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GCP PlayCloud Labs

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  1. GCP PlayCloud Labs
  2. Guided Lab: Creating a Cloud Storage Bucket
  3. Guided Lab: How to Launch a GCP Compute Engine Linux Instance
  4. Guided Lab: Creating a Cloud SQL Instance
  5. Guided Lab: Creating a Cloud NAT Gateway
  6. Guided Lab: Running SQL Commands in Cloud SQL Studio
  7. Guided Lab: Hosting a Static Website in Google Cloud Storage Bucket
  8. Guided Lab: Creating and Restoring Cloud SQL Backups
  9. Guided Lab: Vertically Scaling a VM Instance
  10. Guided Lab: Creating a Custom Image from a VM Instance with Web Server in Google Cloud
  11. Guided Lab: Setting up a Web Server on a VM Instance
  12. Guided Lab: Creating a Spot VM Instance
  13. Guided Lab: Exploring Instance Metadata in Google Cloud
  14. Guided Lab: Setting Up and Managing a Database on a VM Instance
  15. Guided Lab: Integrating Cloud SQL Database instance with a VM instance
  16. Guided Lab: Connecting Cloud SQL Database with MySQL Workbench (Local)
  17. Guided Lab: Creating a VM Using Instance Templates
  18. Guided Lab: Installing WordPress on an Ubuntu VM Instance with LEMP Stack
  19. Guided Lab: Reserving or Promoting a Static IP Address for a VM Instance
  20. Guided Lab: Creating a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Cluster
  21. Guided Lab: Protecting Data on Cloud Storage Bucket Against Accidental Delete and Overwrite Using Object Versioning
  22. Guided Lab: Connecting to a Kubernetes Engine Cluster
  23. Guided Lab: Creating and Managing Instance Groups in Compute Engine
  24. Guided Lab: Configuring Shielded VM Options
  25. Guided Lab: SSH Access to GCP VM Instance from Local Machine using SSH Key Pair
  26. Guided Lab: Deploying a Simple Web Application on GKE
  27. Guided Lab: Configuring Firewall Rules to Secure and Access a VM
  28. Guided Lab: Establishing VPC Peering for Secure Cross‑Network Communication
  29. Guided Lab: Creating a Custom Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
  30. Guided Lab: Using Startup Scripts in GCP VM Instances
  31. Guided Lab: Deploying a LAMP Stack on a Compute Engine VM
  32. Guided Lab: Managing Cloud Storage Buckets via SSH Commands
  33. Guided Lab: Guarding Your VM with Deletion Protection
  34. Guided Lab: Using Cloud Storage Lifecycle Rules to Automate Object Management
  35. Guided Lab: Guarding Your Cloud SQL Instances with Deletion Protection
  36. Guided Lab: Exploring Google Cloud Storage Classes
  37. Guided Lab: Setting Up a Linux Bastion Host on GCP
  38. Guided Lab: Uploading, Organizing, and Managing Objects in Cloud Storage
  39. Guided Lab: Creating an Application Load Balancer
  40. Guided Lab: Creating a Network Load Balancer
  41. Guided Lab: Creating VM Snapshots and Restoring a VM from a Snapshot
GCP PlayCloud Labs Guided Lab: Connecting to a Kubernetes Engine Cluster
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Lesson 22 of 41
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Guided Lab: Connecting to a Kubernetes Engine Cluster

Jon-Bonso

Description

Connecting to a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster is an essential step for viewing and managing Kubernetes resources. Establishing a connection allows you to interact with the cluster’s control plane, verify node availability, and prepare the environment for deploying and managing containerized workloads.

Google Cloud provides built-in tools, such as Cloud Shell and cluster access options in the Google Cloud Console, to make connecting to a GKE cluster straightforward and secure. These tools ensure that your environment is properly authenticated and configured to communicate with the cluster.

In this guided lab, you’ll learn how to connect to an existing GKE cluster using the Google Cloud Console and verify that the connection is successful.

Prerequisites

This lab assumes you have already created a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster and are familiar with its basic components.

If you find any gaps in your knowledge, consider taking the following labs:

  • Creating a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster

Objectives

In this lab, you will:

  • Create a Compute Engine instance template
  • Review the configuration options included in an instance template
  • Use the instance template to create a VM instance

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Lab Steps

Navigating to a GKE Cluster

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the unified search bar at the top.

2. Type “Kubernetes” and select Kubernetes Engine from the results.

3. Click Clusters to view the list of available GKE clusters. Select the cluster that you want to connect to.

Connecting to the GKE Cluster

1. On the cluster details page, click Connect at the top of the page.

2. In the connection dialog, choose Run in Cloud Shell

3. You will be prompted to authorize Cloud Shell. Click Authorize, then enter the username and password of the account you are currently using.

4. Run the command to configure your local environment with the cluster’s credentials, allowing kubectl to access and manage the GKE cluster.

Verifying the Cluster Connection

In Cloud Shell, confirm that the kubectl configuration command completes without errors by running the following commands:

  • kubectl cluster-info
  • kubectl get nodes
  • kubectl get namespaces

Review the output of each command to confirm that the cluster is accessible and responding correctly.

That’s it! You’ve successfully connected to your Google Kubernetes Engine cluster and verified access to its nodes and resources. This guided lab helps you become familiar with establishing secure access to a GKE cluster and reviewing its configuration. In future guided labs, we’ll build on this by deploying containerized applications, managing workloads, and exploring scaling and networking features in GKE.

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