With Connect, you can use the Google Cloud console to manage your
user clusters for Google Distributed Cloud.
Cluster registration
When you create a user 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 an upgrade. To register a user cluster after it has
been created, fill in the gkeConnect section of the configuration file, and
run gkectl update 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 2025-08-25 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eConnect allows management of user clusters for Google Distributed Cloud through the Google Cloud console.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eUser cluster registration is required during creation or upgrade to version 1.9 or later, with registration information provided in the cluster configuration file's \u003ccode\u003egkeConnect\u003c/code\u003e section.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eRegistered clusters are visible in the fleet host project on the GKE Enterprise Clusters page in the Google Cloud console.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eLogging into a registered Google Distributed Cloud cluster from the Google Cloud console requires setting up roles and accounts as described in the "logging into clusters" guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eGoogle Distributed Cloud doesn't support using \u003ccode\u003egcloud\u003c/code\u003e to change the cluster registration.\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\nuser clusters for Google Distributed Cloud.\n\nCluster registration\n--------------------\n\nWhen you create a user 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/1.9/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 an upgrade. To register a user cluster after it has\nbeen created, fill in the `gkeConnect` section of the configuration file, and\nrun `gkectl update cluster`.\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/1.9/concepts/authentication)."]]
