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Exam Information
Official specifications published by Google
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Skills this practice test covers
- Build a resource hierarchy of organization, folders and projects, and apply organization policies to it.
- Link projects to billing accounts, set budgets and alerts, and export billing data to BigQuery.
- Pick Compute Engine, GKE or Cloud Run for a workload, and deploy it.
- Create a custom mode VPC with subnets, Cloud NGFW policies and a load balancer.
- Set up Cloud Monitoring alerts and read Cloud Logging entries to find why an application fails.
- Grant least-privilege IAM roles and manage service accounts, including impersonation.
Explore related topics
ACE exam content
4 domains · 41 topics · 251 of 595 questions are written for ACE
Setting up a cloud solution environment23%51 questions
This domain covers the groundwork before anything runs: the resource hierarchy, identities, APIs, quotas and billing. A mistake here affects every project that follows, so the questions focus on structure and cost control.
Skills tested
- Arrange an organization, folders and projects, and apply organization policies at the right level.
- Grant IAM roles to members in a project, and manage users and groups in Cloud Identity.
- Enable the APIs a project needs, and check quotas before requesting an increase.
- Install and configure the gcloud command-line tool, including its default project.
- Create billing accounts, link projects to them, set budgets and alerts, and set up billing exports.
Questions by topic
- Applying organizational policies to the resource hierarchy7
- Managing billing configuration4
- Linking projects to a billing account5
- Setting up cloud projects and accounts3
- Creating a resource hierarchy9
- Setting up billing exports6
- Installing and configuring the command-line interface (CLI)10
- Enabling APIs within projects6
- Configuring audit logs1
Planning and implementing a cloud solution30%93 questions
The largest domain turns a plan into running resources. Candidates choose and deploy compute, storage, databases and networks, and they build resources with infrastructure as code.
Skills tested
- Match a workload to Compute Engine, GKE or Cloud Run by how much control and scaling it needs.
- Create an autoscaled managed instance group, and lower costs with Spot VMs and custom machine types.
- Pick a data product, such as Cloud SQL, Spanner, Firestore, Bigtable or BigQuery, and a Cloud Storage class.
- Build a custom mode VPC with subnets and Cloud NGFW policies, and link it to other networks with Cloud VPN or Cloud Interconnect.
- Deploy resources with Terraform or Config Connector, and choose the right load balancer.
Questions by topic
- Planning and implementing resources through infrastructure as code7
- Deploying a GKE cluster with different configurations8
- Choosing and deploying data products15
- Creating and applying Cloud Next Generation Firewall (Cloud NGFW) policies6
- Creating a VPC with subnets6
- Establishing network connectivity8
- Creating an autoscaled managed instance group by using an instance template5
- Choosing and deploying storage products9
- Selecting appropriate compute choices for a given workload12
- Choosing and deploying load balancers4
- Planning and implementing networking resources8
- Deploying new versions of a Cloud Run application1
- Configuring OS Login2
- Working with Kubernetes resources2
Ensuring successful operation of a cloud solution27%72 questions
Here the resources already run. Candidates keep instances, GKE clusters, Cloud Run services, storage and networks healthy, and they watch all of it through monitoring and logs.
Skills tested
- Connect to Compute Engine instances, and create snapshots and images for backup and reuse.
- Manage Pod autoscaling in GKE, and let clusters pull images from Artifact Registry.
- Deploy a new revision of a Cloud Run application and move traffic to it.
- Set object lifecycle management rules on Cloud Storage buckets.
- Create Cloud Monitoring alerts, search Cloud Logging, and act on Active Assist recommendations.
Questions by topic
- Configuring audit logs3
- Managing compute resources7
- Setting object lifecycle management policies for Cloud Storage buckets7
- Working with snapshots and images6
- Deploying new versions of a Cloud Run application6
- Managing and securing objects in Cloud Storage buckets5
- Working with Kubernetes resources5
- Using Active Assist to optimize resource utilization8
- Creating Cloud Monitoring alerts based on resource metrics7
- Using cloud diagnostics to research an application issue8
- Establishing network connectivity2
- Planning and implementing networking resources1
- Configuring GKE to access Artifact Registry2
- Managing data solutions3
- Managing networking resources1
- Managing GKE Autopilot Pod resource requests1
Configuring access and security20%35 questions
The smallest domain is about who can do what. Candidates choose between basic, predefined and custom IAM roles, and they create, assign and secure service accounts.
Skills tested
- Read and change the IAM policy of a project, a folder or a single resource.
- Prefer a predefined role to a basic role, and build a custom role when none fits.
- Create a service account with only the permissions a workload needs, and attach it to a VM.
- Let a user act as a service account through impersonation instead of downloading a key.
- Give GKE workloads their own service account identity.
Official topics
- Managing Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Managing service accounts
Requirements
- No formal prerequisites: anyone can book the exam.
- Recommended: at least six months of hands-on work with Google Cloud.
- Recommended: some experience running and scaling solutions on another public cloud or on-premises.
About the ACE exam
ACE checks the everyday work of a Google Cloud engineer: creating projects, launching virtual machines and containers, keeping them healthy and granting the right access. Passing it earns Google Cloud Certified - Associate Cloud Engineer. Some questions ask for the console step or gcloud command that completes a task. Others ask which service fits a workload, such as Cloud Run, GKE or Compute Engine.
In the PlanetCert practice test, study mode suits Configuring access and security, where basic, predefined and custom roles and service account impersonation need slow reading. Each explanation names the service, role or command that solves the task, and says why the other choices fail. Brainy AI Assistant can explain a gcloud command flag by flag, or compare two Cloud Storage classes for an access pattern. Timed mode suits Planning and implementing a cloud solution once its services are familiar.
How to earn the certification
- Earns
- Google Cloud Certified - Associate Cloud EngineerAssociate
The certification stays valid for three years. Holders renew it with a shorter renewal exam or by passing the full exam again.
- Before
- CDL Cloud Digital Leader
Optional. Google's foundational exam covers cloud ideas and Google Cloud products, without hands-on tasks.
- CDL Cloud Digital Leader
- After
- GCP-PCA Professional Cloud Architect
The professional exam for designing whole solutions on Google Cloud. It suits engineers who plan as well as build.
- PCDOE Professional Cloud DevOps Engineer
The professional exam for delivery pipelines and for running services with site reliability engineering practices.
- GCP-PCD Professional Cloud Developer
The professional exam for building and deploying applications that use Google Cloud services.
- GCP-PCSE Professional Cloud Security Engineer
The professional exam that goes deeper into IAM, network security and data protection on Google Cloud.
- GCP-PCNE Professional Cloud Network Engineer
The professional exam that goes deeper into VPC design, hybrid connectivity and load balancing.
- GCP-PCA Professional Cloud Architect
How to prepare for ACE
- 1
Set up a project with gcloud
Create a project on a Google Cloud trial account and install the gcloud CLI. Do each lab task twice, once in the console and once with gcloud, because questions use both.
- 2
Deploy one app three ways
Run the same small app on a Compute Engine VM, on a GKE Autopilot cluster and on Cloud Run. Comparing the effort and cost of each prepares for the compute-choice questions.
- 3
Test IAM roles on a second account
Give a test user a predefined role, then a custom role, and note which actions fail. Then attach a service account to a VM and try impersonation from Cloud Shell.
- 4
Weight study toward planning tasks
Planning and implementing a cloud solution carries the most weight. Practise choosing storage classes, databases and load balancers from short lists of requirements.
- 5
Switch to timed mode last
Work through the ACE practice test in study mode, starting with Configuring access and security. Once each domain feels solid, take timed runs and reread any explanation about a gcloud command.
Start a timed ACErun
Google Cloud Skills Boost has the official Cloud Engineer Learning Path, with hands-on labs. Google Cloud Training also offers the courses Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure and Essential Google Cloud Infrastructure: Foundation.
Who ACE is for
- Cloud engineers and system administrators who run workloads on Google Cloud every day.
- DevOps engineers who deploy containers to GKE and Cloud Run.
- IT professionals moving from on-premises servers to Google Cloud.
- Holders of Cloud Digital Leader who want a hands-on certification.
Typical job titles: Cloud engineer · Cloud operations engineer · DevOps engineer · Site reliability engineer · Cloud support engineer · Systems administrator
ACE glossary
18 terms from the exam objectives and the vendor's official material, each defined in a sentence.
- Active Assist
- Google Cloud's recommendations for saving cost and tightening security, such as resizing an idle VM.
- Artifact Registry
- Google Cloud's service for storing container images and software packages, which GKE and Cloud Run pull from.
- Cloud Identity
- Google's service for managing the users and groups who sign in to Google Cloud.
- Cloud Next Generation Firewall (Cloud NGFW)
- Google Cloud's firewall service. Its rules and policies allow or deny traffic to and from VM instances.
- Cloud Run
- A serverless service that runs containers and scales them with incoming requests, down to zero when idle.
- Cloud Shell
- A command line in the browser, opened from the Google Cloud console, with the gcloud tool already installed.
- Custom mode VPC
- A VPC network in which the engineer creates each subnet and its IP range, instead of Google creating one subnet per region.
- GKE Autopilot
- A GKE mode in which Google manages the nodes, and billing follows the resources each Pod requests.
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
- Google Cloud's managed Kubernetes service, which runs containers on clusters of nodes.
- Managed instance groups
- Groups of identical Compute Engine VMs, built from one instance template, that can autoscale and replace failed VMs.
- Network Service Tiers
- The choice between the Premium Tier, which carries traffic on Google's own network, and the cheaper Standard Tier, which uses the public internet.
- Object lifecycle management
- Rules on a Cloud Storage bucket that move objects to a cheaper storage class, or delete them, once they reach a set age.
- Organization policies
- Rules set on the resource hierarchy that limit what projects below them may do, such as which regions they may use.
- Predefined roles
- IAM roles that Google maintains for one service and task. They grant less than the basic Owner, Editor and Viewer roles.
- Resource hierarchy
- The tree that organizes Google Cloud resources: the organization at the top, then folders, then projects, then the resources inside them.
- Service account impersonation
- Letting a user act as a service account for a short time, without a downloaded key file.
- Service accounts
- Identities for applications and VMs rather than people. A workload uses one to call Google Cloud APIs.
- Spot VMs
- Compute Engine VMs that cost much less than standard VMs, but Google can stop them at any time when it needs the capacity.