Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries useApplication Default Credentialsto 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 theUnifiedCredentialsOptionThe 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::backupdr_v1::BackupDRClient(
google::cloud::backupdr_v1::MakeBackupDRConnection(options));
}
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThe webpage provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when interacting with Google Cloud Services, particularly in the context of BackupDR.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eIt lists various versions of the documentation, ranging from 2.23.0 to 2.37.0-rc, with 2.37.0-rc being the latest version available.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe primary method for overriding credentials is by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, demonstrated by loading a service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe provided code example shows how to load credentials from a service account key file, which can be utilized to override the application default credentials.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe documentation offers a link to the best practices guide for managing service account keys, alongside another link containing information for factory functions to create \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.26.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/latest/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.41.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.40.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.39.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.38.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.37.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.36.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.35.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.34.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.33.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.32.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.31.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.30.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.29.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.28.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.27.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.26.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.25.1/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.24.0/backupdr-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/backupdr/2.23.0/backupdr-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) 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](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::backupdr_v1::BackupDRClient(\n google::cloud::backupdr_v1::MakeBackupDRConnection(options));\n }\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]