Set up an HTTP load balancer with a managed instance group of 2 nginx web servers on Google Cloud Platform (Qwiklab)

http_load_balancer_setup_gcp.sh

# setup
gcloud auth list
gcloud config set compute/zone us-east1-b
gcloud config set compute/region us-east1

# create an instance template
cat << EOF > startup.sh
#! /bin/bash
apt-get update
apt-get install -y nginx
service nginx start
sed -i -- 's/nginx/Google Cloud Platform - '"\$HOSTNAME"'/' /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html
EOF

gcloud compute instance-templates create nginx-template \
   --metadata-from-file startup-script=startup.sh

# create a target pool
gcloud compute target-pools create nginx-pool

# create a managed instance group of 2 nginx web servers
gcloud compute instance-groups managed create nginx-group \
	--base-instance-name nginx \
	--size 2 \
	--template nginx-template \
	--target-pool nginx-pool
gcloud compute instances list

# create a firewall rule
gcloud compute firewall-rules create www-firewall --allow tcp:80

# create a forwarding rule
gcloud compute forwarding-rules create nginx-lb \
	--region us-east1 \
	--ports=80 \
	--target-pool nginx-pool
gcloud compute forwarding-rules list

# create a health check
gcloud compute http-health-checks create http-basic-check

# create a backend service and attach the managed instasnce group
gcloud compute instance-groups managed \
	set-named-ports nginx-group \
	--named-ports http:80

gcloud compute backend-services create nginx-backend \
	--protocol HTTP \
	--http-health-checks http-basic-check \
	--global

gcloud compute backend-services add-backend nginx-backend \
	--instance-group nginx-group \
	--instance-group-zone us-east1-b \
	--global

# create a url map and target the HTTP proxy
gcloud compute url-maps create web-map \
	--default-service nginx-backend

gcloud compute target-http-proxies create http-lb-proxy \
	--url-map web-map

# create a forwarding rule
gcloud compute forwarding-rules create http-content-rule \
	--global \
	--target-http-proxy http-lb-proxy \
	--ports 80
gcloud compute forwarding-rules list

following command need to be corrected

gcloud compute backend-services create nginx-backend
--protocol HTTP
--health-checks http-basic-check
--global

Use this to create an instance template

cat << EOF > startup.sh
#! /bin/bash
apt-get update
apt-get install -y nginx
sed -i -- 's/nginx/Google Cloud Platform - '"$HOSTNAME"'/' /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html
service nginx start
EOF

My solution based on this repository as well as my notes and the general course.

First Task

gcloud config set project PROJECT_ID_CAN_BE_FOUND_ON_YOUR_LAB
gcloud config set compute/region REGION
gcloud config set compute/zone ZONE
gcloud compute instances create nucleus-webserver1 --machine-type=e2-micro

Seccond task - copy and past the following lines into your cloud console to create the startup.sh file which will be the base for your template startup script

cat << EOF > startup.sh
#! /bin/bash
apt-get update
apt-get install -y nginx
service nginx start
sed -i -- 's/nginx/Google Cloud Platform - '"$HOSTNAME"'/' /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html
EOF

Other commands starts here:

gcloud compute instance-templates create lb-backend-template
--region=REGION
--network=default
--subnet=default
--tags=allow-health-check
--machine-type=e2-medium
--image-family=debian-11
--image-project=debian-cloud
--metadata-from-file startup-script=startup.sh

Creating the pool

gcloud compute target-pools create nginx-pool

gcloud compute instance-groups managed create lb-backend-group --base-instance-name nginx --template=lb-backend-template --size=2 --target-pool nginx-pool --zone=us-east1-b

Creating a firewall for tcp:80

gcloud compute firewall-rules create www-firewall --allow tcp:80

Allowing tcp connection through the firewall

gcloud compute firewall-rules create permit-tcp-rule-586
--network=default
--action=allow
--direction=ingress
--source-ranges=130.211.0.0/22,35.191.0.0/16
--target-tags=allow-health-check
--rules=tcp:80
--target-pool nginx-pool

Creating an external IPV4 address

gcloud compute addresses create lb-ipv4-1
--ip-version=IPV4
--global

Health check for port 80

gcloud compute health-checks create http http-basic-check --port 80

Forwarding Rule to the nginx-pool

gcloud compute forwarding-rules create nginx-lb
--region REGION
--ports=80
--target-pool nginx-pool

Creating a basic http check

gcloud compute http-health-checks create http-basic-check

Defining the ports to http:80 to the mangened group

gcloud compute instance-groups managed set-named-ports lb-backend-group --named-ports http:80

Backend service

gcloud compute backend-services add-backend web-backend-service --instance-group=lb-backend-group --instance-group-zone=ZONE --global

URL Map

gcloud compute url-maps create web-map-http --default-service web-backend-service

##Proxy
gcloud compute target-http-proxies create http-lb-proxy --url-map web-map-http

Forwarding rule to the proxy

gcloud compute forwarding-rules create http-content-rule
--address=lb-ipv4-1
--global
--target-http-proxy=http-lb-proxy
--ports=80

Adding the VM Instances to the firewall, it won't load at the browser if you don't do the followings steps, neither count as done

gcloud compute instances add-tags NAME_OF_INSTANCE_1 --tags http-server,https-server

gcloud compute instances add-tags NAME_OF_INSTANCE_2 --tags http-server,https-server

gcloud compute firewall-rules create default-allow-http --direction=INGRESS --priority=1000 --network=default --action=ALLOW --rules=tc
p:80 --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 --target-tags=http-server

OPTIONAL

• you can check your instances from the loadbalancer external ip address only http will work, because of the certification need for https
  http://[EXTERNAL_IP]:80