Google ACE Practice Question: A developer wants to use Cloud Shell to create a…

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.

• ✗

  Switch to a different region

  Why it's wrong here

  Changing the region will not resolve the 'API not enabled' error because APIs are enabled at the project level, not the region level. The Compute Engine API, when disabled, blocks creation attempts in every region uniformly. Regional selection only influences resource availability, latency, and pricing, not the service activation status. Therefore, switching regions is an ineffective workaround for this specific error.

• ✓

  Enable the Compute Engine API

  Why this is correct

  Enabling the Compute Engine API for the project is the direct and correct fix. When running `gcloud compute instances create`, Cloud Shell invokes the Compute Engine service, which returns the error 'API [compute.googleapis.com] not enabled' if the API is not activated. You can enable it by executing `gcloud services enable compute.googleapis.com` in Cloud Shell with an authenticated, authorized user. Once enabled, the API becomes available project-wide, allowing VM creation to proceed.

• ✗

  Use gcloud auth login

  Why it's wrong here

  Running `gcloud auth login` establishes user credentials and sets Application Default Credentials, but this does not affect API enablement. The 'API not enabled' error occurs during the API call, which is checked after authentication; even a fully authenticated user receives it if the service is not active. In contrast, a permissions problem would produce a 'Permission denied' or 'Forbidden' error, not an API-not-enabled message. Thus, authentication alone cannot resolve this service activation issue.

• ✗

  Increase project quota

  Why it's wrong here

  Increasing project quota does not address the root cause because the error explicitly indicates that the Compute Engine API is disabled, not that a quota limit has been exceeded. Quota errors appear as messages like 'Quota 'CPUS' exceeded' and relate to resource usage limits per project and region. While you might eventually need to request higher quotas for large-scale deployments, doing so will not activate the API. Enabling the API is a prerequisite; without it, quota adjustments are irrelevant to the immediate failure.

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