Increase network bandwidth for clusters and nodes

This page shows you how to increase network bandwidth limit for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters and cluster nodes by using Tier 1 bandwidth.

Pricing

Higher bandwidth pricing applies when you enable Tier 1 bandwidth.

Before you begin

Before you start, make sure you have performed the following tasks:

  • Enable the Google Kubernetes Engine API.
    • Enable Google Kubernetes Engine API
  • If you want to use the Google Cloud CLI for this task, install and then initialize the gcloud CLI. If you previously installed the gcloud CLI, get the latest version by running gcloud components update.

Limitations

  • Compute Engine limitations apply.
  • When you enable Tier 1 bandwidth, GKE enables Google Virtual NIC (gVNIC), and GKE manages gVNIC as long as the node pool has Tier 1 bandwidth enabled.
  • Tier 1 bandwidth is only supported on N2, N2D, C2, C2D, C3, and M3 VMs.

Requirements

  • GKE nodes must use a Container-Optimized OS node image.

Enable Tier 1 bandwidth on a cluster

You can create a cluster that has Tier 1 bandwidth enabled, or you can update a cluster to use Tier 1 bandwidth.

A Tier 1 bandwidth enabled cluster has node pool Tier 1 bandwidth enabled by default. If you set the node pool bandwidth to TIER_UNSPECIFIED, the node pool settings override the cluster bandwidth settings.

Create a cluster with Tier 1 bandwidth enabled

Create a cluster that uses Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloud container clusters create CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace the CLUSTER_NAME with the name of the cluster.

Update a cluster to enable Tier 1 bandwidth

Update a cluster to use Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloud container clusters update CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace the CLUSTER_NAME with the name of the existing cluster.

Enable Tier 1 bandwidth on a node pool

You can create a node pool that has Tier 1 bandwidth enabled, or you can update a node pool to use Tier 1 bandwidth.

A Tier 1 bandwidth enabled cluster has node pool Tier 1 bandwidth enabled by default. However, the node pool API overrides your cluster-level configuration for Tier 1.

Create a node pool with Tier 1 bandwidth enabled

Create a node pool that uses Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloud container node-pools create NODEPOOL_NAME \
    --cluster=CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace the following:

  • NODEPOOL_NAME: the name of the new node pool.
  • CLUSTER_NAME: the name of the existing cluster.

Update a node pool to enable Tier 1 bandwidth

Update a node pool to use Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloud container node-pools update NODEPOOL_NAME \
    --cluster=CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace the following:

  • NODEPOOL_NAME: the name of the node pool that you want to update.
  • CLUSTER_NAME: the name of the existing cluster.

Disable Tier 1 bandwidth on a cluster or a node pool

You can disable Tier 1 bandwidth at the cluster level or node pool level. When you disable Tier 1 bandwidth at the cluster level, node pool Tier 1 bandwidth is set to TIER_UNSPECIFIED. Disabling Tier 1 bandwidth at cluster level does not disable existing node pool configuration.

Update the cluster to use default bandwidth:

gcloud container clusters update CLUSTER_NAME \
    --cluster=CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_UNSPECIFIED

Update the node pool to use default bandwidth:

gcloud container node-pools update NODEPOOL_NAME \
    --cluster=CLUSTER_NAME \
    --network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_UNSPECIFIED

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