Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries use Application Default Credentials to authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing the UnifiedCredentialsOption The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file:
[](std::string const& keyfile) {
auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);
is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples
auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(is.rdbuf()), {});
auto options =
google::cloud::Options{}.set<google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption>(
google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));
return google::cloud::netapp_v1::NetAppClient(
google::cloud::netapp_v1::MakeNetAppConnection(options));
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-14 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version available is 2.37.0-rc, with a comprehensive list of previous versions ranging down to 2.16.0 also accessible.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eBy default, the client libraries employ Application Default Credentials for authentication with Google Cloud Services.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default authentication by using \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, which allows for the explicit loading of a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor detailed guidance on managing service account keys, it is recommended to consult the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe Authentication Components page provides additional information on creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,[]]