Topic 2 - Google AI Services

Question 1

Project

Answer 1

An organizing entity for Google Cloud resources, containing settings, permissions, and metadata. Each project has a name, ID, and number.

Question 2

Name the five ways listed in the source material to interact with Google services.

Answer 2

1. Google Cloud console
2. Google Cloud Command Line Interface (CLI)
3. Local Terminal
4. Cloud Shell
5. Client Libraries

Question 3

Google Cloud console

Answer 3

A web-based graphical interface for interacting with Google Cloud services.

Question 4

Google Cloud Command Line Interface (CLI)

Answer 4

A tool for managing Google Cloud resources and services from the command line.

Question 5

Local Terminal

Answer 5

Interacting with Google Cloud services using the gcloud CLI from a local computer’s terminal.

Question 6

Cloud Shell

Answer 6

A browser-based command-line environment for Google Cloud.

Question 7

Client Libraries

Answer 7

Code libraries provided by Google to simplify programmatic access to Google Cloud APIs.

Question 8

Cloud Client Libraries

Answer 8

Recommended client libraries providing idiomatic code and handling low-level communication and authentication details, often using gRPC.

Question 9

Google API Client Libraries

Answer 9

Older client libraries that provide access to the API’s REST interface only, often used for specific language support or upgrading existing projects

Question 10

Why might someone choose to use Google API Client Libraries instead of Cloud Client Libraries?

Answer 10

Someone might use Google API Client Libraries if a Cloud Client Library is not available for their preferred programming language or if they are upgrading a project that already uses them. These libraries only access the API’s REST interface.

Question 11

App APIs

Answer 11

Application Programming Interfaces used by applications to interact with Google services.

Question 12

Admin APIs

Answer 12

Application Programming Interfaces used for administrative tasks and managing Google Cloud resources.

Question 13

Principal

Answer 13

An identity (user account or service account) that can be granted access to a Google Cloud resource.

Question 14

Authentication

Answer 14

The process of verifying the identity of a principal (such as a user account or service account) attempting to access a resource.

Question 15

Authorization

Answer 15

The process of determining the level of access a principal or application is permitted to have to a resource, after authentication.

Question 16

Credentials

Answer 16

Digital objects or methods (like passwords, PINs, biometric data) that provide proof of identity for authentication.

Question 17

Token

Answer 17

A digital object exchanged for proper credentials that proves a caller’s identity and authorized access levels, used for authentication and authorization with Google APIs (except API keys).

Question 18

User account

Answer 18

A principal representing a human user (developer, administrator) who interacts with Google APIs and services.

Question 19

Service account

Answer 19

A principal that does not represent a human user, managed by IAM, typically used by applications or services to interact with Google Cloud.

Question 20

Describe the difference between User accounts and Service accounts as principals.

Answer 20

User accounts represent human users like developers or administrators, while service accounts do not represent human users and are managed by IAM, often used for applications or services to interact with Google Cloud.

Question 21

API key

Answer 21

A simple credential used to associate a request with a Google Cloud project for billing and quota, typically used for accessing public data. It does not identify a principal.

Question 22

Why are API keys generally used for accessing public data or resources and not recommended for identifying a principal?

Answer 22

API keys do not identify a specific user or provide authorization information; they primarily associate a request with a Google Cloud project for billing and quota. They are suitable for accessing public data where identifying the caller is not necessary for authorization.

Question 23

IAM (Identity and Access Management)

Answer 23

The service used to manage principals and their permissions for accessing Google Cloud resources.

Question 24

Application Default Credentials (ADC)

Answer 24

A strategy used by Google authentication libraries to automatically find credentials based on the application environment, simplifying authentication for client libraries and REST calls.

Question 25

What is the advantage of using Application Default Credentials (ADC) with Client Libraries for authentication?

Answer 25

Using ADC with Client Libraries simplifies authentication by automatically finding credentials based on the application environment. This allows your code to run in development or production without changing how it authenticates and handles access tokens automatically.

Question 26

REST (Representational State Transfer)

Answer 26

An architectural style for designing networked applications, often used for interacting with Google APIs.

Question 27

When authenticating a REST call in a production environment, which method is preferred and why?

Answer 27

For authenticating a REST call in a production environment, authenticating using credentials provided to Application Default Credentials (ADC) is the preferred option. This is because ADC finds credentials from the resource where the code is running, which is a secure method for production environments.

Question 28

gcloud credentials

Answer 28

User credentials used to log in to the gcloud CLI and access Google Cloud services or generate access tokens.

Question 29

Service account impersonation

Answer 29

A method of authenticating by using a user account or service account to temporarily act as another service account, often used for testing or granting temporary elevated privileges.

Question 30

Short-lived credentials

Answer 30

Credentials with a limited lifetime that are not automatically refreshed, offering less risk than long-lived credentials.

Question 31

Long-lived credentials

Answer 31

Credentials with a longer lifetime, such as service account keys, which pose a higher security risk and should be avoided when possible.

Question 32

gRPC

Answer 32

A high-performance, open-source framework for remote procedure calls, used by Cloud Client Libraries for potential performance benefits.

Question 33

Metadata server

Answer 33

A service that provides information about a resource (like a Compute Engine virtual machine) to the resource itself, including attached service account credentials.