The example below creates a Kubernetes cluster with 4 worker node Virtual Machines and a master Virtual Machine (i.e. 5 VMs in your cluster). This cluster is set up and controlled from your workstation (or wherever you find convenient).
If you want a simplified getting started experience and GUI for managing clusters, please consider trying [Google Container Engine](https://cloud.google.com/container-engine/) for hosted cluster installation and management.
If you want to use custom binaries or pure open source Kubernetes, please continue with the instructions below.
### Installing the kubernetes client on your workstation
This will leave you with a ```kubernetes``` directory on your workstation, and a running cluster.
Feel free to move the ```kubernetes``` directory to the appropriate directory on your workstation (e.g. ```/opt/kubernetes```) then ```cd``` into that directory:
If you run into trouble please see the section on [troubleshooting](https://github.com/brendandburns/kubernetes/blob/docs/docs/getting-started-guides/gce.md#troubleshooting), or come ask questions on IRC at #google-containers on freenode.
Since this pod is scheduled on a minion running in GCE, you will have to enable incoming tcp traffic via the port specified in the
pod manifest before you see the nginx welcome page. After doing so, it should be visible at http://<externalipofminionrunningnginx>:<portfrommanifest>.
1. You need a Google Cloud Platform account with billing enabled. Visit the [Google Developers Console](http://cloud.google.com/console) for more details.
1. Make sure you can start up a GCE VM from the command line. At least make sure you can do the [Create an instance](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/quickstart#create_an_instance) part of the GCE Quickstart.
1. Make sure you have the `gcloud preview` command line component installed. Simply run `gcloud preview` at the command line - if it asks to install any components, go ahead and install them. If it simply shows help text, you're good to go.
1. Make sure you can ssh into the VM without interactive prompts. See the [Log in to the instance](https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/quickstart#ssh) part of the GCE Quickstart.
* Your GCE SSH key must either have no passcode or you need to be using `ssh-agent`.
* Ensure the GCE firewall isn't blocking port 22 to your VMs. By default, this should work but if you have edited firewall rules or created a new non-default network, you'll need to expose it: `gcloud compute firewall-rules create --network=<network-name> --description "SSH allowed from anywhere" --allow tcp:22 default-ssh`
1. You need to have the Google Cloud Storage API, and the Google Cloud Storage JSON API enabled. It is activated by default for new projects. Otherwise, it can be done in the Google Cloud Console. See the [Google Cloud Storage JSON API Overview](https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/json_api/) for more details.