Chapter 10. Installing a private cluster on GCP

10.1. 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.

10.2. Private clusters

You can deploy a private OpenShift Container Platform cluster that does not expose external endpoints. Private clusters are accessible from only an internal network and are not visible to the internet.

By default, OpenShift Container Platform is provisioned to use publicly-accessible DNS and endpoints. A private cluster sets the DNS, Ingress Controller, and API server to private when you deploy your cluster. This means that the cluster resources are only accessible from your internal network and are not visible to the internet.

Important

If the cluster has any public subnets, load balancer services created by administrators might be publicly accessible. To ensure cluster security, verify that these services are explicitly annotated as private.

To deploy a private cluster, you must:

Use existing networking that meets your requirements. Your cluster resources might be shared between other clusters on the network.
Deploy from a machine that has access to:
- The API services for the cloud to which you provision.
- The hosts on the network that you provision.
- The internet to obtain installation media.

You can use any machine that meets these access requirements and follows your company’s guidelines. For example, this machine can be a bastion host on your cloud network or a machine that has access to the network through a VPN.

10.2.1. Private clusters in GCP

To create a private cluster on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), you must provide an existing private VPC and subnets to host the cluster. The installation program must also be able to resolve the DNS records that the cluster requires. The installation program configures the Ingress Operator and API server for only internal traffic.

The cluster still requires access to internet to access the GCP APIs.

The following items are not required or created when you install a private cluster:

Public subnets
Public network load balancers, which support public ingress
A public DNS zone that matches the baseDomain for the cluster

The installation program does use the baseDomain that you specify to create a private DNS zone and the required records for the cluster. The cluster is configured so that the Operators do not create public records for the cluster and all cluster machines are placed in the private subnets that you specify.

Because it is not possible to limit access to external load balancers based on source tags, the private cluster uses only internal load balancers to allow access to internal instances.

The internal load balancer relies on instance groups rather than the target pools that the network load balancers use. The installation program creates instance groups for each zone, even if there is no instance in that group.

The cluster IP address is internal only.
One forwarding rule manages both the Kubernetes API and machine config server ports.
The backend service is comprised of each zone’s instance group and, while it exists, the bootstrap instance group.
The firewall uses a single rule that is based on only internal source ranges.

10.2.1.1. Limitations

No health check for the Machine config server, /healthz, runs because of a difference in load balancer functionality. Two internal load balancers cannot share a single IP address, but two network load balancers can share a single external IP address. Instead, the health of an instance is determined entirely by the /readyz check on port 6443.

10.3. About using a custom VPC

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, you can deploy a cluster into an existing VPC in Google Cloud Platform (GCP). If you do, you must also use existing subnets within the VPC and routing rules.

By deploying OpenShift Container Platform into an existing GCP VPC, you might be able to avoid limit constraints in new accounts or more easily abide by the operational constraints that your company’s guidelines set. This is a good option to use if you cannot obtain the infrastructure creation permissions that are required to create the VPC yourself.

10.3.1. Requirements for using your VPC

The installation program will no longer create the following components:

VPC
Subnets
Cloud router
Cloud NAT
NAT IP addresses

If you use a custom VPC, you must correctly configure it and its subnets for the installation program and the cluster to use. The installation program cannot subdivide network ranges for the cluster to use, set route tables for the subnets, or set VPC options like DHCP, so you must do so before you install the cluster.

Your VPC and subnets must meet the following characteristics:

The VPC must be in the same GCP project that you deploy the OpenShift Container Platform cluster to.
To allow access to the internet from the control plane and compute machines, you must configure cloud NAT on the subnets to allow egress to it. These machines do not have a public address. Even if you do not require access to the internet, you must allow egress to the VPC network to obtain the installation program and images. Because multiple cloud NATs cannot be configured on the shared subnets, the installation program cannot configure it.

To ensure that the subnets that you provide are suitable, the installation program confirms the following data:

All the subnets that you specify exist and belong to the VPC that you specified.
The subnet CIDRs belong to the machine CIDR.
You must provide a subnet to deploy the cluster control plane and compute machines to. You can use the same subnet for both machine types.

If you destroy a cluster that uses an existing VPC, the VPC is not deleted.

10.3.2. Division of permissions

Starting with OpenShift Container Platform 4.3, you do not need all of the permissions that are required for an installation program-provisioned infrastructure cluster to deploy a cluster. This change mimics the division of permissions that you might have at your company: some individuals can create different resources in your clouds than others. For example, you might be able to create application-specific items, like instances, buckets, and load balancers, but not networking-related components such as VPCs, subnets, or Ingress rules.

The GCP credentials that you use when you create your cluster do not need the networking permissions that are required to make VPCs and core networking components within the VPC, such as subnets, routing tables, internet gateways, NAT, and VPN. You still need permission to make the application resources that the machines within the cluster require, such as load balancers, security groups, storage, and nodes.

10.3.3. Isolation between clusters

If you deploy OpenShift Container Platform to an existing network, the isolation of cluster services is preserved by firewall rules that reference the machines in your cluster by the cluster’s infrastructure ID. Only traffic within the cluster is allowed.

If you deploy multiple clusters to the same VPC, the following components might share access between clusters:

The API, which is globally available with an external publishing strategy or available throughout the network in an internal publishing strategy
Debugging tools, such as ports on VM instances that are open to the machine CIDR for SSH and ICMP access

10.4. 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.

10.5. 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.

10.6. 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.

10.7. Manually creating the installation configuration file

Installing the cluster requires that you manually create the installation configuration file.

Prerequisites

You have an SSH public key on your local machine to provide to the installation program. The key will be used for SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes for debugging and disaster recovery.
You have obtained the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

Procedure

Create an installation directory to store your required installation assets in:
```
$ mkdir <installation_directory>
```
Important
You must create a directory. Some installation assets, like bootstrap X.509 certificates have short expiration intervals, so 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.
Customize the sample install-config.yaml file template that is provided and save it in the <installation_directory>.
Note
You must name this configuration file install-config.yaml.
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 next step of the installation process. You must back it up now.

10.7.1. 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.

10.7.1.1. Required configuration parameters

Required installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 10.1. 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" } } }

10.7.1.2. 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 10.2. 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.

10.7.1.3. Optional configuration parameters

Optional installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 10.3. 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".

10.7.1.4. Additional Google Cloud Platform (GCP) configuration parameters

Additional GCP configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 10.4. 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`.

10.7.2. Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation

Each cluster machine must meet the following minimum requirements:

Table 10.5. 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

10.7.3. Tested instance types for GCP

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

Example 10.1. Machine series

A2
A3
C2
C2D
C3
C3D
C4
E2
M1
N1
N2
N2D
N4
Tau T2D

10.7.4. 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

10.7.5. 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
```

10.7.6. 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
```

10.7.7. 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:
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OVNKubernetes 15
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  gcp:
    projectID: openshift-production 16
    region: us-central1 17
    defaultMachinePlatform:
      tags: 18
      - global-tag1
      - global-tag2
      osImage: 19
        project: example-project-name
        name: example-image-name
    network: existing_vpc 20
    controlPlaneSubnet: control_plane_subnet 21
    computeSubnet: compute_subnet 22
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}' 23
fips: false 24
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA... 25
publish: Internal 26

1 14 16 17 23: Required. The installation program prompts you for this value.
2 8: 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 18: 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 19: 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.
15: The cluster network plugin to install. The supported values are OVNKubernetes and OpenShiftSDN. The default value is OVNKubernetes.
20: Specify the name of an existing VPC.
21: Specify the name of the existing subnet to deploy the control plane machines to. The subnet must belong to the VPC that you specified.
22: Specify the name of the existing subnet to deploy the compute machines to. The subnet must belong to the VPC that you specified.
24: 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.
25: 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.
26: How to publish the user-facing endpoints of your cluster. Set publish to Internal to deploy a private cluster, which cannot be accessed from the internet. The default value is External.

Additional resources

Enabling customer-managed encryption keys for a compute machine set

10.7.8. Create an Ingress Controller with global access on GCP

You can create an Ingress Controller that has global access to a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) cluster. Global access is only available to Ingress Controllers using internal load balancers.

Prerequisites

You created the install-config.yaml and complete any modifications to it.

Procedure

Create an Ingress Controller with global access on a new GCP cluster.

Change to the directory that contains the installation program and create a manifest file:
```
$ ./openshift-install create manifests --dir <installation_directory> 1
```
1
For <installation_directory>, specify the name of the directory that contains the install-config.yaml file for your cluster.
Create a file that is named cluster-ingress-default-ingresscontroller.yaml in the <installation_directory>/manifests/ directory:
```
$ touch <installation_directory>/manifests/cluster-ingress-default-ingresscontroller.yaml 1
```
1
For <installation_directory>, specify the directory name that contains the manifests/ directory for your cluster.
After creating the file, several network configuration files are in the manifests/ directory, as shown:
```
$ ls <installation_directory>/manifests/cluster-ingress-default-ingresscontroller.yaml
```
Example output
```
cluster-ingress-default-ingresscontroller.yaml
```

Open the cluster-ingress-default-ingresscontroller.yaml file in an editor and enter a custom resource (CR) that describes the Operator configuration you want:

Sample clientAccess configuration to Global

  apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
  kind: IngressController
  metadata:
    name: default
    namespace: openshift-ingress-operator
  spec:
    endpointPublishingStrategy:
      loadBalancer:
        providerParameters:
          gcp:
            clientAccess: Global 1
          type: GCP
        scope: Internal          2
      type: LoadBalancerService

1: Set gcp.clientAccess to Global.
2: Global access is only available to Ingress Controllers using internal load balancers.

10.7.9. 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.

10.8. 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.

10.9. 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>
```

10.10. 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.

10.11. 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

10.12. Next steps

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

10.1. Prerequisites

10.2. Private clusters

10.2.1. Private clusters in GCP

10.2.1.1. Limitations

10.3. About using a custom VPC

10.3.1. Requirements for using your VPC

10.3.2. Division of permissions

10.3.3. Isolation between clusters

10.4. Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

10.5. Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access

10.6. Obtaining the installation program

10.7. Manually creating the installation configuration file

10.7.1. Installation configuration parameters

10.7.1.1. Required configuration parameters

10.7.1.2. Network configuration parameters

10.7.1.3. Optional configuration parameters

10.7.1.4. Additional Google Cloud Platform (GCP) configuration parameters

10.7.2. Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation

10.7.3. Tested instance types for GCP

10.7.4. Using custom machine types

10.7.5. Enabling Shielded VMs

10.7.6. Enabling Confidential VMs

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

10.7.8. Create an Ingress Controller with global access on GCP

10.7.9. Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation

10.8. Deploying the cluster

10.9. 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

10.10. Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI

10.11. Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

10.12. Next steps

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