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    • Cloud
    • Data
Labs

Connecting to Cloud Bigtable with cbt

Sometimes data is relatively straight-forward — there's just an overwhelming amount of it. That's exactly what Cloud Bigtable is meant for. Cloud Bigtable is a fully managed NoSQL database service designed to handle massive amounts of information. In this hands-on lab, you’ll configure database instances and clusters for Cloud Bigtable in the console and then use command line `cbt` commands to create a schema and populate the table with data.

Lab platform
Lab Info
Level
Beginner
Last updated
Sep 23, 2025
Duration
30m

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Table of Contents
  1. Challenge

    Enable API
    1. From the main navigation, choose APIs & Services > Library.
    2. In the search field, enter Bigtable.
    3. Select the Cloud Bigtable Admin API card.
    4. Click Enable.
  2. Challenge

    Create Bigtable Instance
    1. From the main navigation, choose Bigtable in the Storage section.
    2. Choose Create instance.
    3. Set the following fields:
      • Instance Name: la-data-cbt
      • Storage type: HDD
      • Cluster Region: us-east1
      • Cluster Zone: us-east1-b
    4. Click Done and then Create.
  3. Challenge

    Install and Configure `cbt`
    1. Activate the Cloud Shell by clicking its icon in the top row.

    2. Configure cbt with the following commands: echo "project = ${DEVSHELL_PROJECT_ID}" > ~/.cbt echo instance = la-data-cbt >> ~/.cbtrc

    Note: If you do not have the cbt sdk installed then do the following:

    1. In the Cloud Shell, enter the following: gcloud components update gcloud components install cbt
  4. Challenge

    Create Data Table
    1. In the Cloud Shell, enter the following:

       cbt createtable la-table
       cbt ls
      
  5. Challenge

    Define Table Structure and Add Data
    1. In the Cloud Shell, enter the following: cbt createfamily la-table offerings cbt set la-table r1 offerings:c1=labs cbt read la-table

    2. Review results.

    3. Enter the following: cbt set la-table r1 offerings:c2=courses cbt read la-table

  6. Challenge

    Delete Bigtable Instance
    1. From the console, select the Bigtable instance.
    2. Choose Delete instance.
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