This is the most convenient, non-Terraform way I know to create a new Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster with in-cluster Anthos Service Mesh (ASM) installed.

create-gke-cluster-with-in-cluster-asm.sh

# If you're not using Cloud Shell, make sure to replace $GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT with your Project ID.
# Cloud Shell is a small virtual machine (in Google Cloud) that's tied to your Google Cloud account.

export PROJECT_ID=$GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
export CLUSTER_NAME=my-cluster-with-in-cluster-asm-1
export KUBECONTEXT_NAME=${CLUSTER_NAME}
export ZONE=us-central1-b
export PROJECT_NUMBER=$(gcloud projects describe ${PROJECT_ID} --format='get(projectNumber)')
export ASM_VERSION=1.14

echo "🏗️ Enabling necessary Google Cloud APIs..."
gcloud services enable \
  container.googleapis.com

echo "☁️ Creating a new Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) cluster..."
gcloud container clusters create ${CLUSTER_NAME} \
  --project=${PROJECT_ID} \
  --zone=${ZONE} \
  --machine-type=e2-standard-4 \
  --num-nodes=2 \
  --workload-pool=${PROJECT_ID}.svc.id.goog

echo "✏️ Renaming kubeconfig context of the cluster to ${CLUSTER_NAME}..."
kubectl config rename-context \
  gke_${PROJECT_ID}_${ZONE}_${CLUSTER_NAME} ${CLUSTER_NAME}

echo "📩 Downloading asmcli, the tool used to install in-cluster Anthos Service Mesh..."
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/csm-artifacts/asm/asmcli_${ASM_VERSION} > asmcli

echo "🪄 Making asmcli executable..."
chmod +x asmcli

echo "💉 Installing in-cluster Anthos Service Mesh"
./asmcli install \
  --project_id ${PROJECT_ID} \
  --cluster_name ${CLUSTER_NAME} \
  --cluster_location ${ZONE} \
  --fleet_id ${PROJECT_ID} \
  --output_dir . \
  --enable_all \
  --ca mesh_ca

# ----- A D D I T I O N A L   I N F O -----

# A "mesh_id" label on the cluster is required for metrics to get displayed on the ASM Dashboard in the Cloud Console.
# You can set the "mesh_id" label on the cluster using:
# gcloud container clusters update ${CLUSTER_NAME} \
#   --zone ${ZONE} \
#   --update-labels mesh_id=proj-${PROJECT_NUMBER}