Chapter 2. Installing a cluster on vSphere

Procedure

1. If you do not have an existing SSH key pair on your local machine to use for authentication onto your cluster nodes, create one. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:

   $ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name> 1

   1

   Specify the path and file name, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, of the new SSH key. If you have an existing key pair, ensure your public key is in the your ~/.ssh directory.

   Note

   If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses FIPS validated or Modules In Process cryptographic libraries on the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures. do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm.

2. View the public SSH key:

   $ cat <path>/<file_name>.pub

   For example, run the following to view the ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub public key:

   $ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

3. Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command.

   Note

   On some distributions, default SSH private key identities such as ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_dsa are managed automatically.

   1. If the ssh-agent process is not already running for your local user, start it as a background task:

      $ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

      Example output

      Agent pid 31874

      Note

      If your cluster is in FIPS mode, only use FIPS-compliant algorithms to generate the SSH key. The key must be either RSA or ECDSA.

4. Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent:

   $ ssh-add <path>/<file_name> 1

   1

   Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

   Example output

   Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>)

Procedure

1. Access the Infrastructure Provider page on the OpenShift Cluster Manager site. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account.
2. Select your infrastructure provider.

3. Navigate to the page for your installation type, download the installation program that corresponds with your host operating system and architecture, and place the file in the directory where you will store the installation configuration files.

   Important

   The installation program creates several files on the computer that you use to install your cluster. You must keep the installation program and the files that the installation program creates after you finish installing the cluster. Both files are required to delete the cluster.

   Important

   Deleting the files created by the installation program does not remove your cluster, even if the cluster failed during installation. To remove your cluster, complete the OpenShift Container Platform uninstallation procedures for your specific cloud provider.

4. Extract the installation program. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:

   $ tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz

5. Download your installation pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager. This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the services that are provided by the included authorities, including Quay.io, which serves the container images for OpenShift Container Platform components.

Procedure

1. From the vCenter home page, download the vCenter’s root CA certificates. Click Download trusted root CA certificates in the vSphere Web Services SDK section. The <vCenter>/certs/download.zip file downloads.

2. Extract the compressed file that contains the vCenter root CA certificates. The contents of the compressed file resemble the following file structure:

   certs
   ├── lin
   │   ├── 108f4d17.0
   │   ├── 108f4d17.r1
   │   ├── 7e757f6a.0
   │   ├── 8e4f8471.0
   │   └── 8e4f8471.r0
   ├── mac
   │   ├── 108f4d17.0
   │   ├── 108f4d17.r1
   │   ├── 7e757f6a.0
   │   ├── 8e4f8471.0
   │   └── 8e4f8471.r0
   └── win
       ├── 108f4d17.0.crt
       ├── 108f4d17.r1.crl
       ├── 7e757f6a.0.crt
       ├── 8e4f8471.0.crt
       └── 8e4f8471.r0.crl
   
   3 directories, 15 files

3. Add the files for your operating system to the system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:

   # cp certs/lin/* /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors

4. Update your system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:

   # update-ca-trust extract

Procedure

1. Change to the directory that contains the installation program and initialize the cluster deployment:

   $ ./openshift-install create cluster --dir <installation_directory> \ 1
       --log-level=info 2

   1

   For <installation_directory>, specify the directory name to store the files that the installation program creates.

   2

   To view different installation details, specify warn, debug, or error instead of info.

   When specifying the directory:

   • Verify that the directory has the execute permission. This permission is required to run Terraform binaries under the installation directory.
   • Use an empty directory. Some installation assets, such as bootstrap X.509 certificates, have short expiration intervals, therefore you must not reuse an installation directory. If you want to reuse individual files from another cluster installation, you can copy them into your directory. However, the file names for the installation assets might change between releases. Use caution when copying installation files from an earlier OpenShift Container Platform version.

2. Provide values at the prompts:

   1. Optional: Select an SSH key to use to access your cluster machines.

      Note

      For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses.

   2. Select vsphere as the platform to target.
   3. Specify the name of your vCenter instance.

   4. Specify the user name and password for the vCenter account that has the required permissions to create the cluster.

      The installation program connects to your vCenter instance.

      Important

      Some VMware vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) environments with Active Directory (AD) integration might primarily require you to use the traditional login method, which requires the <domain>\ construct.

      To ensure that vCenter account permission checks complete properly, consider using the User Principal Name (UPN) login method, such as <username>@<fully_qualified_domainname>.

   5. Select the data center in your vCenter instance to connect to.

   6. Select the default vCenter datastore to use.

      Note

      Datastore and cluster names cannot exceed 60 characters; therefore, ensure the combined string length does not exceed the 60 character limit.

   7. Select the vCenter cluster to install the OpenShift Container Platform cluster in. The installation program uses the root resource pool of the vSphere cluster as the default resource pool.
   8. Select the network in the vCenter instance that contains the virtual IP addresses and DNS records that you configured.
   9. Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for control plane API access.
   10. Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for cluster ingress.
   11. Enter the base domain. This base domain must be the same one that you used in the DNS records that you configured.

   12. Enter a descriptive name for your cluster. The cluster name must be the same one that you used in the DNS records that you configured.

       Note

       Datastore and cluster names cannot exceed 60 characters; therefore, ensure the combined string length does not exceed the 60 character limit.

   13. Paste the pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager.
   Note

   If the cloud provider account that you configured on your host does not have sufficient permissions to deploy the cluster, the installation process stops, and the missing permissions are displayed.

Procedure

1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
2. Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list.
3. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
4. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.12 Linux Client entry and save the file.

5. Unpack the archive:

   $ tar xvf <file>

6. Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, execute the following command:

   $ echo $PATH

Procedure

1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.12 Windows Client entry and save the file.
4. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.

5. Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, open the command prompt and execute the following command:

   C:\> path

Procedure

1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.

3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.12 macOS Client entry and save the file.

   Note

   For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.12 macOS arm64 Client entry.

4. Unpack and unzip the archive.

5. Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, open a terminal and execute the following command:

   $ echo $PATH

Procedure

1. Export the kubeadmin credentials:

   $ export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig 1

   1

   For <installation_directory>, specify the path to the directory that you stored the installation files in.

2. Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration:

   $ oc whoami

   Example output

   system:admin

1. Stop the application that is using the persistent volume.
2. Clone the persistent volume.
3. Restart the application.
4. Create a backup of the cloned volume.
5. Delete the cloned volume.