Set up Cloud Identity as a Google Cloud admin

This article shows you how to set up Cloud Identity as a Google Cloud administrator. Setting up Cloud Identity is one of the first steps you'll take when creating a new Google Cloud organization.

Before you begin

Instructions for Google Cloud admins

If you're a Google Cloud administrator, use the instructions below to sign up for either Cloud Identity Free or Cloud Identity Premium. For details about the differences between these services, see Compare Cloud Identity features & editions.

Requirements

  • Cloud Identity Free—You need your company's domain name and the admin username and password to your domain registrar to get started.
  • Cloud Identity Premium—You need your company's domain name to get started, or you need to purchase a domain during sign-up.

Sign up for Cloud Identity Free

  1. Go to the following sign-up page:
    https://workspace.google.com/gcpidentity/signup?sku=identitybasic
  2. Follow the guided instructions.

For details about your next steps, see Create your Cloud Identity account and first admin user.

Sign up for Cloud Identity Premium

If you're a Google Workspace customer

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. In the Admin console, go to Menu and then Billingand thenGet more services.
  3. Click Cloud Identity.
  4. Next to Cloud Identity Premium, click Start Free Trial.
  5. Follow the guided instructions.

If you're not a Google Workspace customer

  1. Go to the following sign-up page:
    https://workspace.google.com/gcpidentity/signup?sku=identitypremium
  2. Follow the guided instructions.

Creating your first user

To create your Cloud Identity account and first admin user using the Setup Wizard: 

  1. In the About you section, enter your first and last name in the Name field.
  2. In the Current email address you use for work field, enter your email address.
    This email address will be used as a recovery address. It must be different from the address you create below that you'll use as your admin account for Cloud Identity.
  3. In the About your business section, enter your company name in the Business or organization name field.
  4. In the Country/Region field, choose the appropriate country or region from the pulldown list.
  5. Click Next to set up your domain.
  6. In the Your Cloud Identity Domain window you'll add the domain you've already purchased for your company. You'll need to verify that you own it by creating a specific CNAME record or uploading an html file.
  7. In the Create your Cloud Identity account window, enter a username and password. This account is your Cloud Identity administrator account and must be different from the email address you entered in step 2 above. As a best practice, we recommend that you enter a username with the following format: admin@example.com.

For more details and instructions about verifying your domain, see Verify your domain for Cloud Identity.

Congratulations! You successfully enabled Cloud Identity and created your first user.

Finishing setup

After you create your Cloud Identity account and verify your domain, you're returned to the Google Cloud console. Before you continue, you'll need to accept the Cloud Identity Agreement on behalf of your organization. You're then directed to the Identity page.
 
You now have a fully functioning Cloud Identity account. But you'll also have the option to complete a few more setup steps in the console as described below.
 
Note: Later, you may want to return to the Google Admin console to add more users and create groups. For instructions, see Manage users.

About your Cloud Identity organization

Your Cloud Identity organization is created after you finish your signup and setup steps for your Cloud Identity service. This maps a Cloud Identity account from the Admin console to Google Cloud, and is used to group all of your projects for billing and management purposes. For example, using your Cloud Identity organization you can restrict project access only to Cloud Identity users.
 
As the first super admin to access the Google Cloud console, you'll be assigned the role of Org Owner, and you'll be able to manage the organization settings and assign policies at the highest level. 

Migrate projects and billing accounts and set permissions

Important: 

  • Complete steps 1–2 below from your non-administrator Google Cloud account. This account is typically a personal Gmail account.
  • Complete steps 3–6 from your Cloud Identity administrator account.

To migrate content from a previous account, follow these steps:

Grant access to billing accounts

Use the steps below to migrate projects and billing accounts from accounts outside of your Cloud Identity organization to your new Cloud Identity organization. We recommend opening this page in a separate tab to use as reference while completing the steps.

  1. Sign in to the Google Cloud account that has the existing billing account you want to connect to.
  2. Grant your organization admin from Cloud Identity access to this billing account.
    1. Go to the left nav and open Billing.
    2. Navigate to the billing account you want to connect to.
    3. Add the Organization admin of your Cloud Identity as a Billing administrator.

Grant access to projects

You can grant access to projects one at a time, or via the bulk permissions UI. Step 1 below walks through the one-at-a-time method, while step 2 walks through the bulk method.

  1. Grant your organization admin Owner access to projects.
    Navigate to the IAM & Admin page for the projects you want to migrate, and add your organization admin's account as Owner.
  2. Set Bulk permissions (optional).
    Navigate to the IAM & Admin section and click Manage Resources or All projects from the left navigation. From the Manage Resources view, select all the projects you want to migrate and use the IAM panel to add your new account as Owner to these projects.

Sign in to your Cloud Identity account, and accept the project invitations

Sign in to your Cloud Identity account and check your email.

For the projects you're migrating, you must accept the project invitation sent via email to your new account. You must click the link in each email for each project that you're migrating.

Go to Google Cloud, sign in with your Cloud Identity account, and remove access

  1. Remove access to the billing account.
    Navigate to the billing account you connected from your old account, and remove access for any user accounts that are not within your company's domain, including your @gmail.com account.
  2. Remove access to projects.
    1. Navigate to the IAM & Admin page, and click Manage Resources.
    2. From the Manage Resources page, select No organization from the dropdown next to the filter control.
    3. The projects from your old account are displayed with a yellow warning icon. Select these projects and use the IAM panel to remove access for any accounts that are not within your company's domain, including your @gmail.com account.

Migrate projects

  1. Navigate to the IAM & Admin section, and click Manage Resources.
  2. From the Manage Resources page, click No organization from the dropdown list next to the filter control. The projects from your old account are displayed with a yellow warning icon.
  3. Select these projects from your old account, and click Migrate from the top bar, or click the icon for each project.

After the migration is finished, your projects will be moved to your company's organization. You must switch the No organization drop-down to your company's organization to view the projects.

Set permissions

  1. Navigate to the IAM & Admin section, and select your organization from the top bar dropdown. This will allow you to set IAM permissions that will affect all projects under your organization.
  2. From the IAM page, add your Admin users and grant them the appropriate roles.

For more details, see also Configuring permissions on Google Cloud.
 

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