Google GKE Deployment

Deploy GEMVC to Google Kubernetes Engine with managed SSL certificates

Documentation / Getting Started / Google GKE

Deploy GEMVC to Google GKE

Complete guide for deploying a containerized GEMVC application to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) with automatic SSL certificates and auto-scaling.

Google Cloud

Kubernetes

Managed SSL

Autopilot Mode

Core Concepts

GKE: Google's managed Kubernetes service with strong auto-scaling
gcloud CLI: Command-line tool for Google Cloud Platform
Managed Certificates: Google auto-provisions and renews SSL certs
GKE Ingress: Built-in HTTP(S) Load Balancing

Part 1: Prerequisites

Step 1: Install gcloud CLI

Initialize gcloud

# Initialize Google Cloud SDK
gcloud init

# This walks you through:
# - Authenticating your Google account
# - Selecting your GCP project
# - Setting default region/zone

Step 2: Install kubectl

Install kubectl

# Install kubectl via gcloud
gcloud components install kubectl

# Verify installation
kubectl version --client

Part 2: Create GKE Cluster

Step 3: Provision Cluster (Autopilot)

info: GKE Autopilot automatically manages nodes - you only pay for what you use!

Create GKE Cluster

# Create GKE Autopilot cluster
gcloud container clusters create-auto gemvc-cluster \
  --region=us-central1

Tip: This process takes 5-10 minutes. gcloud automatically configures kubectl.

Verify Nodes

# Verify cluster is ready
kubectl get nodes

Part 3: Kubernetes Manifests

Create a gke-k8s/ folder with these files:

Step 4: deployment.yaml

gke-k8s/deployment.yaml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: gemvc-app-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: gemvc-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: gemvc-app
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: gemvc-app
        image: your-dockerhub/gemvc-api:latest
        ports:
        - containerPort: 9501  # OpenSwoole port
        envFrom:
        - secretRef:
            name: gemvc-app-secrets

Step 5: Create Secrets

.env (local only)

# Create .env file locally (NOT in Git!)
APP_ENV=production
DB_HOST=production-db.internal
DB_USER=prod_user
DB_PASSWORD=your-secure-password
TOKEN_SECRET=your-jwt-secret-key

Create Secret

# Create Kubernetes secret
kubectl create secret generic gemvc-app-secrets --from-env-file=.env

Step 6: service.yaml

gke-k8s/service.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: gemvc-app-service
  annotations:
    cloud.google.com/neg: '{"ingress": true}'
spec:
  selector:
    app: gemvc-app
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 9501
  type: NodePort

Step 7: managed-certificate.yaml

GKE automatically provisions and renews SSL certificates:

gke-k8s/managed-certificate.yaml

apiVersion: networking.gke.io/v1
kind: ManagedCertificate
metadata:
  name: gemvc-app-cert
spec:
  domains:
    - api.your-domain.com

Step 8: ingress.yaml

gke-k8s/ingress.yaml

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: gemvc-app-ingress
  annotations:
    networking.gke.io/managed-certificates: gemvc-app-cert
spec:
  rules:
    - host: api.your-domain.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: gemvc-app-service
                port:
                  number: 80

Part 4: Deploy Application

Step 9: Apply Manifests

Deploy to GKE

# Deploy application
kubectl apply -f gke-k8s/deployment.yaml

# Create service
kubectl apply -f gke-k8s/service.yaml

# Create managed SSL certificate
kubectl apply -f gke-k8s/managed-certificate.yaml

# Create ingress/load balancer
kubectl apply -f gke-k8s/ingress.yaml

Step 10: Verify Deployment

Verify Deployment

# Check pods are running
kubectl get pods

# Get load balancer IP
kubectl get ingress gemvc-app-ingress

# Check SSL certificate status (wait for 'Active')
kubectl describe managedcertificate gemvc-app-cert

DNS Setup: Create an A record pointing your domain to the Ingress IP address.

Part 5: Updates (Zero Downtime)

Zero-Downtime Update

# Update image tag in deployment.yaml, then:
kubectl apply -f gke-k8s/deployment.yaml

# GKE performs rolling update automatically!

Deployment Checklist

gcloud CLI configured with GCP project
kubectl installed via gcloud
GKE Autopilot cluster created
Kubernetes secrets created from .env
Managed certificate status is Active
DNS A record pointing to Ingress IP

Next Steps

AWS EKS Guide Performance Guide Security Guide