GKE Cluster Setup with Cert Manager, NGINX Ingress, and External Secrets Operator (ESO)

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to create a GKE cluster and install Cert Manager, NGINX Ingress Controller, and External Secrets Operator (ESO) using Helm.

Prerequisites

• Google Cloud SDK (gcloud)
• Kubernetes CLI (kubectl)
• Helm installed
• A Google Cloud Project with Kubernetes Engine API enabled
• Any Domain (godaddy)

Step 1: Create GKE Cluster

Use the following gcloud command to create a GKE cluster:

gcloud container clusters create my-cluster --zone us-central1-a --num-nodes=3

Step 2: Install Cert Manager

Cert Manager automates the management and issuance of TLS certificates. To install Cert Manager with Helm:

# Add the Jetstack Helm repository (the maintainers of Cert Manager)
helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io

# Update your Helm repo to ensure the latest charts are available
helm repo update

# Install Cert Manager into the cert-manager namespace
helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager --namespace cert-manager --create-namespace --version v1.13.0 --set installCRDs=true

Step 3: Install NGINX Ingress Controller

To install the NGINX Ingress controller using Helm:

# Add the ingress-nginx repository
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx

# Update your Helm repo
helm repo update

# Install the NGINX Ingress controller into a dedicated namespace
helm install nginx-ingress ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx --namespace ingress-nginx --create-namespace

This will install the NGINX Ingress controller in the ingress-nginx namespace.

Step 4: Install External Secrets Operator (ESO)

ESO integrates external secret management systems (like AWS Secrets Manager, Google Secrets Manager) with Kubernetes.

# Add the external-secrets repository
helm repo add external-secrets https://charts.external-secrets.io

# Update your Helm repo
helm repo update

# Install the External Secrets Operator into its own namespace
helm install external-secrets external-secrets/external-secrets \
    --namespace external-secrets \
    --set watchNamespaces="{default}"

Step 5: Verify the Installations

Cert Manager:

Check the Cert Manager pods and CRDs are installed and running:

kubectl get pods --namespace cert-manager
kubectl get crds | grep cert-manager

NGINX Ingress:

Check that the NGINX Ingress controller is running:

kubectl get pods --namespace ingress-nginx

External Secrets Operator:

Ensure the ESO pods are up and running:

kubectl get pods --namespace external-secrets

---

Playing With CertManager:

Create Zone, A-record For Ingress-nginx Service and Change Nameservers:

Deploy Website With TLS Using HTTP-01 Chanllenge:

kubectl apply -f cluster-issuer.yaml
kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml
kubectl apply -f deployment.yml
kubectl apply -f service.yml

Validate :

Playing With ESO:

Create a Service Account, Assign Roles to It, and Create a Secret in Secret Manager:

gcloud iam service-accounts create svc-team-a \
    --description="Service account for team-a" \
    --display-name="svc-team-a" \
    --project=nice-hydra-435514-e8

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding nice-hydra-435514-e8 \
    --member="serviceAccount:svc-team-a@nice-hydra-435514-e8.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
    --role="roles/secretmanager.viewer"

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding nice-hydra-435514-e8 \
    --member="serviceAccount:svc-team-a@nice-hydra-435514-e8.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
    --role="roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor"

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding nice-hydra-435514-e8 \
    --member="serviceAccount:svc-team-a@nice-hydra-435514-e8.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
    --role="roles/iam.serviceAccountTokenCreator"

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding nice-hydra-435514-e8 \
    --member="serviceAccount:svc-team-a@nice-hydra-435514-e8.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
    --role="roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser"

Validate :

• From the left menu, select IAM & Admin > Service Accounts
• find and click on the service account you want to manage (svc-team-a)
• Go to the Permissions Tab, click on the Permissions tab to view and manage access.

Create Secret :

• Navigate to Secret Manager:
• Create a Secret, Enter a Name for the secret and add the value you want to store.

Deploy Service Account , Secret Store and External Secret :

kubectl apply -f service_account.yml
kubectl apply -f secretstore.yml
kubectl apply -f externalsecret.yml