Organization policies in GCP - Step-by-Step Execution

Process Flow - Organization policies

Define Organization Policy

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Attach Policy to Resource

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Policy Evaluated on Requests

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Allow or Deny Action Based on Policy

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Enforce Compliance Across Resources

Organization policies are rules set at the organization level that control what actions are allowed or denied on resources. They are attached to resources and evaluated on each request to enforce compliance.

Execution Sample

GCP

resource "google_org_policy_policy" "restrict_compute_regions" {
  org_id = "123456789"
  constraint = "constraints/compute.allowedRegions"
  list_policy {
    allowed_values = ["us-central1", "us-east1"]
  }
}

This code creates an organization policy that restricts Compute Engine resources to only use specified regions.

Process Table

Step	Action	Resource	Policy Evaluated	Result
1	Define policy restrict_compute_regions	Organization 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Policy created with allowed regions us-central1, us-east1
2	Attach policy to organization	Organization 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Policy active on organization and all child resources
3	Request to create VM in us-central1	Project under org 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Allowed (region in allowed list)
4	Request to create VM in europe-west1	Project under org 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Denied (region not in allowed list)
5	Request to create VM in us-east1	Project under org 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Allowed (region in allowed list)
6	Request to create VM in asia-east1	Project under org 123456789	constraints/compute.allowedRegions	Denied (region not in allowed list)

💡 Requests outside allowed regions are denied, enforcing the organization policy.

Status Tracker

Variable	Start	After Step 1	After Step 2	After Step 3	After Step 4	Final
Policy allowed_regions	empty	[us-central1, us-east1]	[us-central1, us-east1]	[us-central1, us-east1]	[us-central1, us-east1]	[us-central1, us-east1]
Request region	none	none	none	us-central1	europe-west1	asia-east1
Request result	none	none	none	Allowed	Denied	Denied

Key Moments - 2 Insights

Why is a VM creation request denied even though the project is under the organization?

Because the requested region is not in the allowed regions list defined by the organization policy, as shown in execution_table rows 4 and 6.

Does the organization policy apply only to the organization or also to projects under it?

The policy applies to the organization and all its child resources, including projects, as shown in execution_table row 2.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution_table, what is the result of a VM creation request in us-east1?

A Denied

B Allowed

C Pending

D Error

💡 Hint

Check execution_table row 5 where the request region is us-east1.

At which step does the policy become active on the organization and its projects?

A Step 2

B Step 3

C Step 1

D Step 4

💡 Hint

Look at execution_table row 2 describing policy attachment.

If the allowed regions list included 'europe-west1', what would be the result at step 4?

A Error

B Denied

C Allowed

D Pending

💡 Hint

Refer to variable_tracker for request region and result changes.

Concept Snapshot

Organization policies in GCP control resource behavior across the organization.
They are defined with constraints and attached to organization or folders.
Policies are evaluated on each request to allow or deny actions.
Example: Restrict Compute Engine regions to a whitelist.
Policies enforce compliance centrally and cascade down resource hierarchy.

Full Transcript

Organization policies in Google Cloud let you set rules that control what actions can happen on resources within your organization. You define a policy with a constraint, like allowed regions for Compute Engine. Then you attach this policy to your organization or folders. When someone tries to create or modify a resource, Google Cloud checks the policy. If the action matches the allowed rules, it proceeds; if not, it is denied. For example, if you restrict Compute Engine regions to us-central1 and us-east1, any VM creation request outside these regions will be denied. This helps keep your cloud environment compliant with your company rules.