Google ACE Configuring Access and Security 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.

• ✗

  A firewall rule allowing egress to 0.0.0.0/0.

  Why it's wrong here

  A firewall rule allowing egress to 0.0.0.0/0 permits outbound traffic but does not enable Private Google Access. For a VM to reach Google APIs without an external IP, the subnet must have Private Google Access enabled, which is a subnet-level configuration, not a firewall rule. Without that setting, traffic to Google APIs will fail even if a permissive egress rule exists, because the VM lacks an external IP and cannot complete the connection. Firewall rules control allowed traffic; they do not change how the VPC routes or NATs traffic to Google services.

• ✗

  VPC Flow Logs on the subnet.

  Why it's wrong here

  Enabling VPC Flow Logs on the subnet is a monitoring feature that captures information about IP traffic to and from VMs. It records connection metadata such as source/destination IPs and port usage, but it has no impact on network connectivity or routing. Therefore, it cannot grant VMs access to Google APIs; it would only help you observe whether traffic is actually reaching the API, not make it possible in the first place.

• ✗

  Cloud NAT on the VPC.

  Why it's wrong here

  Cloud NAT on the VPC allows instances with only internal IPs to initiate outbound connections to the internet by translating their private addresses to a Cloud NAT-provided external IP. While this would enable access to Google APIs, it is not the same as Private Google Access, which is a subnet-level setting that routes traffic to Google APIs directly over the internal network without NAT. Cloud NAT is designed for general internet egress, and using it would incur NAT gateway costs and potential public IP exposure, whereas Private Google Access is the correct, no-NAT method for API access. Since the requirement is specifically to enable Private Google Access, configuring Cloud NAT does not satisfy that requirement.

• ✓

  Private Google Access on the subnet.

  Why this is correct

  Private Google Access on the subnet is the correct configuration to enable VMs without external IPs to reach Google APIs and services. When enabled, the subnet's VMs can send traffic to Google's public API IPs, which are then routed internally through the VPC's default route and into Google's network without ever needing an external IP. This is a subnet-level Boolean flag that must be turned on for each subnet where you want the capability; it applies to the entire subnet and works with the standard default route. Enabling this is the direct, documented mechanism that satisfies the security engineer's requirement.

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