Demo Apply labels and tags to GKE clusters

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to manage labels on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters and their node pools. You will:

1. Create a new GKE cluster with labels
2. View labels on an existing cluster
3. Update labels on a cluster
4. Remove labels from a cluster
5. Verify labels on both the cluster and its node pools
6. Understand how cluster-level label changes affect node pools

Table of Contents

• 1. Create a New Cluster with a Label
• 2. View Labels on an Existing Cluster
• 3. Update Labels on an Existing Cluster
• 4. Remove a Label from a Cluster
• 5. Verify Labels on the New Cluster
• 6. Remove the Label from the New Cluster
• 7. Node Pool Labels Remain After Cluster Label Removal
• Command Reference
• Links and References

1. Create a New Cluster with a Label

Spin up a GKE cluster named gke-deep-dive-new with:

• 1 node
• 10 GB standard persistent disk
• Label test=gke

gcloud container clusters create gke-deep-dive-new \
  --num-nodes=1 \
  --disk-type=pd-standard \
  --disk-size=10 \
  --labels=test=gke

This command provisions a single-node pool (HDD) and attaches the test=gke label at creation.

2. View Labels on an Existing Cluster

To inspect labels on a cluster (e.g., gke-deep-dive) run:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive \
  --format="yaml(resourceLabels)"

If there are no labels, the resourceLabels section will be empty.

3. Update Labels on an Existing Cluster

Add or modify labels using --update-labels. For example, set newlabel=gkeold on gke-deep-dive:

gcloud container clusters update gke-deep-dive \
  --update-labels=newlabel=gkeold

Verify the update:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive \
  --format="yaml(resourceLabels)"

Expected output:

resourceLabels:
  newlabel: gkeold

4. Remove a Label from a Cluster

To delete a label, specify its key with --remove-labels:

gcloud container clusters update gke-deep-dive \
  --remove-labels=newlabel

Confirm removal:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive \
  --format="yaml(resourceLabels)"

The resourceLabels field should now be empty.

5. Verify Labels on the New Cluster

Check that gke-deep-dive-new has the test=gke label:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive-new \
  --format="yaml(resourceLabels)"

You should see:

resourceLabels:
  test: gke

Alternatively, filter with grep:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive-new \
  | grep -i resourceLabels -A1

6. Remove the Label from the New Cluster

Remove the test label:

gcloud container clusters update gke-deep-dive-new \
  --remove-labels=test

Verify:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive-new \
  --format="yaml(resourceLabels)"

resourceLabels will now be empty.

7. Node Pool Labels Remain After Cluster Label Removal

Cluster-level label updates do not automatically propagate to existing node pools. Even after removing test from the cluster, the default node pool still holds its label:

gcloud container clusters describe gke-deep-dive-new \
  --format="yaml(nodePools[0].resourceLabels)"

resourceLabels:
  test: gke

To remove a label from the node pool itself:

gcloud container node-pools update default-pool \
  --cluster=gke-deep-dive-new \
  --remove-labels=test

Command Reference

Links and References

• GKE Labels Documentation
• Kubernetes Labels and Selectors
• gcloud container clusters
• gcloud container node-pools