Google Associate Cloud Engineer Exam - Topic 1 Question 107 Discussion

Actual exam question for Google's Associate Cloud Engineer exam

Question #: 107
Topic #: 1

[All Associate Cloud Engineer Questions]

You built an application on your development laptop that uses Google Cloud services. Your application uses Application Default Credentials for authentication and works fine on your development laptop. You want to migrate this application to a Compute Engine virtual machine (VM) and set up authentication using Google- recommended practices and minimal changes. What should you do?

AAssign appropriate access for Google services to the service account used by the Compute Engine VM.

BCreate a service account with appropriate access for Google services, and configure the application to use this account.

CStore credentials for service accounts with appropriate access for Google services in a config file, and deploy this config file with your application.

DStore credentials for your user account with appropriate access for Google services in a config file, and deploy this config file with your application.

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: B

In general, Google recommends that each instance that needs to call a Google API should run as a service account with the minimum permissions necessary for that instance to do its job. In practice, this means you should configure service accounts for your instances with the following process: Create a new service account rather than using the Compute Engine default service account. Grant IAM roles to that service account for only the resources that it needs. Configure the instance to run as that service account. Grant the instance the https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform scope to allow full access to all Google Cloud APIs, so that the IAM permissions of the instance are completely determined by the IAM roles of the service account. Avoid granting more access than necessary and regularly check your service account permissions to make sure they are up-to-date. https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/access/create-enable-service-accounts-for-instances#best_practices

by Franchesca at Jun 12, 2025, 11:18 AM

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Cristen

2 months ago

Wait, people actually use user account credentials in config files? Really?

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Novella

2 months ago

I think A is better for simplicity.

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Jill

3 months ago

Definitely not D, that's a security nightmare.

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Donette

3 months ago

Storing credentials in a config file? That sounds risky!

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Coral

3 months ago

Option B is the way to go!

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Hoa

3 months ago

I definitely remember that storing credentials in a config file is not recommended, so options C and D seem wrong to me.

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Salina

4 months ago

I feel like option B could be a good choice too, but I can't recall if we covered the specifics of configuring the application to use a new service account.

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Haydee

4 months ago

I think option A makes sense since it mentions assigning access to the service account, which is what we practiced in the lab.

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Glenn

4 months ago

I remember we discussed the importance of using service accounts for VM authentication, but I'm not sure if I should create a new one or just use the existing one.

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Junita

4 months ago

I'm a bit confused by the wording here. Does "minimal changes" mean I shouldn't have to modify my application code much? If that's the case, I think option A might be the way to go, since it sounds like I can just assign the right permissions to the existing service account.

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Stefanie

4 months ago

Okay, I've got this. The question is asking about best practices, so I'm going to go with option B and create a service account. That way, I can keep my personal credentials secure and still access the Google Cloud services I need.

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Cecilia

5 months ago

Hmm, I'm a little unsure about this one. I know I need to set up authentication, but I'm not sure if I should use a service account or just store my own credentials. I'll have to think this through carefully.

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Hyun

5 months ago

This seems pretty straightforward. I think the key is to use a service account instead of my personal credentials, so I'll go with option B.

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Yolando

7 months ago

For a production environment, you definitely don't want to be using Application Default Credentials. That's just asking for trouble.

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Vivan

7 months ago

B) Create a service account with appropriate access for Google services, and configure the application to use this account.

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Virgie

7 months ago

A) Assign appropriate access for Google services to the service account used by the Compute Engine VM.

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Vincenza

8 months ago

I'm not sure, but I think A could also be a valid option.

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Elin

8 months ago

I agree with Tyra, B sounds like the right choice.

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Leonida

8 months ago

Haha, storing user credentials in a config file? That's a disaster waiting to happen! Option D is definitely not the way to go.

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Sherron

7 months ago

C) Store credentials for service accounts with appropriate access for Google services in a config file, and deploy this config file with your application.

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