In this quick post, we are exploring upgrading a GKE cluster using the Google Cloud Console. My cluster is running on 1.22.15-gke.1000 prior to the upgrade process.


First we click on the “Upgrade Available” button and select the target version.

If the version you are upgrading to is more than 1 minor version away from the current version. You may have to do this step in stages.
For Example: From 1.21.10 to 1.22.15 first, then I will upgrade from 1.23.15 to my most recent version (1.16.9).

Saving the changes will initiate the upgrade of the control plane. During the upgrade process the control plane might be temporarily unavailable but nodes are not affected.


Now we can proceed to upgrade the nodes of your cluster to the same version as the control plane. Click “Upgrade Oldest Node Pool” and choose the most recent version (at the top of the list).

Because this process must upgrade all nodes in your cluster, it might take several minutes to complete.


You can check the status by refreshing the web browser. A progress bar appears. When the node pool upgrade process finishes, your cluster upgrade is complete.
When all of the nodes have been upgraded the new version is reflected in the node pool details pane.


For further information on upgrading GKE clusters, refer to the GKE documentation.