This PCDOE practice question tests your understanding of bootstrapping a google cloud organization for devops. 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 company is bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization. They have created a Shared VPC host project. They want to allow a service project's default compute service account to launch instances that use the Shared VPC's subnets. Which IAM role should be granted to that service account at the host project level?
roles/compute.xpnAdmin
Why wrong: This role is for managing Shared VPC, not for using it.
roles/compute.securityAdmin
Why wrong: This role is for firewall and security settings.
roles/compute.networkUser
This role allows using subnets in the host project.
roles/compute.networkAdmin
Why wrong: This role includes management permissions that are not necessary.
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/compute.networkUser
The correct answer is C because the `roles/compute.networkUser` role grants a service account the necessary permissions to use the subnets of a Shared VPC host project. Specifically, this role includes the `compute.subnetworks.use` permission, which allows the service account to launch instances in the host project's subnets without granting broader network management rights.
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/compute.xpnAdmin
Why it's wrong here
This role is for managing Shared VPC, not for using it.
roles/compute.securityAdmin
Why it's wrong here
This role is for firewall and security settings.
roles/compute.networkUser
Why this is correct
This role allows using subnets in the host project.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
roles/compute.networkAdmin
Why it's wrong here
This role includes management permissions that are not necessary.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates often confuse the `networkUser` role with the `networkAdmin` role, mistakenly thinking that launching instances requires full network administration privileges, when in fact only the `compute.subnetworks.use` permission is needed.
Detailed technical explanation
Under the hood, the `compute.subnetworks.use` permission is the key IAM permission that controls whether a principal can create resources (like VM instances) that attach to a specific subnet. In a Shared VPC architecture, the host project owns the subnets, and the service project's compute service account must be granted this permission at the host project level (or on the specific subnet) to successfully launch instances. A real-world scenario is when a DevOps team wants to enforce least privilege: granting `networkUser` to the service account ensures it can only use, not modify, the network infrastructure.
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
Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — This question tests Bootstrapping a Google Cloud organization for DevOps — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: roles/compute.networkUser — The correct answer is C because the `roles/compute.networkUser` role grants a service account the necessary permissions to use the subnets of a Shared VPC host project. Specifically, this role includes the `compute.subnetworks.use` permission, which allows the service account to launch instances in the host project's subnets without granting broader network management rights.
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 24, 2026
This PCDOE 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 PCDOE exam.
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