--- title: "Deploy the Loki Helm chart on GCP | Grafana Loki documentation" description: "Installing the Loki Helm chart on GCP." --- # Deploy the Loki Helm chart on GCP This guide shows how to deploy a minimally viable Loki in **microservices** mode on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using the Helm chart. To run through this guide, we expect you to have the necessary tools and permissions to deploy resources on GCP, such as: - Full access to Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) - Full access to Google Cloud Storage (GCS) - Sufficient permissions to create Identity Access Management (IAM) roles and policies There are two methods for authenticating and connecting Loki to GCP GCS. We will guide you through the recommended method of granting access via an IAM role: using Workload Identity Federation. ## Considerations > Caution > > This guide was accurate at the time it was last updated on **10th of June, 2025**. As cloud providers frequently update their services and offerings, as a best practice, you should refer to the [GCP GCS documentation](https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/introduction) before creating your buckets and assigning roles. - **IAM Role:** The IAM role created in this guide is a basic role that allows Loki to read and write to the GCS bucket. You may wish to add more granular permissions based on your requirements. - **Authentication:** Grafana Loki comes with a basic authentication layer. The Loki gateway (NGINX) is exposed to the internet using basic authentication in this example. NGINX can also be replaced with other open-source reverse proxies. Refer to [Authentication](/docs/loki/latest/operations/authentication/) for more information. - **Retention:** The retention period is set to 28 days in the `values.yaml` file. You may wish to adjust this based on your requirements. - **Costs:** Running Loki on GCP will incur costs. Make sure to monitor your usage and costs to avoid any unexpected bills. In this guide we have used a simple GKE cluster with 3 nodes (n2-standard-8 instances). You may wish to adjust the instance types and number of nodes based on your workload. ## Prerequisites - Helm 3 or above. Refer to [Installing Helm](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/). This should be installed on your local machine. - A running Kubernetes cluster on GCP. Refer to [Create a cluster and deploy a workload in the Google Cloud console](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/quickstarts/create-cluster). - Kubectl installed on your local machine. Refer to [Install and Set Up kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl/). - gcloud CLI installed on your local machine. Refer to [Install the Google Cloud CLI](https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install-sdk). In this guide, we use gcloud CLI to create the GKE cluster and modify the IAM roles and policies locally. ### GKE Minimum Requirements > Caution > > These GKE requirements are the minimum specification needed to deploy Loki using this guide. You may wish to adjust plugins and instance types based on your GCP environment and workload. **If you choose to do so, we cannot guarantee that this sample configuration will still meet your needs.** > > In this guide, we deploy Loki using `n2-standard-8` instances. This is a instance type that should work for most scenarios. However, you can modify the instance types and count based on your specific needs. The minimum requirements for deploying Loki on GKE are: - Kubernetes version `1.30` or above. - `3` nodes for the GKE cluster. - Instance type depends on your workload. A good starting point for a production cluster is `n2-standard-8`. To allow kubectl to support GKE, install the gcloud kubectl auth plugin: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud components install gke-gcloud-auth-plugin ``` This plugin is necessary to use kubectl to authenticate with GKE. [Click here for more details on this plugin](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/containers-kubernetes/kubectl-auth-changes-in-gke). > Warning > > Regional clusters in GKE are designed for resilience, and thus by default span three zones within the region. In the command below, `num-nodes=1`. Note that if you set `num_nodes=3`, you would get 9 nodes in total for the region: 3 in *each* zone. Therefore, leave `num_nodes=1` when you create your cluster. Here is an example of a command you can run using gcloud CLI to create a new cluster: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud container clusters create loki-gcp \ --location=europe-west4 \ --num-nodes=1 \ --machine-type=n2-standard-8 \ --release-channel=regular \ --workload-pool=.svc.id.goog \ --enable-ip-alias \ --no-enable-basic-auth \ --no-issue-client-certificate ``` Replace `` with the ID of the project you want to create the cluster in. This should be something like `my-project-123456`. ## Create GCS buckets > Warning > > **DO NOT** use the default bucket names; `chunks`, `ruler` and `admin`. Choose a **unique** name for each bucket. For more information see the following [security update](/blog/2024/06/27/grafana-security-update-grafana-loki-and-unintended-data-write-attempts-to-amazon-s3-buckets/). Before deploying Loki, you need to create two GCS buckets: one to store logs (chunks) and another to store alert rules (ruler). You can create the bucket using the GCP Management Console or the GCP CLI. The bucket name must be globally unique. > Note > > GEL customers will require a third bucket to store the admin data. This bucket is not required for OSS users. Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud storage buckets create gs:// gs:// \ --location= \ --default-storage-class=STANDARD \ --public-access-prevention \ --uniform-bucket-level-access \ --soft-delete-duration=7d ``` Make sure to replace the `region` and `bucket` name with your desired values. We will revisit the bucket policy later in this guide. Here’s an example with all the variables filled in: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud storage buckets create gs://loki-gcp-chunks gs://loki-gcp-ruler \ --location=europe-west4 \ --default-storage-class=STANDARD \ --public-access-prevention \ --uniform-bucket-level-access \ --soft-delete-duration=7d ``` When you run this command, you should get something like this in response: console ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```console Creating gs://loki-gcp-chunks/... Creating gs://loki-gcp-ruler/... ``` ## Defining IAM roles and policies IAM determines who can access which resources on GCP and can be configured in several ways. The recommended method for allowing Loki to access GCS is to use Workload Identity Federation. This method is more secure than creating and distributing a service account key. The following steps show how to create the role and policy using the gcloud CLI. ### Authenticating to the GKE cluster You need to be able to run `kubectl` commands on the cluster, so make sure you have it installed (run `gcloud components install kubectl` if not) and then run this command: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud container clusters get-credentials \ --region= ``` Here’s an example of that command with the variables filled in: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud container clusters get-credentials loki-gcp \ --region=europe-west4 ``` This will authenticate you via your GCP IAM identity, write the cluster’s access info to your local kubeconfig (usually `~/.kube/config`), and then allow `kubectl` commands to talk to the right cluster from now on. Then check that you’re connected to the GKE cluster and that you’re accessing it via `kubectl` by running: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl config current-context ``` You should get something like this in return: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gke_my-project-123456_europe-west4_loki-gcp ``` ### Create a Kubernetes Namespace Create a Kubernetes namespace where you’ll install your Loki workloads: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create namespace ``` Replace `` with the namespace where your Loki workloads will be located. Example: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create namespace loki ``` You should get the output: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash namespace/loki created ``` ### Create Kubernetes Service Account (KSA) A KSA is a cluster identity (service account, named `default` by default) assigned to pods that allows pods to interact with each other. Create a KSA on your Kubernetes cluster: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create serviceaccount \ --namespace ``` Replace `` with the name of the KSA created above, and `` with the namespace where your Loki workloads are located. Example: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create serviceaccount loki-gcp-ksa \ --namespace loki ``` You should get this in response: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash serviceaccount/loki-gcp-ksa created ``` ### Add IAM Policy to Buckets > Note > > The [pre-defined `roles/storage.objectUser` role](https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/access-control/iam-roles#storage.objectUser) is sufficient for Loki to operate. See [IAM permissions for Cloud Storage](https://cloud.google.com/storage/docs/access-control/iam-permissions) for details about each individual permission. You can use this predefined role or create your own with matching permissions. Create an IAM policy binding on the buckets using the KSA created previously and the roles of your choice. Use a separate command for each bucket, one for chunks, and another for the ruler. Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs:// \ --role=roles/storage.objectUser \ --member=principal://iam.googleapis.com/projects//locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/.svc.id.goog/subject/ns//sa/ \ --condition=None ``` Replace `` with the GCP project ID (for example, project-name), `` with the project number (for example, 1234567890), `` with the namespace where Loki is installed, and `` with the name of the KSA you created above. Then do the same thing for the other bucket. Examples: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs://loki-gcp-chunks \ --role=roles/storage.objectUser \ --member=principal://iam.googleapis.com/projects/12345678901/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-project-123456.svc.id.goog/subject/ns/loki/sa/loki-gcp-ksa \ --condition=None ``` and Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash gcloud storage buckets add-iam-policy-binding gs://loki-gcp-ruler \ --role=roles/storage.objectUser \ --member=principal://iam.googleapis.com/projects/12345678901/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-project-123456.svc.id.goog/subject/ns/loki/sa/loki-gcp-ksa \ --condition=None ``` You should get something like this in response: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash bindings: - members: - projectEditor:my-project-123456 - projectOwner:my-project-123456 role: roles/storage.legacyBucketOwner - members: - projectViewer:my-project-123456 role: roles/storage.legacyBucketReader - members: - projectEditor:my-project-123456 - projectOwner:my-project-123456 role: roles/storage.legacyObjectOwner - members: - projectViewer:my-project-123456 role: roles/storage.legacyObjectReader - members: - principal://iam.googleapis.com/projects/12345678901/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/my-project-123456.svc.id.goog/subject/ns/loki/sa/loki-gcp-ksa role: roles/storage.objectUser etag: CAI= kind: storage#policy resourceId: projects/_/buckets/loki-gcp-chunks version: 1 ``` ## Deploying the Helm chart Before we can deploy the Loki Helm chart, we need to add the Grafana Community chart repository to Helm. This repository contains the Loki Helm chart. 1. Add the Grafana Community chart repository to Helm: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash helm repo add grafana-community https://grafana-community.github.io/helm-charts ``` 2. Update the chart repository: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash helm repo update ``` ### Loki Basic Authentication Loki by default does not come with any authentication. Since we will be deploying Loki to GCP and exposing the gateway to the internet, we recommend adding at least basic authentication. In this guide we will give Loki a username and password: 1. To start we will need create a `.htpasswd` file with the username and password. You can use the `htpasswd` command to create the file: > Tip > > If you don’t have the `htpasswd` command installed, you can install it using `brew` or `apt-get` or `yum` depending on your OS. Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash htpasswd -c .htpasswd ``` This will create a file called `auth` with the username `loki`. You will be prompted to enter a password. 2. Create a Kubernetes secret with the `.htpasswd` file: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create secret generic loki-basic-auth --from-file=.htpasswd -n loki ``` This will create a secret called `loki-basic-auth` in the `loki` namespace. We will reference this secret in the Loki Helm chart configuration. 3. Create a `canary-basic-auth` secret for the canary: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl create secret generic canary-basic-auth \ --from-literal=username= \ --from-literal=password= \ -n loki ``` We create a literal secret with the username and password for Loki canary to authenticate with the Loki gateway. **Make sure to replace the placeholders with your desired username and password.** ### Loki Helm chart configuration Create a `values.yaml` file choosing the configuration options that best suit your requirements. Below there is an example of `values.yaml` files for the Loki Helm chart in [microservices](/docs/loki/latest/get-started/deployment-modes/#microservices-mode) mode. YAML ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```yaml loki: schemaConfig: configs: - from: "2024-04-01" store: tsdb object_store: gcs schema: v13 index: prefix: loki_index_ period: 24h storage_config: gcs: bucket_name: # Your actual gcs bucket name, for example, loki-gcp-chunks ingester: chunk_encoding: snappy pattern_ingester: enabled: true limits_config: allow_structured_metadata: true volume_enabled: true retention_period: 672h # 28 days retention compactor: retention_enabled: true delete_request_store: gcs ruler: enable_api: true storage_config: type: gcs gcs_storage_config: region: # The GCS region, for example europe-west4 bucketnames: # Your actual gcs bucket name, for example, loki-gcp-ruler alertmanager_url: http://prom:9093 # The URL of the Alertmanager to send alerts (Prometheus, Mimir, etc.) querier: max_concurrent: 4 storage: type: gcs bucketNames: chunks: # Your actual gcs bucket name, for example, loki-gcp-chunks ruler: # Your actual gcs bucket name, for example, loki-gcp-ruler serviceAccount: create: false name: deploymentMode: Distributed ingester: replicas: 3 zoneAwareReplication: enabled: false querier: replicas: 3 maxUnavailable: 2 queryFrontend: replicas: 2 maxUnavailable: 1 queryScheduler: replicas: 2 distributor: replicas: 3 maxUnavailable: 2 compactor: replicas: 1 indexGateway: replicas: 2 maxUnavailable: 1 ruler: replicas: 1 maxUnavailable: 1 # This exposes the Loki gateway so it can be written to and queried externaly gateway: service: type: LoadBalancer basicAuth: enabled: true existingSecret: loki-basic-auth # Since we are using basic auth, we need to pass the username and password to the canary lokiCanary: extraArgs: - -pass=$(LOKI_PASS) - -user=$(LOKI_USER) extraEnv: - name: LOKI_PASS valueFrom: secretKeyRef: name: canary-basic-auth key: password - name: LOKI_USER valueFrom: secretKeyRef: name: canary-basic-auth key: username # Enable minio for storage minio: enabled: false backend: replicas: 0 read: replicas: 0 write: replicas: 0 singleBinary: replicas: 0 ``` > Caution > > Make sure to replace the placeholders with your actual values. > Note > > In `values.yaml` above, you may notice that `serviceAccount` is set to `create: false`. This is because you want to use the service account that you created earlier instead of creating a new one. It is critical to define a valid `values.yaml` file for the Loki deployment. To remove the risk of misconfiguration, let’s break down the configuration options to keep in mind when deploying to GCP: - **Loki Config vs. Values Config:** - The `values.yaml` file contains a section called `loki`, which contains a direct representation of the Loki configuration file. - This section defines the Loki configuration, including the schema, storage, and querier configuration. - The key configuration to focus on for chunks is the `storage_config` section, where you define the GCS bucket region and name. This tells Loki where to store the chunks. - The `ruler` section defines the configuration for the ruler, including the GCS bucket region and name. This tells Loki where to store the alert and recording rules. - For the full Loki configuration, refer to the [Loki Configuration](/docs/loki/latest/configure/) documentation. - **Storage:** - Defines where the Helm chart stores data. - Set the type to `GCS` since we are using Google Cloud Storage. - Configure the bucket names for the chunks and ruler to match the buckets created earlier. - The `GCS` section specifies the region of the bucket. - **Service Account:** - The `serviceAccount` section is used to define the IAM role for the Loki service account. - This is where the IAM role created earlier is linked. - **Zone-Aware Replication:** - The Helm chart enables zone-aware ingester replication by default, which creates three ingester StatefulSets (zone-a, zone-b, zone-c) for faster rollouts. - In this guide, zone-aware replication is explicitly disabled (`ingester.zoneAwareReplication.enabled: false`) for simplicity. For production deployments, consider enabling it to improve rollout resilience. - **Gateway:** - Defines how the Loki gateway will be exposed. - We are using a `LoadBalancer` service type in this configuration. ### Deploy Loki Now that you have created the `values.yaml` file, you can deploy Loki using the Helm chart. 1. Deploy using the newly created `values.yaml` file: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash helm install --values values.yaml loki grafana-community/loki -n loki --create-namespace ``` **It is important to create a namespace called `loki` as our trust policy is set to allow the IAM role to be used by the `loki` service account in the `loki` namespace. This is configurable but make sure to update your service account.** 2. Verify the deployment: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl get pods -n loki ``` You should see the Loki pods running. console ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```console NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE loki-canary-crqpg 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-canary-hm26p 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-canary-v9wv9 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-chunks-cache-0 2/2 Running 0 10m loki-compactor-0 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-distributor-78ccdcc9b4-9wlhl 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-distributor-78ccdcc9b4-km6j2 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-distributor-78ccdcc9b4-ptwrb 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-gateway-5f97f78755-hm6mx 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-index-gateway-0 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-index-gateway-1 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-ingester-zone-a-0 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-ingester-zone-b-0 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-ingester-zone-c-0 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-querier-89d4ff448-4vr9b 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-querier-89d4ff448-7nvrf 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-querier-89d4ff448-q89kh 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-query-frontend-678899db5-n5wc4 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-query-frontend-678899db5-tf69b 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-query-scheduler-7d666bf759-9xqb5 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-query-scheduler-7d666bf759-kpb5q 1/1 Running 0 10m loki-results-cache-0 2/2 Running 0 10m loki-ruler-0 1/1 Running 0 10m ``` ### Find the Loki Gateway Service The Loki Gateway service is a LoadBalancer service that exposes the Loki gateway to the internet. This is where you will write logs to and query logs from. By default NGINX is used as the gateway. > Caution > > The Loki Gateway service is exposed to the internet. We provide basic authentication using a username and password in this tutorial. Refer to the [Authentication](/docs/loki/latest/operations/authentication/) documentation for more information. To find the Loki Gateway service, run the following command: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash kubectl get svc -n loki ``` You should see the Loki Gateway service with an external IP address. This is the address you will use to write to and query Loki. console ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```console NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE loki-gateway LoadBalancer 34.118.239.140 34.91.203.240 80:30566/TCP 25m ``` In this case, the external IP address is `34.91.203.240`. Congratulations! You have successfully deployed Loki on GCP using the Helm chart. Before we finish, let’s test the deployment. ## Testing Your Loki Deployment k6 is one of the fastest ways to test your Loki deployment. This will allow you to both write and query logs to Loki. To get started with k6, follow the steps below: 1. Install k6 with the Loki extension on your local machine. Refer to [Installing k6 and the xk6-loki extension](/docs/loki/latest/send-data/k6/). 2. Create a `gcp-test.js` file with the following content: JavaScript ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```javascript import {sleep, check} from 'k6'; import loki from 'k6/x/loki'; /** * URL used for push and query requests * Path is automatically appended by the client * @constant {string} */ const username = ''; const password = ''; const external_ip = ''; const credentials = `${username}:${password}`; const BASE_URL = `http://${credentials}@${external_ip}`; /** * Helper constant for byte values * @constant {number} */ const KB = 1024; /** * Helper constant for byte values * @constant {number} */ const MB = KB * KB; /** * Instantiate config and Loki client */ const conf = new loki.Config(BASE_URL); const client = new loki.Client(conf); /** * Define test scenario */ export const options = { vus: 10, iterations: 10, }; export default () => { // Push request with 10 streams and uncompressed logs between 800KB and 2MB var res = client.pushParameterized(10, 800 * KB, 2 * MB); // Check for successful write check(res, { 'successful write': (res) => res.status == 204 }); // Pick a random log format from label pool let format = randomChoice(conf.labels["format"]); // Execute instant query with limit 1 res = client.instantQuery(`count_over_time({format="${format}"}[1m])`, 1) // Check for successful read check(res, { 'successful instant query': (res) => res.status == 200 }); // Execute range query over last 5m and limit 1000 res = client.rangeQuery(`{format="${format}"}`, "5m", 1000) // Check for successful read check(res, { 'successful range query': (res) => res.status == 200 }); // Wait before next iteration sleep(1); } /** * Helper function to get random item from array */ function randomChoice(items) { return items[Math.floor(Math.random() * items.length)]; } ``` **Replace `` with the external IP address of the Loki Gateway service.** This script will write logs to Loki and query logs from Loki. It will write logs in a random format between 800KB and 2MB and query logs in a random format over the last 5 minutes. 3. Run the test: Bash ![Copy code to clipboard](/media/images/icons/icon-copy-small-2.svg) Copy ```bash ./k6 run gcp-test.js ``` This will run the test and output the results. You should see the test writing logs to Loki and querying logs from Loki. Now that you have successfully deployed Loki in microservices mode on GCP, you may wish to explore the following: - [Monitor a Loki Cluster](/docs/loki/latest/operations/meta-monitoring/) - [Sending data to Loki](/docs/loki/latest/send-data/) - [Querying Loki](/docs/loki/latest/query/) - [Manage](/docs/loki/latest/operations/)