Chapter 6. Installing a cluster on GCP with network customizations

6.1. Prerequisites

You reviewed details about the OpenShift Container Platform installation and update processes.
You read the documentation on selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users.
You configured a GCP project to host the cluster.
If you use a firewall, you configured it to allow the sites that your cluster requires access to.
If the cloud identity and access management (IAM) APIs are not accessible in your environment, or if you do not want to store an administrator-level credential secret in the kube-system namespace, you can manually create and maintain IAM credentials.

6.2. Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, you require access to the internet to install your cluster.

You must have internet access to:

Access OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console to download the installation program and perform subscription management. If the cluster has internet access and you do not disable Telemetry, that service automatically entitles your cluster.
Access Quay.io to obtain the packages that are required to install your cluster.
Obtain the packages that are required to perform cluster updates.

Important

If your cluster cannot have direct internet access, you can perform a restricted network installation on some types of infrastructure that you provision. During that process, you download the required content and use it to populate a mirror registry with the installation packages. With some installation types, the environment that you install your cluster in will not require internet access. Before you update the cluster, you update the content of the mirror registry.

6.3. Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access

During an OpenShift Container Platform installation, you can provide an SSH public key to the installation program. The key is passed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) nodes through their Ignition config files and is used to authenticate SSH access to the nodes. The key is added to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys list for the core user on each node, which enables password-less authentication.

After the key is passed to the nodes, you can use the key pair to SSH in to the RHCOS nodes as the user core. To access the nodes through SSH, the private key identity must be managed by SSH for your local user.

If you want to SSH in to your cluster nodes to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, you must provide the SSH public key during the installation process. The ./openshift-install gather command also requires the SSH public key to be in place on the cluster nodes.

Important

Do not skip this procedure in production environments, where disaster recovery and debugging is required.

Note

You must use a local key, not one that you configured with platform-specific approaches such as AWS key pairs.

Procedure

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.
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
```
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
```
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>)
```

Next steps

When you install OpenShift Container Platform, provide the SSH public key to the installation program.

6.4. Obtaining the installation program

Before you install OpenShift Container Platform, download the installation file on the host you are using for installation.

Prerequisites

You have a computer that runs Linux or macOS, with 500 MB of local disk space.

Procedure

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.
Select your infrastructure provider.
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.
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
```
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.

6.5. Creating the installation configuration file

You can customize the OpenShift Container Platform cluster you install on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Prerequisites

Obtain the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.
Obtain service principal permissions at the subscription level.

Procedure

Create the install-config.yaml file.
1. Change to the directory that contains the installation program and run the following command:
```
$ ./openshift-install create install-config --dir <installation_directory> 1
```
  1
  For <installation_directory>, specify the directory name to store the files that the installation program creates.
  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.
    Note
    Always delete the ~/.powervs directory to avoid reusing a stale configuration. Run the following command:
    $ rm -rf ~/.powervs
2. At the prompts, provide the configuration details for your cloud:
  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 gcp as the platform to target.
  3. If you have not configured the service account key for your GCP account on your computer, you must obtain it from GCP and paste the contents of the file or enter the absolute path to the file.
  4. Select the project ID to provision the cluster in. The default value is specified by the service account that you configured.
  5. Select the region to deploy the cluster to.
  6. Select the base domain to deploy the cluster to. The base domain corresponds to the public DNS zone that you created for your cluster.
  7. Enter a descriptive name for your cluster.
  8. Paste the pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager.
Modify the install-config.yaml file. You can find more information about the available parameters in the "Installation configuration parameters" section.
Back up the install-config.yaml file so that you can use it to install multiple clusters.
Important
The install-config.yaml file is consumed during the installation process. If you want to reuse the file, you must back it up now.

6.5.1. Installation configuration parameters

Before you deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster, you provide parameter values to describe your account on the cloud platform that hosts your cluster and optionally customize your cluster’s platform. When you create the install-config.yaml installation configuration file, you provide values for the required parameters through the command line. If you customize your cluster, you can modify the install-config.yaml file to provide more details about the platform.

Note

After installation, you cannot modify these parameters in the install-config.yaml file.

6.5.1.1. Required configuration parameters

Required installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 6.1. Required parameters
Parameter	Description	Values
`apiVersion`	The API version for the `install-config.yaml` content. The current version is `v1`. The installation program may also support older API versions.	String
`baseDomain`	The base domain of your cloud provider. The base domain is used to create routes to your OpenShift Container Platform cluster components. The full DNS name for your cluster is a combination of the `baseDomain` and `metadata.name` parameter values that uses the `<metadata.name>.<baseDomain>` format.	A fully-qualified domain or subdomain name, such as `example.com`.
`metadata`	Kubernetes resource `ObjectMeta`, from which only the `name` parameter is consumed.	Object
`metadata.name`	The name of the cluster. DNS records for the cluster are all subdomains of `{{.metadata.name}}.{{.baseDomain}}`.	String of lowercase letters, hyphens (`-`), and periods (`.`), such as `dev`.
`platform`	The configuration for the specific platform upon which to perform the installation: `alibabacloud`, `aws`, `baremetal`, `azure`, `gcp`, `ibmcloud`, `nutanix`, `openstack`, `ovirt`, `powervs`, `vsphere`, or `{}`. For additional information about `platform.<platform>` parameters, consult the table for your specific platform that follows.	Object
`pullSecret`	Get a pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager to authenticate downloading container images for OpenShift Container Platform components from services such as Quay.io.	{ "auths":{ "cloud.openshift.com":{ "auth":"b3Blb=", "email":"you@example.com" }, "quay.io":{ "auth":"b3Blb=", "email":"you@example.com" } } }

6.5.1.2. Network configuration parameters

You can customize your installation configuration based on the requirements of your existing network infrastructure. For example, you can expand the IP address block for the cluster network or provide different IP address blocks than the defaults.

Only IPv4 addresses are supported.

Note

Globalnet is not supported with Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation disaster recovery solutions. For regional disaster recovery scenarios, ensure that you use a nonoverlapping range of private IP addresses for the cluster and service networks in each cluster.

Table 6.2. Network parameters
Parameter	Description	Values
`networking`	The configuration for the cluster network.	Object Note You cannot modify parameters specified by the `networking` object after installation.
`networking.networkType`	The Red Hat OpenShift Networking network plugin to install.	Either `OpenShiftSDN` or `OVNKubernetes`. `OpenShiftSDN` is a CNI plugin for all-Linux networks. `OVNKubernetes` is a CNI plugin for Linux networks and hybrid networks that contain both Linux and Windows servers. The default value is `OVNKubernetes`.
`networking.clusterNetwork`	The IP address blocks for pods. The default value is `10.128.0.0/14` with a host prefix of `/23`. If you specify multiple IP address blocks, the blocks must not overlap.	An array of objects. For example: networking: clusterNetwork: - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14 hostPrefix: 23
`networking.clusterNetwork.cidr`	Required if you use `networking.clusterNetwork`. An IP address block. An IPv4 network.	An IP address block in Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation. The prefix length for an IPv4 block is between `0` and `32`.
`networking.clusterNetwork.hostPrefix`	The subnet prefix length to assign to each individual node. For example, if `hostPrefix` is set to `23` then each node is assigned a `/23` subnet out of the given `cidr`. A `hostPrefix` value of `23` provides 510 (2^(32 - 23) - 2) pod IP addresses.	A subnet prefix. The default value is `23`.
`networking.serviceNetwork`	The IP address block for services. The default value is `172.30.0.0/16`. The OpenShift SDN and OVN-Kubernetes network plugins support only a single IP address block for the service network.	An array with an IP address block in CIDR format. For example: networking: serviceNetwork: - 172.30.0.0/16
`networking.machineNetwork`	The IP address blocks for machines. If you specify multiple IP address blocks, the blocks must not overlap.	An array of objects. For example: networking: machineNetwork: - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
`networking.machineNetwork.cidr`	Required if you use `networking.machineNetwork`. An IP address block. The default value is `10.0.0.0/16` for all platforms other than libvirt and IBM Power Virtual Server. For libvirt, the default value is `192.168.126.0/24`. For IBM Power Virtual Server, the default value is `192.168.0.0/24`.	An IP network block in CIDR notation. For example, `10.0.0.0/16`. Note Set the `networking.machineNetwork` to match the CIDR that the preferred NIC resides in.

6.5.1.3. Optional configuration parameters

Optional installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 6.3. Optional parameters
Parameter	Description	Values
`additionalTrustBundle`	A PEM-encoded X.509 certificate bundle that is added to the nodes' trusted certificate store. This trust bundle may also be used when a proxy has been configured.	String
`capabilities`	Controls the installation of optional core cluster components. You can reduce the footprint of your OpenShift Container Platform cluster by disabling optional components. For more information, see the "Cluster capabilities" page in Installing.	String array
`capabilities.baselineCapabilitySet`	Selects an initial set of optional capabilities to enable. Valid values are `None`, `v4.11`, `v4.12` and `vCurrent`. The default value is `vCurrent`.	String
`capabilities.additionalEnabledCapabilities`	Extends the set of optional capabilities beyond what you specify in `baselineCapabilitySet`. You may specify multiple capabilities in this parameter.	String array
`cpuPartitioningMode`	Enables workload partitioning, which isolates OpenShift Container Platform services, cluster management workloads, and infrastructure pods to run on a reserved set of CPUs. Workload partitioning can only be enabled during installation and cannot be disabled after installation. While this field enables workload partitioning, it does not configure workloads to use specific CPUs. For more information, see the Workload partitioning page in the Scalability and Performance section.	`None` or `AllNodes`. `None` is the default value.
`compute`	The configuration for the machines that comprise the compute nodes.	Array of `MachinePool` objects.
`compute.architecture`	Determines the instruction set architecture of the machines in the pool. Currently, clusters with varied architectures are not supported. All pools must specify the same architecture. Valid values are `amd64` (the default).	String
compute: hyperthreading:	Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or `hyperthreading`, on compute machines. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. Important If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`
`compute.name`	Required if you use `compute`. The name of the machine pool.	`worker`
`compute.platform`	Required if you use `compute`. Use this parameter to specify the cloud provider to host the worker machines. This parameter value must match the `controlPlane.platform` parameter value.	`alibabacloud`, `aws`, `azure`, `gcp`, `ibmcloud`, `nutanix`, `openstack`, `ovirt`, `powervs`, `vsphere`, or `{}`
`compute.replicas`	The number of compute machines, which are also known as worker machines, to provision.	A positive integer greater than or equal to `2`. The default value is `3`.
`featureSet`	Enables the cluster for a feature set. A feature set is a collection of OpenShift Container Platform features that are not enabled by default. For more information about enabling a feature set during installation, see "Enabling features using feature gates".	String. The name of the feature set to enable, such as `TechPreviewNoUpgrade`.
`controlPlane`	The configuration for the machines that comprise the control plane.	Array of `MachinePool` objects.
`controlPlane.architecture`	Determines the instruction set architecture of the machines in the pool. Currently, clusters with varied architectures are not supported. All pools must specify the same architecture. Valid values are `amd64` (the default).	String
controlPlane: hyperthreading:	Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or `hyperthreading`, on control plane machines. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. Important If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`
`controlPlane.name`	Required if you use `controlPlane`. The name of the machine pool.	`master`
`controlPlane.platform`	Required if you use `controlPlane`. Use this parameter to specify the cloud provider that hosts the control plane machines. This parameter value must match the `compute.platform` parameter value.	`alibabacloud`, `aws`, `azure`, `gcp`, `ibmcloud`, `nutanix`, `openstack`, `ovirt`, `powervs`, `vsphere`, or `{}`
`controlPlane.replicas`	The number of control plane machines to provision.	The only supported value is `3`, which is the default value.
`credentialsMode`	The Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) mode. If no mode is specified, the CCO dynamically tries to determine the capabilities of the provided credentials, with a preference for mint mode on the platforms where multiple modes are supported. If you are installing on GCP into a shared virtual private cloud (VPC), `credentialsMode` must be set to `Passthrough` or `Manual`. Note Not all CCO modes are supported for all cloud providers. For more information about CCO modes, see the Cloud Credential Operator entry in the Cluster Operators reference content. Note If your AWS account has service control policies (SCP) enabled, you must configure the `credentialsMode` parameter to `Mint`, `Passthrough` or `Manual`.	`Mint`, `Passthrough`, `Manual` or an empty string (`""`).
`imageContentSources`	Sources and repositories for the release-image content.	Array of objects. Includes a `source` and, optionally, `mirrors`, as described in the following rows of this table.
`imageContentSources.source`	Required if you use `imageContentSources`. Specify the repository that users refer to, for example, in image pull specifications.	String
`imageContentSources.mirrors`	Specify one or more repositories that may also contain the same images.	Array of strings
`publish`	How to publish or expose the user-facing endpoints of your cluster, such as the Kubernetes API, OpenShift routes.	`Internal` or `External`. To deploy a private cluster, which cannot be accessed from the internet, set `publish` to `Internal`. The default value is `External`.
`sshKey`	The SSH key to authenticate access to 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.	For example, `sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA..`.

Not all CCO modes are supported for all cloud providers. For more information about CCO modes, see the "Managing cloud provider credentials" entry in the Authentication and authorization content.
Note
If you are installing on GCP into a shared virtual private cloud (VPC), credentialsMode must be set to Passthrough or Manual.
Important
Setting this parameter to Manual enables alternatives to storing administrator-level secrets in the kube-system project, which require additional configuration steps. For more information, see "Alternatives to storing administrator-level secrets in the kube-system project".

6.5.1.4. Additional Google Cloud Platform (GCP) configuration parameters

Additional GCP configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 6.4. Additional GCP parameters
Parameter	Description	Values
`platform.gcp.network`	The name of the existing Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) where you want to deploy your cluster. If you want to deploy your cluster into a shared VPC, you must set `platform.gcp.networkProjectID` with the name of the GCP project that contains the shared VPC.	String.
`platform.gcp.networkProjectID`	Optional. The name of the GCP project that contains the shared VPC where you want to deploy your cluster.	String.
`platform.gcp.projectID`	The name of the GCP project where the installation program installs the cluster.	String.
`platform.gcp.region`	The name of the GCP region that hosts your cluster.	Any valid region name, such as `us-central1`.
`platform.gcp.controlPlaneSubnet`	The name of the existing subnet where you want to deploy your control plane machines.	The subnet name.
`platform.gcp.computeSubnet`	The name of the existing subnet where you want to deploy your compute machines.	The subnet name.
`platform.gcp.licenses`	A list of license URLs that must be applied to the compute images. Important The `licenses` parameter is a deprecated field and nested virtualization is enabled by default. It is not recommended to use this field.	Any license available with the license API, such as the license to enable nested virtualization. You cannot use this parameter with a mechanism that generates pre-built images. Using a license URL forces the installation program to copy the source image before use.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.zones`	The availability zones where the installation program creates machines.	A list of valid GCP availability zones, such as `us-central1-a`, in a YAML sequence.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskSizeGB`	The size of the disk in gigabytes (GB).	Any size between 16 GB and 65536 GB.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskType`	The GCP disk type.	Either the default `pd-ssd` or the `pd-standard` disk type. The control plane nodes must be the `pd-ssd` disk type. Compute nodes can be either type.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osImage.project`	Optional. By default, the installation program downloads and installs the RHCOS image that is used to boot control plane and compute machines. You can override the default behavior by specifying the location of a custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use for both types of machines.	String. The name of GCP project where the image is located.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osImage.name`	The name of the custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use to boot control plane and compute machines. If you use `platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osImage.project`, this field is required.	String. The name of the RHCOS image.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.tags`	Optional. Additional network tags to add to the control plane and compute machines.	One or more strings, for example `network-tag1`.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.type`	The GCP machine type for control plane and compute machines.	The GCP machine type, for example `n1-standard-4`.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.name`	The name of the customer managed encryption key to be used for machine disk encryption.	The encryption key name.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.keyRing`	The name of the Key Management Service (KMS) key ring to which the KMS key belongs.	The KMS key ring name.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.location`	The GCP location in which the KMS key ring exists.	The GCP location.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.projectID`	The ID of the project in which the KMS key ring exists. This value defaults to the value of the `platform.gcp.projectID` parameter if it is not set.	The GCP project ID.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKeyServiceAccount`	The GCP service account used for the encryption request for control plane and compute machines. If absent, the Compute Engine default service account is used. For more information about GCP service accounts, see Google’s documentation on service accounts.	The GCP service account email, for example `<service_account_name>@<project_id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com`.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.secureBoot`	Whether to enable Shielded VM secure boot for all machines in the cluster. Shielded VMs have additional security protocols such as secure boot, firmware and integrity monitoring, and rootkit protection. For more information on Shielded VMs, see Google’s documentation on Shielded VMs.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.confidentialCompute`	Whether to use Confidential VMs for all machines in the cluster. Confidential VMs provide encryption for data during processing. For more information on Confidential computing, see Google’s documentation on Confidential computing.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.onHostMaintenance`	Specifies the behavior of all VMs during a host maintenance event, such as a software or hardware update. For Confidential VMs, this parameter must be set to `Terminate`. Confidential VMs do not support live VM migration.	`Terminate` or `Migrate`. The default value is `Migrate`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.name`	The name of the customer managed encryption key to be used for control plane machine disk encryption.	The encryption key name.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.keyRing`	For control plane machines, the name of the KMS key ring to which the KMS key belongs.	The KMS key ring name.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.location`	For control plane machines, the GCP location in which the key ring exists. For more information about KMS locations, see Google’s documentation on Cloud KMS locations.	The GCP location for the key ring.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.projectID`	For control plane machines, the ID of the project in which the KMS key ring exists. This value defaults to the VM project ID if not set.	The GCP project ID.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKeyServiceAccount`	The GCP service account used for the encryption request for control plane machines. If absent, the Compute Engine default service account is used. For more information about GCP service accounts, see Google’s documentation on service accounts.	The GCP service account email, for example `<service_account_name>@<project_id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.diskSizeGB`	The size of the disk in gigabytes (GB). This value applies to control plane machines.	Any integer between 16 and 65536.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osDisk.diskType`	The GCP disk type for control plane machines.	Control plane machines must use the `pd-ssd` disk type, which is the default.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osImage.project`	Optional. By default, the installation program downloads and installs the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image that is used to boot control plane machines. You can override the default behavior by specifying the location of a custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use for control plane machines only.	String. The name of GCP project where the image is located.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.osImage.name`	The name of the custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use to boot control plane machines. If you use `controlPlane.platform.gcp.osImage.project`, this field is required.	String. The name of the RHCOS image.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.tags`	Optional. Additional network tags to add to the control plane machines. If set, this parameter overrides the `platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.tags` parameter for control plane machines.	One or more strings, for example `control-plane-tag1`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.type`	The GCP machine type for control plane machines. If set, this parameter overrides the `platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.type` parameter.	The GCP machine type, for example `n1-standard-4`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.zones`	The availability zones where the installation program creates control plane machines.	A list of valid GCP availability zones, such as `us-central1-a`, in a YAML sequence.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.secureBoot`	Whether to enable Shielded VM secure boot for control plane machines. Shielded VMs have additional security protocols such as secure boot, firmware and integrity monitoring, and rootkit protection. For more information on Shielded VMs, see Google’s documentation on Shielded VMs.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.confidentialCompute`	Whether to enable Confidential VMs for control plane machines. Confidential VMs provide encryption for data while it is being processed. For more information on Confidential VMs, see Google’s documentation on Confidential Computing.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`controlPlane.platform.gcp.onHostMaintenance`	Specifies the behavior of control plane VMs during a host maintenance event, such as a software or hardware update. For Confidential VMs, this parameter must be set to `Terminate`. Confidential VMs do not support live VM migration.	`Terminate` or `Migrate`. The default value is `Migrate`.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.name`	The name of the customer managed encryption key to be used for compute machine disk encryption.	The encryption key name.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.keyRing`	For compute machines, the name of the KMS key ring to which the KMS key belongs.	The KMS key ring name.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.location`	For compute machines, the GCP location in which the key ring exists. For more information about KMS locations, see Google’s documentation on Cloud KMS locations.	The GCP location for the key ring.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKey.projectID`	For compute machines, the ID of the project in which the KMS key ring exists. This value defaults to the VM project ID if not set.	The GCP project ID.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.encryptionKey.kmsKeyServiceAccount`	The GCP service account used for the encryption request for compute machines. If this value is not set, the Compute Engine default service account is used. For more information about GCP service accounts, see Google’s documentation on service accounts.	The GCP service account email, for example `<service_account_name>@<project_id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com`.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.diskSizeGB`	The size of the disk in gigabytes (GB). This value applies to compute machines.	Any integer between 16 and 65536.
`compute.platform.gcp.osDisk.diskType`	The GCP disk type for compute machines.	Either the default `pd-ssd` or the `pd-standard` disk type.
`compute.platform.gcp.osImage.project`	Optional. By default, the installation program downloads and installs the RHCOS image that is used to boot compute machines. You can override the default behavior by specifying the location of a custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use for compute machines only.	String. The name of GCP project where the image is located.
`compute.platform.gcp.osImage.name`	The name of the custom RHCOS image for the installation program to use to boot compute machines. If you use `compute.platform.gcp.osImage.project`, this field is required.	String. The name of the RHCOS image.
`compute.platform.gcp.tags`	Optional. Additional network tags to add to the compute machines. If set, this parameter overrides the `platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.tags` parameter for compute machines.	One or more strings, for example `compute-network-tag1`.
`compute.platform.gcp.type`	The GCP machine type for compute machines. If set, this parameter overrides the `platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.type` parameter.	The GCP machine type, for example `n1-standard-4`.
`compute.platform.gcp.zones`	The availability zones where the installation program creates compute machines.	A list of valid GCP availability zones, such as `us-central1-a`, in a YAML sequence.
`compute.platform.gcp.secureBoot`	Whether to enable Shielded VM secure boot for compute machines. Shielded VMs have additional security protocols such as secure boot, firmware and integrity monitoring, and rootkit protection. For more information on Shielded VMs, see Google’s documentation on Shielded VMs.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`compute.platform.gcp.confidentialCompute`	Whether to enable Confidential VMs for compute machines. Confidential VMs provide encryption for data while it is being processed. For more information on Confidential VMs, see Google’s documentation on Confidential Computing.	`Enabled` or `Disabled`. The default value is `Disabled`.
`compute.platform.gcp.onHostMaintenance`	Specifies the behavior of compute VMs during a host maintenance event, such as a software or hardware update. For Confidential VMs, this parameter must be set to `Terminate`. Confidential VMs do not support live VM migration.	`Terminate` or `Migrate`. The default value is `Migrate`.

6.5.2. Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation

Each cluster machine must meet the following minimum requirements:

Table 6.5. Minimum resource requirements
Machine	Operating System	vCPU ^[1]	Virtual RAM	Storage	Input/Output Per Second (IOPS)^[2]
Bootstrap	RHCOS	4	16 GB	100 GB	300
Control plane	RHCOS	4	16 GB	100 GB	300
Compute	RHCOS, RHEL 8.6 and later ^[3]	2	8 GB	100 GB	300

One vCPU is equivalent to one physical core when simultaneous multithreading (SMT), or Hyper-Threading, is not enabled. When enabled, use the following formula to calculate the corresponding ratio: (threads per core × cores) × sockets = vCPUs.
OpenShift Container Platform and Kubernetes are sensitive to disk performance, and faster storage is recommended, particularly for etcd on the control plane nodes which require a 10 ms p99 fsync duration. Note that on many cloud platforms, storage size and IOPS scale together, so you might need to over-allocate storage volume to obtain sufficient performance.
As with all user-provisioned installations, if you choose to use RHEL compute machines in your cluster, you take responsibility for all operating system life cycle management and maintenance, including performing system updates, applying patches, and completing all other required tasks. Use of RHEL 7 compute machines is deprecated and has been removed in OpenShift Container Platform 4.10 and later.

Note

As of OpenShift Container Platform version 4.13, RHCOS is based on RHEL version 9.2, which updates the micro-architecture requirements. The following list contains the minimum instruction set architectures (ISA) that each architecture requires:

x86-64 architecture requires x86-64-v2 ISA
ARM64 architecture requires ARMv8.0-A ISA
IBM Power architecture requires Power 9 ISA
s390x architecture requires z14 ISA

For more information, see RHEL Architectures.

If an instance type for your platform meets the minimum requirements for cluster machines, it is supported to use in OpenShift Container Platform.

Additional resources

Optimizing storage

6.5.3. Tested instance types for GCP

The following Google Cloud Platform instance types have been tested with OpenShift Container Platform.

Example 6.1. Machine series

A2
A3
C2
C2D
C3
C3D
E2
M1
N1
N2
N2D
N4
Tau T2D

6.5.4. Using custom machine types

Using a custom machine type to install a OpenShift Container Platform cluster is supported.

Consider the following when using a custom machine type:

Similar to predefined instance types, custom machine types must meet the minimum resource requirements for control plane and compute machines. For more information, see "Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation".
The name of the custom machine type must adhere to the following syntax:
custom-<number_of_cpus>-<amount_of_memory_in_mb>
For example, custom-6-20480.

As part of the installation process, you specify the custom machine type in the install-config.yaml file.

Sample install-config.yaml file with a custom machine type

compute:
- architecture: amd64
  hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: worker
  platform:
    gcp:
      type: custom-6-20480
  replicas: 2
controlPlane:
  architecture: amd64
  hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: master
  platform:
    gcp:
      type: custom-6-20480
  replicas: 3

6.5.5. Enabling Shielded VMs

You can use Shielded VMs when installing your cluster. Shielded VMs have extra security features including secure boot, firmware and integrity monitoring, and rootkit detection. For more information, see Google’s documentation on Shielded VMs.

Prerequisites

You have created an install-config.yaml file.

Procedure

Use a text editor to edit the install-config.yaml file prior to deploying your cluster and add one of the following stanzas:
1. To use shielded VMs for only control plane machines:
```
controlPlane:
  platform:
    gcp:
       secureBoot: Enabled
```
2. To use shielded VMs for only compute machines:
```
compute:
- platform:
    gcp:
       secureBoot: Enabled
```
3. To use shielded VMs for all machines:
```
platform:
  gcp:
    defaultMachinePlatform:
       secureBoot: Enabled
```

6.5.6. Enabling Confidential VMs

You can use Confidential VMs when installing your cluster. Confidential VMs encrypt data while it is being processed. For more information, see Google’s documentation on Confidential Computing. You can enable Confidential VMs and Shielded VMs at the same time, although they are not dependent on each other.

Important

Confidential Computing is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Important

Due to a known issue in OpenShift Container Platform 4.13.3 and earlier versions, you cannot use persistent volume storage on a cluster with Confidential VMs on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This issue was resolved in OpenShift Container Platform 4.13.4. For more information, see OCPBUGS-11768.

Prerequisites

You have created an install-config.yaml file.

Procedure

Use a text editor to edit the install-config.yaml file prior to deploying your cluster and add one of the following stanzas:
1. To use confidential VMs for only control plane machines:
```
controlPlane:
  platform:
    gcp:
       confidentialCompute: Enabled 1
       type: n2d-standard-8 2
       onHostMaintenance: Terminate 3
```
  1
  Enable confidential VMs.
  2
  Specify a machine type that supports Confidential VMs. Confidential VMs require the N2D or C2D series of machine types. For more information on supported machine types, see Supported operating systems and machine types.
  3
  Specify the behavior of the VM during a host maintenance event, such as a hardware or software update. For a machine that uses Confidential VM, this value must be set to Terminate, which stops the VM. Confidential VMs do not support live VM migration.
2. To use confidential VMs for only compute machines:
```
compute:
- platform:
    gcp:
       confidentialCompute: Enabled
       type: n2d-standard-8
       onHostMaintenance: Terminate
```
3. To use confidential VMs for all machines:
```
platform:
  gcp:
    defaultMachinePlatform:
       confidentialCompute: Enabled
       type: n2d-standard-8
       onHostMaintenance: Terminate
```

6.5.7. Sample customized install-config.yaml file for GCP

You can customize the install-config.yaml file to specify more details about your OpenShift Container Platform cluster’s platform or modify the values of the required parameters.

Important

This sample YAML file is provided for reference only. You must obtain your install-config.yaml file by using the installation program and modify it.

apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com 1
controlPlane: 2 3
  hyperthreading: Enabled 4
  name: master
  platform:
    gcp:
      type: n2-standard-4
      zones:
      - us-central1-a
      - us-central1-c
      osDisk:
        diskType: pd-ssd
        diskSizeGB: 1024
        encryptionKey: 5
          kmsKey:
            name: worker-key
            keyRing: test-machine-keys
            location: global
            projectID: project-id
      tags: 6
      - control-plane-tag1
      - control-plane-tag2
      osImage: 7
        project: example-project-name
        name: example-image-name
  replicas: 3
compute: 8 9
- hyperthreading: Enabled 10
  name: worker
  platform:
    gcp:
      type: n2-standard-4
      zones:
      - us-central1-a
      - us-central1-c
      osDisk:
        diskType: pd-standard
        diskSizeGB: 128
        encryptionKey: 11
          kmsKey:
            name: worker-key
            keyRing: test-machine-keys
            location: global
            projectID: project-id
      tags: 12
        - compute-tag1
        - compute-tag2
      osImage: 13
        project: example-project-name
        name: example-image-name
  replicas: 3
metadata:
  name: test-cluster 14
networking: 15
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OVNKubernetes 16
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  gcp:
    projectID: openshift-production 17
    region: us-central1 18
    defaultMachinePlatform:
      tags: 19
      - global-tag1
      - global-tag2
      osImage: 20
        project: example-project-name
        name: example-image-name
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}' 21
fips: false 22
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA... 23

1 14 17 18 21: Required. The installation program prompts you for this value.
2 8 15: If you do not provide these parameters and values, the installation program provides the default value.
3 9: The controlPlane section is a single mapping, but the compute section is a sequence of mappings. To meet the requirements of the different data structures, the first line of the compute section must begin with a hyphen, -, and the first line of the controlPlane section must not. Only one control plane pool is used.
4 10: Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. You can disable it by setting the parameter value to Disabled. If you disable simultaneous multithreading in some cluster machines, you must disable it in all cluster machines.
Important
If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance. Use larger machine types, such as n1-standard-8, for your machines if you disable simultaneous multithreading.
5 11: Optional: The custom encryption key section to encrypt both virtual machines and persistent volumes. Your default compute service account must have the permissions granted to use your KMS key and have the correct IAM role assigned. The default service account name follows the service-<project_number>@compute-system.iam.gserviceaccount.com pattern. For more information about granting the correct permissions for your service account, see "Machine management" "Creating compute machine sets" "Creating a compute machine set on GCP".
6 12 19: Optional: A set of network tags to apply to the control plane or compute machine sets. The platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.tags parameter will apply to both control plane and compute machines. If the compute.platform.gcp.tags or controlPlane.platform.gcp.tags parameters are set, they override the platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.tags parameter.
7 13 20: Optional: A custom Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image for the installation program to use to boot control plane and compute machines. The project and name parameters under platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osImage apply to both control plane and compute machines. If the project and name parameters under controlPlane.platform.gcp.osImage or compute.platform.gcp.osImage are set, they override the platform.gcp.defaultMachinePlatform.osImage parameters.
16: The cluster network plugin to install. The supported values are OVNKubernetes and OpenShiftSDN. The default value is OVNKubernetes.
22: Whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. By default, FIPS mode is not enabled.
Important
OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9.2. RHEL 9.2 cryptographic modules have not yet been submitted for FIPS validation. For more information, see "About this release" in the 4.13 OpenShift Container Platform Release Notes.
23: You can optionally provide the sshKey value that you use to access the machines in your cluster.
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.

Additional resources

Enabling customer-managed encryption keys for a compute machine set

6.5.8. Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation

Production environments can deny direct access to the internet and instead have an HTTP or HTTPS proxy available. You can configure a new OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use a proxy by configuring the proxy settings in the install-config.yaml file.

Prerequisites

You have an existing install-config.yaml file.
You reviewed the sites that your cluster requires access to and determined whether any of them need to bypass the proxy. By default, all cluster egress traffic is proxied, including calls to hosting cloud provider APIs. You added sites to the Proxy object’s spec.noProxy field to bypass the proxy if necessary.
Note
The Proxy object status.noProxy field is populated with the values of the networking.machineNetwork[].cidr, networking.clusterNetwork[].cidr, and networking.serviceNetwork[] fields from your installation configuration.
For installations on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, and Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP), the Proxy object status.noProxy field is also populated with the instance metadata endpoint (169.254.169.254).

Procedure

Edit your install-config.yaml file and add the proxy settings. For example:
```
apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: my.domain.com
proxy:
  httpProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> 1
  httpsProxy: https://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> 2
  noProxy: example.com 3
additionalTrustBundle: | 4
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    <MY_TRUSTED_CA_CERT>
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
additionalTrustBundlePolicy: <policy_to_add_additionalTrustBundle> 5
```
1
A proxy URL to use for creating HTTP connections outside the cluster. The URL scheme must be http.
2
A proxy URL to use for creating HTTPS connections outside the cluster.
3
A comma-separated list of destination domain names, IP addresses, or other network CIDRs to exclude from proxying. Preface a domain with . to match subdomains only. For example, .y.com matches x.y.com, but not y.com. Use * to bypass the proxy for all destinations.
4
If provided, the installation program generates a config map that is named user-ca-bundle in the openshift-config namespace that contains one or more additional CA certificates that are required for proxying HTTPS connections. The Cluster Network Operator then creates a trusted-ca-bundle config map that merges these contents with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) trust bundle, and this config map is referenced in the trustedCA field of the Proxy object. The additionalTrustBundle field is required unless the proxy’s identity certificate is signed by an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle.
5
Optional: The policy to determine the configuration of the Proxy object to reference the user-ca-bundle config map in the trustedCA field. The allowed values are Proxyonly and Always. Use Proxyonly to reference the user-ca-bundle config map only when http/https proxy is configured. Use Always to always reference the user-ca-bundle config map. The default value is Proxyonly.
Note
The installation program does not support the proxy readinessEndpoints field.
Note
If the installer times out, restart and then complete the deployment by using the wait-for command of the installer. For example:
```
$ ./openshift-install wait-for install-complete --log-level debug
```
Save the file and reference it when installing OpenShift Container Platform.

The installation program creates a cluster-wide proxy that is named cluster that uses the proxy settings in the provided install-config.yaml file. If no proxy settings are provided, a cluster Proxy object is still created, but it will have a nil spec.

Note

Only the Proxy object named cluster is supported, and no additional proxies can be created.

6.6. Network configuration phases

There are two phases prior to OpenShift Container Platform installation where you can customize the network configuration.

Phase 1

You can customize the following network-related fields in the install-config.yaml file before you create the manifest files:

networking.networkType
networking.clusterNetwork
networking.serviceNetwork
networking.machineNetwork
For more information on these fields, refer to Installation configuration parameters.
Note
Set the networking.machineNetwork to match the CIDR that the preferred NIC resides in.
Important
The CIDR range 172.17.0.0/16 is reserved by libVirt. You cannot use this range or any range that overlaps with this range for any networks in your cluster.

Phase 2

After creating the manifest files by running openshift-install create manifests, you can define a customized Cluster Network Operator manifest with only the fields you want to modify. You can use the manifest to specify advanced network configuration.

You cannot override the values specified in phase 1 in the install-config.yaml file during phase 2. However, you can further customize the network plugin during phase 2.

6.7. Specifying advanced network configuration

You can use advanced network configuration for your network plugin to integrate your cluster into your existing network environment. You can specify advanced network configuration only before you install the cluster.

Important

Customizing your network configuration by modifying the OpenShift Container Platform manifest files created by the installation program is not supported. Applying a manifest file that you create, as in the following procedure, is supported.

Prerequisites

You have created the install-config.yaml file and completed any modifications to it.

Procedure

Change to the directory that contains the installation program and create the manifests:
```
$ ./openshift-install create manifests --dir <installation_directory> 1
```
1
<installation_directory> specifies the name of the directory that contains the install-config.yaml file for your cluster.
Create a stub manifest file for the advanced network configuration that is named cluster-network-03-config.yml in the <installation_directory>/manifests/ directory:
```
apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
```

Specify the advanced network configuration for your cluster in the cluster-network-03-config.yml file, such as in the following examples:

Specify a different VXLAN port for the OpenShift SDN network provider

apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  defaultNetwork:
    openshiftSDNConfig:
      vxlanPort: 4800

Enable IPsec for the OVN-Kubernetes network provider

apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  defaultNetwork:
    ovnKubernetesConfig:
      ipsecConfig: {}

Optional: Back up the manifests/cluster-network-03-config.yml file. The installation program consumes the manifests/ directory when you create the Ignition config files.

6.8. Cluster Network Operator configuration

The configuration for the cluster network is specified as part of the Cluster Network Operator (CNO) configuration and stored in a custom resource (CR) object that is named cluster. The CR specifies the fields for the Network API in the operator.openshift.io API group.

The CNO configuration inherits the following fields during cluster installation from the Network API in the Network.config.openshift.io API group and these fields cannot be changed:

clusterNetwork: IP address pools from which pod IP addresses are allocated.
serviceNetwork: IP address pool for services.
defaultNetwork.type: Cluster network plugin, such as OpenShift SDN or OVN-Kubernetes.

You can specify the cluster network plugin configuration for your cluster by setting the fields for the defaultNetwork object in the CNO object named cluster.

6.8.1. Cluster Network Operator configuration object

The fields for the Cluster Network Operator (CNO) are described in the following table:

Table 6.6. Cluster Network Operator configuration object
Field	Type	Description
`metadata.name`	`string`	The name of the CNO object. This name is always `cluster`.
`spec.clusterNetwork`	`array`	A list specifying the blocks of IP addresses from which pod IP addresses are allocated and the subnet prefix length assigned to each individual node in the cluster. For example: spec: clusterNetwork: - cidr: 10.128.0.0/19 hostPrefix: 23 - cidr: 10.128.32.0/19 hostPrefix: 23 You can customize this field only in the `install-config.yaml` file before you create the manifests. The value is read-only in the manifest file.
`spec.serviceNetwork`	`array`	A block of IP addresses for services. The OpenShift SDN and OVN-Kubernetes network plugins support only a single IP address block for the service network. For example: spec: serviceNetwork: - 172.30.0.0/14 You can customize this field only in the `install-config.yaml` file before you create the manifests. The value is read-only in the manifest file.
`spec.defaultNetwork`	`object`	Configures the network plugin for the cluster network.
`spec.kubeProxyConfig`	`object`	The fields for this object specify the kube-proxy configuration. If you are using the OVN-Kubernetes cluster network plugin, the kube-proxy configuration has no effect.

defaultNetwork object configuration

The values for the defaultNetwork object are defined in the following table:

Table 6.7. defaultNetwork object
Field	Type	Description
`type`	`string`	Either `OpenShiftSDN` or `OVNKubernetes`. The Red Hat OpenShift Networking network plugin is selected during installation. This value cannot be changed after cluster installation. Note OpenShift Container Platform uses the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin by default.
`openshiftSDNConfig`	`object`	This object is only valid for the OpenShift SDN network plugin.
`ovnKubernetesConfig`	`object`	This object is only valid for the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin.

Configuration for the OpenShift SDN network plugin

The following table describes the configuration fields for the OpenShift SDN network plugin:

Table 6.8. openshiftSDNConfig object
Field	Type	Description
`mode`	`string`	Configures the network isolation mode for OpenShift SDN. The default value is `NetworkPolicy`. The values `Multitenant` and `Subnet` are available for backwards compatibility with OpenShift Container Platform 3.x but are not recommended. This value cannot be changed after cluster installation.
`mtu`	`integer`	The maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the VXLAN overlay network. This is detected automatically based on the MTU of the primary network interface. You do not normally need to override the detected MTU. If the auto-detected value is not what you expect it to be, confirm that the MTU on the primary network interface on your nodes is correct. You cannot use this option to change the MTU value of the primary network interface on the nodes. If your cluster requires different MTU values for different nodes, you must set this value to `50` less than the lowest MTU value in your cluster. For example, if some nodes in your cluster have an MTU of `9001`, and some have an MTU of `1500`, you must set this value to `1450`. This value cannot be changed after cluster installation.
`vxlanPort`	`integer`	The port to use for all VXLAN packets. The default value is `4789`. This value cannot be changed after cluster installation. If you are running in a virtualized environment with existing nodes that are part of another VXLAN network, then you might be required to change this. For example, when running an OpenShift SDN overlay on top of VMware NSX-T, you must select an alternate port for the VXLAN, because both SDNs use the same default VXLAN port number. On Amazon Web Services (AWS), you can select an alternate port for the VXLAN between port `9000` and port `9999`.

Example OpenShift SDN configuration

defaultNetwork:
  type: OpenShiftSDN
  openshiftSDNConfig:
    mode: NetworkPolicy
    mtu: 1450
    vxlanPort: 4789

Configuration for the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin

The following table describes the configuration fields for the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin:

Table 6.9. ovnKubernetesConfig object
Field	Type	Description
`mtu`	`integer`	The maximum transmission unit (MTU) for the Geneve (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation) overlay network. This is detected automatically based on the MTU of the primary network interface. You do not normally need to override the detected MTU. If the auto-detected value is not what you expect it to be, confirm that the MTU on the primary network interface on your nodes is correct. You cannot use this option to change the MTU value of the primary network interface on the nodes. If your cluster requires different MTU values for different nodes, you must set this value to `100` less than the lowest MTU value in your cluster. For example, if some nodes in your cluster have an MTU of `9001`, and some have an MTU of `1500`, you must set this value to `1400`.
`genevePort`	`integer`	The port to use for all Geneve packets. The default value is `6081`. This value cannot be changed after cluster installation.
`ipsecConfig`	`object`	Specify an empty object to enable IPsec encryption.
`policyAuditConfig`	`object`	Specify a configuration object for customizing network policy audit logging. If unset, the defaults audit log settings are used.
`gatewayConfig`	`object`	Optional: Specify a configuration object for customizing how egress traffic is sent to the node gateway. Note While migrating egress traffic, you can expect some disruption to workloads and service traffic until the Cluster Network Operator (CNO) successfully rolls out the changes.
`v4InternalSubnet`	If your existing network infrastructure overlaps with the `100.64.0.0/16` IPv4 subnet, you can specify a different IP address range for internal use by OVN-Kubernetes. You must ensure that the IP address range does not overlap with any other subnet used by your OpenShift Container Platform installation. The IP address range must be larger than the maximum number of nodes that can be added to the cluster. For example, if the `clusterNetwork.cidr` value is `10.128.0.0/14` and the `clusterNetwork.hostPrefix` value is `/23`, then the maximum number of nodes is `2^(23-14)=512`. This field cannot be changed after installation.	The default value is `100.64.0.0/16`.
`v6InternalSubnet`	If your existing network infrastructure overlaps with the `fd98::/48` IPv6 subnet, you can specify a different IP address range for internal use by OVN-Kubernetes. You must ensure that the IP address range does not overlap with any other subnet used by your OpenShift Container Platform installation. The IP address range must be larger than the maximum number of nodes that can be added to the cluster. This field cannot be changed after installation.	The default value is `fd98::/48`.

Table 6.10. policyAuditConfig object
Field	Type	Description
`rateLimit`	integer	The maximum number of messages to generate every second per node. The default value is `20` messages per second.
`maxFileSize`	integer	The maximum size for the audit log in bytes. The default value is `50000000` or 50 MB.
`maxLogFiles`	integer	The maximum number of log files that are retained.
`destination`	string	One of the following additional audit log targets: `libc` The libc `syslog()` function of the journald process on the host. `udp:<host>:<port>` A syslog server. Replace `<host>:<port>` with the host and port of the syslog server. `unix:<file>` A Unix Domain Socket file specified by `<file>`. `null` Do not send the audit logs to any additional target.
`syslogFacility`	string	The syslog facility, such as `kern`, as defined by RFC5424. The default value is `local0`.

Table 6.11. gatewayConfig object
Field	Type	Description
`routingViaHost`	`boolean`	Set this field to `true` to send egress traffic from pods to the host networking stack. For highly-specialized installations and applications that rely on manually configured routes in the kernel routing table, you might want to route egress traffic to the host networking stack. By default, egress traffic is processed in OVN to exit the cluster and is not affected by specialized routes in the kernel routing table. The default value is `false`. This field has an interaction with the Open vSwitch hardware offloading feature. If you set this field to `true`, you do not receive the performance benefits of the offloading because egress traffic is processed by the host networking stack.

Example OVN-Kubernetes configuration with IPSec enabled

defaultNetwork:
  type: OVNKubernetes
  ovnKubernetesConfig:
    mtu: 1400
    genevePort: 6081
    ipsecConfig: {}

kubeProxyConfig object configuration

The values for the kubeProxyConfig object are defined in the following table:

Table 6.12. kubeProxyConfig object
Field	Type	Description
`iptablesSyncPeriod`	`string`	The refresh period for `iptables` rules. The default value is `30s`. Valid suffixes include `s`, `m`, and `h` and are described in the Go `time` package documentation. Note Because of performance improvements introduced in OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 and greater, adjusting the `iptablesSyncPeriod` parameter is no longer necessary.
`proxyArguments.iptables-min-sync-period`	`array`	The minimum duration before refreshing `iptables` rules. This field ensures that the refresh does not happen too frequently. Valid suffixes include `s`, `m`, and `h` and are described in the Go `time` package. The default value is: kubeProxyConfig: proxyArguments: iptables-min-sync-period: - 0s

6.9. Deploying the cluster

You can install OpenShift Container Platform on a compatible cloud platform.

Important

You can run the create cluster command of the installation program only once, during initial installation.

Prerequisites

Configure an account with the cloud platform that hosts your cluster.
Obtain the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.
Verify the cloud provider account on your host has the correct permissions to deploy the cluster. An account with incorrect permissions causes the installation process to fail with an error message that displays the missing permissions.

Procedure

Remove any existing GCP credentials that do not use the service account key for the GCP account that you configured for your cluster and that are stored in the following locations:
- The GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS, GOOGLE_CLOUD_KEYFILE_JSON, or GCLOUD_KEYFILE_JSON environment variables
- The ~/.gcp/osServiceAccount.json file
- The gcloud cli default credentials
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 location of your customized ./install-config.yaml file.
2
To view different installation details, specify warn, debug, or error instead of info.
Optional: You can reduce the number of permissions for the service account that you used to install the cluster.
- If you assigned the Owner role to your service account, you can remove that role and replace it with the Viewer role.
- If you included the Service Account Key Admin role, you can remove it.

Verification

When the cluster deployment completes successfully:

The terminal displays directions for accessing your cluster, including a link to the web console and credentials for the kubeadmin user.
Credential information also outputs to <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log.

Important

Do not delete the installation program or the files that the installation program creates. Both are required to delete the cluster.

Example output

...
INFO Install complete!
INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig'
INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com
INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password"
INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s

Important

The Ignition config files that the installation program generates contain certificates that expire after 24 hours, which are then renewed at that time. If the cluster is shut down before renewing the certificates and the cluster is later restarted after the 24 hours have elapsed, the cluster automatically recovers the expired certificates. The exception is that you must manually approve the pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) to recover kubelet certificates. See the documentation for Recovering from expired control plane certificates for more information.
It is recommended that you use Ignition config files within 12 hours after they are generated because the 24-hour certificate rotates from 16 to 22 hours after the cluster is installed. By using the Ignition config files within 12 hours, you can avoid installation failure if the certificate update runs during installation.

6.10. Installing the OpenShift CLI by downloading the binary

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) to interact with OpenShift Container Platform from a command-line interface. You can install oc on Linux, Windows, or macOS.

Important

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform 4.13. Download and install the new version of oc.

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Linux by using the following procedure.

Procedure

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 Linux Client entry and save the file.
Unpack the archive:
```
$ tar xvf <file>
```
Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.
To check your PATH, execute the following command:
```
$ echo $PATH
```

Verification

After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:
```
$ oc <command>
```

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Windows by using the following procedure.

Procedure

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 Windows Client entry and save the file.
Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.
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
```

Verification

After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:
```
C:\> oc <command>
```

Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on macOS by using the following procedure.

Procedure

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 macOS Client entry and save the file.
Note
For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.13 macOS arm64 Client entry.
Unpack and unzip the archive.
Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH.
To check your PATH, open a terminal and execute the following command:
```
$ echo $PATH
```

Verification

After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:
```
$ oc <command>
```

6.11. Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI

You can log in to your cluster as a default system user by exporting the cluster kubeconfig file. The kubeconfig file contains information about the cluster that is used by the CLI to connect a client to the correct cluster and API server. The file is specific to a cluster and is created during OpenShift Container Platform installation.

Prerequisites

You deployed an OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
You installed the oc CLI.

Procedure

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.
Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration:
```
$ oc whoami
```
Example output
```
system:admin
```

Additional resources

See Accessing the web console for more details about accessing and understanding the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

6.12. Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, the Telemetry service, which runs by default to provide metrics about cluster health and the success of updates, requires internet access. If your cluster is connected to the internet, Telemetry runs automatically, and your cluster is registered to OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console.

After you confirm that your OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console inventory is correct, either maintained automatically by Telemetry or manually by using OpenShift Cluster Manager, use subscription watch to track your OpenShift Container Platform subscriptions at the account or multi-cluster level.

Additional resources

See About remote health monitoring for more information about the Telemetry service

6.13. Next steps

Customize your cluster.
If necessary, you can opt out of remote health reporting.

Chapter 6. Installing a cluster on GCP with network customizations

6.1. Prerequisites

6.2. Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

6.3. Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access

6.4. Obtaining the installation program

6.5. Creating the installation configuration file

6.5.1. Installation configuration parameters

6.5.1.1. Required configuration parameters

6.5.1.2. Network configuration parameters

6.5.1.3. Optional configuration parameters

6.5.1.4. Additional Google Cloud Platform (GCP) configuration parameters

6.5.2. Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation

6.5.3. Tested instance types for GCP

6.5.4. Using custom machine types

6.5.5. Enabling Shielded VMs

6.5.6. Enabling Confidential VMs

6.5.7. Sample customized install-config.yaml file for GCP

6.5.8. Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation

6.6. Network configuration phases

6.7. Specifying advanced network configuration

6.8. Cluster Network Operator configuration

6.8.1. Cluster Network Operator configuration object

defaultNetwork object configuration

Configuration for the OpenShift SDN network plugin

Configuration for the OVN-Kubernetes network plugin

kubeProxyConfig object configuration

6.9. Deploying the cluster

6.10. Installing the OpenShift CLI by downloading the binary

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows

Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS

6.11. Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI

6.12. Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

6.13. Next steps

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