Install Config Sync with default settings

Config Sync synchronizes your Kubernetes configurations with your clusters. This document explains how to enable and configure Config Sync by using default settings. It focuses on syncing configurations from an unstructured Git repository.

This page is for Operators who want to implement GitOps tools to centralize configuration management for their teams. To learn more about common roles and example tasks that we reference in Google Cloud content, see Common GKE user roles and tasks.

For instructions on installing Config Sync with advanced settings, see Customize your Config Sync installation.

Before you begin

Before you install Config Sync, prepare your Git repository and your GKE clusters.

Create a Git repository and grant access to Config Sync

To synchronize configuration from a Git repository to your clusters, Config Sync requires read-only access to your repository. To authorize Config Sync to read your configurations, complete the following steps:

  • Create, or have access to, a Git repository that contains the configuration files that you want Config Sync to sync to your clusters.

  • If your Git repository is public, no further action is needed. Config Sync doesn't require extra permissions.

  • If your Git repository is private, follow the instructions in Grant Config Sync access to Git.

Create a cluster

If you already have a cluster prepared, for example if you followed the steps to Grant Config Sync access to Git, then proceed to Install Config Sync.

Config Sync requires that your clusters are registered to a fleet. To register your clusters, complete the following step:

console

No action is required. Your clusters are automatically registered to a fleet when you install Config Sync.

gcloud

  • To create an Autopilot cluster that is registered to a fleet, run the following command:

    gcloud container clusters create-auto CLUSTER_NAME --enable-fleet

  • To create a Standard cluster that is registered to a fleet, run the following command:

    gcloud container clusters create CLUSTER_NAME --enable-fleet \
    --workload-pool=PROJECT_ID.svc.id.goog

Replace the following:

  • CLUSTER_NAME: the name of your cluster.
  • PROJECT_ID: your project ID.

For more information about registering clusters, see Register a cluster to a fleet.

Install Config Sync

To enable and configure Config Sync to sync configurations from your Git repository to your registered clusters, complete the following steps:

console

If you use the Google Cloud console, you first install Config Sync on your clusters and then you configure a package that enables Config Sync to sync from your Git repository.

Install Config Sync

  1. Go to the Config Sync page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to Config

  2. Click Install Config Sync.

  3. Select Install on all clusters in the fleet.

  4. Leave all other settings at their default.

  5. Click Install Config Sync.

In the Settings tab, after a few minutes, Enabled appears in the Status column for the clusters in your fleet.

Deploy a package

  1. Click Deploy cluster package.

  2. In the Select clusters tab, select the cluster that you want to deploy a package to and then click Continue.

  3. Click the Configure package tab and enter a name for your package.

  4. In the Source section, complete the following:

    1. In the Repository URL field, enter the URL of your Git repository.

    2. Optional: Review and update the other field settings. You might not need to update these settings depending on your repository structure.

  5. Optional: If your repository is private, expand the Advanced settings section to configure your authentication method. The Google Cloud console provides embedded instructions to help you configure your authentication settings.

  6. Leave all other settings at their default.

  7. Click Deploy package.

You are redirected to the Config Sync Packages page. After a few minutes, Synced appears in the Sync status column for the cluster that you configured.

gcloud

If you use the gcloud CLI, you install Config Sync by creating a manifest that contains your Config Sync settings and then applying those settings to your cluster.

  1. Enable the ConfigManagement fleet feature:

    gcloud beta container fleet config-management enable

  2. Create a manifest called apply-spec.yaml. This example manifest contains the default settings that are recommended:

    applySpecVersion: 1
spec:
  configSync:
    enabled: true
    sourceFormat: unstructured
    syncRepo: REPO_URL
    # syncRev: REVISION
    secretType: none
    preventDrift: true

    Replace the following:

    • REPO_URL: The URL of your Git repository, for example, https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/anthos-config-management-samples.

    • (Optional) REVISION: The Git revision (tag or hash) or branch that you want to sync from. Uncomment and replace this field if you need to sync from a location other than HEAD.

      For private repositories, you can change the secretType field to a supported authentication method. A Google service account (gcpserviceaccount) with Secure Source Manager is generally recommended. Alternatively, use ssh because it works with most Git providers. For more detailed instructions on supported authentication methods, see Grant access to Git.

  3. Apply the manifest to your cluster:

    gcloud beta container fleet config-management apply \
    --membership=MEMBERSHIP_NAME \
    --config=apply-spec.yaml \
    --project=PROJECT_ID

    Replace the following:

    • MEMBERSHIP_NAME: the fleet membership name that you chose when you registered your cluster. Get the name with the gcloud container fleet memberships list command.
    • PROJECT_ID: Your project ID.

Verify the installation

After you install and configure Config Sync, verify that the installation completed successfully.

console

  1. Go to the Config Sync page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to Config Sync

  2. On the Packages tab, check the Sync status column in the cluster table. A successful installation of Config Sync shows a status of Installed. A successfully configured Git repository shows a status of Synced.

gcloud

Run the following command:

nomos status

A successful installation shows a status of SYNCED or PENDING.

For more details on the information supplied by the nomos status command, including reported errors, see Check Config Sync status in the nomos command-line tool documentation.

What's next