GCP Identity and Access Management

Overview

IAM helps you manage access to your Google Cloud resources by letting you control who (identity) has what level of access (permissions) to which resources. Think of it like a security system where you can give different people different types of keys to different rooms, but for your cloud resources.

The service uses a simple but powerful model: you grant roles (collections of permissions) to users, groups, or service accounts. For example, you might give some developers full access to development resources but read-only access to production, while giving administrators full access to everything.

IAM is hierarchical, meaning you can set permissions at different levels - from the entire organization down to individual resources. Permissions automatically flow down the hierarchy, making it easier to manage access for large organizations while maintaining fine-grained control when needed.

The service also includes audit logging, so you can track who accessed what and when, helping you maintain security and compliance. You can integrate with existing identity systems (like Active Directory) and use features like two-factor authentication for additional security.

Example uses

1. Development Teams: Grant developers access to specific projects while restricting access to production environments.

2. External Partners: Provide limited, controlled access to specific resources for contractors or partners.

3. Application Security: Create service accounts for applications to securely access only the resources they need.

4. Compliance: Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to meet regulatory requirements and internal policies.

Integration with other GCP services

IAM is integrated with every Google Cloud service:

• Cloud Storage: Control access to buckets and objects
• Compute Engine: Manage who can create and access VMs
• BigQuery: Control data access and query permissions
• Cloud Functions: Manage who can deploy and invoke functions
• Cloud Logging: Control who can view and manage logs
• Cloud KMS: Manage access to encryption keys

Similar services in other clouds

Other major cloud providers offer similar identity and access management services:

• AWS:

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM)
  • AWS Organizations

• Azure:

  • Azure Active Directory
  • Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

While these services provide similar core functionality, Google Cloud IAM distinguishes itself with its hierarchical resource organization and tight integration with Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) for enterprise customers.