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Chapter 10. OVN-Kubernetes default CNI network provider

10.1. About the OVN-Kubernetes default Container Network Interface (CNI) network provider

The OpenShift Container Platform cluster uses a virtualized network for pod and service networks. The OVN-Kubernetes Container Network Interface (CNI) plug-in is a network provider for the default cluster network.

10.1.1. OVN-Kubernetes features

The OVN-Kubernetes default Container Network Interface (CNI) network provider implements the following features:

  • Uses OVN (Open Virtual Network) to manage network traffic flows. OVN is a community developed, vendor agnostic network virtualization solution.
  • Implements Kubernetes network policy support, including ingress and egress rules.
  • Uses the Geneve (Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation) protocol rather than VXLAN to create an overlay network between nodes.

10.1.2. Supported default CNI network provider feature matrix

OpenShift Container Platform offers two supported choices, OpenShift SDN and OVN-Kubernetes, for the default Container Network Interface (CNI) network provider. The following table summarizes the current feature support for both network providers:

Table 10.1. Default CNI network provider feature comparison
FeatureOVN-Kubernetes [1]OpenShift SDN

Egress IPs

Not supported

Supported

Egress firewall [2]

Not supported

Supported

Egress router

Not supported

Supported

Kubernetes network policy

Supported

Partially supported [3]

Multicast

Supported

Supported

  1. Available only as a Technology Preview feature in OpenShift Container Platform 4.4.
  2. Egress firewall is also known as egress network policy in OpenShift SDN. This is not the same as network policy egress.
  3. Does not support egress rules and some ipBlock rules.

10.1.3. Exposed metrics for OVN-Kubernetes

The OVN-Kubernetes default Container Network Interface (CNI) network provider exposes certain metrics for use by the Prometheus-based OpenShift Container Platform cluster monitoring stack.

Table 10.2. Metrics exposed by OVN-Kubernetes
NameDescription

ovnkube_master_pod_creation_latency_seconds

The latency between when a pod is created and when the pod is annotated by OVN-Kubernetes. The higher the latency, the more time that elapses before a pod is available for network connectivity.

Additional resources

10.2. Enabling multicast for a project

Important

The Open Virtual Networking (OVN) Kubernetes network plug-in 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 the OVN Technology Preview, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/4380121.

Note

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.4, a bug prevents Pods in the same namespace, but assigned to different nodes, from communicating over multicast. For more information, see BZ#1843695.

10.2.1. About multicast

With IP multicast, data is broadcast to many IP addresses simultaneously.

Important

At this time, multicast is best used for low-bandwidth coordination or service discovery and not a high-bandwidth solution.

Multicast traffic between OpenShift Container Platform pods is disabled by default. If you are using the OVN-Kubernetes default Container Network Interface (CNI) network provider, you can enable multicast on a per-project basis.

10.2.2. Enabling multicast between pods

You can enable multicast between pods for your project.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You must log in to the cluster with a user that has the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

  • Run the following command to enable multicast for a project. Replace <namespace> with the namespace for the project you want to enable multicast for. 

    $ oc annotate namespace <namespace> \
    k8s.ovn.org/multicast-enabled=true

Verification steps

To verify that multicast is enabled for a project, complete the following procedure:

  1. Change your current project to the project that you enabled multicast for. Replace <project> with the project name. 

    $ oc project <project>

  2. Create a pod to act as a multicast receiver: 

    $ cat <<EOF| oc create -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: mlistener
  labels:
    app: multicast-verify
spec:
  containers:
    - name: mlistener
      image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8
      command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
      args:
        ["dnf -y install socat hostname && sleep inf"]
      ports:
        - containerPort: 30102
          name: mlistener
          protocol: UDP
EOF

  3. Create a pod to act as a multicast sender: 

    $ cat <<EOF| oc create -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: msender
  labels:
    app: multicast-verify
spec:
  containers:
    - name: msender
      image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8
      command: ["/bin/sh", "-c"]
      args:
        ["dnf -y install socat && sleep inf"]
EOF

  4. Start the multicast listener.

    1. Get the IP address for the Pod: 

      $ POD_IP=$(oc get pods mlistener -o jsonpath='{.status.podIP}')

    2. To start the multicast listener, in a new terminal window or tab, enter the following command: 

      $ oc exec mlistener -i -t -- \
    socat UDP4-RECVFROM:30102,ip-add-membership=224.1.0.1:$POD_IP,fork EXEC:hostname

  5. Start the multicast transmitter.

    1. Get the pod network IP address range: 

      $ CIDR=$(oc get Network.config.openshift.io cluster \
    -o jsonpath='{.status.clusterNetwork[0].cidr}')

    2. To send a multicast message, enter the following command: 

      $ oc exec msender -i -t -- \
    /bin/bash -c "echo | socat STDIO UDP4-DATAGRAM:224.1.0.1:30102,range=$CIDR,ip-multicast-ttl=64"

      If multicast is working, the previous command returns the following output: 

      mlistener

10.3. Disabling multicast for a project

Important

The Open Virtual Networking (OVN) Kubernetes network plug-in 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 the OVN Technology Preview, see https://access.redhat.com/articles/4380121.

10.3.1. Disabling multicast between pods

You can disable multicast between pods for your project.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You must log in to the cluster with a user that has the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

  • Disable multicast by running the following command: 

    $ oc annotate namespace <namespace> \ 1
    k8s.ovn.org/multicast-enabled-
    1
    The namespace for the project you want to disable multicast for.
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