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Changing the cgroup mode for a GKE cluster

You can change the Linux cgroup mode for a Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) node pool when you want to use either cgroupv1 or cgroupv2 for resource management. This helps you align your clusters with GKE’s migration from cgroupv1 to cgroupv2 and ensures compatibility with workloads and monitoring tools.

Instructions

1. Review cgroup mode behavior in GKE

GKE uses Linux kernel cgroups to manage CPU and memory resources for Pods. You can choose one of three modes:
  • CGROUP_MODE_V1: Uses cgroupv1
  • CGROUP_MODE_V2: Uses cgroupv2
  • CGROUP_MODE_UNSPECIFIED: Uses the GKE default for the node pool version
GKE is deprecating cgroupv1 starting with version 1.31 and removing support in version 1.35. For details, see the Migrate nodes to Linux cgroupv2 documentation.

2. Confirm version and image requirements

To use cgroupv2, ensure:
  • The node pool runs GKE 1.24.2-gke.300 or later.
  • You use Container-Optimized OS with containerd or Ubuntu with containerd.
  • You use gcloud CLI 408.0.0+ (or gcloud beta 395.0.0+ for older pools).
  • Your workloads, monitoring tools, and Java runtimes support cgroupv2 (recommended JDK versions include 8u372, 11.0.16+, or 15+).

3. Update the node pool to cgroupv2 (example)

Create or modify a node system configuration file:
linuxConfig:
  cgroupMode: 'CGROUP_MODE_V2'
Apply the configuration to the node pool. GKE recreates nodes automatically after the update.

4. Verify the effective cgroup mode

After node recreation, use the gcloud CLI:
gcloud container node-pools describe POOL_NAME \
  --format='value(Config.effectiveCgroupMode)'
Expected results:
  • EFFECTIVE_CGROUP_MODE_V1
  • EFFECTIVE_CGROUP_MODE_V2
Note: Windows node pools do not support cgroups and return no value.

5. Reimport or roll the cluster in Flexera Ocean

After updating the GKE cluster configuration, you must refresh the configuration in Flexera by:
Outcome
Your GKE cluster node pool now uses the cgroup mode you specified, and Flexera Ocean is updated to reflect the new configuration.
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Changing the cgroup mode for a GKE cluster