This ACE practice question tests your understanding of configuring access and security. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. 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.
You need to allow a Cloud Function to write logs to Cloud Logging. The function uses a default service account. What IAM role should you grant to the service account?
roles/logging.logWriter
This role allows writing log entries, appropriate for the function.
roles/cloudfunctions.serviceAgent
Why wrong: This role is automatically granted to the service agent for Cloud Functions, not for the function's own logging.
roles/logging.admin
Why wrong: Admin role includes write but also delete and modify, too broad.
roles/logging.viewer
Why wrong: Viewer only allows reading logs, not writing.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
roles/logging.logWriter
The Cloud Function's default service account needs the `roles/logging.logWriter` role to write logs to Cloud Logging. This role grants the `logging.logEntries.create` permission, which is the minimum required for writing log entries. Without it, the function cannot send logs to Logging, even though it may have other permissions.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
roles/logging.logWriter
Why this is correct
This role allows writing log entries, appropriate for the function.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/cloudfunctions.serviceAgent
Why it's wrong here
This role is automatically granted to the service agent for Cloud Functions, not for the function's own logging.
roles/logging.admin
Why it's wrong here
Admin role includes write but also delete and modify, too broad.
roles/logging.viewer
Why it's wrong here
Viewer only allows reading logs, not writing.
Common exam traps
Google Cloud often tests the distinction between the Cloud Functions service agent (used for internal orchestration) and the default compute service account (used by the function itself), causing candidates to mistakenly choose `roles/cloudfunctions.serviceAgent` for log writing.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, Cloud Logging uses the `logging.logEntries.create` permission to accept log entries via the `entries.write` API method. The default compute service account for Cloud Functions (e.g., `PROJECT_NUMBER-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com`) must have this permission; if missing, log writes silently fail or throw a permission denied error. In real-world scenarios, if you also need the function to read logs (e.g., for monitoring), you would add `roles/logging.viewer` separately, but writing always requires `roles/logging.logWriter`.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A company's IT admin needs to give a contractor read-only access to production logs without sharing account credentials. Using role-based access control (RBAC) and temporary scoped permissions — not a permanent shared password — is the correct pattern. Questions like this test whether you can apply least-privilege access across cloud identity services.
What to study next
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FAQ
Configuring access and security — This question tests Configuring access and security — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: roles/logging.logWriter — The Cloud Function's default service account needs the `roles/logging.logWriter` role to write logs to Cloud Logging. This role grants the `logging.logEntries.create` permission, which is the minimum required for writing log entries. Without it, the function cannot send logs to Logging, even though it may have other permissions.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
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.
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