Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Node

Once a Connection Manager has been set up, you can add nodes for Agentless scanning and monitoring. Cloudhouse Guardian (Guardian) supports multiple types of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) nodes. For example, you can add GCP Compute Engine VM Configuration nodes, GCP Storage Bucket nodes, GCP Kubernetes Engine nodes, and more. The following topic describes how to add an GCP node to your instance for monitoring.

Note: Additionally, you can import GCP nodes in bulk rather than individually, as the below process describes. For more information, see Add Nodes in Bulk via GCP.

Dependencies

To add a GCP node, the following dependencies must be met:

Add a GCP Node

Adding a GCP node to your Guardian instance lets you monitor and track the configuration of a GCP resource.

To add a GCP node for Agentless scanning, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Guardian web application, navigate to the Add Nodes tab (Inventory > Add Nodes). The Add Nodes page is displayed.

  2. Type 'GCP' in the search bar.

  3. Select the 'GCP' node type you want to add and click the Go Agentless button to proceed. The Connect Agentlessly to [Node Type] page is displayed.

  4. Here, complete the following options:

    Option

    Description
    Connection Manager group drop-down list The Connection Manager group that is responsible for scanning your GCP node. Select a Connection Manager group from the drop-down list.
    [Node Type] Name field

    The name of the node. The value you enter here will be used as the display name in Guardian.

    Note: The name of this field changes depending on the GCP node type you select. For example, for 'GCP Kubernetes Engine' node, this field would be labeled 'GCP Kubernetes Engine'.
    GCP zone field The zone in which the service is hosted. For more information on how to source this, see Google Cloud Platform Service Account.
    GCE service account JWT field

    The JSON Web Token that is required to authenticate the Google Service Account. For more information on how to source this, see Google Cloud Platform Service Account.

  5. Once you've completed the above options click Scan Node to add the GCP node to your Guardian instance.

Now, Guardian performs an initial scan of the node. You can wait on this page for the scan to finish, at which point you will see a View Scan button. To view the results of this initial scan, click View Scan. However, you can also navigate elsewhere while Guardian performs its initial scan of the node. You can then view the status of the scan on the Job History page (Inventory > Job History). For more information on what to do next after adding a node, see below.

Next Steps

Once you've added nodes to Guardian, there are a few next steps you can take to get the most out of Guardian and the data it collects. Refer to the topics below for more information on where to go from here.

  • Node Scan Results – View and filter the data collected by Guardian every time a node is scanned.

  • Node Groups – Group nodes together based on similar properties like node type, location, and more.

  • Scan Options – Customize what is scanned on a given node during a node scan.

  • Configuration Differencing – View differences between two nodes, a group of nodes, two scans of the same node, and more.

  • Policies – Define expected configuration states and apply them to nodes or node groups.

  • Integrations – Bring together different systems, applications, or components to work as a unified view and perform different tasks.