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::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"]],[["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 latest release candidate version is 2.37.0-rc, and a list of all versions from 2.36.0 down to 2.16.0 are available for viewing, including 2.29.0 which is referenced in the page content.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClient libraries typically authenticate using Application Default Credentials, but users can override this default when necessary, using the UnifiedCredentialsOption.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can override default authentication by loading a service account key file, as demonstrated in the provided code example.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eRefer to the "Best practices for managing service account keys" guide for detailed information about managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eFor more information about creating \u003ccode\u003egoogle::cloud::Credentials\u003c/code\u003e objects, see the "Authentication Components" documentation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.29.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/latest/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.41.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.40.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.39.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.38.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.37.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.36.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.35.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.34.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.33.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.32.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.31.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.30.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.29.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.28.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.27.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.26.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.25.1/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.24.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.23.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.22.1/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.21.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.20.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.19.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.18.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.17.0/netapp-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/netapp/2.16.0/netapp-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::netapp_v1::NetAppClient(\n google::cloud::netapp_v1::MakeNetAppConnection(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."]]