GKE Networking

This reference covers networking configuration for GKE clusters. The golden path enforces private, VPC-native clusters with Dataplane V2.

MCP Tools: get_cluster, update_cluster, apply_k8s_manifest, get_k8s_resource

Golden Path Networking Defaults

Setting	Golden Path Value	Day-0/1	Notes
privateClusterConfig.enablePrivateNodes	true	Day-0	Nodes have no public IPs
masterAuthorizedNetworksConfig.privateEndpointEnforcementEnabled	true	Day-0	Control plane only reachable via private endpoint or DNS
controlPlaneEndpointsConfig.dnsEndpointConfig.allowExternalTraffic	true	Day-0	Allows DNS-based access from outside VPC
networkConfig.datapathProvider	ADVANCED_DATAPATH (Dataplane V2)	Day-0	eBPF-based, built-in Network Policy
networkConfig.dnsConfig.clusterDns	CLOUD_DNS	Day-0	Managed DNS, more reliable than kube-dns
networkConfig.enableIntraNodeVisibility	true	Day-1	VPC Flow Logs for intra-node traffic
networkConfig.gatewayApiConfig.channel	CHANNEL_STANDARD	Day-1	Gateway API support
ipAllocationPolicy.autoIpamConfig.enabled	true	Day-0	Automatic IP range management
ipAllocationPolicy.createSubnetwork	true	Day-0	Auto-create dedicated subnet
defaultMaxPodsConstraint.maxPodsPerNode	48	Day-0	Conservative default; 110 for high density

Private Cluster Access Patterns

The golden path creates a private cluster. Users access it via:

1. DNS endpoint (default): allowExternalTraffic: true enables access via the cluster's DNS endpoint from outside the VPC. No VPN required.
2. Private endpoint: Direct access from within the VPC or via Cloud VPN/Interconnect.
3. Authorized networks: Add specific CIDRs to masterAuthorizedNetworksConfig for IP-based access control.

# Access private cluster via DNS endpoint (golden path default)
gcloud container clusters get-credentials <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> --dns-endpoint \
  --quiet

# Access via private endpoint (from within VPC)
gcloud container clusters get-credentials <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> --internal-ip \
  --quiet

Bring-Your-Own VPC/Subnet

If the customer has existing network infrastructure:

gcloud container clusters create-auto <CLUSTER_NAME> \
  --region <REGION> \
  --network <VPC_NAME> \
  --subnetwork <SUBNET_NAME> \
  --cluster-secondary-range-name <POD_RANGE> \
  --services-secondary-range-name <SVC_RANGE> \
  --enable-private-nodes \
  --enable-master-authorized-networks \
  --quiet

Day-0 Warning: VPC, subnet, and IP ranges cannot be changed after cluster creation.

IP Planning

Resource	Golden Path	Notes
Pod CIDR	/17 (auto)	~32K pod IPs; size based on maxPodsPerNode
Service CIDR	/20 (auto)	~4K service IPs
Node subnet	auto-created	/20 recommended for growth
Max pods/node	48	Each node gets a /25 pod range; set to 110
: : : for /24 per node :

Pod CIDR sizing rule of thumb:

• maxPodsPerNode=48 -> each node uses a /25 (128 IPs) from pod CIDR
• maxPodsPerNode=110 -> each node uses a /24 (256 IPs) from pod CIDR
• Larger maxPodsPerNode = fewer nodes fit in a given CIDR

Ingress

Gateway API (golden path, enabled via gatewayApiConfig.channel: CHANNEL_STANDARD):

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: external-http
spec:
  gatewayClassName: gke-l7-global-external-managed
  listeners:
  - name: http
    protocol: HTTP
    port: 80

Alternatives:

• gke-l7-regional-external-managed — regional external
• gke-l7-rilb — internal load balancer
• Istio service mesh — for advanced traffic management, mTLS

Egress

• Default: nodes use Cloud NAT for outbound internet access (private nodes have no public IPs)
• For static egress IPs: configure Cloud NAT with manual IP allocation
• For restricted egress: route through a firewall appliance via custom routes

Network Policy

Dataplane V2 (golden path) provides built-in Network Policy enforcement — no additional addon needed. Apply default-deny per namespace, then allow specific flows.

See the gke-security skill for default-deny policy and the gke-multitenancy skill for per-team allow policies.

Cloud Armor (Recommended for Public-Facing Services)

Cloud Armor provides WAF and DDoS protection. Not a golden path default — recommended for any service with public ingress. Link via BackendConfig:

# 1. Create BackendConfig referencing your Cloud Armor policy
apiVersion: cloud.google.com/v1
kind: BackendConfig
metadata:
  name: my-backend-config
spec:
  securityPolicy:
    name: my-cloud-armor-policy
---
# 2. Annotate your Service
# cloud.google.com/backend-config: '{"default": "my-backend-config"}'

SSL, Container-Native LB, and PSC

• Google-managed SSL certificates: Use ManagedCertificate CRD with Gateway API. Auto-provisions and renews.
• Container-native LB: Enabled by default on VPC-native clusters (golden path). Targets pods via NEGs, bypassing iptables. Annotation: cloud.google.com/neg: '{"ingress": true}'.
• Private Service Connect (PSC): Use ServiceAttachment CRD to expose services across VPCs without peering.