Configuring a processing cluster on GKE Enterprise on bare metal

Important: The Migrate to Containers UI in the Google Cloud console, migctl, and CRDs that use processing clusters to migrate workloads to Google Cloud are now deprecated. They are supported for existing users until May 2024, after which they will no longer be available. If you're new to Migrate to Containers, then use the Migrate to Containers CLI to perform migrations on your local machine. For more information, see Migrate to Containers CLI architecture.

This topic describes how to set up Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal clusters as a processing cluster for migrating Linux VMs. You use the processing cluster to generate migrated container artifacts, operate, and monitor the migration.

Before you begin

Before creating Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal clusters, you need:

• A user with GKE Administrator privileges. These privileges are only necessary for the setup portion.
• A Google service account, with the necessary permissions, to install Migrate to Containers components. See Configuring a service account for more.

About Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal

Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal clusters let you deploy applications directly on your own hardware infrastructure to deliver the best performance and flexibility. While you are using your own hardware and network, you have direct control over application scale, security, and network latency, as well as having the benefit of containerized applications through Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) and GKE Enterprise components.

Creating a processing cluster

Because of the many options you have when installing Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal, see Creating a user cluster in the Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal documentation.

Your cluster must:

• Run Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal clusters
• Define at least one node with 4 or more CPUs and 15 GB or more of RAM
• Define a default storage class that supports creation of Persistent Volumes with volumeMode of both Filesystem and Block.

Note: For Google Distributed Cloud Virtual for Bare Metal migrations, it is required that the vCenter/vSphere environment is accessible to the cluster nodes through the network.

Using a private cluster

Private clusters give you the ability to isolate nodes from having inbound and outbound connectivity to the public internet. This isolation is achieved as the nodes have internal IP addresses only.

Migrate to Containers supports the use of private clusters. When using a private cluster, the control plane node must be able to reach the Migrate to Containers infrastructure pod on port 9443.

Therefore, you must ensure that port 9443 is accessible to the control plane node.

What's next

• Learn about installing Migrate to Containers.