I'm testing google cloud. I'm following official tutorials.

I wanted to start with simple node.js app. I've learnt how to setup a basic dockers cluster: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/hello-app

I also tried simply using gcloud app deploy. I thought it's like a shortcut for the above.

I noticed few things:

• Both can run separately and be accessed from internet.
• gcloud app deploy creates a new app version under App Engine > Versions. Moreover, seems like all of them are live I can migrate traffic between them. I don't see anything similar while exposing dockerimage.
• gcloud app deploy creates a downtime!
• gcloud app deploy app isn't listed while executing kubectl get pods

Can someone explain me the differences between those methods and what should I do not to waste resources.