GCP Integration with GitHub Actions

Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides a robust set of services that can be integrated with GitHub Actions to automate your cloud workflows. In this lesson, we will explore how to set up GCP integration with GitHub Actions, enabling CI/CD pipelines that deploy applications to the cloud.

• **GitHub Actions**: A CI/CD service that helps automate the workflow of software development.
• **GCP**: A cloud computing platform that offers services such as computing power, storage, and machine learning.
• **Service Account**: A special account that belongs to your application instead of to an individual end user, used for server-to-server interactions.
• **Workflows**: Automated processes defined in YAML files that specify the steps to run for actions.

3.1 Create a Service Account

1. Go to the GCP Console.
2. Click on Create Service Account.
3. Fill in the details and assign appropriate roles (e.g., Cloud Build Editor).
4. Generate a JSON key and download it.

3.2 Store Credentials in GitHub Secrets

Navigate to your GitHub repository, go to Settings > Secrets > Actions, and set a new secret:

GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS = <contents of the downloaded JSON>

3.3 Prepare Your Repository

Ensure your repository contains the necessary configuration files for GCP deployment.

Below is an example of a GitHub Actions workflow file that deploys an application to Google Cloud:

name: GCP Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      
      - name: Set up Google Cloud
        uses: google-github-actions/setup-gcloud@v0.2.0
        with:
          service_account_key: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS }}
          project_id: your-project-id
          export_default_credentials: true

      - name: Deploy to GCP
        run: |
          gcloud app deploy app.yaml --quiet

• Use the least privilege principle when assigning roles to your service account.
• Regularly rotate your service account keys.
• Test your actions on a separate branch before merging to main.
• Utilize GCP monitoring tools to track your deployments.