Develop your Google Cloud Network: Challenge Lab Solution

Develop your Google Cloud Network Badge

Introduction

Welcome to the “Develop Your Google Cloud Network” challenge lab. This lab tests your proficiency in Google Cloud by giving you a real-world scenario with tasks to complete. Unlike guided labs, here you rely on your skills and knowledge to complete the tasks. An automated scoring system will provide feedback on your progress.

To excel, you need to complete all tasks within the given timeframe. This lab is recommended for those who have completed the “Develop Your Google Cloud Network” skill badge. Are you ready for the challenge?

Setup Instructions

Before starting, ensure you:

• Use an Incognito or private browser window to avoid conflicts with personal Google Cloud accounts.
• Have access to a standard internet browser (Chrome recommended).
• Have sufficient time as the lab is timed and cannot be paused once started.

Challenge Scenario

As a cloud engineer at Jooli Inc., you are tasked with helping the Griffin team set up their environment. They need a development and production VPC, a bastion host, a Cloud SQL instance, and a Kubernetes cluster for a WordPress environment. You will also set up monitoring and grant access to an additional engineer.

Task Overview

1. Create Development VPC
2. Create Production VPC
3. Create Bastion Host
4. Create and Configure Cloud SQL Instance
5. Create Kubernetes Cluster
6. Prepare the Kubernetes Cluster
7. Create a WordPress Deployment
8. Enable Monitoring
9. Provide Access for an Additional Engineer

Task 0: Initial Steps

Access GCP Console and Terminal

Start the Lab by pressing the Start Lab button
Copy username and password from the sidebar
Press the Open Google Cloud Console button
Enter username and password to sign in
Press I understand button
Check Agreement and press Agree and Continue
Press the activate cloud shell button on the top right corner
In the cloud shell, click continue, and authorize if a popup appears

Export the following variables

Make sure to replace [content] with the values of your lab!

export REGION=[your_lab_region]
export ZONE=[your_lab_zone]
export ADDITIONAL_ENGINEER_EMAIL=[your_lab_username2]

Task 01: Create development VPC

gcloud compute networks create griffin-dev-vpc --subnet-mode=custom

gcloud compute networks subnets create griffin-dev-wp \
    --network=griffin-dev-vpc \
    --range=192.168.16.0/20 \
    --region=$REGION

gcloud compute networks subnets create griffin-dev-mgmt \
    --network=griffin-dev-vpc \
    --range=192.168.32.0/20 \
    --region=$REGION

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to the VPC network.
• Click Create VPC network.
• Name it griffin-dev-vpc.
• Add subnets griffin-dev-wp (192.168.16.0/20) and griffin-dev-mgmt (192.168.32.0/20).
• Click Create.

Task 02: Create production VPC

gcloud compute networks create griffin-prod-vpc --subnet-mode=custom

gcloud compute networks subnets create griffin-prod-wp \
    --network=griffin-prod-vpc \
    --range=192.168.48.0/20 \
    --region=$REGION

gcloud compute networks subnets create griffin-prod-mgmt \
    --network=griffin-prod-vpc \
    --range=192.168.64.0/20 \
    --region=$REGION

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to the VPC network.
• Click Create VPC network.
• Name it griffin-prod-vpc.
• Add subnets griffin-prod-wp (192.168.48.0/20) and griffin-prod-mgmt (192.168.64.0/20).
• Click Create.

Task 3: Create a bastion host

Bastion host:

gcloud compute instances create griffin-bastion \
    --machine-type=e2-medium \
    --zone=$ZONE \
    --tags=bastion \
    --network-interface=subnet=griffin-dev-mgmt \
    --network-interface=subnet=griffin-prod-mgmt \
    --metadata=startup-script='#! /bin/bash
        sudo apt-get update
        sudo apt-get install -yq git htop
    ' \
    --scopes=cloud-platform \
    --image-family=debian-10 \
    --image-project=debian-cloud

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to VM instances.
• Click Create instance.
• Name it griffin-bastion.
• Select e2-medium as the machine type.
• Under Networking, add two network interfaces:
• The first interface connected to griffin-dev-mgmt
• The second interface connected to griffin-prod-mgmt
• Allow SSH connections.
• Click Create.

Firewall rules allowing TCP traffic on port 22:

gcloud compute firewall-rules create griffin-dev-allow-ssh \
    --network=griffin-dev-vpc \
    --allow=tcp:22 \
    --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
    --target-tags=bastion \
    --description="Allow SSH access to bastion host"

gcloud compute firewall-rules create griffin-prod-allow-ssh \
    --network=griffin-prod-vpc \
    --allow=tcp:22 \
    --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
    --target-tags=bastion \
    --description="Allow SSH access to bastion host in production"

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to Firewall.
• Click Create a Firewall rule.
• Name it griffin-dev-allow-ssh, set the network to griffin-dev-vpc, and allow tcp:22 from 0.0.0.0/0.
• Repeat for griffin-prod-allow-ssh in griffin-prod-vpc.

Task 04: Create and Configure Cloud SQL Instance

gcloud sql instances create griffin-dev-db \
    --database-version=MYSQL_5_7 \
    --tier=db-n1-standard-1 \
    --region=$REGION

gcloud sql databases create wordpress --instance=griffin-dev-db

gcloud sql users create wp_user --host=% --instance=griffin-dev-db --password=password123

gcloud sql connect griffin-dev-db --user=root << EOF
CREATE DATABASE wordpress;
CREATE USER 'wp_user'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'stormwind_rules';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'wp_user'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EOF

Enter password: password123 (You can change it in the above command)

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to SQL.
• Click Create instance.
• Select MySQL and configure the instance with the name griffin-dev-db.
• Choose the appropriate region and settings.
• Create the wordpress database and wp_user user with necessary privileges using the SQL command interface.

Task 05: Create Kubernetes cluster

gcloud container clusters create griffin-dev \
    --zone=$ZONE \
    --num-nodes=2 \
    --machine-type=e2-standard-4 \
    --network=griffin-dev-vpc \
    --subnetwork=griffin-dev-wp

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to Kubernetes Engine.
• Click Create Cluster.
• Select Standard Cluster.
• Name it griffin-dev.
• Set the Node Pools:
• Machine type: e2-standard-4
• Number of nodes: 2
• Set the Network to griffin-dev-vpc and Subnetwork to griffin-dev-wp.
• Click Create.

Task 06: Prepare the Kubernetes cluster

Copy configuration files:

gsutil cp -r gs://cloud-training/gsp321/wp-k8s .

Change to the directory and list the files:

cd wp-k8s
ls

Update the wp-env.yaml file

nano wp-env.yaml

Update the values of username to wp_user and password to stormwind_rules

Setup secrets and volumes

gcloud iam service-accounts keys create key.json \
    --iam-account=cloud-sql-proxy@$GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT.iam.gserviceaccount.com
kubectl create secret generic cloudsql-instance-credentials \
    --from-file key.json

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Copying Files:
• Navigate to Cloud Shell and use the gsutil command to copy files.
• Editing Files:
• Use Cloud Shell Editor or other preferred text editor to modify wp-env.yaml.

Task 07: Create WordPress deployment

Retrieve and copy the connection name:

gcloud sql instances describe griffin-dev-db --format='value(connectionName)'

Edit the wp-deployment.yaml file

nano wp-deployment.yaml

Find and replace the placeholder YOUR_SQL_INSTANCE with the instance connection name retrieved in the previous step. Now Save the changes and exit the text editor.

Verify the changes:

cat wp-deployment.yaml

Deploy WordPress:

kubectl apply -f wp-env.yaml
kubectl apply -f wp-deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f wp-service.yaml

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Editing Files:
• Use Cloud Shell Editor to modify and verify the wp-deployment.yaml.
• Deploying WordPress:
• Use Cloud Shell to run the kubectl commands for deploying WordPress.

Task 08: Enable Monitoring

List the services in the Kubernetes cluster:

kubectl get services

Look for the wordpress service of type LoadBalancer. The EXTERNAL-IP column will contain the IP address you use as the WordPress site URL.

export WORDPRESS_SITE_URL=[EXTERNAL_IP]

Create uptime check

gcloud monitoring uptime create griffin-dev-wp-uptime-check \
    --display-name="Griffin Dev WP Uptime Check" \
    --resource-labels=host=$WORDPRESS_EXTERNAL_IP

Alternative for Uptime Check: Using the Google Cloud Console

If the CLI approach continues to present issues, you can create an uptime check through the Google Cloud Console:

1. Go to the Google Cloud Console.
2. Navigate to Monitoring.
3. Select Uptime Checks from the menu.
4. Click on Create Uptime Check.
5. Fill in the required details:

• Title: Griffin Dev WP Uptime Check
• Resource Type: URL
• Hostname: $WORDPRESS_SITE_URL (use the actual external IP address, e.g., 34.48.95.59)
• Path: /
• Port: 80
• Check Frequency: 5 minutes
• Timeout: 10 seconds

Save the uptime check. This should successfully create an uptime check for your WordPress site.

Task 09: Provide access for an additional engineer

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT \
    --member="user:$ADDITIONAL_ENGINEER_EMAIL" \
    --role="roles/editor"

Alternative Approach: Using Google Cloud Console:

• Navigate to IAM & Admin.
• Click Add to add a new member.
• Enter the email of the additional engineer.
• Assign the Editor role.
• Click Save.

Conclusion

Congratulations on completing the lab! You have successfully set up a development environment using Google Cloud, including VPCs, a bastion host, a Cloud SQL instance, and a Kubernetes cluster. You also enabled monitoring and granted access to an additional engineer. Keep exploring Google Cloud to enhance your skills further.