Google Cloud IAM Lesson

What is IAM?

Google Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a framework that allows administrators to manage who has access to specific resources within Google Cloud. IAM defines who (identity) has what access (roles) to which resources.

Key Components

• **Identity**: Users, groups, or service accounts that access Google Cloud resources.
• **Roles**: A collection of permissions that can be assigned to identities.
• **Policies**: Bindings that associate roles with identities for specific resources.

Setting Up IAM

To set up IAM, follow these steps:

          graph TD;
              A[Start] --> B{Identify Resources}
              B --> C[Determine Roles]
              C --> D[Assign Roles to Identities]
              D --> E[Review Permissions]
              E --> F[End]
        

For example, to assign a role to a user, you can use the following command in the Google Cloud Console:

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID \
                --member='user:USER_EMAIL' \
                --role='roles/ROLE_NAME'

Best Practices

Adhere to the following best practices when using IAM:

• Use the principle of least privilege.
• Regularly review IAM policies.
• Utilize predefined roles instead of creating custom roles where possible.
• Enable Cloud Audit Logs for tracking access and changes.

FAQ