Chapter 3. Installing a cluster on Azure Stack Hub with an installer-provisioned infrastructure


In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.15, you can install a cluster on Microsoft Azure Stack Hub with an installer-provisioned infrastructure. However, you must manually configure the install-config.yaml file to specify values that are specific to Azure Stack Hub.

Note

While you can select azure when using the installation program to deploy a cluster using installer-provisioned infrastructure, this option is only supported for the Azure Public Cloud.

3.1. Prerequisites

3.2. Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.15, you require access to the internet to install your cluster.

You must have internet access to:

  • Access OpenShift Cluster Manager 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.

3.3. 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

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

    $ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name> 1
    1
    Specify the path and file name, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, of the new SSH key. If you have an existing key pair, ensure your public key is in the your ~/.ssh directory.
    Note

    If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures, do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm.

  2. View the public SSH key:

    $ cat <path>/<file_name>.pub

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

    $ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
  3. Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command.

    Note

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

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

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

      Example output

      Agent pid 31874

      Note

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

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

    $ ssh-add <path>/<file_name> 1
    1
    Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

    Example output

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

Next steps

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

3.4. Uploading the RHCOS cluster image

You must download the RHCOS virtual hard disk (VHD) cluster image and upload it to your Azure Stack Hub environment so that it is accessible during deployment.

Prerequisites

  • Configure an Azure account.

Procedure

  1. Obtain the RHCOS VHD cluster image:

    1. Export the URL of the RHCOS VHD to an environment variable.

      $ export COMPRESSED_VHD_URL=$(openshift-install coreos print-stream-json | jq -r '.architectures.x86_64.artifacts.azurestack.formats."vhd.gz".disk.location')
    2. Download the compressed RHCOS VHD file locally.

      $ curl -O -L ${COMPRESSED_VHD_URL}
  2. Decompress the VHD file.

    Note

    The decompressed VHD file is approximately 16 GB, so be sure that your host system has 16 GB of free space available. The VHD file can be deleted once you have uploaded it.

  3. Upload the local VHD to the Azure Stack Hub environment, making sure that the blob is publicly available. For example, you can upload the VHD to a blob using the az cli or the web portal.

3.5. 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 at least 1.2 GB of local disk space.

Procedure

  1. Go to the Cluster Type page on the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account.
  2. Select your infrastructure provider from the Run it yourself section of the page.
  3. Select your host operating system and architecture from the dropdown menus under OpenShift Installer and click Download Installer.
  4. Place the downloaded file in the directory where you want to 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 of the files are required to delete the cluster.
    • 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.
  5. 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
  6. Download your installation pull secret from 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.
Tip

Alternatively, you can retrieve the installation program from the Red Hat Customer Portal, where you can specify a version of the installation program to download. However, you must have an active subscription to access this page.

3.6. 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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

    Make the following modifications:

    1. Specify the required installation parameters.
    2. Update the platform.azure section to specify the parameters that are specific to Azure Stack Hub.
    3. Optional: Update one or more of the default configuration parameters to customize the installation.

      For more information about the parameters, see "Installation configuration parameters".

  3. 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.

3.6.1. Sample customized install-config.yaml file for Azure Stack Hub

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. Use it as a resource to enter parameter values into the installation configuration file that you created manually.

apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com 1
credentialsMode: Manual
controlPlane: 2 3
  name: master
  platform:
    azure:
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGB: 1024 4
        diskType: premium_LRS
  replicas: 3
compute: 5
- name: worker
  platform:
    azure:
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGB: 512 6
        diskType: premium_LRS
  replicas: 3
metadata:
  name: test-cluster 7 8
networking:
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OVNKubernetes 9
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  azure:
    armEndpoint: azurestack_arm_endpoint 10 11
    baseDomainResourceGroupName: resource_group 12 13
    region: azure_stack_local_region 14 15
    resourceGroupName: existing_resource_group 16
    outboundType: Loadbalancer
    cloudName: AzureStackCloud 17
    clusterOSimage: https://vhdsa.blob.example.example.com/vhd/rhcos-410.84.202112040202-0-azurestack.x86_64.vhd 18 19
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}' 20 21
fips: false 22
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA... 23
additionalTrustBundle: | 24
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    <MY_TRUSTED_CA_CERT>
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
1 7 10 12 14 17 18 20
Required.
2 5
If you do not provide these parameters and values, the installation program provides the default value.
3
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. Although both sections currently define a single machine pool, it is possible that future versions of OpenShift Container Platform will support defining multiple compute pools during installation. Only one control plane pool is used.
4 6
You can specify the size of the disk to use in GB. Minimum recommendation for control plane nodes is 1024 GB.
8
The name of the cluster.
9
The cluster network plugin to install. The default value OVNKubernetes is the only supported value.
11
The Azure Resource Manager endpoint that your Azure Stack Hub operator provides.
13
The name of the resource group that contains the DNS zone for your base domain.
15
The name of your Azure Stack Hub local region.
16
The name of an existing resource group to install your cluster to. If undefined, a new resource group is created for the cluster.
19
The URL of a storage blob in the Azure Stack environment that contains an RHCOS VHD.
21
The pull secret required to authenticate your cluster.
22
Whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. By default, FIPS mode is not enabled. If FIPS mode is enabled, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines that OpenShift Container Platform runs on bypass the default Kubernetes cryptography suite and use the cryptography modules that are provided with RHCOS instead.
Important

When running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) booted in FIPS mode, OpenShift Container Platform core components use the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures.

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.

24
If the Azure Stack Hub environment is using an internal Certificate Authority (CA), adding the CA certificate is required.

3.7. Manually manage cloud credentials

The Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) only supports your cloud provider in manual mode. As a result, you must specify the identity and access management (IAM) secrets for your cloud provider.

Procedure

  1. If you have not previously created installation manifest files, do so by running the following command:

    $ openshift-install create manifests --dir <installation_directory>

    where <installation_directory> is the directory in which the installation program creates files.

  2. Set a $RELEASE_IMAGE variable with the release image from your installation file by running the following command:

    $ RELEASE_IMAGE=$(./openshift-install version | awk '/release image/ {print $3}')
  3. Extract the list of CredentialsRequest custom resources (CRs) from the OpenShift Container Platform release image by running the following command:

    $ oc adm release extract \
      --from=$RELEASE_IMAGE \
      --credentials-requests \
      --included \1
      --install-config=<path_to_directory_with_installation_configuration>/install-config.yaml \2
      --to=<path_to_directory_for_credentials_requests> 3
    1
    The --included parameter includes only the manifests that your specific cluster configuration requires.
    2
    Specify the location of the install-config.yaml file.
    3
    Specify the path to the directory where you want to store the CredentialsRequest objects. If the specified directory does not exist, this command creates it.

    This command creates a YAML file for each CredentialsRequest object.

    Sample CredentialsRequest object

    apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
    kind: CredentialsRequest
    metadata:
      name: <component_credentials_request>
      namespace: openshift-cloud-credential-operator
      ...
    spec:
      providerSpec:
        apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
        kind: AzureProviderSpec
        roleBindings:
        - role: Contributor
      ...

  4. Create YAML files for secrets in the openshift-install manifests directory that you generated previously. The secrets must be stored using the namespace and secret name defined in the spec.secretRef for each CredentialsRequest object.

    Sample CredentialsRequest object with secrets

    apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
    kind: CredentialsRequest
    metadata:
      name: <component_credentials_request>
      namespace: openshift-cloud-credential-operator
      ...
    spec:
      providerSpec:
        apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
        kind: AzureProviderSpec
        roleBindings:
        - role: Contributor
          ...
      secretRef:
        name: <component_secret>
        namespace: <component_namespace>
      ...

    Sample Secret object

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: <component_secret>
      namespace: <component_namespace>
    data:
      azure_subscription_id: <base64_encoded_azure_subscription_id>
      azure_client_id: <base64_encoded_azure_client_id>
      azure_client_secret: <base64_encoded_azure_client_secret>
      azure_tenant_id: <base64_encoded_azure_tenant_id>
      azure_resource_prefix: <base64_encoded_azure_resource_prefix>
      azure_resourcegroup: <base64_encoded_azure_resourcegroup>
      azure_region: <base64_encoded_azure_region>

Important

Before upgrading a cluster that uses manually maintained credentials, you must ensure that the CCO is in an upgradeable state.

3.8. Configuring the cluster to use an internal CA

If the Azure Stack Hub environment is using an internal Certificate Authority (CA), update the cluster-proxy-01-config.yaml file to configure the cluster to use the internal CA.

Prerequisites

  • Create the install-config.yaml file and specify the certificate trust bundle in .pem format.
  • Create the cluster manifests.

Procedure

  1. From the directory in which the installation program creates files, go to the manifests directory.
  2. Add user-ca-bundle to the spec.trustedCA.name field.

    Example cluster-proxy-01-config.yaml file

    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
    kind: Proxy
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      name: cluster
    spec:
      trustedCA:
        name: user-ca-bundle
    status: {}

  3. Optional: Back up the manifests/ cluster-proxy-01-config.yaml file. The installation program consumes the manifests/ directory when you deploy the cluster.

3.9. 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

  • You have configured an account with the cloud platform that hosts your cluster.
  • You have the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.
  • You have verified that 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

  • 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.

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.

3.10. 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 4.15. 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

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  2. Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list.
  3. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
  4. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.15 Linux Clients entry and save the file.
  5. Unpack the archive:

    $ tar xvf <file>
  6. Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

    To check your PATH, execute the following command:

    $ echo $PATH

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

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.15 Windows Client entry and save the file.
  4. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.
  5. Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH.

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

    C:\> path

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

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
  2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.15 macOS Clients entry and save the file.

    Note

    For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.15 macOS arm64 Client entry.

  4. Unpack and unzip the archive.
  5. Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH.

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

    $ echo $PATH

Verification

  • Verify your installation by using an oc command:

    $ oc <command>

3.11. 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

  1. Export the kubeadmin credentials:

    $ export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig 1
    1
    For <installation_directory>, specify the path to the directory that you stored the installation files in.
  2. Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration:

    $ oc whoami

    Example output

    system:admin

3.12. Logging in to the cluster by using the web console

The kubeadmin user exists by default after an OpenShift Container Platform installation. You can log in to your cluster as the kubeadmin user by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the installation host.
  • You completed a cluster installation and all cluster Operators are available.

Procedure

  1. Obtain the password for the kubeadmin user from the kubeadmin-password file on the installation host:

    $ cat <installation_directory>/auth/kubeadmin-password
    Note

    Alternatively, you can obtain the kubeadmin password from the <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log log file on the installation host.

  2. List the OpenShift Container Platform web console route:

    $ oc get routes -n openshift-console | grep 'console-openshift'
    Note

    Alternatively, you can obtain the OpenShift Container Platform route from the <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log log file on the installation host.

    Example output

    console     console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>            console     https   reencrypt/Redirect   None

  3. Navigate to the route detailed in the output of the preceding command in a web browser and log in as the kubeadmin user.

Additional resources

3.13. Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.15, 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.

After you confirm that your OpenShift Cluster Manager 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

3.14. Next steps

Red Hat logoGithubRedditYoutubeTwitter

Learn

Try, buy, & sell

Communities

About Red Hat Documentation

We help Red Hat users innovate and achieve their goals with our products and services with content they can trust.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. For more details, see the Red Hat Blog.

About Red Hat

We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

© 2024 Red Hat, Inc.