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Manage identity with GKE Identity Service
GKE on Azure supports
OpenID Connect (OIDC)
as an
authentication mechanism for interacting with a cluster's Kubernetes API
server, using GKE Identity Service. GKE Identity Service is an
authentication service that lets you bring your existing identity solutions for
authentication to multiple environments. Users can log in to and
use your GKE clusters from the command line or from the
Google Cloud console, all using your existing identity provider.
If you already use or want to use Google identities to log in to your
GKE clusters, we recommend using the
gcloud containers azure clusters get-credentials command for authentication. Find out
more in
Connect and authenticate to your cluster.
To authenticate through the Google Cloud console, you must
register each cluster
that you want to configure with your project fleet. For GKE on Azure,
this is automatic once you have created a node pool.
To allow users to authenticate through the Google Cloud console, ensure that all
clusters you want to configure are
registered with your project fleet.
For GKE on Azure, this is automatic once you have created a node pool.
[[["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."],[],[],null,["# Manage identity with GKE Identity Service\n=========================================\n\nGKE on Azure supports\n[OpenID Connect (OIDC)](https://openid.net/connect/)\nas an\nauthentication mechanism for interacting with a cluster's Kubernetes API\nserver, using GKE Identity Service. GKE Identity Service is an\nauthentication service that lets you bring your existing identity solutions for\nauthentication to multiple environments. Users can log in to and\nuse your GKE clusters from the command line or from the\nGoogle Cloud console, all using your existing identity provider.\n\nFor an overview of how GKE Identity Service works, see\n[Introducing GKE Identity Service](/anthos/identity).\n\nIf you already use or want to use Google identities to log in to your\nGKE clusters, we recommend using the\n`gcloud containers azure clusters get-credentials` command for authentication. Find out\nmore in\n[Connect and authenticate to your cluster](/kubernetes-engine/multi-cloud/docs/azure/how-to/connect-and-authenticate-to-your-cluster#google-identity).\n\nOpenID Connect authentication\n-----------------------------\n\n### Before you begin\n\n1. To use OIDC authentication, users must be able to connect to the cluster's control\n plane. See\n [Connect to your cluster's control plane](/kubernetes-engine/multi-cloud/docs/azure/how-to/connect-and-authenticate-to-your-cluster#connect-to-vpn).\n\n2. To authenticate through the Google Cloud console, you must\n [register each cluster](/anthos/multicluster-management/connect/registering-a-cluster)\n that you want to configure with your project fleet. For GKE on Azure,\n this is automatic once you have created a node pool.\n\n3. To allow users to authenticate through the Google Cloud console, ensure that all\n clusters you want to configure are\n [registered with your project fleet](/anthos/multicluster-management/connect/registering-a-cluster).\n For GKE on Azure, this is automatic once you have created a node pool.\n\n### Setup process and options\n\n1. Register GKE Identity Service as a client with your OIDC provider\n following the instructions in\n [Configuring providers for GKE Identity Service](/anthos/identity/setup/provider).\n\n2. Choose from the following cluster configuration options:\n\n - Configure your clusters at the fleet-level following the instructions in\n [Configuring clusters for fleet-level GKE Identity Service](/anthos/identity/setup/fleet-cluster).\n With this option, your authentication configuration is centrally managed by\n Google Cloud.\n\n - Configure your clusters individually following the instructions in\n [Configuring clusters for GKE Identity Service with OIDC](/anthos/identity/setup/per-cluster).\n\n3. Set up user access to your clusters, including role-based access control\n (RBAC), following the instructions in\n [Setting up user access for GKE Identity Service](/anthos/identity/setup/user-access).\n\n### Accessing clusters\n\nAfter GKE Identity Service has been set up on a cluster, users can log in\nto clusters using either the command line or the Google Cloud console.\n\n- Learn how to log in to registered clusters with your OIDC ID in [Accessing clusters using GKE Identity Service](/anthos/identity/accessing).\n- Learn how to log in to clusters from the Google Cloud console in [Logging in to a cluster from the Google Cloud console](/anthos/multicluster-management/console/logging-in)."]]