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I'm a technical writing manager on GCP, and we are actively working on improving Terraform documentation. Thank you for bringing up two significant problems wit

I'm a technical writing manager on GCP, and we are actively working on improving Terraform documentation. Thank you for bringing up two significant problems with using TF on GCP. If you are willing (and of course have the time), we would love to hear other issues you - or anyone else who reads this thread - are having with TF documentation on GCP as we try and make things better.

mdaniel 3y ago
Given: https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/cloud_run_v2_service https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... how would any reasonable person know what https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/google_project_service https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... to enable without (a) trying it and squinting at the error message (b) clicking on the API documentation <https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest/v2/projects.locations.services https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest/v2/projects...> then realizing it, also, does not mention run.googleapis.com, click on "supported service endpoints" <https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#rest_endpoints https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#rest_endpoi...> and only then learning about https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#service:-run.googleapis.com https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#service:-ru... Repeat for https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/cloud_identity_group https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... although in both cases I guess the astute reader may have spotted the run.googleapis.com in the forbidden service labels and cloudidentity.googleapis.com in the example Since, to the best of my knowledge those bindings are auto generated <https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules#magic-modules https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules#magic-m...>, I would hypothesize it is not insurmountable drop in the seemingly existing declaration of APIs required: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d76e3b6f834bcea8f0edf086207af30da5e4665/mmv1/products/cloudrunv2/product.yaml#L26-L29 https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d... https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d76e3b6f834bcea8f0edf086207af30da5e4665/mmv1/products/cloudidentity/product.yaml#L26-L29 https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d...
robmsmt 3y ago
I am about to go through this so happy to give feedback
nknealk 3y ago
Can you please update the terraform docs for google batch? In [1] it’s really difficult to know what everything in the json configuration is under the base64encode() call. What levers can I pull? How do I run something more complex than hello world? Do I need my CICD to upload scripts to GCS and have the instance download them at runtime and hardcode that path into the batch script? [1] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-using-terraform-and-cloud-scheduler https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-using-ter...
- sojacobs7 3y ago
  It seems as though Google Batch does not have a native Terraform resource. The document in [1] seems like a workaround that leverages the Cloud Scheduler Terraform resource, but submit a job using the JSON configuration. The various fields that can be used in the JSON are within [2]. Regarding using GCS there is an example in [3]. I found more samples in [4] [2] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.locations.jobs https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/reference/rest/v1/projec... [3] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-storage#use-bucket https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-storage#u... [4] https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/batch-samples/tree/main/api-samples https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/batch-samples/tree/ma...
clutchdude 3y ago
This is probably more a request at the compute team/gke teams but...spot management. For example, managing a spot fleet in AWS via terraform is filled with features and levers I can pull. It's easy to manage basic scale-out/scale-in procedures and allows me to set thresholds. In GCP, as I understand it, I can only manage a node pool at a basic level. EDIT: Also, yell at the people who manage the python library. https://cloud.google.com/python/docs/reference/container/latest https://cloud.google.com/python/docs/reference/container/lat... Generated samples suck - take a look at the boto3 docs and see if they tell you to go look at code generated samples.
rendaw 3y ago
Rinse and repeat - someone complains about cloud provider, a cloud provider person shows up and makes a "we want to hear more about your problems" statement, people reply, they do nothing. How many times has this happened? I'm more disgusted by the farce than by the lack of action. Don't you have feedback buttons on the docs? What happens to the feedback from those? Please prove you consider feedback before asking people for more of it.
- perlwle 3y ago
  A few months ago I was working on migrating cloud build for a personal project and hit a documentation error. Submitted a correction via the feedback button and it got fixed few days later. To be honest I was a little surprised by how fast it got fixed.
dantiberian 3y ago
A general issue I have with GCP docs is that they are overly implicit. Often the interaction of two features is implied but not specified. Another issue I have is when implementation details are waved away rather than explained. It adds up to an experience where I am trying to read between the lines of the GCP docs for a feature to understand what is really happening. AWS docs are the opposite. They are often very long and verbose, but once you read the whole manual, you can be guaranteed to have a good understanding of the service. My advice for the Google team would be that if you are ever writing documentation and ask yourself “does the customer really need to know about this?”, the answer should always be yes.

mdaniel 3y ago

Given: https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/cloud_run_v2_service https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... how would any reasonable person know what https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/google_project_service https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... to enable without (a) trying it and squinting at the error message (b) clicking on the API documentation <https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest/v2/projects.locations.services https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest/v2/projects...> then realizing it, also, does not mention run.googleapis.com, click on "supported service endpoints" <https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#rest_endpoints https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#rest_endpoi...> and only then learning about https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#service:-run.googleapis.com https://cloud.google.com/run/docs/reference/rest#service:-ru... Repeat for https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3.0/docs/resources/cloud_identity_group https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/google/5.3... although in both cases I guess the astute reader may have spotted the run.googleapis.com in the forbidden service labels and cloudidentity.googleapis.com in the example Since, to the best of my knowledge those bindings are auto generated <https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules#magic-modules https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules#magic-m...>, I would hypothesize it is not insurmountable drop in the seemingly existing declaration of APIs required: https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d76e3b6f834bcea8f0edf086207af30da5e4665/mmv1/products/cloudrunv2/product.yaml#L26-L29 https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d... https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d76e3b6f834bcea8f0edf086207af30da5e4665/mmv1/products/cloudidentity/product.yaml#L26-L29 https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/magic-modules/blob/7d...

robmsmt 3y ago

I am about to go through this so happy to give feedback

nknealk 3y ago

Can you please update the terraform docs for google batch? In [1] it’s really difficult to know what everything in the json configuration is under the base64encode() call. What levers can I pull? How do I run something more complex than hello world? Do I need my CICD to upload scripts to GCS and have the instance download them at runtime and hardcode that path into the batch script? [1] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-using-terraform-and-cloud-scheduler https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-using-ter...

sojacobs7 3y ago
It seems as though Google Batch does not have a native Terraform resource. The document in [1] seems like a workaround that leverages the Cloud Scheduler Terraform resource, but submit a job using the JSON configuration. The various fields that can be used in the JSON are within [2]. Regarding using GCS there is an example in [3]. I found more samples in [4] [2] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/reference/rest/v1/projects.locations.jobs https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/reference/rest/v1/projec... [3] https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-storage#use-bucket https://cloud.google.com/batch/docs/create-run-job-storage#u... [4] https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/batch-samples/tree/main/api-samples https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/batch-samples/tree/ma...

clutchdude 3y ago

This is probably more a request at the compute team/gke teams but...spot management. For example, managing a spot fleet in AWS via terraform is filled with features and levers I can pull. It's easy to manage basic scale-out/scale-in procedures and allows me to set thresholds. In GCP, as I understand it, I can only manage a node pool at a basic level. EDIT: Also, yell at the people who manage the python library. https://cloud.google.com/python/docs/reference/container/latest https://cloud.google.com/python/docs/reference/container/lat... Generated samples suck - take a look at the boto3 docs and see if they tell you to go look at code generated samples.

rendaw 3y ago

Rinse and repeat - someone complains about cloud provider, a cloud provider person shows up and makes a "we want to hear more about your problems" statement, people reply, they do nothing. How many times has this happened? I'm more disgusted by the farce than by the lack of action. Don't you have feedback buttons on the docs? What happens to the feedback from those? Please prove you consider feedback before asking people for more of it.

perlwle 3y ago
A few months ago I was working on migrating cloud build for a personal project and hit a documentation error. Submitted a correction via the feedback button and it got fixed few days later. To be honest I was a little surprised by how fast it got fixed.

dantiberian 3y ago

A general issue I have with GCP docs is that they are overly implicit. Often the interaction of two features is implied but not specified. Another issue I have is when implementation details are waved away rather than explained. It adds up to an experience where I am trying to read between the lines of the GCP docs for a feature to understand what is really happening. AWS docs are the opposite. They are often very long and verbose, but once you read the whole manual, you can be guaranteed to have a good understanding of the service. My advice for the Google team would be that if you are ever writing documentation and ask yourself “does the customer really need to know about this?”, the answer should always be yes.