Google ACE Configuring access and security Practice Question
This ACE practice question tests your understanding of configuring access and security. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A company has a Compute Engine instance that needs to read files from a Cloud Storage bucket. The instance is running a custom application. What is the recommended way to grant the instance access to the bucket?
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Create a service account with Storage Object Viewer role and associate it with the instance.
Option B is correct because associating a service account with a Compute Engine instance and granting it the Storage Object Viewer role is the recommended IAM-based approach for granting least-privilege access to Cloud Storage. The instance retrieves short-lived OAuth 2.0 access tokens from the metadata server, which the application can use to authenticate API calls without embedding long-lived credentials.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Generate a signed URL for the bucket and embed it in the application.
Why it's wrong here
Signed URLs are for temporary access to specific objects, not appropriate for ongoing instance access.
✓
Create a service account with Storage Object Viewer role and associate it with the instance.
Why this is correct
Service accounts are the recommended way to grant permissions to instances. This provides least privilege.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Use the default Compute Engine service account with Storage Admin role.
Why it's wrong here
Default service account often has excessive permissions; best practice is to create a custom service account with minimal roles.
✗
Store the bucket credentials in the instance metadata.
Why it's wrong here
Storing credentials in metadata is insecure and not a recommended practice.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Google Cloud often tests the misconception that the default Compute Engine service account is appropriate for custom applications, when in fact it should be replaced with a dedicated service account with minimal roles to avoid over-permissioning and cross-instance credential sharing.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, the Compute Engine metadata server exposes an OAuth 2.0 token endpoint at `http://metadata.google.internal/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token`. The application can use this token in the `Authorization: Bearer` header of Cloud Storage API calls. The service account's IAM role is evaluated at request time by Cloud Storage's access control system, which supports both IAM permissions and ACLs; using IAM roles is the modern, recommended approach over legacy ACLs.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
Find the constraint that changes the correct option.
Eliminate answers that are true in general but not in this case.
TExam Day Tips
→Watch for words such as best, first, most likely and least administrative effort.
→Review why wrong options are wrong, not only why the correct option is correct.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
A media company stores terabytes of video archives that are accessed once a year for audit purposes. Moving these objects to a cold storage tier (Azure Archive, S3 Glacier, or Google Nearline) costs a fraction of hot storage. Questions like this test whether you understand storage tiers, access frequency tradeoffs, and retrieval latency requirements.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this ACE question in full detail.
Configuring access and security — This question tests Configuring access and security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Create a service account with Storage Object Viewer role and associate it with the instance. — Option B is correct because associating a service account with a Compute Engine instance and granting it the Storage Object Viewer role is the recommended IAM-based approach for granting least-privilege access to Cloud Storage. The instance retrieves short-lived OAuth 2.0 access tokens from the metadata server, which the application can use to authenticate API calls without embedding long-lived credentials.
What should I do if I get this ACE question wrong?
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Question Discussion
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