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---
stage: Deploy
group: Environments
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://handbook.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---
# Group-level Kubernetes clusters (certificate-based) (deprecated)
DETAILS:
**Tier:** Free, Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated
WARNING:
This feature was [deprecated](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/configure/-/epics/8) in GitLab 14.5. To connect clusters to GitLab,
use the [GitLab agent](../../clusters/agent/index.md).
Similar to [project-level](../../project/clusters/index.md) and
[instance-level](../../instance/clusters/index.md) Kubernetes clusters,
group-level Kubernetes clusters allow you to connect a Kubernetes cluster to
your group, enabling you to use the same cluster across multiple projects.
To view your group-level Kubernetes clusters:
1. On the left sidebar, select **Search or go to** and find your group.
1. Select **Operate > Kubernetes**.
## Cluster management project
Attach a [cluster management project](../../clusters/management_project.md)
to your cluster to manage shared resources requiring `cluster-admin` privileges for
installation, such as an Ingress controller.
## RBAC compatibility
For each project under a group with a Kubernetes cluster, GitLab creates a restricted
service account with [`edit` privileges](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/#user-facing-roles)
in the project namespace.
## Cluster precedence
If the project's cluster is available and not disabled, GitLab uses the
project's cluster before using any cluster belonging to the group containing
the project.
In the case of subgroups, GitLab uses the cluster of the closest ancestor group
to the project, provided the cluster is not disabled.
## Multiple Kubernetes clusters
You can associate more than one Kubernetes cluster to your group, and maintain different clusters
for different environments, such as development, staging, and production.
When adding another cluster,
[set an environment scope](#environment-scopes) to help
differentiate the new cluster from your other clusters.
## GitLab-managed clusters
You can choose to allow GitLab to manage your cluster for you. If GitLab manages
your cluster, resources for your projects are automatically created. See the
[Access controls](../../project/clusters/cluster_access.md)
section for details on which resources GitLab creates for you.
For clusters not managed by GitLab, project-specific resources aren't created
automatically. If you're using [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md)
for deployments with a cluster not managed by GitLab, you must ensure:
- The project's deployment service account has permissions to deploy to
[`KUBE_NAMESPACE`](../../project/clusters/deploy_to_cluster.md#deployment-variables).
- `KUBECONFIG` correctly reflects any changes to `KUBE_NAMESPACE`
(this is [not automatic](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/31519)). Editing
`KUBE_NAMESPACE` directly is discouraged.
### Clearing the cluster cache
If you choose to allow GitLab to manage your cluster for you, GitLab stores a cached
version of the namespaces and service accounts it creates for your projects. If you
modify these resources in your cluster manually, this cache can fall out of sync with
your cluster, which can cause deployment jobs to fail.
To clear the cache:
1. On the left sidebar, select **Search or go to** and find your group.
1. Select **Operate > Kubernetes**.
1. Select your cluster.
1. Expand **Advanced settings**.
1. Select **Clear cluster cache**.
## Base domain
Domains at the cluster level permit support for multiple domains
per [multiple Kubernetes clusters](#multiple-kubernetes-clusters) When specifying a domain,
this is automatically set as an environment variable (`KUBE_INGRESS_BASE_DOMAIN`) during
the [Auto DevOps](../../../topics/autodevops/index.md) stages.
The domain should have a wildcard DNS configured to the Ingress IP address. [More details](../../project/clusters/gitlab_managed_clusters.md#base-domain).
## Environment scopes
DETAILS:
**Tier:** Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated
When adding more than one Kubernetes cluster to your project, you need to differentiate
them with an environment scope. The environment scope associates clusters with
[environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md) similar to how the
[environment-specific CI/CD variables](../../../ci/environments/index.md#limit-the-environment-scope-of-a-cicd-variable)
work.
While evaluating which environment matches the environment scope of a
cluster, [cluster precedence](#cluster-precedence) takes
effect. The cluster at the project level takes precedence, followed
by the closest ancestor group, followed by that groups' parent and so
on.
For example, if your project has the following Kubernetes clusters:
| Cluster | Environment scope | Where |
| ---------- | ------------------- | ----------|
| Project | `*` | Project |
| Staging | `staging/*` | Project |
| Production | `production/*` | Project |
| Test | `test` | Group |
| Development| `*` | Group |
And the following environments are set in the `.gitlab-ci.yml` file:
```yaml
stages:
- test
- deploy
test:
stage: test
script: sh test
deploy to staging:
stage: deploy
script: make deploy
environment:
name: staging/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://staging.example.com/
deploy to production:
stage: deploy
script: make deploy
environment:
name: production/$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
url: https://example.com/
```
The result is:
- The Project cluster is used for the `test` job.
- The Staging cluster is used for the `deploy to staging` job.
- The Production cluster is used for the `deploy to production` job.
## Cluster environments
DETAILS:
**Tier:** Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab.com, Self-managed, GitLab Dedicated
For a consolidated view of which CI [environments](../../../ci/environments/index.md)
are deployed to the Kubernetes cluster, see the documentation for
[cluster environments](../../clusters/environments.md).
## Security of runners
For important information about securely configuring runners, see
[Security of runners](../../project/clusters/cluster_access.md#security-of-runners)
documentation for project-level clusters.
## More information
For information on integrating GitLab and Kubernetes, see
[Kubernetes clusters](../../infrastructure/clusters/index.md).
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|
