Creating and Deploying a GKE Cluster

In this hands-on lab, we’ll use the Cloud Shell command line from start to finish: first containerizing an app and then deploying and exposing it.

Enable the Kubernetes Engine API

1. From the main Google Cloud console navigation menu, choose APIs & Services > Library.

2. Search for "Kubernetes", and enable the Kubernetes Engine API.

Clone the Repo to Access the Files

1. Activate the Cloud Shell by clicking the icon in the top row.

2. Clone the GitHub repository:

   git clone https://github.com/linuxacademy/content-gc-essentials

3. Change directory:

   cd content-gc-essentials/gke-lab-01

Create the Docker Image

1. Still in the Cloud Shell, build the Docker image:

   docker build -t la-container-image .

2. Configure the Docker command line to authenticate to Container Registry:

   gcloud auth configure-docker

3. Tag the registry image (you can replace your project ID where indicated by highlighting the code in yellow in the Cloud Shell, which will automatically add it to your clipboard):

   docker tag la-container-image gcr.io/<PROJECT_ID>/la-container-image:v1

4. Push the image forward (substituting your project ID where indicated):

   docker push gcr.io/<PROJECT_ID>/la-container-image:v1

Create the Kubernetes Engine Cluster

1. Configure the zone:

   gcloud config set compute/zone us-central1-a

2. Create the clusters:

   gcloud container clusters create la-gke-1 --num-nodes=4

3. Get authentication credentials:

   gcloud container clusters get-credentials la-gke-1

4. Deploy the app (substituting your project ID where indicated):

   kubectl create deployment la-greetings --image=gcr.io/<PROJECT_ID>/la-container-image:v1

Expose the Deployed Workload

1. Expose the deployment:

   kubectl expose deployment la-greetings --type=LoadBalancer --name=la-greetings-service --port=80 --target-port=80

2. Check its status:

   kubectl get services la-greetings-service

3. When an external IP address has been generated, copy it and paste it into a new browser tab. It should result in our application.