5 years after I accomplished Solutions Architect Expert certificate from Microsoft, I have achieved my second expert level of cloud certificate – Google Professional Cloud Architect!

3 months ago, I have started to explore some another Cloud Platform with AI-driven services. Thanks to my manager, I have a chance to enroll a “Get Certified Program” by Google. In this program, there are 2 days training sessions + 4 week learning plan with unlimited access to the Google Skills labs. After that, I got a free vocher for the exam!

The new syllabus of the exam just released on Nov 2025, it focuses heavily on scenario-based design, AI integration (Vertex AI), and operational excellence. Hence, It’s not very useful for you to study past question or dumps, question not come from there; in the exam you will see all are new questions with about 60% AI & ML related with lots of scenario-based questions that dig into cloud architecture design, integrations with GCP services, and applying best practices in real-world cases. You will need a in-depth understand the use of each component and the process for this exam. I have used up all 120 minutes for 60 questions include 2 case studies. It’s quite tough, I don’t even have time to review the question over again. If you gonna take this exam, you must study hard get understand the services which exist within GCP and what services to apply in the scenarios given via the case studies. This along with any experience that you have on what makes sense from an infrastructure standpoint to do and you’re good. Case studies may change. A few services might also be added/renamed… But the common goal of applicability remains the same.

The next chapter.. Google Cloud

It was planned for a while, just have chance to upgrade the home router to support dual WAN with 2.5Gbps ports. I have then applied another provider for broadband service with at least 1Gbps bandwidth.
Cabling is a pretty hard work, the pipe is tiny and need to fit in a lot of fiber and CAT5 cables. Luckily the GPON spitter is just one floor below.

Alright, installation completed, now there are 3 ONT from 3 service provider (HKT, HKBN and HGC) placed at the same location. It proivdes up to 3Gbps bandwidth to my home.

Finally, speed testing! Unfortunately, I yet not have a 2.5Gbps network card but I got a mobile support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 160Mhz which can theologically support up to 2401Mbps. With dual WAN connection, the download speed can boost up to around 1550 – 1800 Mbps.

Sometimes, you may need to use URL rewrite to overwrite the HTTP header. For example, if you are using Cloudflare or any CDN, the REMOTE_ADDR and REMOTE_HOST will be appeard as internal IP of the CDN provider.

If you are using IIS, there is no option to do URL rewrite by default. You will need to download and install an app call “URL Rewrite” and then you will get an option to edit the rule.

The tool can be downloaded from https://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/url-rewrite

Not much new things in the past year, you will get pass if you have hands on experience.