Increase network bandwidth for clusters and nodes

This page shows you how to increase network bandwidth limit forGoogle Kubernetes Engine (GKE) clusters and cluster nodes by usingTier 1 bandwidth.

Pricing

Higher bandwidth pricingapplies when you enable Tier 1 bandwidth.

Before you begin

Before you start, make sure that 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 theninitialize the gcloud CLI. If you previously installed the gcloud CLI, get the latest version by running thegcloud components update command. Earlier gcloud CLI versions might not support running the commands in this document.Note: For existing gcloud CLI installations, make sure to set thecompute/regionproperty. If you use primarily zonal clusters, set thecompute/zone instead. By setting a default location, you can avoid errors in the gcloud CLI like the following:One of [--zone, --region] must be supplied: Please specify location. You might need to specify the location in certain commands if the location of your cluster differs from the default that you set.

Limitations

Requirements

  • GKE nodes must use a Container-Optimized OSnode image.

Enable Tier 1 bandwidth on a cluster

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

A Tier 1 bandwidth enabled cluster has node pool Tier 1 bandwidth enabled bydefault. If you set the node pool bandwidth toTIER_UNSPECIFIED, the node poolsettings override the cluster bandwidth settings.

Create a cluster with Tier 1 bandwidth enabled

Create a cluster that uses Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloudcontainerclusterscreateCLUSTER_NAME\--network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace theCLUSTER_NAME with the name of the cluster.

Update a cluster to enable Tier 1 bandwidth

Update a cluster to use Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloudcontainerclustersupdateCLUSTER_NAME\--network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_1

Replace theCLUSTER_NAME with the name of the existingcluster.

Note: When you update a cluster to use Tier 1 bandwidth, only the default valueof the new node pool changes. The default value of existing node pools remainsunchanged.

Enable Tier 1 bandwidth on a node pool

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

A Tier 1 bandwidth enabled cluster has node pool Tier 1 bandwidth enabled bydefault. However, the node pool API overrides your cluster-level configurationfor Tier 1.

Create a node pool with Tier 1 bandwidth enabled

Create a node pool that uses Tier 1 bandwidth:

gcloudcontainernode-poolscreateNODEPOOL_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:

gcloudcontainernode-poolsupdateNODEPOOL_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 wantto 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 youdisable Tier 1 bandwidth at the cluster level, node pool Tier 1 bandwidth is settoTIER_UNSPECIFIED. Disabling Tier 1 bandwidth at cluster level does not disableexisting node pool configuration.

Update the cluster to use default bandwidth:

gcloudcontainerclustersupdateCLUSTER_NAME\--cluster=CLUSTER_NAME\--network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_UNSPECIFIED

Update the node pool to use default bandwidth:

gcloudcontainernode-poolsupdateNODEPOOL_NAME\--cluster=CLUSTER_NAME\--network-performance-configs=total-egress-bandwidth-tier=TIER_UNSPECIFIED

What's next

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Last updated 2025-12-15 UTC.