Google Distributed Cloud quickstart

Introduction to Google Distributed Cloud

Google Distributed Cloud quickstart scope

With Google Distributed Cloud, you can define four types of clusters:

• admin- A cluster used to manage user clusters.
• user- A cluster used to run workloads.
• standalone- A single cluster that can administer itself, and that can also run workloads, but can't create or manage other user clusters.
• hybrid- A single cluster for both admin and workloads, that can also manage user clusters.

In this quickstart, you deploy a two-node hybrid clusterwith Google Distributed Cloud. You learn how to create a cluster, and how to monitor the cluster creation process.

This quickstart assumes a basic understanding of Kubernetes

Preparing for Google Distributed Cloud

The install command of Google Distributed Cloud, called bmctl , has been designed to streamline the creation of clusters. The command can automatically set up the necessary Google service accounts and APIs you need for Google Distributed Cloud, and we'll use those automated services in this quickstart.

If you want to, you can also manually set up the necessary services and APIs before you create clusters with bmctl . We'll note the command changes you need to make later in this document, but to set up the Google services you need manually, see Enabling Google services and service accounts .

Before you can create a cluster using Google Distributed Cloud, ensure that you:

1. Create a Google Cloud project where you have the Editoror Ownerrole.
2. Download and install the bmctl command-line tool as described below.
3. Configure a Linux admin workstation for running bmctl . Note: Do not use Cloud Shell as your admin workstation.
   1. Install gcloud and kubectl as described below.
   2. Install Docker version 19.03 or later. (For instructions on configuring Docker, see the page for configuring your Linux OS: Configuring CentOS , Configuring RHEL , or Configuring Ubuntu .)
   3. Using root access, set up SSH on both the admin workstation and the remote cluster node machines. Initially, you need root SSH password authentication enabled on the remote cluster node machines to share keys from the Admin workstation. Once the keys are in place, you can disable SSH password authentication.
   4. Generate a private/public key pair on the admin workstation (do not set a passphrase for the keys). The keys are needed to use SSH for secure, passwordless connections between the administration workstation and the cluster node machines.

      ssh-keygen -t rsa

      You can also use SUDO user access to the cluster node machines to set up SSH, but for passwordless, non-root user connections you need to update the cluster config YAML file with the appropriate credentials. For more information, see the #Node access configuration section in the sample cluster config file. .

   5. Add the generated public key to the cluster node machines. By default, the public keys are stored in the id_rsa.pub identity file.

      ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/ identity_file 
      root@ cluster_node_ip 
      

   6. Disable SSH password authentication on the cluster node machines and use the following command on the admin workstation to verify the public key authentication works between the admin workstation and the cluster node machines.

      ssh -o IdentitiesOnly=yes -i identity_file 
      root@ cluster_node_ip 
      

Installing gcloud utilities

The gcloud and kubectl tools are included in the gcloud CLI .

1. On your administration machine, install and initialize the gcloud CLI using the instructions here . This process installs gcloud .
2. Update the gcloud CLI:

   gcloud components update

3. Log in with your Google account so that you can manage services and service accounts:

   gcloud auth login --update-adc

   A new browser tab opens and you are prompted to choose an account.

   Note that you can set up a Google Cloud default project at this point, and enable other services and Google APIs . before you create Google Distributed Cloud clusters. Setting a default project saves time when you enable services manually.

   However, as shown in this quickstart, you can also specify a project, and set up the required Google services, directly with the bmctl command when you create your clusters. When you do this, bmctl always uses the project ID you specify when issuing the command.

4. Use gcloud to install kubectl :

   gcloud components install kubectl

Installing bmctl

The command-line tool for creating clusters in Google Distributed Cloud is bmctl . You download bmctl from a Cloud Storage bucket

To download bmctl :

1. Create a new directory for bmctl :

   cd ~ mkdir baremetal 
    cd baremetal 
   

2. Download bmctl from the Cloud Storage bucket:

   gcloud storage cp gs://anthos-baremetal-release/bmctl/1.6.2/linux-amd64/bmctl bmctl chmod a+x bmctl 
   

3. Ensure that bmctl is installed correctly by viewing the help information:

   ./bmctl -h

Creating your cluster nodes

Create two machines that will serve as nodes for your cluster:

• One machine functions as the control plane node.
• One machine functions as the worker node.

Note that your admin workstation needs to be able to ssh to these nodes and have access to the control plane VIP.

See hardware and operating system requirements ( Centos , RHEL , and Ubuntu ) for more information on what's required for the cluster nodes.

Creating a cluster

To create a cluster:

1. Use bmctl to create a config file.
2. Edit the config file to customize it for your cluster and network.
3. Use bmctl to create the cluster from the config file.

Creating a config file

To create a config file, and enable service accounts and APIs automatically, make sure you are in the baremetal directory, and issue the bmctl command with the following flags:

./bmctl create config -c CLUSTER_NAME 
\
  --enable-apis --create-service-accounts --project-id= PROJECT_ID