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GCP PlayCloud Labs

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

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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