With Connect, you can use the Google Cloud console to manage your admin cluster and
user clusters for Google Distributed Cloud.
Cluster registration
When you create a cluster, you provide registration information in the
gkeConnect section of the cluster configuration file. Google Distributed Cloud
uses that information to register your cluster to a fleet—a unified way
to view and manage multiple clusters and their workloads as part of
GKE Enterprise. You can find out more about fleets and the functionality that
they enable in the Fleets guide.
As of version 1.9, user cluster registration is required at the time of creation. For user clusters that are upgraded to version 1.9 or later, registration is required during the upgrade.
To register a cluster after it has been created, fill in the gkeConnect section of its configuration file, and then
run gkectl update cluster for a user cluster, or gkectl update admin for an admin cluster.
Google Distributed Cloud does not support using gcloud to manually change the
registration of a cluster.
Logging into your cluster
To manage a registered Google Distributed Cloud cluster from the
Google Cloud console, you need to log in to the cluster from the
Google Cloud console.
Follow the instructions in
logging into clusters to
create the necessary roles and accounts and log in to your cluster.
What's next
Learn about multi-cluster management with
Connect.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-29 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eConnect allows for the management of both admin and user clusters for Google Distributed Cloud through the Google Cloud console.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eCluster registration, done via the \u003ccode\u003egkeConnect\u003c/code\u003e section in the cluster configuration file, is essential for adding clusters to a fleet, which is a way to manage multiple clusters.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUser cluster registration is required during creation for clusters on version 1.9 and later and during upgrades for existing clusters, it can be registered after creation by using the command \u003ccode\u003egkectl update cluster\u003c/code\u003e or \u003ccode\u003egkectl update admin\u003c/code\u003e for admin cluster.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo manage a registered cluster from the Google Cloud console, you must first log in to the cluster by following the specified instructions.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Distributed Cloud does not allow manually changing cluster registration using \u003ccode\u003egcloud\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["# Connecting to a cluster from the Google Cloud console\n\n\u003cbr /\u003e\n\nWith Connect, you can use the Google Cloud console to manage your admin cluster and\nuser clusters for Google Distributed Cloud.\n\nCluster registration\n--------------------\n\nWhen you create a cluster, you provide registration information in the\n`gkeConnect` section of the cluster configuration file. Google Distributed Cloud\nuses that information to register your cluster to a fleet---a unified way\nto view and manage multiple clusters and their workloads as part of\nGKE Enterprise. You can find out more about fleets and the functionality that\nthey enable in the [Fleets guide](/anthos/multicluster-management/fleets).\n\nRegistered clusters are visible in your\n[fleet host project](/anthos/clusters/docs/on-prem/1.10/how-to/multiple-gcp-projects#fleet_host_project)\non the\n[GKE Enterprise Clusters page](https://console.cloud.google.com/anthos/clusters/) in the\nGoogle Cloud console.\n\nAs of version 1.9, user cluster registration is required at the time of creation. For user clusters that are upgraded to version 1.9 or later, registration is required during the upgrade.\n\nTo register a cluster after it has been created, fill in the `gkeConnect` section of its configuration file, and then\nrun `gkectl update cluster` for a user cluster, or `gkectl update admin` for an admin cluster.\n| **Note:** Registering an admin cluster by updating it after creation is a preview feature.\n\nGoogle Distributed Cloud does not support using `gcloud` to manually change the\nregistration of a cluster.\n\nLogging into your cluster\n-------------------------\n\nTo manage a registered Google Distributed Cloud cluster from the\nGoogle Cloud console, you need to log in to the cluster from the\nGoogle Cloud console.\n\nFollow the instructions in\n[logging into clusters](/anthos/multicluster-management/console/logging-in) to\ncreate the necessary roles and accounts and log in to your cluster.\n\nWhat's next\n-----------\n\n- Learn about multi-cluster management with\n [Connect](/anthos/multicluster-management/connect/overview).\n\n- Learn about cluster authentication with [OpenID Connect (OIDC)](/anthos/clusters/docs/on-prem/1.10/concepts/authentication)."]]
