanmugam Sundaram also previous head priest and blessed the family members in room dedicated for God, then started towards the temple. People have already gathered in huge numbers and were waiting for the Sudalaimada Swamy's arrival at Temple. Different rituals were offered by people to the Lord in order to get the blessings. As it is believed Sudaimada Swamy, the son of Lord Siva used to consume meat in Kailash for this reason he is sent to earth, where he can satisfy his earthy hunger thereby not polluting Kailash. Sree Aaladi Padmanabha Sudalaimada Swamy Temple, Kumarapuram Offering meat to Sudalaimadan is the most important and watchful event of the festival. Many devotees off...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Wings of Fire

Though tagged under review I’m going to try and bring the essence of the book, in no means I have the guts to write a review on a book that’s written on/by Dr APJ Adbul Kalam. Unlike regular biographies the book is filled with information and facts on Indian Space research straight from Dr Kalam’s diary, has very limited information on his personal life. From Preface of the book, we can understand Mr Arun Tiwari co-author of this book had brought up this idea to write a book and put it work. The book is organized in seven sections but the core content is put inside 4 sections – Orientation, Creation, Propitiation, and Contemplation. While the rest cover how and why this book formed and what it intends to convey. Dr Kalam being a spiritual person has quoted poems and lines from the Quran throughout the book. Orientation starts with the birth of the legend Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam in Rameswaram to Ashiaamma and Jainulabdeen, Dr.Kalam’s father is a humble boat owner a...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

Setting up LAN with BSNL router AN 1020-21

An abstract overview for building a LAN is presented here, you can use the essence of article to build LAN with any other router you can lay your hands on. That said don't confuse modem with router, most routers are modem but a modem simply can't be router* Post is written in the hope that reader is equipped with basic knowledge about connecting line to splitter to router to device you want to use. It is assumed the your modem is configured for both wireless and ethernet access. My work requires that I interact daily with servers using putty or such terminal emulator, gradually I loved doing work the *nix way. This made me install Cygwin in almost every machine I use, thanks to MobaXTerm I need not do that anymore :) Off story on to TODO. 1. Connect the machines you want to use to Router That's all! Your router takes care of establishing (W)LAN Surprisingly simple to establish LAN, but the hard part is knowing how to use the systems connected in the network. Here...
Post a Comment
Expand post »

ENGEYUM KAADHAL - MOVIE REVIEW

With Engeyum Kaadhal, Prabhu Deva has tried to narrate yet another story using the most common and ubiquitous phenomenon in the world, Love. The opening titles with backdrop paintings followed by Prabhu Deva’s cameo for ‘Engeyum Kaadhal’ song are pleasant but from then on the movie couldn’t live up to its hype. Jayam Ravi as a young businessman fits perfectly in his tailor made role. He even impresses with his dazzling dance moves. Hansika Motwani looks refreshing in her vivid outfits but fails to impress in the acting department. Her dubbing is imbecile and out of sync at many places. Rajusundaram annoys you often under the pretext of making fun. Neither Suman nor Prakashraj have much to play. The only outstanding features of the movie are Nirav Shah’s brilliant cinematography which captures the exquisite and serene beauty of Paris with ease and Harris Jayaraj’s poignant music as almost all songs are pleasant to hear . 
Post a Comment
Expand post »