Create and Manage GCP GKE Cluster

Palette supports creating and managing Kubernetes clusters using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE). This section guides you to create a Kubernetes cluster that is deployed to GKE and that Palette manages.

Limitations

• Autoscaling is not supported for GKE clusters.

• GPU machine types cannot be used to configure node pools.

Prerequisites

Ensure the following requirements are met before you attempt to deploy a cluster to GCP.

• Access to a GCP cloud account.

• You have added a GCP account in Palette. Review Register and Manage GCP Accounts for guidance.

• An infrastructure cluster profile for GKE. Review Create an Infrastructure Profile for guidance.

• Palette creates compute, network, and storage resources while provisioning Kubernetes clusters. Ensure there is sufficient capacity in the preferred GCP region to create the following resources:

  • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Network
  • Static External IP Address
  • Network Interfaces
  • Cloud NAT
  • Cloud Load Balancing
  • Persistent Disks
  • Cloud Router
  warning

  For static network deployments, you must have port 6443 open between Palette and the workload cluster. Refer to the Network Ports documentation for detailed network architecture diagrams and to learn more about the ports used for communication.

Deploy a GKE Cluster

1. Log in to Palette.

2. Ensure you are in the correct project scope.

3. From the left Main Menu select Clusters, and click Add New Cluster.

4. In Public Clouds, under Managed Kubernetes, select GCP GKE.

5. In the bottom-right corner, click Start GCP GKE Configuration.

6. Fill out the following basic information and click Next.

   Field	Description
   Cluster Name	A custom name for the cluster.
   Description	Use the description to provide context about the cluster.
   Tags	Assign any desired cluster tags. Tags on a cluster are propagated to the Virtual Machines (VMs) deployed to the computing environments. Example: region:us-central1 or zone:us-central1-a.
   Cloud Account	If you already added your GCP account in Palette, select it from the drop-down Menu. Otherwise, click Add New Account and add your GCP account information.

7. Choose between deploying your cluster using individual cluster profiles or a single cluster template.

   info

   Cluster templates are a Tech Preview feature and can be used only if the ClusterTemplates feature flag is enabled.

   Cluster Profiles

   1. On the Cluster setup type window, choose Cluster Profiles > Add Cluster Profile.

   2. Select the appropriate full or infrastructure cluster profile and Confirm your selection.

   3. Review the layers of your cluster profile. Use the drop-down menus to select the appropriate cluster profile version, add necessary add-on profiles, and make changes to YAML configuration files as needed. When finished, select Next.

      tip

      For ease of reuse and to persist changes across clusters using the same cluster profile, we recommend creating a new version of your cluster profile rather than making inline changes.

   Cluster Templates

   tech preview

   This is a Tech Preview feature and is subject to change. Do not use this feature in production workloads.

   1. On the Cluster setup type window, choose Cluster Template > Select Cluster Template.

   2. Select the appropriate cluster template and Confirm your selection.

   3. Expand the Maintenance policy and Linked profiles panels to review the configuration of your cluster template.

      If you need to make any changes, such as swapping your maintenance policy or updating your cluster profile version, you must exit the cluster deployment workflow and modify your cluster template before proceeding. If no changes are needed, select Next.

   4. Review the layers of your cluster profile. If no changes are needed, select Next.

      warning

      Cluster profile changes, such as modifying your cluster profile version, adding additional add-on profiles, and editing YAML configuration files, are not allowed when deploying a cluster. Once a cluster profile is linked to a cluster template, that version of the cluster profile is locked to prevent configuration drift across clusters. If you need to make changes, you must create a new version of your cluster profile and modify your cluster template to use the new version.

      

8. The Profile variables configuration window opens if your cluster profile is configured to use cluster profile variables. Fill in the appropriate values, and select Next.

9. Fill out the following parameters, and click Next when you are done.

   Parameter	Description
   Project	The project to which the cluster belongs.
   Region	Choose the desired GCP region in which to deploy the cluster.

10. The Node configuration page is where you can specify the availability zones (AZ), instance types, disk size, and the number of nodes. Configure the worker node pool. The minimum number of CPUs and amount of memory depend on your cluster profile, but in general you need at least 4 CPUs and 4 GB of memory both in the control plane pool and across all worker pools.

    info

    You can add new worker pools to customize specific worker nodes to run specialized workloads. For example, the default worker pool may be configured with the c2.standard-4 instance types for general-purpose workloads. You can configure another worker pool with instance type g2-standard-4 to run supported machine types.

11. An optional taint label can be applied to a node pool during the cluster creation. You can edit the taint label on existing clusters. Review the Node Pool management page to learn more. Toggle the Taint button to create a label.

12. Enable or disable node pool taints. If tainting is enabled, then you need to provide values for the following parameters.

    Parameter	Description
    Key	Custom key for the taint.
    Value	Custom value for the taint key.
    Effect	Choose the preferred pod scheduling effect from the drop-down Menu. Review the Effect Table below for more details.

    Effect Table

    Parameter	Description
    NoSchedule	A pod that cannot tolerate the node taint and should not be scheduled to the node.
    PreferNoSchedule	The system will avoid placing a non-tolerant pod to the tainted node but is not guaranteed.
    NoExecute	New pods will not be scheduled on the node, and existing pods on the node will be evicted if they do not tolerate the taint.

13. Click Next after configuring the node pool.

14. The Settings page is where you can configure the patching schedule, security scans, backup settings, and set up Role Based Access Control (RBAC). Review cluster settings and make changes if needed. Click Validate.

15. Review the settings summary and click Finish Configuration to deploy the cluster. Be aware that provisioning GKE clusters can take 15 - 30 minutes depending on the cluster profile and the node pool configuration.

You can monitor cluster deployment progress on the cluster details page.

Validate

You can validate that your cluster is up and available by reviewing the cluster details page.

1. Log in to Palette.

2. Navigate to the left Main Menu and click Clusters.

3. The Clusters page lists the available clusters that Palette manages. Select your cluster to view its details page.

4. From the cluster details page, verify the Cluster Status field displays Running.