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:

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

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

After detaching a label from the cluster, always verify node-pool labels if you rely on them for workloads, autoscaling, or monitoring.

Command Reference

Operation	Command Snippet
Create cluster with label	`gcloud container clusters create ... --labels=test=gke`
View cluster labels	`gcloud container clusters describe ... --format="yaml(...)"`
Update cluster labels	`gcloud container clusters update ... --update-labels=key=val`
Remove cluster labels	`gcloud container clusters update ... --remove-labels=key`
View node-pool labels	`gcloud container clusters describe ... --format="yaml(...)"`
Remove node-pool label	`gcloud container node-pools update ... --remove-labels=key`

Links and References

Watch Video

Demo Install kubectl and configure cluster access

Plan to scale Cluster autoscaling and Node auto provisioning

Introduction

High Level Overview

Playground Instructions

GKE Deployment and Administration

Networking for GKE clusters

Managing Security Aspects

Plan, Deploy And Manage Workloads On GKE

GKE Design Considerations

It’s a wrap

Demo Apply labels and tags to GKE clusters

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

Watch Video

​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

Watch Video

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