How can I switch between Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters with kubectl?

Question

From the Google Cloud Shell, when I run kubectl I am running it on the GKE cluster ( cluster-1 ) from my previous project ( my-project-1 ). I would like to run it on the gke cluster ( cluster-2 ) in my new project ( my-project-2 ).

How can I update my context to use the new cluster?

Answer 1

For me works this:

1. Login

gcloud auth application-default login

2. Switch to the project

gcloud config set project <your-project-name>

3. List available clusters

gcloud container clusters list

4. Get the cluster credentials

gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster-name> --region <cluster-region>

Then I was able to switch the context of kubectl

Answer 2

Here are the commands that work for me when I want to switch between clusters:

1. Check current cluster:

    kubectl config current-context

   Example output:

    my-project-1_us-central1_cluster-1

2. Switch to a different cluster (replace $CLUSTER_NAME , $REGION , and $PROJECT_NAME with your values):

    gcloud container clusters get-credentials $CLUSTER_NAME --region $REGION --project $PROJECT_NAME

   Example:

    gcloud container clusters get-credentials cluster-2 --region us-central1 --project my-project-2

3. Confirm you have switched clusters by re-running the current-context command

   kubectl config current-context

   Example output:

    my-project-2_us-central1_cluster-2

Answer 3

1. To check what cluster you are currently using:

    kubectl config current-context

2. To check what clusters you have configured:

    kubectl config get-contexts

3. To switch, you have two options:

   (Option 1) If you don't have the cluster you to switch to configured, run:

    gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster-name> --region <cluster-region> --project <project>

   (Option 2) Use kubectl to switch context, get <name> from step 2:

    kubectl config use-context <name>