Deploying to a Google Kubernetes Engine Cluster

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Deploying to a Google Kubernetes Engine Cluster

The strength and flexibility of Kubernetes is built around the concept of containerized applications, which are deployed differently from non-containerized apps. In this hands-on lab, you’ll complete all the steps from creating a Kubernetes cluster to confirming the deployed application, including creating the Docker image of your application, pushing that image to Container Registry, deploying the workload, and then configuring a load balancer to expose it.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Sep 23, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Create the Kubernetes Engine cluster.
1. From the Kubernetes Engine Clusters page, click Create cluster.
2. Configure the new cluster:
- Name the cluster
- Change the number of nodes to 4
- Under Nodes, Machine Configuration, General-Purpose, change the Series to "N1" and the Machine type to "n1-standard-1".
- Leave all other settings at their default
1. Click Create.
Challenge

Get the files.
1. Clone the GitHub repository: git clone https://github.com/linuxacademy/content-gcpro-developer
2. Change directory with the following command: cd content-gcpro-developer/kubernetes-engine-lab
Challenge

Configure the `config.yaml` file.
1. In the Cloud Shell Editor, open the config.yaml file.
2. On line 32, replace [PROJECT_ID] with your project ID.
3. Choose the file and then select Save.
Challenge

Build the containerized Docker image.
In the Cloud Shell, execute the following command:
```
docker build -t la-container-image .
```
Challenge

Push the containerized app into the Container Registry.
1. In the Cloud Shell, configure Docker to use the gcloud command: gcloud auth configure-docker
2. Tag the image with the registry name: docker tag la-container-image gcr.io/[PROJECT_ID]/la-container-image:v1
3. Push the image to the Container Registry: docker push gcr.io/[PROJECT_ID]/la-container-image:v1
Challenge

Confirm the operation.
1. Navigate to Container Registry Images.
2. Confirm the existence of la-container-image.
Challenge

Deploy the workload.
1. Navigate to Kubernetes Engine > Workloads.
2. Click Deploy.
3. Choose the existing container image.
4. Click Deploy.
Challenge

Increase the number of pods.
1. Navigate to the YAML tab.
2. Click Edit.
3. Change the number of replicas to 4.
4. Click Save.
5. Confirm the operation.
Challenge

Expose the deployment.
1. From the Deployment Details page, click Expose.
2. Set the Service type to Load balancer.
3. Click Expose.
4. Confirm by clicking the External IP link.

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