Chapter 4. Deploying confidential containers on IBM Z and IBM LinuxONE with peer pods

1. Install the OpenShift sandboxed containers Operator.
2. Create the peer pods secret.
3. Enable the confidential containers feature gate.
4. Create initdata to initialize a peer pod with sensitive or workload-specific data at runtime.

5. Create initdata to initialize a pod with sensitive or workload-specific data at runtime.

   Important

   Do not use the default permissive Kata Agent policy in a production environment. You must configure a restrictive policy, preferably by creating initdata.

   As a minimum requirement, you must disable ExecProcessRequest to prevent a cluster administrator from accessing sensitive data by running the oc exec command on a confidential containers pod.

6. Create the peer pods config map. You can add initdata to the config map to create a default global configuration for your peer pods.
7. Create the KataConfig CR.
8. Verify the attestation process.

Procedure

1. Create a tdx-machine-config.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
   kind: MachineConfig
   metadata:
     labels:
       machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: <role> 

   1

   
     name: 99-enable-intel-tdx
   spec:
     kernelArguments:
     - kvm_intel.tdx=1
     - nohibernate
     config:
       ignition:
         version: 3.2.0
       storage:
         files:
           - path: /etc/modules-load.d/vsock.conf
             mode: 0644
             contents:
               source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,dnNvY2stbG9vcGJhY2sK

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   1

   Specify master for single-node OpenShift or kata-oc for a multi-node cluster.

2. Create the TDX config map by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f tdx-config.yaml

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Procedure

1. Create an osc-namespace.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Namespace
   metadata:
     name: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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2. Create the namespace by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f osc-namespace.yaml

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3. Create an osc-operatorgroup.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
   kind: OperatorGroup
   metadata:
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator-group
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   spec:
     targetNamespaces:
     - openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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4. Create the operator group by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f osc-operatorgroup.yaml

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5. Create an osc-subscription.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Subscription
   metadata:
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   spec:
     channel: stable
     installPlanApproval: Manual
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator
     source: redhat-operators
     sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
     startingCSV: sandboxed-containers-operator.v1.11.0

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6. Create the subscription by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f osc-subscription.yaml

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7. Get the InstallPlan CR for the OpenShift sandboxed containers Operator by running the following command:

   $ oc get installplan -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   • Installation example output

     NAME            CSV                                      APPROVAL  APPROVED
     install-bl4fl   sandboxed-containers-operator.v1.11.0    Manual    false

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   • Upgrade example output

     NAME            CSV                                     APPROVAL   APPROVED
     install-jdzrb   sandboxed-containers-operator.v1.11.0   Manual     false
     install-pfk8l   sandboxed-containers-operator.v1.10.3   Manual     true

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8. Approve the manual installation by running the following command:

   $ oc patch installplan <installplan_name> -p '{"spec":{"approved":true}}' --type=merge -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   <installplan_name>

   Specify the InstallPlan resource. For example, install-jdzrb.

9. Verify that the Operator is correctly installed by running the following command:

   $ oc get csv -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   This command can take several minutes to complete.

10. Watch the process by running the following command:

    $ watch oc get csv -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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    Example output

    NAME                             DISPLAY                                  VERSION             REPLACES                   PHASE
    openshift-sandboxed-containers   openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator  1.11.0    1.10.3        Succeeded

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Procedure

1. Create a peer-pods-secret.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     name: peer-pods-secret
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   type: Opaque
   stringData:
     CLOUD_PROVIDER: "libvirt"
     LIBVIRT_URI: "<libvirt_gateway_uri>" 

   1

   
     REDHAT_OFFLINE_TOKEN: "<rh_offline_token>" 

   2

   
     HOST_KEY_CERTS: "<host_key_crt_value>" 

   3

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   1

   Specify the libvirt URI.

   2

   Specify the Red Hat offline token, which is required for the Operator-built image.

   3

   Specify the HKD certificate value to enable IBM Secure Execution for the Operator-built image.

2. Create the secret by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f peer-pods-secret.yaml

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Procedure

1. Create a my-feature-gate.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: osc-feature-gates
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   data:
     confidential: "true"
     deploymentMode: <deployment_mode>

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   where

   <deployment_mode>

   On OpenShift Container Platform clusters with the Machine Config Operator (MCO), the deploymentMode field is optional and can be omitted. Specifies the strategy for installing and configuring the Kata runtime. Specify the deployment mode:

   • MachineConfig for clusters that always use the MCO
   • DaemonSet for clusters that never use the MCO
   • DaemonSetFallback for clusters that sometimes use the MCO

2. Create the my-feature-gates config map by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f my-feature-gate.yaml

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Procedure

1. Obtain the Red Hat build of Trustee IP address by running the following command:

   $ oc get node $(oc get pod -n trustee-operator-system \
     -o jsonpath='{.items[0].spec.nodeName}') \
     -o jsonpath='{.status.addresses[?(@.type=="InternalIP")].address}'

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   Example output

   192.168.122.22

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2. Obtain the port by running the following command:

   $ oc get svc kbs-service -n trustee-operator-system

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   Example output

   NAME         TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)          AGE
   kbs-service  NodePort    172.30.116.11   <none>        8080:32178/TCP   12d

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3. Create the initdata.toml file:

   algorithm = "sha384"
   version = "0.1.0"
   
   [data]
   "aa.toml" = '''
   [token_configs]
   [token_configs.coco_as]
   
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   
   [token_configs.kbs]
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   '''
   
   "cdh.toml" = '''
   socket = 'unix:///run/confidential-containers/cdh.sock'
   credentials = []
   
   [kbc]
   name = 'cc_kbc'
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   kbs_cert = """
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   <kbs_certificate>
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   """
   [image]
   image_security_policy_uri = 'kbs:///default/<secret-policy-name>/<key>
   '''
   
   "policy.rego" = '''
   package agent_policy
   
   default AddARPNeighborsRequest := true
   default AddSwapRequest := true
   default CloseStdinRequest := true
   default CopyFileRequest := true
   default CreateContainerRequest := true
   default CreateSandboxRequest := true
   default DestroySandboxRequest := true
   default GetMetricsRequest := true
   default GetOOMEventRequest := true
   default GuestDetailsRequest := true
   default ListInterfacesRequest := true
   default ListRoutesRequest := true
   default MemHotplugByProbeRequest := true
   default OnlineCPUMemRequest := true
   default PauseContainerRequest := true
   default PullImageRequest := true
   default ReadStreamRequest := true
   default RemoveContainerRequest := true
   default RemoveStaleVirtiofsShareMountsRequest := true
   default ReseedRandomDevRequest := true
   default ResumeContainerRequest := true
   default SetGuestDateTimeRequest := true
   default SignalProcessRequest := true
   default StartContainerRequest := true
   default StartTracingRequest := true
   default StatsContainerRequest := true
   default StopTracingRequest := true
   default TtyWinResizeRequest := true
   default UpdateContainerRequest := true
   default UpdateEphemeralMountsRequest := true
   default UpdateInterfaceRequest := true
   default UpdateRoutesRequest := true
   default WaitProcessRequest := true
   default ExecProcessRequest := false
   default SetPolicyRequest := false
   default WriteStreamRequest := false
   
   ExecProcessRequest if {
       input_command = concat(" ", input.process.Args)
       some allowed_command in policy_data.allowed_commands
       input_command == allowed_command
   }
   
   policy_data := {
     "allowed_commands": [
           "curl http://127.0.0.1:8006/cdh/resource/default/attestation-status/status"
     ]
   }
   '''

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   url

   Specify the Red Hat build of Trustee IP address and the port, for example, https://192.168.122.22:32178.

   <kbs_certificate>

   Specify the Base64-encoded TLS certificate for the attestation agent.

   kbs_cert

   Delete the kbs_cert setting if you configure insecure_http = true in the kbs-config config map for Red Hat build of Trustee.

   image_security_policy_uri

   Optional, only if you enabled the container image signature verification policy. Replace <secret-policy-name> and <key> with the secret name and key, respectively specified in Creating the KbsConfig custom resource.

4. Convert the initdata.toml file to a Base64-encoded string in gzip format in a text file by running the following command:

   $ cat initdata.toml | gzip | base64 -w0 > initdata.txt

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   Record this string to use in the peer pods config map or the peer pod manifest.

Procedure

1. Add the initdata string to the pod manifest:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: ocp-cc-pod
     labels:
       app: ocp-cc-pod
     annotations:
       io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.cc_init_data: <initdata_string>
   spec:
     runtimeClassName: kata-cc
     containers:
     - name: <container_name>
       image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:latest
       command:
       - sleep
       - "36000"
       securityContext:
         privileged: false
         seccompProfile:
           type: RuntimeDefault

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2. Create the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f my-pod.yaml

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Procedure

1. Create an example-kataconfig.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: kataconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
   kind: KataConfig
   metadata:
     name: example-kataconfig
   spec:
   
     enablePeerPods: true
   
     logLevel: info
   #  kataConfigPoolSelector:
   #    matchLabels:
   #      <label_key>: '<label_value>' 

   1

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   1

   Optional: If you have applied node labels to install kata-cc on specific nodes, specify the key and value, for example, cc: 'true'.

2. Create the KataConfig CR by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f example-kataconfig.yaml

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   The new KataConfig CR is created and installs kata-cc as a runtime class on the worker nodes.

   Wait for the kata-cc installation to complete and the worker nodes to reboot before verifying the installation.

3. Monitor the installation progress by running the following command:

   $ watch "oc describe kataconfig | sed -n /^Status:/,/^Events/p"

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   When the status of all workers under kataNodes is installed and the condition InProgress is False without specifying a reason, the kata-cc is installed on the cluster.

4. Verify that you have built the peer pod image and uploaded it to the libvirt volume by running the following command:

   $ oc describe configmap peer-pods-cm -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   Example output

   Name: peer-pods-cm
   Namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   Labels: <none>
   Annotations: <none>
   
   Data
   ====
   CLOUD_PROVIDER: libvirt
   DISABLECVM: false 

   1

   
   LIBVIRT_IMAGE_ID: fa-pp-vol 

   2

   
   
   BinaryData
   ====
   Events: <none>

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   1

   Enables the Confidential VM during IBM Secure Execution for the Operator-built image.

   2

   Contains a value if you have built the peer pod image and uploaded it to the libvirt volume.

5. Monitor the kata-oc machine config pool progress to ensure that it is in the UPDATED state, when UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT equals MACHINECOUNT, by running the following command:

   $ watch oc get mcp/kata-oc

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6. Verify the daemon set by running the following command:

   $ oc get -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator ds/osc-caa-ds

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7. Verify the runtime classes by running the following command:

   $ oc get runtimeclass

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   Example output

   NAME             HANDLER          AGE
   kata-cc      kata-se      152m

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Procedure

1. Create a test-pod.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: busybox
     namespace: default
     annotations:
       io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.cc_init_data: <initdata_string> 

   1

   
     labels:
       run: busybox
   spec:
     runtimeClassName: kata-cc
     restartPolicy: Never
     containers:
     - name: busybox
       image: quay.io/prometheus/busybox:latest
       imagePullPolicy: Always
       command:
         - "sleep"
         - "3600"

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   1

   Optional: Setting initdata in a pod annotation overrides the global INITDATA setting in the peer pods config map.

2. Create the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f test-pod.yaml

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3. Log in to the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc exec -it busybox -n default -- /bin/sh

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4. Fetch the Red Hat build of Trustee resource by running the following command:

   $ wget http://127.0.0.1:8006/cdh/resource/default/kbsres1/key1

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   Example output

   Connecting to 127.0.0.1:8006 (127.0.0.1:8006)
   saving to 'key1'
   key1                 100% |*******************************************|     8  0:00:00 ETA
   'key1' saved

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5. Display the key1 value by running the following command:

   $ cat key1

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   Example output

   success #/

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