Google PCA Design and plan a cloud solution architecture Practice Question
This PCA practice question tests your understanding of design and plan a cloud solution architecture. 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.
Refer to the exhibit. A security team wants to ensure that the service account 'sa-compute' can only be used by the instance admin role. Currently, any user with 'iam.serviceAccountUser' on the project can impersonate it. Which change should be made to the policy?
Add a condition to the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding that restricts access to only the instance admin.
Why wrong: Incorrect: Conditions cannot restrict impersonation based on who is performing the action; they are based on resource attributes.
B
Modify the project policy to change the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' member to 'user:developer@example.com'.
Why wrong: Incorrect: This still grants the role at the project level, which would allow any user with that role to impersonate the service account.
C
Remove the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding from the project policy and add a resource-level policy on the service account granting 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' only to 'developer@example.com'.
Correct: This restricts the ability to impersonate the service account to only the developer, not everyone with the project-level role.
D
Create a new custom role that combines 'roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1' and 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' and assign it to 'developer@example.com'.
Why wrong: Incorrect: This does not restrict impersonation; it still grants the serviceAccountUser role broadly.
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Remove the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding from the project policy and add a resource-level policy on the service account granting 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' only to 'developer@example.com'.
The exhibit shows a project-level IAM policy. The service account 'sa-compute' is granted 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' at the project level, meaning any user with that role on the project can impersonate it. To restrict usage, the policy should grant 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' on the service account itself to only specific users, not at the project level. The correct approach is to remove the project-level binding and add a resource-level policy on the service account.
Key principle: NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
✗
Add a condition to the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding that restricts access to only the instance admin.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: Conditions cannot restrict impersonation based on who is performing the action; they are based on resource attributes.
✗
Modify the project policy to change the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' member to 'user:developer@example.com'.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: This still grants the role at the project level, which would allow any user with that role to impersonate the service account.
✓
Remove the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding from the project policy and add a resource-level policy on the service account granting 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' only to 'developer@example.com'.
Why this is correct
Correct: This restricts the ability to impersonate the service account to only the developer, not everyone with the project-level role.
Related concept
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
✗
Create a new custom role that combines 'roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1' and 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' and assign it to 'developer@example.com'.
Why it's wrong here
Incorrect: This does not restrict impersonation; it still grants the serviceAccountUser role broadly.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: NAT rules depend on direction and matching traffic
NAT is not only about the public address. The inside/outside interface roles and the ACL or rule that matches traffic are just as important.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
NAT questions usually test address translation, overload/PAT behaviour, static mappings and whether the right traffic is being translated. Read the interface direction and address terms carefully.
KKey Concepts to Remember
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
PAT allows many inside hosts to share one public address using ports.
Inside local and inside global describe the private and translated addresses.
NAT ACLs identify traffic for translation, not always security filtering.
TExam Day Tips
→Identify inside and outside interfaces first.
→Check whether the scenario needs static NAT, dynamic NAT or PAT.
→Do not confuse NAT matching ACLs with normal packet-filtering intent.
Key takeaway
NAT direction and interface roles matter as much as the IP address mapping. Inside/outside designation controls which traffic is translated.
Real-world example
How this comes up in practice
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.
Related glossary terms
Concepts from this question explained
These glossary pages explain the core terms tested in this PCA question in full detail.
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — This question tests Design and plan a cloud solution architecture — Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address..
What is the correct answer to this question?
The correct answer is: Remove the 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' binding from the project policy and add a resource-level policy on the service account granting 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' only to 'developer@example.com'. — The exhibit shows a project-level IAM policy. The service account 'sa-compute' is granted 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' at the project level, meaning any user with that role on the project can impersonate it. To restrict usage, the policy should grant 'roles/iam.serviceAccountUser' on the service account itself to only specific users, not at the project level. The correct approach is to remove the project-level binding and add a resource-level policy on the service account.
What should I do if I get this PCA question wrong?
Review the four NAT address types (inside local, inside global, outside local, outside global), PAT port overload, and static vs dynamic NAT use cases. Then practise related PCA NAT questions on configuration and troubleshooting.
What is the key concept behind this question?
Static NAT maps one inside address to one outside address.
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Question Discussion
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