Chapter 5. MetalLB Operator

Procedure

1. In the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to Operators OperatorHub.

2. Type a keyword into the Filter by keyword box or scroll to find the Operator you want. For example, type metallb to find the MetalLB 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. On the Install Operator page, accept the defaults and click Install.

Verification

1. To confirm that the installation is successful:

   1. Navigate to the Operators Installed Operators page.
   2. Check that the Operator is installed in the openshift-operators namespace and that its status is Succeeded.

2. If the Operator is not installed successfully, check the status of the Operator and review the logs:

   1. Navigate to the Operators Installed Operators page and inspect the Status column for any errors or failures.
   2. Navigate to the Workloads Pods page and check the logs in any pods in the openshift-operators project that are reporting issues.

Procedure

1. Create a namespace for the MetalLB Operator by entering the following command:

   $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Namespace
   metadata:
     name: metallb-system
   EOF

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2. Create an Operator group custom resource (CR) in the namespace:

   $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
   kind: OperatorGroup
   metadata:
     name: metallb-operator
     namespace: metallb-system
   EOF

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3. Confirm the Operator group is installed in the namespace:

   $ oc get operatorgroup -n metallb-system

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   Example output

   NAME               AGE
   metallb-operator   14m

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4. Create a Subscription CR:

   1. Define the Subscription CR and save the YAML file, for example, metallb-sub.yaml:

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
      kind: Subscription
      metadata:
        name: metallb-operator-sub
        namespace: metallb-system
      spec:
        channel: stable
        name: metallb-operator
        source: redhat-operators 

      1

      
        sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace

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      1

      You must specify the redhat-operators value.

   2. To create the Subscription CR, run the following command:

      $ oc create -f metallb-sub.yaml

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5. Optional: To ensure BGP and BFD metrics appear in Prometheus, you can label the namespace as in the following command:

   $ oc label ns metallb-system "openshift.io/cluster-monitoring=true"

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1. Confirm the install plan is in the namespace:

   $ oc get installplan -n metallb-system

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   Example output

   NAME            CSV                                   APPROVAL    APPROVED
   install-wzg94   metallb-operator.4.17.0-nnnnnnnnnnnn   Automatic   true

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   Note

   Installation of the Operator might take a few seconds.

2. To verify that the Operator is installed, enter the following command and then check that output shows Succeeded for the Operator:

   $ oc get clusterserviceversion -n metallb-system \
     -o custom-columns=Name:.metadata.name,Phase:.status.phase

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1. Create a single instance of a MetalLB custom resource:

   $ cat << EOF | oc apply -f -
   apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
   kind: MetalLB
   metadata:
     name: metallb
     namespace: metallb-system
   EOF

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1. Verify that the deployment for the controller is running:

   $ oc get deployment -n metallb-system controller

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   Example output

   NAME         READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   controller   1/1     1            1           11m

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2. Verify that the daemon set for the speaker is running:

   $ oc get daemonset -n metallb-system speaker

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   Example output

   NAME      DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   NODE SELECTOR            AGE
   speaker   6         6         6       6            6           kubernetes.io/os=linux   18m

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   The example output indicates 6 speaker pods. The number of speaker pods in your cluster might differ from the example output. Make sure the output indicates one pod for each node in your cluster.

Procedure

1. Get the YAML definition of the metallb-operator subscription in the metallb-system namespace by entering the following command:

   $ oc -n metallb-system get subscription metallb-operator -o yaml

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2. Edit the Subscription CR by setting the installPlanApproval parameter to Manual:

   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Subscription
   metadata:
     name: metallb-operator
     namespace: metallb-system
   # ...
   spec:
      channel: stable
      installPlanApproval: Manual
      name: metallb-operator
      source: redhat-operators
      sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
   # ...

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3. Find the latest OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 version of the MetalLB Operator by entering the following command:

   $ oc -n metallb-system get csv

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4. Check the install plan that exists in the namespace by entering the following command.

   $ oc -n metallb-system get installplan

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   Example output that shows install-tsz2g as a manual install plan

   NAME            CSV                                     APPROVAL    APPROVED
   install-shpmd   metallb-operator.v4.17.0-202502261233   Automatic   true
   install-tsz2g   metallb-operator.v4.17.0-202503102139   Manual      false

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5. Edit the install plan that exists in the namespace by entering the following command. Ensure that you replace <name_of_installplan> with the name of the install plan, such as install-tsz2g.

   $ oc edit installplan <name_of_installplan> -n metallb-system

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   1. With the install plan open in your editor, set the spec.approval parameter to Manual and set the spec.approved parameter to true.

      Note

      After you edit the install plan, the upgrade operation starts. If you enter the oc -n metallb-system get csv command during the upgrade operation, the output might show the Replacing or the Pending status.