gkeadm is the GKE on-prem command-line tool used to create an admin workstation. That workstation is the launch point for installing the admin cluster and user clusters on VMware infrastructure. section 5.2.1
The resulting topology separates an administrative cluster from user clusters and node pools. Treat the admin cluster as an invisible control plane: use it for monitoring and administration, not application services. section 5.2 section 5.2.1
A Linux-oriented installation workflow is:
- Download the version-matched gkeadm binary and make it executable. section 5.2.1
- Fill in vCenter credentials, the whitelisted GCP service-account key path, and the vCenter Certificate Authority certificate path. section 5.2.1
- Use the workstation to install the admin cluster and then user clusters. section 5.2.1
Protecting installation credentials
Configuration files can contain vCenter and F5 Big-IP credentials in plain text. A wrapper can store a password in Google Secret Manager, retrieve it with gcloud, substitute it into the configuration, apply the configuration, and remove the temporary value. section 5.2.1
