GCP Cloud Infrastructure

Monitor and analyze GCP resources using Dynatrace Smartscape and DQL. Query GCP services, manage organizational hierarchy, audit security posture, and track resource ownership across your GCP infrastructure.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user needs to work with GCP resources in Dynatrace. Load the reference file for the task type:

Task	File to load
Inventory and topology queries	(no additional file — use core patterns above)
Compute Engine instances, machine types, IP addresses	Load references/compute-instances.md
GKE clusters, node pools, pods, deployments, services, RBAC	Load references/kubernetes-gke.md
Cloud Run services, revisions, executions	Load references/serverless-containers.md
VPC networks, subnets, routes, DNS records	Load references/networking-dns.md
Pub/Sub topics	Load references/messaging-pubsub.md
IAM service accounts, roles, Secret Manager	Load references/iam-security.md
Monitoring dashboards, logging, saved queries	Load references/monitoring-logging.md
GCP projects, regions, organizational hierarchy	Load references/resource-management.md
Resource ownership, GCP labels, organizational structure	Load references/resource-ownership.md

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Core Concepts

Entity Types

GCP resources use the GCP_* prefix and can be queried using the smartscapeNodes function. All GCP entities are automatically discovered and modeled in Dynatrace Smartscape.

Compute: GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_INSTANCE, GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_ADDRESS Networking: GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_NETWORK, GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SUBNETWORK, GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_ROUTE, GCP_DNS_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_RESOURCERECORDSET Kubernetes (GKE): GCP_K8S_IO_POD, GCP_K8S_IO_NODE, GCP_K8S_IO_SERVICE, GCP_K8S_IO_SERVICEACCOUNT, GCP_K8S_IO_PERSISTENTVOLUMECLAIM, GCP_APPS_K8S_IO_DEPLOYMENT, GCP_APPS_K8S_IO_STATEFULSET, GCP_CONTAINER_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_NODEPOOL, GCP_RBAC_AUTHORIZATION_K8S_IO_CLUSTERROLEBINDING, GCP_RBAC_AUTHORIZATION_K8S_IO_ROLEBINDING Serverless: GCP_RUN_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SERVICE, GCP_RUN_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_REVISION, GCP_RUN_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_EXECUTION IAM & Security: GCP_IAM_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SERVICEACCOUNT, GCP_IAM_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_ROLE, GCP_SECRETMANAGER_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SECRETVERSION Messaging: GCP_PUBSUB_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_TOPIC Monitoring: GCP_MONITORING_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_DASHBOARD, GCP_LOGGING_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SAVEDQUERY Infrastructure: GCP_REGION

Common GCP Fields

All GCP entities include:

• gcp.project.id — GCP project identifier
• gcp.region — GCP region (e.g., us-central1)
• gcp.zone — GCP zone (e.g., us-central1-a)
• gcp.organization.id — GCP organization identifier
• gcp.resource.name — Resource name
• gcp.resource.type — Resource type identifier
• gcp.asset.type — GCP asset type
• gcp.object — JSON blob containing full resource configuration

GCP Organizational Hierarchy

GCP resources are organized in a hierarchy:

• Organization — Top-level container (gcp.organization.id)
• Folder — Logical grouping within an organization
• Project — Resource container (gcp.project.id)
• Region/Zone — Physical location (gcp.region, gcp.zone)

Entity Naming Convention

GCP entity types follow the pattern GCP_<SERVICE_API>_<RESOURCE>:

• Service API maps to the Google API domain (e.g., compute.googleapis.com → COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM)
• Resource is the specific resource type (e.g., INSTANCE, NETWORK)

Examples:

• GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_INSTANCE — Compute Engine VM
• GCP_K8S_IO_POD — GKE pod
• GCP_RUN_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SERVICE — Cloud Run service

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Query Patterns

All GCP queries build on four core patterns. Master these and adapt them to any entity type.

Pattern 1: Resource Discovery

List resources by type, filter by project/region/zone, summarize counts:

smartscapeNodes "GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_INSTANCE"
| fields name, gcp.project.id, gcp.region, gcp.zone, gcp.resource.name

To list all GCP resource types, replace with "GCP_*" and add | summarize count = count(), by: {type} | sort count desc. Add filters like | filter gcp.project.id == "<PROJECT_ID>" or | filter gcp.region == "<REGION>" to scope results.

Pattern 2: Configuration Parsing

Parse gcp.object JSON for detailed configuration fields:

smartscapeNodes "GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_INSTANCE"
| parse gcp.object, "JSON:gcpjson"
| fieldsAdd machineType = gcpjson[configuration][resource][machineType],
            status = gcpjson[configuration][resource][status]
| fields name, gcp.project.id, machineType, status

GCP configuration fields are nested under gcpjson[configuration][resource][...] for primary resource attributes and gcpjson[configuration][additionalAttributes][...] for extended properties.

Pattern 3: Relationship Traversal

Follow relationships between resources:

smartscapeNodes "GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_INSTANCE"
| traverse "*", "GCP_COMPUTE_GOOGLEAPIS_COM_SUBNETWORK"
| fields name, gcp.project.id

GCP entities use "*" as the relationship name in traversals because GCP entities do not have named relationship types. Use fieldsKeep to carry fields through traversals and dt.traverse.history[-N] to access ancestor fields.

Pattern 4: Label-Based Ownership

Group resources by GCP labels for ownership and organizational tracking:

smartscapeNodes "GCP_*"
| filter isNotNull(`tags:gcp_labels`)
| fields name, gcp.project.id, `tags:gcp_labels`

GCP labels are exposed via the tags:gcp_labels field and must be accessed using backtick syntax. Replace "GCP_*" with a specific type to scope to one service.

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Reference Guide

Load reference files for detailed queries when the core patterns above need service-specific adaptation.

Reference	When to load	Key content
compute-instances.md	Compute Engine VMs, machine types, IP addresses, disks	Instance inventory, machine type distribution, status checks
kubernetes-gke.md	GKE clusters, node pools, pods, deployments, services, RBAC	Cluster topology, workload distribution, RBAC bindings
serverless-containers.md	Cloud Run services, revisions, executions	Service inventory, revision tracking, execution analysis
networking-dns.md	VPC networks, subnets, routes, DNS records	Network topology, subnet analysis, route tables, DNS record sets
messaging-pubsub.md	Pub/Sub topics	Topic inventory, messaging topology
iam-security.md	IAM service accounts, roles, Secret Manager	Service account audit, role analysis, secret version tracking
monitoring-logging.md	Monitoring dashboards, logging, saved queries	Dashboard inventory, saved query analysis
resource-management.md	GCP projects, regions, organizational hierarchy	Project inventory, region distribution, hierarchy mapping
resource-ownership.md	Resource ownership, GCP labels, organizational structure	Label-based grouping, project-level summaries, chargeback

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Best Practices

Configuration Parsing

1. Always parse gcp.object with JSON parser: parse gcp.object, "JSON:gcpjson"
2. Access primary resource attributes via gcpjson[configuration][resource][...]
3. Access extended properties via gcpjson[configuration][additionalAttributes][...]
4. Check for null values after parsing with isNotNull()

GCP Hierarchy

1. Organization → Folder → Project → Region/Zone
2. Use gcp.project.id as the primary scoping filter
3. Use gcp.organization.id for cross-project queries
4. Use gcp.region and gcp.zone for location-based analysis

Entity Naming

1. Entity types follow the GCP_<SERVICE_API>_<RESOURCE> format
2. Service API maps to the Google API domain with underscores replacing dots and hyphens
3. Use specific entity types (avoid "GCP_*" wildcards when possible)

Labels

1. GCP labels must be accessed via backtick syntax: `tags:gcp_labels`
2. Use isNotNull(tags:gcp_labels) for label-based filtering
3. Track label coverage with summarize operations

Relationship Traversal

1. Use "*" as the relationship name — GCP entities do not have named relationship types
2. Use fieldsKeep to maintain important fields through traversal
3. Access traversal history with dt.traverse.history[-N]
4. Complex topologies may require multiple traverse operations

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Limitations and Notes

Smartscape Limitations

• Smartscape data reflects the most recent scan; there may be a delay between GCP changes and Dynatrace visibility
• Not all GCP services are represented as entity types
• Some configuration fields may be null depending on resource setup
• Resource discovery depends on GCP integration configuration

GCP-Specific Notes

• GCP labels must be accessed via backtick syntax: `tags:gcp_labels`
• GCP entities use "*" for relationship traversal (no named relationship types)
• GCP object configuration requires parsing with parse gcp.object, "JSON:gcpjson"
• Configuration fields nest under gcpjson[configuration][resource][...] (differs from AWS pattern)

General Tips

• Filter early by project and region for better performance
• Use isNotNull() and isNull() for graceful null handling
• Combine project and region filters for large environments
• Use countDistinct() for unique resource counts
• Limit results with | limit N during exploration