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Creating a GKE Cluster on Google Cloud

This guide walks you through the step-by-step process of creating a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster on GCP — from setting up permissions to launching your cluster.

Before You Start (Requirements)

Make sure you have the following:

  • Access to a GCP Organization with an existing Project.
  • Access to a Billing Account.
  • Permission to manage IAM roles, service accounts, and billing settings.

Step 1: Choose Your Project

  • Go to the Google Cloud Console.
  • At the top of the page, select the project you'll use for your GKE cluster.
  • If needed, also choose the folder that contains your project.

Choose your Project

Choose Project

Step 2: Create a Service Account

  • Navigate to IAM & Admin > Service Accounts.
  • Click "Create Service Account".
  • Enter a name and description for the account.
  • In the permissions step, assign these roles:
    • Create Service Accounts
    • Editor
    • Owner
    • Service Account User
    • Viewer
  • Complete the creation process.

Service Account

Create a Service Account

Step 3: Grant IAM Roles to the Service Account

  • Go to IAM & Admin > IAM.
  • Click "Grant Access".
  • Add the new service account as a principal.
  • Assign these additional roles:
    • Browser
    • Compute Admin
    • Editor
    • Owner
    • Project Billing Manager
    • Viewer

IAM Access

IAM Access

Step 4: Give Billing Access

  • Open the main menu (☰) and go to Billing.
  • Click "Manage Billing Accounts" and choose your billing account.
  • Click "Account Permissions" → "Add Principal".
  • Add the service account and assign:
    • Billing Account Administrator
    • Billing Account User

Billing Access

Give Billing Access

Step 5: Enable Required APIs

Before creating the cluster, enable the following services:

  • Compute Engine API
  • Cloud Resource Manager API
  • Cloud Billing API
  • Kubernetes Engine API

To enable them:

  • Go to APIs & Services > Library
  • Search each API and click "Enable"

Step 6: Find Kubernetes Clusters

  • Use the search bar at the top of the console.
  • Type "Kubernetes Engine" and select "Clusters."

GKE Cluster

GKE Cluster

Step 7: Start Creating the Cluster

  • Click "Create".
  • Enter a cluster name (names cannot be changed later).
  • Select your region.

Step 8: Register the Cluster to a Fleet

During cluster creation, you’ll see an option to register the cluster to a Fleet. This is optional. If you choose to proceed:

  • Check “Register cluster to the fleet”
  • Enter a fleet name
  • Click “Next” to continue

Note

Registering to a fleet helps organize clusters for centralized management and enables multi-cluster features. It’s useful for advanced setups but not required for basic use.

Step 9: Configure Networking

  • In the Networking tab, review and enable the required options:
    • Enable VPC-native traffic routing
    • Set networking policies as needed
  • Click "Next".

Step 10: Set Advanced Settings

  • In the Advanced Settings tab, enable additional options like:

    • Cloud Logging
    • Monitoring
    • Security features

  • Click "Review & Create"

Step 11: Final Review

  • Double-check all your selections:
    • Region and zone
    • Fleet settings (if applicable)
    • API configurations
    • Networking and security settings

Step 12: Create the Cluster

  • Click "Create" to start provisioning.
  • It usually takes around 15 minutes.

Step 13: Wait for the Notification

  • Once your cluster is ready, you'll receive a notification. You can now start using your GKE cluster!

What's Next?

After your cluster is created:

Run:

gcloud container clusters get-credentials [CLUSTER_NAME] --region [REGION] --project [PROJECT_ID]
  • Start deploying your Kubernetes workloads.

GKE Cluster via Google Cloud CLI

Step 1: Create a VPC Network

First, create a new Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network that the GKE cluster will use:

gcloud compute networks create my-network \
    --subnet-mode=auto
  • --subnet-mode=auto creates subnets automatically in each region.
  • Replace my-network with your preferred network name if needed.

Step 2: Create the GKE Cluster

Now create your GKE cluster within the network:

gcloud container clusters create cluster \
    --zone us-central1-a \
    --num-nodes=2 \
    --machine-type=e2-standard-2 \
    --enable-ip-alias \
    --enable-autoupgrade \
    --enable-autorepair \
    --network my-network
  • --zone: The GCP zone where the cluster will be deployed.
  • --num-nodes: Number of nodes in each default node pool.
  • --machine-type: VM type for the nodes.
  • --enable-ip-alias: Enables VPC-native IP addressing.
  • --enable-autoupgrade: Automatically upgrades the cluster's nodes.
  • --enable-autorepair: Automatically repairs unhealthy nodes.
  • --network: Specifies the VPC network to use (created in Step 1).

What’s Next?

Once the cluster is created, fetch cluster credentials to start using kubectl:

gcloud container clusters get-credentials arzu-cedric \
    --zone us-central1-a