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Question 405 of 500

Setting up a cloud solution environment →mediumMultiple ChoiceObjective-mapped

Quick Answer

The answer is to grant the Viewer role to auditor@gmail.com in the project’s IAM policy. This is correct because the Viewer (roles/viewer) role provides read-only access to all resources within a project, and Gmail accounts are fully supported as Google Accounts in GCP IAM—no Cloud Identity setup is required. On the Google Associate Cloud Engineer exam, this scenario tests your understanding of IAM basic roles and external identity support, often appearing as a straightforward question where the trap is overcomplicating the solution by suggesting a service account or Cloud Identity invitation. Remember that any Google Account, including Gmail, can be added directly to a project’s IAM policy, and the Viewer role is the simplest way to grant read-only access. A helpful memory tip: “Viewer for visibility, Gmail is good to go.”

Google ACE Setting up a cloud solution environment Practice Question

This ACE practice question tests your understanding of setting up a cloud solution environment. Match the stated requirement to the specific cloud service, access model, or configuration option — many options are valid in isolation but not for this scenario. 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 GCP project administrator needs to share read-only access to all resources in the project with an external auditor who has a Gmail account (auditor@gmail.com). What should the admin do?

Question 1mediummultiple choice

Full question →

A
Create a service account for the auditor and share the JSON key file
Why wrong: Service accounts are for applications, not human users. Sharing JSON keys introduces security risks and attribution issues.
B
Grant the Viewer role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy
GCP IAM supports Gmail accounts as principals. Granting Viewer to auditor@gmail.com gives read-only access to all project resources using their Google identity.
C
Add auditor@gmail.com as a project billing admin to give them read-only access
Why wrong: Billing Admin manages billing accounts — it doesn't grant read access to project resources. Viewer is the correct role.
D
Create a Cloud Identity account for the auditor — Gmail accounts cannot access GCP projects
Why wrong: Gmail accounts can be granted GCP project access via IAM — Cloud Identity is preferred for enterprise management but not required.

Full breakdown with real-world context →

Answer choices

Why each option matters

Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.

Correct answer & explanation

✓

Grant the Viewer role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy

Granting the Viewer (roles/viewer) role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy is correct because it provides read-only access to all resources in the project without requiring a Cloud Identity account. Gmail accounts are supported as Google Accounts and can be added directly to IAM policies, allowing them to authenticate and access resources via the GCP Console or APIs.

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.

✗
Create a service account for the auditor and share the JSON key file
Why it's wrong here
Service accounts are for applications, not human users. Sharing JSON keys introduces security risks and attribution issues.
✓
Grant the Viewer role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy
Why this is correct
GCP IAM supports Gmail accounts as principals. Granting Viewer to auditor@gmail.com gives read-only access to all project resources using their Google identity.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
✗
Add auditor@gmail.com as a project billing admin to give them read-only access
Why it's wrong here
Billing Admin manages billing accounts — it doesn't grant read access to project resources. Viewer is the correct role.
✗
Create a Cloud Identity account for the auditor — Gmail accounts cannot access GCP projects
Why it's wrong here
Gmail accounts can be granted GCP project access via IAM — Cloud Identity is preferred for enterprise management but not required.

Common exam traps

Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword

Google Cloud often tests the misconception that external users with Gmail accounts cannot be added to GCP IAM policies, leading candidates to incorrectly choose the Cloud Identity option, but in reality, any Google Account (including @gmail.com) can be granted IAM roles directly.

Detailed technical explanation

How to think about this question

IAM roles are hierarchical, and the Viewer role at the project level inherits to all resources within the project, including Compute Engine instances, Cloud Storage buckets, and BigQuery datasets. When a user with a Gmail account is granted a role, they authenticate via OAuth 2.0 and their identity is resolved through Google's authentication infrastructure, which treats @gmail.com addresses as standard Google Accounts. The IAM policy evaluation uses a deny-by-default model, and the Viewer role includes permissions like resourcemanager.projects.get and storage.objects.list, but not write or delete actions.

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 startup's cloud architect reviews their monthly bill and notices costs are higher than expected for a long-running batch job. Switching from on-demand instances to Reserved Instances — or using Spot/Preemptible VMs — can reduce compute costs by up to 72 %. Questions like this test whether you understand the tradeoffs between commitment, flexibility, and cost across cloud pricing models.

What to study next

Got this wrong? Here's your next step.

Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.

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FAQ

Questions learners often ask

What does this ACE question test?

Setting up a cloud solution environment — This question tests Setting up a cloud solution environment — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..

What is the correct answer to this question?

The correct answer is: Grant the Viewer role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy — Granting the Viewer (roles/viewer) role to auditor@gmail.com in the project's IAM policy is correct because it provides read-only access to all resources in the project without requiring a Cloud Identity account. Gmail accounts are supported as Google Accounts and can be added directly to IAM policies, allowing them to authenticate and access resources via the GCP Console or APIs.

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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This ACE practice question is part of Courseiva's free Google Cloud certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the ACE exam.