Chapter 3. User tasks

Procedure

1. Create a new project in the OpenShift Container Platform web console for this procedure. This example uses a project called my-etcd.

2. Navigate to the Operators Installed Operators page. The Operators that have been installed to the cluster by the cluster administrator and are available for use are shown here as a list of cluster service versions (CSVs). CSVs are used to launch and manage the software provided by the Operator.

   Tip

   You can get this list from the CLI using:

   $ oc get csv

3. On the Installed Operators page, click the etcd Operator to view more details and available actions.

   As shown under Provided APIs, this Operator makes available three new resource types, including one for an etcd Cluster (the EtcdCluster resource). These objects work similar to the built-in native Kubernetes ones, such as Deployment or ReplicaSet, but contain logic specific to managing etcd.

4. Create a new etcd cluster:

   1. In the etcd Cluster API box, click Create instance.
   2. The next page allows you to make any modifications to the minimal starting template of an EtcdCluster object, such as the size of the cluster. For now, click Create to finalize. This triggers the Operator to start up the pods, services, and other components of the new etcd cluster.

5. Click the example etcd cluster, then click the Resources tab to see that your project now contains a number of resources created and configured automatically by the Operator.

   Verify that a Kubernetes service has been created that allows you to access the database from other pods in your project.

6. All users with the edit role in a given project can create, manage, and delete application instances (an etcd cluster, in this example) managed by Operators that have already been created in the project, in a self-service manner, just like a cloud service. If you want to enable additional users with this ability, project administrators can add the role using the following command:

   $ oc policy add-role-to-user edit <user> -n <target_project>

Procedure

1. Navigate in the web console to the Operators OperatorHub page.

2. Scroll or type a keyword into the Filter by keyword box to find the Operator you want. For example, type advanced to find the Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes Operator.

   You can also filter options by Infrastructure Features. For example, select Disconnected if you want to see Operators that work in disconnected environments, also known as restricted network environments.

3. Select the Operator to display additional information.

   Note

   Choosing a Community Operator warns that Red Hat does not certify Community Operators; you must acknowledge the warning before continuing.

4. Read the information about the Operator and click Install.

5. On the Install Operator page, configure your Operator installation:

   1. If you want to install a specific version of an Operator, select an Update channel and Version from the lists. You can browse the various versions of an Operator across any channels it might have, view the metadata for that channel and version, and select the exact version you want to install.

      Note

      The version selection defaults to the latest version for the channel selected. If the latest version for the channel is selected, the Automatic approval strategy is enabled by default. Otherwise, Manual approval is required when not installing the latest version for the selected channel.

      Installing an Operator with Manual approval causes all Operators installed within the namespace to function with the Manual approval strategy and all Operators are updated together. If you want to update Operators independently, install Operators into separate namespaces.

   2. Choose a specific, single namespace in which to install the Operator. The Operator will only watch and be made available for use in this single namespace.

   3. For clusters on cloud providers with token authentication enabled:

      • If the cluster uses AWS STS (STS Mode in the web console), enter the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the AWS IAM role of your service account in the role ARN field. To create the role’s ARN, follow the procedure described in Preparing AWS account.
      • If the cluster uses Microsoft Entra Workload ID (Workload Identity / Federated Identity Mode in the web console), add the client ID, tenant ID, and subscription ID in the appropriate field.

   4. For Update approval, select either the Automatic or Manual approval strategy.

      Important

      If the web console shows that the cluster uses AWS STS or Microsoft Entra Workload ID, you must set Update approval to Manual.

      Subscriptions with automatic update approvals are not recommended because there might be permission changes to make prior to updating. Subscriptions with manual update approvals ensure that administrators have the opportunity to verify the permissions of the later version and take any necessary steps prior to update.

6. Click Install to make the Operator available to the selected namespaces on this OpenShift Container Platform cluster:

   1. If you selected a Manual approval strategy, the upgrade status of the subscription remains Upgrading until you review and approve the install plan.

      After approving on the Install Plan page, the subscription upgrade status moves to Up to date.

   2. If you selected an Automatic approval strategy, the upgrade status should resolve to Up to date without intervention.

Procedure

1. View the list of Operators available to the cluster from OperatorHub:

   $ oc get packagemanifests -n openshift-marketplace

   Example 3.1. Example output

   NAME                               CATALOG               AGE
   3scale-operator                    Red Hat Operators     91m
   advanced-cluster-management        Red Hat Operators     91m
   amq7-cert-manager                  Red Hat Operators     91m
   # ...
   couchbase-enterprise-certified     Certified Operators   91m
   crunchy-postgres-operator          Certified Operators   91m
   mongodb-enterprise                 Certified Operators   91m
   # ...
   etcd                               Community Operators   91m
   jaeger                             Community Operators   91m
   kubefed                            Community Operators   91m
   # ...

   Note the catalog for your desired Operator.

2. Inspect your desired Operator to verify its supported install modes and available channels:

   $ oc describe packagemanifests <operator_name> -n openshift-marketplace

   Example 3.2. Example output

   # ...
   Kind:         PackageManifest
   # ...
         Install Modes: 1
           Supported:  true
           Type:       OwnNamespace
           Supported:  true
           Type:       SingleNamespace
           Supported:  false
           Type:       MultiNamespace
           Supported:  true
           Type:       AllNamespaces
   # ...
       Entries:
         Name:       example-operator.v3.7.11
         Version:    3.7.11
         Name:       example-operator.v3.7.10
         Version:    3.7.10
       Name:         stable-3.7 2
   # ...
      Entries:
         Name:         example-operator.v3.8.5
         Version:      3.8.5
         Name:         example-operator.v3.8.4
         Version:      3.8.4
       Name:           stable-3.8 3
     Default Channel:  stable-3.8 4

   1

   Indicates which install modes are supported.

   2 3

   Example channel names.

   4

   The channel selected by default if one is not specified.

   Tip

   You can print an Operator’s version and channel information in YAML format by running the following command:

   $ oc get packagemanifests <operator_name> -n <catalog_namespace> -o yaml

   • If more than one catalog is installed in a namespace, run the following command to look up the available versions and channels of an Operator from a specific catalog:

     $ oc get packagemanifest \
        --selector=catalog=<catalogsource_name> \
        --field-selector metadata.name=<operator_name> \
        -n <catalog_namespace> -o yaml

     Important

     If you do not specify the Operator’s catalog, running the oc get packagemanifest and oc describe packagemanifest commands might return a package from an unexpected catalog if the following conditions are met:

     • Multiple catalogs are installed in the same namespace.
     • The catalogs contain the same Operators or Operators with the same name.

3. If the Operator you intend to install supports the AllNamespaces install mode, and you choose to use this mode, skip this step, because the openshift-operators namespace already has an appropriate Operator group in place by default, called global-operators.

   If the Operator you intend to install supports the SingleNamespace install mode, and you choose to use this mode, you must ensure an appropriate Operator group exists in the related namespace. If one does not exist, you can create create one by following these steps:

   Important

   You can only have one Operator group per namespace. For more information, see "Operator groups".

   1. Create an OperatorGroup object YAML file, for example operatorgroup.yaml, for SingleNamespace install mode:

      Example OperatorGroup object for SingleNamespace install mode

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
      kind: OperatorGroup
      metadata:
        name: <operatorgroup_name>
        namespace: <namespace> 1
      spec:
        targetNamespaces:
        - <namespace> 2

      1 2

      For SingleNamespace install mode, use the same <namespace> value for both the metadata.namespace and spec.targetNamespaces fields.

   2. Create the OperatorGroup object:

      $ oc apply -f operatorgroup.yaml

4. Create a Subscription object to subscribe a namespace to an Operator:

   1. Create a YAML file for the Subscription object, for example subscription.yaml:

      Note

      If you want to subscribe to a specific version of an Operator, set the startingCSV field to the desired version and set the installPlanApproval field to Manual to prevent the Operator from automatically upgrading if a later version exists in the catalog. For details, see the following "Example Subscription object with a specific starting Operator version".

      Example 3.3. Example Subscription object

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
      kind: Subscription
      metadata:
        name: <subscription_name>
        namespace: <namespace_per_install_mode> 1
      spec:
        channel: <channel_name> 2
        name: <operator_name> 3
        source: <catalog_name> 4
        sourceNamespace: <catalog_source_namespace> 5
        config:
          env: 6
          - name: ARGS
            value: "-v=10"
          envFrom: 7
          - secretRef:
              name: license-secret
          volumes: 8
          - name: <volume_name>
            configMap:
              name: <configmap_name>
          volumeMounts: 9
          - mountPath: <directory_name>
            name: <volume_name>
          tolerations: 10
          - operator: "Exists"
          resources: 11
            requests:
              memory: "64Mi"
              cpu: "250m"
            limits:
              memory: "128Mi"
              cpu: "500m"
          nodeSelector: 12
            foo: bar

      1

      For default AllNamespaces install mode usage, specify the openshift-operators namespace. Alternatively, you can specify a custom global namespace, if you have created one. For SingleNamespace install mode usage, specify the relevant single namespace.

      2

      Name of the channel to subscribe to.

      3

      Name of the Operator to subscribe to.

      4

      Name of the catalog source that provides the Operator.

      5

      Namespace of the catalog source. Use openshift-marketplace for the default OperatorHub catalog sources.

      6

      The env parameter defines a list of environment variables that must exist in all containers in the pod created by OLM.

      7

      The envFrom parameter defines a list of sources to populate environment variables in the container.

      8

      The volumes parameter defines a list of volumes that must exist on the pod created by OLM.

      9

      The volumeMounts parameter defines a list of volume mounts that must exist in all containers in the pod created by OLM. If a volumeMount references a volume that does not exist, OLM fails to deploy the Operator.

      10

      The tolerations parameter defines a list of tolerations for the pod created by OLM.

      11

      The resources parameter defines resource constraints for all the containers in the pod created by OLM.

      12

      The nodeSelector parameter defines a NodeSelector for the pod created by OLM.

      Example 3.4. Example Subscription object with a specific starting Operator version

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
      kind: Subscription
      metadata:
        name: example-operator
        namespace: example-operator
      spec:
        channel: stable-3.7
        installPlanApproval: Manual 1
        name: example-operator
        source: custom-operators
        sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
        startingCSV: example-operator.v3.7.10 2

      1

      Set the approval strategy to Manual in case your specified version is superseded by a later version in the catalog. This plan prevents an automatic upgrade to a later version and requires manual approval before the starting CSV can complete the installation.

      2

      Set a specific version of an Operator CSV.

   2. For clusters on cloud providers with token authentication enabled, configure your Subscription object by following these steps:

      1. Ensure the Subscription object is set to manual update approvals:

         kind: Subscription
         # ...
         spec:
           installPlanApproval: Manual 1

         1

         Subscriptions with automatic update approvals are not recommended because there might be permission changes to make prior to updating. Subscriptions with manual update approvals ensure that administrators have the opportunity to verify the permissions of the later version and take any necessary steps prior to update.

      2. Include the relevant cloud provider-specific fields in the Subscription object’s config section:

         • If the cluster is in AWS STS mode, include the following fields:

           kind: Subscription
           # ...
           spec:
             config:
               env:
               - name: ROLEARN
                 value: "<role_arn>" 1

           1

           Include the role ARN details.

         • If the cluster is in Microsoft Entra Workload ID mode, include the following fields:

           kind: Subscription
           # ...
           spec:
            config:
              env:
              - name: CLIENTID
                value: "<client_id>" 1
              - name: TENANTID
                value: "<tenant_id>" 2
              - name: SUBSCRIPTIONID
                value: "<subscription_id>" 3

           1

           Include the client ID.

           2

           Include the tenant ID.

           3

           Include the subscription ID.

   3. Create the Subscription object by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f subscription.yaml

5. If you set the installPlanApproval field to Manual, manually approve the pending install plan to complete the Operator installation. For more information, see "Manually approving a pending Operator update".

Verification

1. Check the status of the Subscription object for your installed Operator by running the following command:

   $ oc describe subscription <subscription_name> -n <namespace>

2. If you created an Operator group for SingleNamespace install mode, check the status of the OperatorGroup object by running the following command:

   $ oc describe operatorgroup <operatorgroup_name> -n <namespace>