Access control (IAM vs ACLs) in GCP - Interactive Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to grant a user the role of Storage Object Viewer using IAM.

GCP

resource = "projects/my-project"
policy = client.get_iam_policy(resource)
policy.bindings.append({"role": "[1]", "members": ["user:[e-mail]"]})
client.set_iam_policy(resource, policy)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aroles/editor

Broles/storage.admin

Croles/compute.viewer

Droles/storage.objectViewer

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using admin role when only viewer is needed

Confusing compute roles with storage roles

The correct IAM role to view storage objects is roles/storage.objectViewer. This grants read-only access to objects.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to set an ACL that grants read access to all users on a Cloud Storage bucket.

GCP

bucket = client.get_bucket('my-bucket')
bucket.acl.[1].all().grant_read()
bucket.acl.save()

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Auser

Bgroup

Cpublic

Ddefault

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'user' instead of 'public' for open access

Forgetting to save the ACL after changes

To grant read access to all users, use the public ACL entity.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the IAM policy binding to correctly specify the member type for a service account.

GCP

policy.bindings.append({"role": "roles/storage.admin", "members": ["[1]:[e-mail]"]})

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

AserviceAccount

Buser

Cgroup

Ddomain

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'user' prefix for service accounts

Omitting the prefix entirely

Service accounts must be prefixed with serviceAccount: in IAM member strings.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to create an IAM policy that grants a group the role of Compute Viewer on a project.

GCP

policy.bindings.append({"role": "[1]", "members": ["[2]:[e-mail]"]})

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Aroles/compute.viewer

Broles/storage.admin

Cgroup

Duser

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'user' instead of 'group' for group members

Choosing wrong roles like storage admin for compute tasks

The role for viewing compute resources is roles/compute.viewer, and the member type for groups is group.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to create an ACL entry that grants write access to a specific user on a bucket.

GCP

bucket.acl.[1].[2]().grant_[3]()
bucket.acl.save()

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Auser

Ball

Cwrite

Dgroup

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using 'group' instead of 'user' for individual access

Using grant_read() instead of grant_write() for write access

To grant write access to a specific user, use user entity, select all() to target all entries for that user, and call grant_write().

Practice

1. What is the main difference between IAM and ACLs in Google Cloud Platform?

easy

A. IAM and ACLs are exactly the same in functionality.

B. IAM controls network traffic, and ACLs control user passwords.

C. IAM is only for virtual machines, ACLs are for storage only.

D. IAM manages access at resource levels using roles, while ACLs manage access at object or bucket levels.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand IAM scope

   IAM controls access broadly by assigning roles to users or groups at resource levels like projects or services.

2. Step 2: Understand ACL scope

   ACLs control access more narrowly, typically at the object or bucket level in storage services.

3. Final Answer:

   IAM manages access at resource levels using roles, while ACLs manage access at object or bucket levels. -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   IAM = broad roles, ACLs = fine-grained object permissions [OK]

Hint: IAM is broad roles; ACLs are fine-grained permissions [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing IAM with network controls
• Thinking ACLs control passwords
• Assuming IAM and ACLs are identical

2. Which of the following is the correct way to grant a user the role of 'Storage Object Viewer' using IAM in GCP?

easy

A. Edit the user's password in the IAM console.

B. Add the user to the ACL of the bucket with read permission.

C. Use the command: gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding my-project --member='user:[e-mail]' --role='roles/storage.objectViewer'

D. Create a firewall rule allowing the user access.

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify IAM command syntax

   The correct gcloud command to grant IAM roles uses 'add-iam-policy-binding' with member and role flags.

2. Step 2: Verify role and member format

   The role 'roles/storage.objectViewer' and member format 'user:[e-mail]' are correct for granting read access to storage objects.

3. Final Answer:

   Use the command: gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding my-project --member='user:[e-mail]' --role='roles/storage.objectViewer' -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   IAM role grant uses gcloud add-iam-policy-binding [OK]

Hint: Use gcloud add-iam-policy-binding with correct role and member [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing ACL changes with IAM commands
• Editing passwords instead of roles
• Using firewall rules for access control

3. Given the following IAM policy snippet for a bucket, what access does the user 'user:[e-mail]' have?

{
  "bindings": [
    {
      "role": "roles/storage.objectAdmin",
      "members": ["user:[e-mail]"]
    }
  ]
}

medium

A. Alice can only read objects in the bucket.

B. Alice can create, delete, and update objects in the bucket.

C. Alice has no access to the bucket.

D. Alice can manage IAM policies but not objects.

Solution

1. Step 1: Identify the role assigned

   The role 'roles/storage.objectAdmin' allows full control over objects in the bucket, including create, delete, and update.

2. Step 2: Confirm member access

   The member 'user:[e-mail]' is assigned this role, so Alice has these permissions.

3. Final Answer:

   Alice can create, delete, and update objects in the bucket. -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   roles/storage.objectAdmin = full object control [OK]

Hint: objectAdmin role means full object permissions [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing objectAdmin with read-only roles
• Assuming no access without explicit bucket ACL
• Mixing IAM roles with IAM policy management

4. You tried to grant a user access to a Cloud Storage bucket by adding them to the bucket's ACL, but they still cannot access the objects. What is the likely issue?

medium

A. The bucket has uniform bucket-level access enabled, which disables ACLs.

B. The user needs to restart their computer.

C. The user's email address was misspelled in the ACL.

D. The user was not granted an IAM role at the project level.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand uniform bucket-level access

   When uniform bucket-level access is enabled, ACLs are disabled and only IAM controls access.

2. Step 2: Check ACL effect

   Adding users to ACLs has no effect if uniform bucket-level access is on, so the user cannot access objects despite ACL changes.

3. Final Answer:

   The bucket has uniform bucket-level access enabled, which disables ACLs. -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Uniform bucket-level access disables ACLs [OK]

Hint: Uniform bucket-level access disables ACLs [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming ACLs always work regardless of bucket settings
• Blaming user typos without verification
• Thinking user restart affects cloud permissions

5. You want to allow a third-party service to read specific objects in your Cloud Storage bucket without giving it full project access. Which approach is best?

hard

A. Add the service account to the bucket's ACL with READER permission on specific objects.

B. Enable uniform bucket-level access and grant the service account the storage.admin role.

C. Grant the service an IAM role at the project level with storage.objectViewer permission.

D. Create a firewall rule to allow the service IP to access the bucket.

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand access scope needs

   The third-party service needs access only to specific objects, not the whole project.

2. Step 2: Choose fine-grained control method

   ACLs allow granting permissions on specific objects or buckets, ideal for limited access.

3. Step 3: Evaluate other options

   IAM roles at project level are too broad; storage.admin is too powerful; firewall rules do not control storage access.

4. Final Answer:

   Add the service account to the bucket's ACL with READER permission on specific objects. -> Option A

5. Quick Check:

   Use ACLs for fine-grained object access [OK]

Hint: Use ACLs for specific object access, IAM for broad access [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Granting overly broad IAM roles
• Confusing firewall rules with access control
• Using storage.admin role unnecessarily