gkectl

You can use the gkectl command line interface for a for a variety tasks, including the following:

• Generate a template for a cluster configuration file.
• Validate a cluster configuration file.
• Prepare a vSphere environment.
• Create a cluster.
• Upgrade a cluster.
• Update a cluster.
• Resize a cluster.
• Diagnose cluster issues.

Basic commands

To list all commands:

gkectl help

To get help for a specific command:

gkectl COMMAND --help

Environment variable for the admin cluster kubeconfig file

Several gkectl commands require the path of the admin cluster kubeconfig file. You can specify the path by exporting a GKECTL_KUBECONFIG environment variable. For example:

export GKECTL_KUBECONFIG=/path/to/my-admin-cluster-kubeconfig

If you do not export the GKECTL_KUBECONFIG environment variable, then you must use the --kubeconfig flag when you run the command.

Download gkectl

For information on downloading gkectl, see Downloads.

Default logging behavior for gkectl

For gkectl it's sufficient to use the default logging settings. For gkectl, the default log file is /home/ubuntu/.config/gke-on-prem/logs/gkectl-$(date).log, and the file is symlinked with the logs/gkectl-$(date).log file in the local directory where you run gkectl.

The default -v5 verbosity level covers all the log entries needed by the support team. The log file includes the command executed and the failure message.

We recommend that you send the log file to the support team when you need help.

Specifying a non-default locations for log files

To specify a non-default location for the gkectl log file, use the --log_file flag. The log file that you specify will not be symlinked with the local directory.