Google ACE Setting Up a Cloud Solution Environment Practice Question

Answer analysis

Option-by-option breakdown

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

• ✗

  gcloud auth login

  Why it's wrong here

  gcloud auth login obtains OAuth credentials for the gcloud CLI itself, storing them in the user's home directory for use by gcloud commands. It does not write the application_default_credentials.json file that client libraries and ADC-aware tools look for, so ADC remains unconfigured even after a successful login.

• ✗

  gcloud init

  Why it's wrong here

  gcloud init performs SDK initialization: it creates a configuration, sets the project, and may prompt for account login, but it never provisions Application Default Credentials. Its purpose is to prepare the gcloud environment, not to create the dedicated ADC credential file that client libraries require for implicit authentication.

• ✓

  gcloud auth application-default login

  Why this is correct

  gcloud auth application-default login is the correct command because it explicitly generates Application Default Credentials, storing them in the standard location (typically ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json). These credentials are then picked up automatically by Google Cloud client libraries when no explicit service account key is supplied, enabling local development to use your user account's permissions as ADC.

• ✗

  gcloud config set auth/application_default true

  Why it's wrong here

  gcloud config set auth/application_default true is invalid because no such configuration property exists in the gcloud SDK. The gcloud config set command only modifies SDK properties like project or region; it cannot create, enable, or store Application Default Credentials, and this command would return an error about the unrecognized property.

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