An operations team is setting up a new Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) environment for a fleet of stateless microservices. The architecture requirements specify that Google Cloud must fully manage the node infrastructure, including automatic node provisioning and autoscaling, to minimize administrative management overhead. Additionally, site reliability engineers need to execute deployment manifests against the new cluster using `kubectl` from their local command-line interface.
Which TWO configuration steps must be performed to meet these requirements?
- Create the GKE cluster using Autopilot mode, which automates node provisioning, scaling, and cluster infrastructure maintenance.Answer
- Execute `gcloud container clusters get-credentials` to fetch cluster authentication details and update the local kubeconfig file.Answer
- CCreate a GKE Standard cluster with custom node pools and run `gcloud compute instances add-labels` to enable fully managed mode.
- DUse `gcloud config set container/cluster` to download cluster security certificates and set the active target context for `kubectl`.
Answer
To satisfy the deployment requirements, the team must deploy the cluster in Autopilot mode to delegate node infrastructure management to Google Cloud, and run `gcloud container clusters get-credentials` to configure local `kubectl` authentication entries.
Deploying the cluster in Autopilot mode ensures Google Cloud provisions, scales, and manages nodes automatically according to pod resource requests. Running `gcloud container clusters get-credentials` generates valid authentication tokens and sets the `kubectl` context so engineers can immediately deploy workloads.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
GKE Autopilot cluster deployment and kubectl kubeconfig context initialization via gcloud