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GKE cluster credentials

GKE cluster credentials are the authentication details required for tools like kubectl to interact with a specific [[Google Kubernetes Engine]] cluster.^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]

Configuration

On a local machine, these credentials are stored in the kubeconfig file^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]. Running kubectl config view displays the current configuration, including clusters, users, and contexts^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]. Before credentials are fetched, these fields are typically empty^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md].

Authentication and Retrieval

To authenticate with a cluster, the endpoint and certificate authority data must be retrieved^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]. This is accomplished using the gcloud container clusters get-credentials command^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md].

The command requires the following parameters: * --project: The ID of the Google Cloud project hosting the cluster^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]. * The cluster name^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]. * --zone: The compute zone where the cluster is located^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md].

Upon success, the system generates a kubeconfig entry and confirms that the endpoint and auth data have been fetched^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md].

  • kubectl
  • [[Google Cloud SDK]]
  • [[kubeconfig]]

Sources

^[400-devops__05-Cloud-Provider__GCP.md]