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Teleport

Deploying Machine ID on GCP

Version 14.x
  • Available for:
  • OpenSource
  • Team
  • Cloud
  • Enterprise

This guide explains how to deploy Machine ID on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) by running the tbot binary and joining it to your Teleport cluster.

On GCP, virtual machines can be assigned a service account. These machines can then request a signed JSON web token from GCP, which allows third parties to verify information about them, including their service accounts, using the GCP public key. The Teleport gcp join method instructs a Machine ID bot to use this service account JWT to prove its identity to the Teleport Auth Service and join your Teleport cluster without using long-lived secrets.

Whilst the guide on this page focuses explicitly on deploying Machine ID on a GCP Virtual Machine, it is also possible to use the gcp join method with workloads running on Google Kubernetes Engine. To do so, you must configure GCP Workload Identity for the cluster and the Kubernetes service account that will be used by the tbot pod. See the Kubernetes platform guide for further guidance on deploying Machine ID as a workload on Kubernetes.

Prerequisites

  • A running Teleport cluster. For details on how to set this up, see the Getting Started guide.

  • The tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.2.0.

    See Installation for details.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport v14.2.0 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  
tsh version
Teleport v14.2.0 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.2.0Proxy: teleport.example.com

  • A Teleport Team account. If you don't have an account, sign up to begin your free trial.

  • The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool, version >= 14.1.3.

    You can download these tools from the Cloud Downloads page.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.1.3 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  
tsh version
Teleport v14.1.3 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.1.3Proxy: teleport.example.com

  • A running Teleport Enterprise cluster. For details on how to set this up, see the Enterprise Getting Started guide.

  • The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.2.0.

    You can download these tools by visiting your Teleport account workspace.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.2.0 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  
tsh version
Teleport v14.2.0 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.2.0Proxy: teleport.example.com

  • A Teleport Enterprise Cloud account. If you don't have an account, sign up to begin a free trial of Teleport Team and upgrade to Teleport Enterprise Cloud.

  • The Enterprise tctl admin tool and tsh client tool version >= 14.1.3.

    You can download these tools from the Cloud Downloads page.

To check version information, run the tctl version and tsh version commands. For example:

tctl version
Teleport Enterprise v14.1.3 git:api/14.0.0-gd1e081e go1.21
  
tsh version
Teleport v14.1.3 go1.21
Proxy version: 14.1.3Proxy: teleport.example.com
  • To check that you can connect to your Teleport cluster, sign in with tsh login, then verify that you can run tctl commands using your current credentials. tctl is supported on macOS and Linux machines. For example: 
    tsh login --proxy=teleport.example.com --user=[email protected]
    tctl status
    Cluster  teleport.example.com
    Version  14.2.0
    CA pin   sha256:abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678abdc1245efgh5678
    If you can connect to the cluster and run the tctl status command, you can use your current credentials to run subsequent tctl commands from your workstation. If you host your own Teleport cluster, you can also run tctl commands on the computer that hosts the Teleport Auth Service for full permissions.
  • A GCP service account you wish to grant access to your Teleport cluster that is not the GCP compute default service account.
  • A GCP Compute Engine VM that you wish to install Machine ID onto that has been configured with the GCP service account.

Step 1/4. Install tbot

This step is completed on the GCP VM.

First, tbot needs to be installed on the VM that you wish to use Machine ID on.

Download and install the appropriate Teleport package for your platform:

Select an edition, then follow the instructions for that edition to install Teleport.

Teleport Edition

Teleport Community Edition
curl https://goteleport.com/static/install.sh | bash -s 14.2.0

Add the Teleport repository to your repository list:

Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/gpg \-o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport APT repository for cloud.
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/cloud" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport-ent-updater
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"
sudo yum install teleport-ent-updater
Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use the dnf config manager plugin to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"

Install teleport
sudo dnf install teleport-ent-updater

Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport Zypper repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use Zypper to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --repo $(rpm --eval "https://zypper.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-zypper.repo")

Install teleport
sudo zypper install teleport-ent-updater

OS repository channels

The following channels are available for APT, YUM, and Zypper repos. They may be used in place of stable/v14 anywhere in the Teleport documentation.

Channel nameDescription
stable/<major>Receives releases for the specified major release line, i.e. v14
stable/cloudRolling channel that receives releases compatible with current Cloud version
stable/rollingRolling channel that receives all published Teleport releases

Before installing a teleport binary with a version besides v14, read our compatibility rules to ensure that the binary is compatible with Teleport Cloud.

When running multiple teleport binaries within a cluster, the following rules apply:

  • Patch and minor versions are always compatible, for example, any 8.0.1 component will work with any 8.0.3 component and any 8.1.0 component will work with any 8.3.0 component.
  • Servers support clients that are 1 major version behind, but do not support clients that are on a newer major version. For example, an 8.x.x Proxy Service is compatible with 7.x.x resource services and 7.x.x tsh, but we don't guarantee that a 9.x.x resource service will work with an 8.x.x Proxy Service. This also means you must not attempt to upgrade from 6.x.x straight to 8.x.x. You must upgrade to 7.x.x first.
  • Proxy Services and resource services do not support Auth Services that are on an older major version, and will fail to connect to older Auth Services by default. This behavior can be overridden by passing --skip-version-check when starting Proxy Services and resource services.
Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/gpg \-o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport APT repository for v14. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/v14" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport-ent

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations, install the teleport-ent-fips package instead:

sudo apt-get install teleport-ent-fips
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for v14. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
First, get the major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/v14/teleport.repo")"
sudo yum install teleport-ent
Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations, install the teleport-ent-fips package instead:

sudo yum install teleport-ent-fips
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport Zypper repository for v14. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use zypper to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --repo $(rpm --eval "https://zypper.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-zypper.repo")
sudo yum install teleport-ent
Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations, install the teleport-ent-fips package instead:

sudo yum install teleport-ent-fips
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for v14. You'll need to update this
file for each major release of Teleport.
First, get the major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use the dnf config manager plugin to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/v14/teleport.repo")"

Install teleport
sudo dnf install teleport-ent

Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations, install the teleport-ent-fips package instead:

sudo dnf install teleport-ent-fips
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport Zypper repository.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use Zypper to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --repo $(rpm --eval "https://zypper.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/v14/teleport-zypper.repo")

Install teleport
sudo zypper install teleport-ent

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations, install the teleport-ent-fips package instead:

sudo zypper install teleport-ent-fips

In the example commands below, update $SYSTEM_ARCH with the appropriate value (amd64, arm64, or arm). All example commands using this variable will update after one is filled out.

curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-bin.tar.gz.sha256
<checksum> <filename>
curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-bin.tar.gz
Verify that the checksums match
tar -xvf teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport-ent
sudo ./install

For FedRAMP/FIPS-compliant installations of Teleport Enterprise, package URLs will be slightly different:

curl https://get.gravitational.com/teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz.sha256
<checksum> <filename>
curl -O https://cdn.teleport.dev/teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz
shasum -a 256 teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz
Verify that the checksums match
tar -xvf teleport-ent-v14.2.0-linux-$SYSTEM_ARCH-fips-bin.tar.gz
cd teleport-ent
sudo ./install

OS repository channels

The following channels are available for APT, YUM, and Zypper repos. They may be used in place of stable/v14 anywhere in the Teleport documentation.

Channel nameDescription
stable/<major>Receives releases for the specified major release line, i.e. v14
stable/cloudRolling channel that receives releases compatible with current Cloud version
stable/rollingRolling channel that receives all published Teleport releases

Add the Teleport repository to your repository list:

Download Teleport's PGP public key
sudo curl https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/gpg \-o /usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport APT repository for cloud.
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/teleport-archive-keyring.asc] \https://apt.releases.teleport.dev/${ID?} ${VERSION_CODENAME?} stable/cloud" \| sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teleport.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install teleport-ent-updater
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
sudo yum-config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"
sudo yum install teleport-ent-updater
Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport YUM repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use the dnf config manager plugin to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo "$(rpm --eval "https://yum.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-yum.repo")"

Install teleport
sudo dnf install teleport-ent-updater

Tip: Add /usr/local/bin to path used by sudo (so 'sudo tctl users add' will work as per the docs)
echo "Defaults    secure_path = /sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin" > /etc/sudoers.d/secure_path
Source variables about OS version
source /etc/os-release
Add the Teleport Zypper repository for cloud.
First, get the OS major version from $VERSION_ID so this fetches the correct
package version.
VERSION_ID=$(echo $VERSION_ID | grep -Eo "^[0-9]+")
Use Zypper to add the teleport RPM repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --repo $(rpm --eval "https://zypper.releases.teleport.dev/$ID/$VERSION_ID/Teleport/%{_arch}/stable/cloud/teleport-zypper.repo")

Install teleport
sudo zypper install teleport-ent-updater

OS repository channels

The following channels are available for APT, YUM, and Zypper repos. They may be used in place of stable/v14 anywhere in the Teleport documentation.

Channel nameDescription
stable/<major>Receives releases for the specified major release line, i.e. v14
stable/cloudRolling channel that receives releases compatible with current Cloud version
stable/rollingRolling channel that receives all published Teleport releases

Before installing a teleport binary with a version besides v14, read our compatibility rules to ensure that the binary is compatible with Teleport Enterprise Cloud.

When running multiple teleport binaries within a cluster, the following rules apply:

  • Patch and minor versions are always compatible, for example, any 8.0.1 component will work with any 8.0.3 component and any 8.1.0 component will work with any 8.3.0 component.
  • Servers support clients that are 1 major version behind, but do not support clients that are on a newer major version. For example, an 8.x.x Proxy Service is compatible with 7.x.x resource services and 7.x.x tsh, but we don't guarantee that a 9.x.x resource service will work with an 8.x.x Proxy Service. This also means you must not attempt to upgrade from 6.x.x straight to 8.x.x. You must upgrade to 7.x.x first.
  • Proxy Services and resource services do not support Auth Services that are on an older major version, and will fail to connect to older Auth Services by default. This behavior can be overridden by passing --skip-version-check when starting Proxy Services and resource services.

Step 2/4. Create a join token, role and bot user

This step is completed on your local machine.

Now, a role must be created that will be encoded into the credentials output by tbot. This role will specify what the credentials will grant access to. For now, this role will be "empty" - the access guides you complete after this platform guide will instruct you to modify this role to grant the correct privileges.

Create bot-role.yaml:

kind: role
version: v5
metadata:
  name: example-bot
spec:
  allow: {}
  deny: {}
  options: {}

Use tctl to apply this file:

tctl create -f bot-role.yaml

Create bot-token.yaml:

kind: token
version: v2
metadata:
  # name will be specified in the `tbot` to use this token
  name: example-bot
spec:
  roles: [Bot]
  # bot_name will match the name of the bot created later in this guide.
  bot_name: example
  join_method: gcp
  gcp:
    # allow specifies the rules by which the Auth Server determines if `tbot`
    # should be allowed to join.
    allow:
    - project_ids:
        - my-project-123456
      service_accounts:
        # This should be the full "name" of a GCP service account. The default
        # compute service account is not supported.
        - [email protected]

Replace:

  • my-project-123456 with the ID of your GCP project
  • [email protected] with the email of the service account configured in the previous step. The default compute service account is not supported.

Use tctl to apply this file:

tctl create -f bot-token.yaml

Create the bot, specifying the token and role that you have created:

tctl bots add example --token example-bot --roles example-bot

Step 3/4. Configure tbot

This step is completed on the GCP VM.

Create /etc/tbot.yaml:

version: v2
auth_server: example.teleport.sh:443
onboarding:
  join_method: gcp
  token: example-bot
storage:
  type: memory
# outputs will be filled in during the completion of an access guide.
outputs: []

Replace:

  • example.teleport.sh:443 with the address of your Teleport Proxy or Auth Server. Prefer using the address of a Teleport Proxy.
  • example-bot with the name of the token you created in the second step.

Now, you must decide if you want to run tbot as a daemon or in one-shot mode.

In daemon mode, tbot runs continually, renewing the short-lived credentials for the configured outputs on a fixed interval. This is often combined with a service manager (such as systemd) in order to run tbot in the background. This is the default behaviour of tbot.

In one-shot mode, tbot generates short-lived credentials and then exits. This is useful when combining tbot with scripting (such as in CI/CD) as it allows further steps to be dependent on tbot having succeeded. It is important to note that the credentials will expire if not renewed and to ensure that the TTL for the certificates is long enough to cover the length of the CI/CD job.

Configuring tbot as a daemon

By default, tbot will run in daemon mode. However, this must then be configured as a service within the service manager on the Linux host. The service manager will start tbot on boot and ensure it is restarted if it fails. For this guide, systemd will be demonstrated but tbot should be compatible with all common alternatives.

Create a systemd unit file /etc/systemd/system/tbot.service:

[Unit]
Description=Teleport Machine ID Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=teleport
Group=teleport
Restart=on-failure
Environment="TELEPORT_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY=1"
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/tbot start -c /etc/tbot.yaml
ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
PIDFile=/run/tbot.pid
LimitNOFILE=524288

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Ensure that you replace:

  • teleport with the name of Linux user you wish to run tbot as.
  • /etc/tbot.yaml with the path to the configuration file you have created

TELEPORT_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY enables the submission of anonymous usage telemetry. This helps us shape the future development of tbot. You can disable this by omitting this.

Next, enable the service so that it will start on boot and then start the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable tbot
sudo systemctl start tbot

Check the service has started successfully:

sudo systemctl status tbot

Configuring tbot for one-shot mode

To use tbot in one-shot mode, modify /etc/tbot.yaml to add oneshot: true:

version: v2
oneshot: true
auth_server: ...

Now, you should test your tbot configuration. When started, several log messages will be emitted before it exits with status 0:

export TELEPORT_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY=1
tbot start -c /etc/tbot.yaml

TELEPORT_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY enables the submission of anonymous usage telemetry. This helps us shape the future development of tbot. You can disable this by omitting this.

Step 4/4. Configure outputs

You have now prepared the base configuration for tbot. At this point, it identifies itself to the Teleport cluster and renews its own credentials but does not output any credentials for other applications to use.

Follow one of the access guides to configure an output that meets your access needs.

Next steps