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\u003eThis webpage documents the available versions of the BackupDR service, with the latest release candidate being version 2.37.0-rc.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe default authentication method for the client libraries is Application Default Credentials, though this can be overridden if needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override the default authentication by providing a \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e, such as loading a service account key file, to the \u003ccode\u003eBackupDRClient\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor best practices on managing service account keys, refer to the provided guide, and for additional information on authentication, refer to the authentication components.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe current example shows how to load a service account keyfile, but understand that this is only one method for overriding authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version latestkeyboard_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."]]