Create an Autopilot cluster

console

1. Go to the Welcome page:

   Go to Welcome

2. In the Project number field, click content_copy Copy to clipboard.
3. Go to the IAM page:

   Go to IAM

4. Click person_add Grant access.
5. In the New principals field, specify the following value:

   PROJECT_NUMBER-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com

   Replace PROJECT_NUMBER with the project number that you copied.
6. In the Select a role menu, select the Kubernetes Engine Default Node Service Account role.
7. Click Save.

gcloud

1. Find your Google Cloud project number:

   gcloud projects describe PROJECT_ID \
       --format="value(projectNumber)"

   Replace PROJECT_ID with your project ID.

   The output is similar to the following:

   12345678901
   

2. Grant the roles/container.defaultNodeServiceAccount role to the Compute Engine default service account:

   gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding PROJECT_ID \
       --member="serviceAccount:PROJECT_NUMBER-compute@developer.gserviceaccount.com" \
       --role="roles/container.defaultNodeServiceAccount"

   Replace PROJECT_NUMBER with the project number from the previous step.

gcloud

Run the following command:

gcloud container clusters create-auto CLUSTER_NAME \
    --location=LOCATION \
    --project=PROJECT_ID

Replace the following:

• CLUSTER_NAME: the name of your new Autopilot cluster.
• LOCATION: the region for your cluster.
• PROJECT_ID: your project ID.

We strongly recommend that you specify a minimally-privileged IAM service account that your nodes can use instead of the Compute Engine default service account. To learn how to create a minimally-privileged service account, see Use a least privilege service account.

To specify a custom service account in the gcloud CLI, add the following flag to your command:

--service-account=SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

Replace SERVICE_ACCOUNT_NAME with the name of your minimally-privileged service account.

For a list of other options that you can specify, see the gcloud container clusters create-auto reference documentation.

Console

Perform the following tasks:

1. Go to the Google Kubernetes Engine page in the Google Cloud console.

   Go to Google Kubernetes Engine

2. Click add_box Create.

3. In the Cluster basics section, complete the following:

4. Enter the Name for your cluster.

5. Select a region for your cluster.

   1. Optional (available with GKE Enterprise): If you want to register your new cluster to a fleet, go to the Fleet registration section, and follow the Google Cloud console instructions for Create and register a new cluster to complete your cluster registration.

6. For the Networking section, refer to Customize your network isolation for configuration instructions.

7. Optionally, specify a custom IAM service account for your nodes:
   1. In the Advanced settings page, expand the Security section.
   2. In the Service account menu, select your preferred service account.

   We strongly recommend that you specify a minimally-privileged IAM service account that your nodes can use instead of the Compute Engine default service account. To learn how to create a minimally-privileged service account, see Use a least privilege service account.

8. Optionally, configure other settings such as maintenance windows and advanced security features.

9. Click Create.

Terraform

To create an Autopilot cluster using Terraform, refer to the following example:

resource "google_container_cluster" "default" {
  name     = "gke-autopilot-basic"
  location = "us-central1"

  enable_autopilot = true

  # Set `deletion_protection` to `true` will ensure that one cannot
  # accidentally delete this instance by use of Terraform.
  deletion_protection = false
}

To learn more about using Terraform, see Terraform support for GKE.