Provision GKE Cluster on Google Cloud with Terraform.

gke-terraform-simple.md

Steps

1. GCP Account Setup

• Sign up for GCP Free Trial (requires credit card for billing).
• Create a Project in the GCP Console.

2. Enable Billing

• Go to Billing → Link a Billing Account to your project.

3. Enable Required APIs

• Kubernetes Engine API:
  • Visit Kubernetes Engine API → Click Enable.
• Compute Engine API:
  • Visit Compute Engine API → Click Enable.

4. Install Tools

• Install Terraform.
• Install Google Cloud SDK and authenticate:

  gcloud init          # Log in to GCP
  gcloud auth application-default login

5. Terraform Configuration

# main.tf
provider "google" {
  project = "YOUR_PROJECT_ID"  # Replace with your GCP Project ID
  region  = "us-central1"
}

module "gke" {
  source             = "terraform-google-modules/kubernetes-engine/google"
  project_id         = "YOUR_PROJECT_ID"
  name               = "my-cluster"
  region             = "us-central1"
  network            = "default"
  subnetwork         = "default"
  ip_range_pods      = ""
  ip_range_services  = ""
  node_pools = [{
    name         = "default-node-pool"
    machine_type = "e2-small"
    node_count   = 1
  }]
}

6. Verify APIs Are Enabled

gcloud services list --enabled | grep -E 'container.googleapis.com|compute.googleapis.com'

• Ensure both APIs appear in the output.

7. Apply Terraform

terraform init && terraform plan
terraform apply

8: Clean Up (Avoid Costs!)

terraform destroy  # Delete the cluster and all associated resources

Notes

Is GKE Free?

• No, but GCP offers:
  1. Free Tier: $300 credits for new users (valid for 90 days).
  2. Always Free: Limited resources (e.g., 1 non-preemptible f1-micro VM instance/month), but GKE nodes are not included in "Always Free."
  • Cost Note: A small GKE cluster (e.g., 1 node) costs ~$25–$50/month if left running. Always clean up resources after testing!

Cost-Saving Tips

1. Use Preemptible Nodes: Add preemptible = true to the node pool (nodes last max 24h, cost 80% less).
2. Small Machine Types: Use e2-small or e2-micro.
3. Minimize Node Count: Start with node_count = 1.
4. Delete Clusters: Always run terraform destroy after testing.

Need Help?

• Find your Project ID: GCP Console.
• Enable Kubernetes Engine API: Enable API.