In this article, we will download and install the Google gcloud CLI. Then we will set up gcloud with Google Service Account credentials. This article is for Windows-based systems but the same principles apply to Linux and Mac systems.
Step 1 – Download gcloud
Step 2 – Launch the installer
At the
, deselect
to configure the Cloud SDK. The reason is that we only want to use Service Account credentials.
Step 3 – Access a Google public bucket
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gsutil ls gs://gcp-public-data-landsat |
This command should succeed and provide a listing of the files in this bucket. This command verifies that the CLI is installed. We have not set up credentials yet.
Step 4 – Access one of your own private buckets
This step will verify that you have no credentials. Change the bucket name to a private bucket that you own.
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gsutil ls gs://mybucket |
This command should fail. If it succeeds you have a public bucket that anyone can access.
Step 5 – Create Google Service Account credentials.
You can skip this step if you already have credentials to use.
In this example, we will only grant
to these credentials.
- Go to
IAM & admin
->
Service accounts - Click
CREATE SERVICE ACCOUNT
- Enter a
Service account name
and
Service account description - Click
CREATE
- In the next screen
Service account permissions
, select a role.
- Select
Storage
->
Storage Admin - Click
CONTINUE
- Click
Create key
- Check the
JSON
radio button for the
Key type - Save the json file to your local computer.
Make note of the email address that Google Cloud created for these credentials.
Step 6- Configure gcloud with the Google Service Account credentials
In this example, the email address is:
The credentials file is:
Modify these items to what you created in step 5.
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gcloud auth activate-service-account test@development-123456.iam.gserviceaccount.com --key-file=test_google_account.json |
Step 7 – Verify that the credentials work
Change the bucket name to a private bucket that you own.
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gsutil ls gs://mybucket |
This command should now succeed.
You have now successfully configured gcloud to work with Google Service Account credentials.
There are two commands that generate access tokens:
- gcloud auth print-access-token
- gcloud auth application-default print-access-token
Important Detail
Configuring
with a service account sets up the tool’s credentials and does not create credentials for Application Default Credentials (ADC).
More information
- gcloud auth print-access-token
- gcloud auth application-default print-access-token
- gcloud auth activate-service-account
In future articles, I will show you how to use these same credentials when programming, for example, in C++, Python, etc. Then we will cover in detail what Google Service Account credentials are and how to programmatically generate Access Tokens from these credentials.