Create GKE Cluster with Terraform

This guide outlines the steps to create a GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) cluster using Terraform. It includes setting up infrastructure, deploying Nginx Ingress, and configuring DNS for ingress access.

Prerequisites

• Google Cloud account
• Terraform installed
• Helm installed
• kubectl installed and configured

Steps

1. Set Up Terraform State Bucket

Create a GCS bucket to store Terraform states and enable versioning.

# Step 1: Create the bucket
gsutil mb -p [PROJECT_ID] -l [LOCATION] gs://[BUCKET_NAME]/

example:
gsutil mb -p erfan-k8s-security -l us gs://erfan-tf-state-staging/

# Step 2: Enable versioning on the bucket
gsutil versioning set on gs://[BUCKET_NAME]/

example:
gsutil versioning set on gs://erfan-tf-state-staging/

2. Authenticate GCloud

Run the following command to authenticate:

gcloud auth application-default login

3. Initialize Terraform

Navigate to your Terraform directory and initialize the Terraform configuration.

cd path/to/your/terraform/directory
terraform init

4. Apply Terraform Configuration

Apply the Terraform configuration to create the infrastructure.

terraform apply

5. Install Nginx Ingress using Helm

Add the Nginx Ingress repository, update it, and install the Ingress controller.

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update
helm repo search nginx  # Find the latest version and note it down.
helm install myingress ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
                                   --namespace ingress \
                                   --version 4.9.1 \
                                   --values nginx-values.yaml \
                                   --create-namespace

6. Configure Ingress

Use the correct hostname, path, and storage class for your deployment based on the example provided.

7. Verify Ingress IP

Check the IP address assigned to your ingress by running:

kubectl get ingress

8. Update DNS Settings

Update the DNS name and IP in your DNS provider interface to match the ingress settings. This allows you to access the application using the ingress.

9. (Optional) Destroy Infrastructure

To clean up and destroy the created resources, run:

terraform destroy

Conclusion

Follow these steps to successfully create a GKE cluster using Terraform, deploy Nginx Ingress, and configure DNS settings for ingress access.