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Chapter 5. Exposing the registry

By default, the OpenShift image registry is secured during cluster installation so that it serves traffic through TLS. Unlike previous versions of OpenShift Container Platform, the registry is not exposed outside of the cluster at the time of installation.

5.1. Exposing a default registry manually

Instead of logging in to the default OpenShift image registry from within the cluster, you can gain external access to it by exposing it with a route. This external access enables you to log in to the registry from outside the cluster using the route address and to tag and push images to an existing project by using the route host.

Prerequisites:

  • The following prerequisites are automatically performed:

    • Deploy the Registry Operator.
    • Deploy the Ingress Operator.

Procedure

You can expose the route by using the defaultRoute parameter in the configs.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io resource.

To expose the registry using the defaultRoute:

  1. Set defaultRoute to true: 

    $ oc patch configs.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io/cluster --patch '{"spec":{"defaultRoute":true}}' --type=merge
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Get the default registry route: 

    $ HOST=$(oc get route default-route -n openshift-image-registry --template='{{ .spec.host }}')
    Copy to Clipboard

  3. Get the certificate of the Ingress Operator: 

    $ oc get secret -n openshift-ingress  router-certs-default -o go-template='{{index .data "tls.crt"}}' | base64 -d | sudo tee /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors/${HOST}.crt  > /dev/null
    Copy to Clipboard

  4. Enable the cluster’s default certificate to trust the route using the following commands: 

    $ sudo update-ca-trust enable
    Copy to Clipboard

  5. Log in with podman using the default route: 

    $ sudo podman login -u kubeadmin -p $(oc whoami -t) $HOST
    Copy to Clipboard

5.2. Exposing a secure registry manually

Instead of logging in to the OpenShift image registry from within the cluster, you can gain external access to it by exposing it with a route. This allows you to log in to the registry from outside the cluster using the route address, and to tag and push images to an existing project by using the route host.

Prerequisites:

  • The following prerequisites are automatically performed:

    • Deploy the Registry Operator.
    • Deploy the Ingress Operator.

Procedure

You can expose the route by using DefaultRoute parameter in the configs.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io resource or by using custom routes.

To expose the registry using DefaultRoute:

  1. Set DefaultRoute to True: 

    $ oc patch configs.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io/cluster --patch '{"spec":{"defaultRoute":true}}' --type=merge
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Log in with podman: 

    $ HOST=$(oc get route default-route -n openshift-image-registry --template='{{ .spec.host }}')
    Copy to Clipboard 
    $ podman login -u kubeadmin -p $(oc whoami -t) --tls-verify=false $HOST
    1
    Copy to Clipboard
    1
    --tls-verify=false is needed if the cluster’s default certificate for routes is untrusted. You can set a custom, trusted certificate as the default certificate with the Ingress Operator.

To expose the registry using custom routes:

  1. Create a secret with your route’s TLS keys: 

    $ oc create secret tls public-route-tls \
    -n openshift-image-registry \
    --cert=</path/to/tls.crt> \
    --key=</path/to/tls.key>
    Copy to Clipboard

    This step is optional. If you do not create a secret, the route uses the default TLS configuration from the Ingress Operator.

  2. On the Registry Operator: 

    spec:
  routes:
    - name: public-routes
      hostname: myregistry.mycorp.organization
      secretName: public-route-tls
...
    Copy to Clipboard
    Note

    Only set secretName if you are providing a custom TLS configuration for the registry’s route.

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