## Prerequisites
Before starting deployment, perform the following:
- Download and install the [Google Cloud SDK](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/downloads/).
Note that if you install `gcloud` using a package manager (as opposed to downloading and installing it manually), some of the commands will not be supported.
- Install `kubectl` command line tool by running the following command:
```sh
gcloud components install kubectl
```
- Configure defaults for `gcloud` by setting the project ID as `yugabyte`. You can change this as needed.
```sh
gcloud config set project yugabyte
```
- Set the default compute zone as `us-west1-b`. You can change this as needed.
```sh
gcloud config set compute/zone us-west1-b
```
## Create a GKE cluster
Create a private Kubernetes cluster using the following command.
```sh
gcloud container clusters create cluster_name --enable-private-nodes
```
Note that you must set up Cloud NAT for a private Kubernetes cluster in Google Cloud to ensure that your cluster can access the internet while its nodes do not have public IP addresses. Refer to [Configuring Private Google Access and Cloud NAT in Google Cloud Platform (GCP)](https://kloudkraft.medium.com/configuring-private-google-access-and-cloud-nat-in-google-cloud-platform-gcp-3c4406b590b3).
## Create a YugabyteDB cluster
Create a YugabyteDB cluster by running the following command:
```sh
kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yugabyte/yugabyte-db/master/cloud/kubernetes/yugabyte-statefulset.yaml
```
```output
service "yb-masters" created
statefulset "yb-master" created
service "yb-tservers" created
statefulset "yb-tserver" created
```
## Check the cluster
Execute the following command to see the pods running:
```sh
kubectl get pods
```
```output
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
yb-master-0 1/1 Running 0 3m
yb-master-1 1/1 Running 0 3m
yb-master-2 1/1 Running 0 3m
yb-tserver-0 1/1 Running 0 3m
yb-tserver-1 1/1 Running 0 3m
yb-tserver-2 1/1 Running 0 3m
```
You can view the persistent volumes, as follows:
```sh
kubectl get persistentvolumes
```
```output
NAME CAPACITY ACCESS MODES RECLAIM POLICY STATUS CLAIM STORAGECLASS REASON AGE
pvc-f3301c41-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-master-0 standard 5m
pvc-f33f29b3-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-master-1 standard 5m
pvc-f35005b6-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-master-2 standard 5m
pvc-f36189ab-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-tserver-0 standard 5m
pvc-f366a4af-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-tserver-1 standard 5m
pvc-f36d2892-1110-11e8-8231-42010a8a0083 1Gi RWO Delete Bound default/datadir-yb-tserver-2 standard 5m
```
You can view all the services by running the following command:
```sh
kubectl get services
```
```output
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
kubernetes ClusterIP XX.XX.XX.X 443/TCP 23m
yb-masters ClusterIP None 7000/TCP,7100/TCP 17m
yb-tservers ClusterIP None 9000/TCP,9100/TCP,9042/TCP,6379/TCP 14m
```
## Connect to the cluster
You can connect to the YCQL API by running the following:
```sh
kubectl exec -it yb-tserver-0 -- ycqlsh yb-tserver-0
```
```output
Connected to local cluster at 127.0.0.1:9042.
[cqlsh 5.0.1 | Cassandra 3.9-SNAPSHOT | CQL spec 3.4.2 | Native protocol v4]
Use HELP for help.
ycqlsh> DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;
system_schema system_auth system
```
## Destroy cluster
Destroy the YugabyteDB cluster you created above by running the following:
```sh
kubectl delete -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yugabyte/yugabyte-db/master/cloud/kubernetes/yugabyte-statefulset.yaml
```
```output
service "yb-masters" deleted
statefulset "yb-master" deleted
service "yb-tservers" deleted
statefulset "yb-tserver" deleted
```
To destroy the persistent volume claims and lose all the data, run the following:
```sh
kubectl delete pvc -l app=yb-master
kubectl delete pvc -l app=yb-tserver
```
## Destroy the GKE cluster
To destroy the machines you created for the `gcloud` cluster, run the following command:
```sh
gcloud container clusters delete yugabyte
```