- A
Grant the instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the SA in project B, and grant the SA in project B roles/storage.objectViewer.
roles/iam.serviceAccountUser includes the 'actAs' permission. This allows the instance to impersonate the target SA, which already has the storage role.
- B
Grant the instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator role on the SA in project B.
Why wrong: roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator allows creating tokens but not impersonation. The correct role is serviceAccountUser (actAs).
- C
Create a new service account in project A with the necessary storage permissions and use that.
Why wrong: This does not use the SA in project B. The requirement is to impersonate the specific SA in project B.
- D
Grant the instance's service account the roles/storage.objectViewer role directly.
Why wrong: This would give the instance direct access, but the requirement is to impersonate the SA in project B. Also, the instance might not have permission to access resources across projects.
PCSE Practice Question: Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment
This PCSE practice question tests your understanding of configuring access within a cloud solution environment. This is a configuration task: choose the command set that satisfies every stated requirement. Small differences — like 'secret' vs 'password' or 'transport input ssh' vs 'all' — change whether the answer is correct. 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 security engineer needs to grant a team the ability to impersonate a service account (SA) in project B from a Compute Engine instance in project A. The SA in project B has the required permissions to access Cloud Storage. What IAM configuration is required?
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 instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the SA in project B, and grant the SA in project B roles/storage.objectViewer.
Option A is correct because it combines two necessary steps: first, the instance's service account in project A needs the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the target service account in project B to gain impersonation privileges; second, the target service account in project B must have roles/storage.objectViewer to access Cloud Storage. Without both, the impersonation would either fail (no permission to use the target SA) or the target SA would lack the storage access.
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.
- ✓
Grant the instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the SA in project B, and grant the SA in project B roles/storage.objectViewer.
Why this is correct
roles/iam.serviceAccountUser includes the 'actAs' permission. This allows the instance to impersonate the target SA, which already has the storage role.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
- ✗
Grant the instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator role on the SA in project B.
Why it's wrong here
roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator allows creating tokens but not impersonation. The correct role is serviceAccountUser (actAs).
- ✗
Create a new service account in project A with the necessary storage permissions and use that.
Why it's wrong here
This does not use the SA in project B. The requirement is to impersonate the specific SA in project B.
- ✗
Grant the instance's service account the roles/storage.objectViewer role directly.
Why it's wrong here
This would give the instance direct access, but the requirement is to impersonate the SA in project B. Also, the instance might not have permission to access resources across projects.
Common exam traps
Common exam trap: answer the scenario, not the keyword
Cisco often tests the distinction between roles/iam.serviceAccountUser (for impersonation) and roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator (for token generation), and candidates mistakenly think token creation alone enables full impersonation.
Detailed technical explanation
How to think about this question
Under the hood, impersonation uses the IAM method serviceAccounts.impersonate to obtain an OAuth 2.0 access token for the target service account; the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser permission is required to call this method. The target SA must then have the actual resource-level permissions (e.g., storage.objectViewer) to perform the intended actions. In a real-world scenario, this pattern is used to centralize permissions: the instance SA only needs impersonation rights, while the target SA holds all sensitive storage permissions, reducing the blast radius of a compromised instance.
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.
What to study next
Got this wrong? Here's your next step.
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FAQ
Questions learners often ask
What does this PCSE question test?
Configuring Access Within a Cloud Solution Environment — This question tests Configuring Access Within 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 instance's service account the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the SA in project B, and grant the SA in project B roles/storage.objectViewer. — Option A is correct because it combines two necessary steps: first, the instance's service account in project A needs the roles/iam.serviceAccountUser role on the target service account in project B to gain impersonation privileges; second, the target service account in project B must have roles/storage.objectViewer to access Cloud Storage. Without both, the impersonation would either fail (no permission to use the target SA) or the target SA would lack the storage access.
What should I do if I get this PCSE 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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Last reviewed: Jul 4, 2026
This PCSE 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 PCSE exam.
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