What Identity and Access Management (IAM) hierarchy structure is best for building an application in Google Cloud?

The structure of Identity and Access Management (IAM) hierarchy in Google Cloud is vital for effective administration, organization, and permission management. The recommended approach is to create a new folder inside your organization node and then create projects inside that folder for the resources.

This method leverages the hierarchical nature of IAM in Google Cloud. By creating a folder under the organization node, you can logically group related projects. This organization allows for more simplified permission management, as permissions can be set at the folder level and inherited by all projects within it. This means that teams managing those projects can have access to all necessary resources without needing to configure permissions repeatedly for each project, thereby streamlining administration and enhancing security.

Furthermore, the folder structure makes it easier to manage resources based on departments or teams, providing a clear and organized view of the cloud resources available to each group. This approach is scalable; as more projects are added or teams are formed, they can easily be included in the appropriate folders without disrupting the overall organization.

This hierarchy is preferable to alternatives like creating new projects for each application or department without organizing them into folders, as those methods can lead to a cumbersome and confusing management experience without a clear structure for permissions and resource access. Thus, utilizing folders within the organization