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Edge manager

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13

See how Red Hat Edge Manager (Technology Preview) with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management provides scalable, secure edge management for devices and fleets.

Abstract

Learn about components that you can use for scalable, secure edge management.

Technology Preview: The Red Hat Edge Manager provides streamlined management of edge devices and applications through a declarative approach.

By defining the required state of your edge devices, which includes your operating system versions, host configurations, and application deployments, the Red Hat Edge Manager automatically implements and maintains these configurations across your entire device fleet.

By using the Red Hat Edge Manager on Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, you can manage non-Kubernetes workloads and your operating system configuration on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux machine consistently with how you manage it on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.

See the following topics to learn more about using Red Hat Edge Manager on Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. All features are in Technology Preview status:

1.1. Red Hat Edge Manager architecture
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Technology Preview: You can manage individual devices or an entire fleet by using the Red Hat Edge Manager. The Red Hat Edge Manager uses an agent-based architecture that allows for a scalable and robust device management, even with limited network conditions.

By deploying a Red Hat Edge Manager agent to a device, the agent autonomously manages and monitors the device while periodically communicating with the Red Hat Edge Manager service to check for new configurations and to report device status.

The Red Hat Edge Manager supports image-based operating systems. You can include the Red Hat Edge Manager agent and the agent configuration in the image that is distributed to the devices.

Image-based operating systems allow the agent to initiate a transactional update of the image and to roll back to the previous version in case of an update error.

The Red Hat Edge Manager architecture has the following main features:

  • Agent
  • Service
  • Image-based operating system
  • API server
  • Database
  • Device
  • Device fleet

Learn more details from the following sections:

1.1.1. Red Hat Edge Manager agent and service
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The Red Hat Edge Manager agent is a process running on each managed device that periodically communicates the Red Hat Edge Manager service on the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster. The agent is responsible for the following tasks:

  • Enrolling devices into the service
  • Periodically checking with the service for changes in the device specification, such as changes to the operating system, configuration, and applications
  • Applying any updates independently from the service
  • Reporting status of the device and the applications

The Red Hat Edge Manager service is responsible for the following tasks:

  • Authenticating and authorizing users and agents
  • Enrolling devices
  • Managing device inventory
  • Reporting status from individual devices or fleets

The service also communicates with a database that stores the device inventory and the target device configuration. When communicating with the service, the agent polls the service for changes in the configuration. If the the agent detects that the current configuration deviates from the target configuration, the agent attempts to apply the changes to the device.

When the agent receives a new target configuration from the service, the agent does the following tasks:

  1. To avoid depending on network connectivity during the update, the agent downloads all required resources, such as the operating system image and application container images, over the network to disk.
  2. The agent updates the operating system image by delegating to bootc.
  3. The agent updates configuration files on the file system of the device by overlaying a set of files that the service sends to the device.
  4. If necessary, the agent reboots into the new operating system. Otherwise, the agent signals system services and applications to reload the updated configuration.
  5. The agent updates applications running on Podman or MicroShift.

If the update fails or the system does not return online after rebooting, the agent automatically rolls back to the previous operating system image and configuration.

Note: You can maintain fleet definitions in Git. The Red Hat Edge Manager periodically syncs with the fleet definitions in the database.

1.1.2. Red Hat Edge Manager API server
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The API server is a core component of the Red Hat Edge Manager service that allows users and agents to communicate with the service.

The API server exposes the following endpoints:

User-facing API endpoint
Users can connect to the user-facing API endpoint from the CLI or the web console. Users must authenticate with the configured external authentication service to obtain a JSON Web Token (JWT) to make HTTPS requests.
Agent-facing API endpoint
Agents connect to the agent-facing endpoint, which is mTLS-protected. The service authenticates devices using the X.509 client certificates.

The Red Hat Edge Manager service also communicates with various external systems to authenticate and authorize users, get mTLS certificates signed, or query configuration for managed devices.

1.1.3. Device enrollment
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Technology Preview: You need to enroll devices to a Red Hat Edge Manager service before you can start managing them. The Red Hat Edge Manager agent that runs on a device handles the device enrollment.

When the agent starts on a device, the agent searches for the configuration in the /etc/flightctl/config.yaml file. The file defines the following configurations:

  • The enrollment endpoint, which is the Red Hat Edge Manager service that the agent connects to for enrollment.
  • The enrollment certificate, which is the X.509 client certificate and key that the agent only uses to securely request enrollment from the Red Hat Edge Manager service.
  • Optional: Any additional agent configuration.

The agent starts the enrollment process by searching for the enrollment endpoint, the Red Hat Edge Manager service, that is defined in the configuration file.

After establishing a secure, mTLS-protected network connection with the service, the agent submits an enrollment request to the service.

The request includes a description of hardware and operating system of the device, a X.509 certificate signing request, and the cryptographic identity of the device.

The enrollment request must be approved by an authorized user. After the request is approved, the device becomes trusted and managed by the Red Hat Edge Manager service.

1.1.3.1. Enrollment methods
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You can provision the enrollment endpoint and certificate to the device in the following ways:

Early binding
You can build an operating system image that includes the enrollment endpoint and certificate. Devices using an early binding image can automatically connect to the defined Red Hat Edge Manager service to request enrollment, without depending on any provisioning infrastructure.

The devices share the same long-lived X.509 client certificate. However, in this case, the devices are bound to a specific service and owner.

Late binding
You can define the enrollment endpoint and certificate at provisioning time instead of including them in the operating system image. Devices using a late binding image are not bound to a single owner or service and can have device-specific, short-lived X.509 client certificates.

However, late binding requires virtualization or bare metal provisioning infrastructure that can request device-specific enrollment endpoints and certificates from the Red Hat Edge Manager service and inject them into the provisioned system by using mechanisms such as cloud-init, Ignition, or kickstart.

Note: The enrollment certificate is only used to secure the network connection for submitting an enrollment request. The enrollment certificate is not involved in the actual verification or approval of the enrollment request. The enrollment certificate is no longer used with enrolled devices, as the devices rely on device-specific management certificates instead.

1.2. Enabling the Red Hat Edge Manager
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Technology Preview: Enable the Red Hat Edge Manager to manage edge devices and applications at scale.

Required access: Cluster administrator

1.2.1. Prerequisites
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Patch the MultiClusterHub resource, then verify that Red Hat Edge Manager is enabled. Complete the following procedure:

  1. Set the enabled field to true in the edge-manager-preview entry of spec.overrides.components in the Multiclusterhub resource by running the following command: 

    oc patch multiclusterhubs.operator.open-cluster-management.io multiclusterhub -n rhacm --type json --patch '[{"op": "add", "path":"/spec/overrides/components/-", "value": {"name":"edge-manager-preview","enabled": true}}]'
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Verify that the Red Hat Edge Manager is enabled by running the following command on the hub cluster: 

    oc -n open-cluster-management get pods | grep flightctl-api
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    flightctl-api                    2/2     Running   0             43s
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

1.2.3. Enabling the Red Hat Edge Manager console
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Enable Red Hat Edge Manager in the OpenShift Container Platform web console. Complete the following procedure:

  1. Open the console for editing by running the following command: 

    oc edit console.v1.operator.openshift.io
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  2. Enable the Red Hat Edge Manager console by adding flightctl-plugin to the spec.plugins section.

1.2.4. Red Hat Edge Manager authorization
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Technology Preview: The Red Hat Edge Manager Kubernetes authorization uses role-based access control (RBAC) to control authorization for Red Hat Edge Manager API endpoints.

You can set up Kubernetes RBAC authorization by using the following roles in the open-cluster-management namespace:

  • Role and RoleBinding for namespace-wide authorization
  • ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding for cluster-wide authorization

You can use the Role or ClusterRole API objects to define the allowed API resources and verbs for a particular role.

The RoleBinding or ClusterRoleBinding API objects grant permissions that are defined in a role to one or more users.

For more information, see Role-based access control.

1.2.4.1. Red Hat Edge Manager RBAC roles
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The Red Hat Edge Manager has the following default roles and their permissions:

Expand

Roles

Permissions

Resources

flightctl-admin

All

All

flightctl-viewer

get, list

devices, fleets, resourcesyncs

flightctl-operator

get, list, create, delete, update, patch

devices, fleets, resourcesyncs

get

devices/console

get, list

repositories, fleets, templateversions

flightctl-installer

get, list

enrollmentrequests

post

enrollmentrequests/approval

get, list, create

certificatesigningrequests

The following table contains the routes, names, resource names, and verbs for the Red Hat Edge Manager API endpoints:

Expand

Route

Name

Resource

Verb

DELETE /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests

DeleteCertificateSigningRequests

certificatesigningrequests

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests

ListCertificateSigningRequests

certificatesigningrequests

list

POST /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests

CreateCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests

create

DELETE /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests/{name}

DeleteCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests

delete

GET /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests/{name}

ReadCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests

get

PATCH /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests/{name}

PatchCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests

patch

PUT /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests/{name}

ReplaceCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests

update

DELETE /api/v1/certificatesigningrequests/{name}/approval

DenyCertificateSigningRequest

certificatesigningrequests/approval

delete

POST /api/v1/devices

CreateDevice

devices

create

GET /api/v1/devices

ListDevices

devices

list

DELETE /api/v1/devices

DeleteDevices

devices

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/devices/{name}

ReadDevice

devices

get

PUT /api/v1/devices/{name}

ReplaceDevice

devices

update

DELETE /api/v1/devices/{name}

DeleteDevice

devices

delete

GET /api/v1/devices/{name}/status

ReadDeviceStatus

devices/status

get

PUT /api/v1/devices/{name}/status

ReplaceDeviceStatus

devices/status

update

GET /api/v1/devices/{name}/rendered

GetRenderedDevice

devices/rendered

get

PUT /api/v1/devices/{name}/decommission

DecommissionDevice

devices/decommission

update

GET /ws/v1/devices/{name}/console

DeviceConsole

devices/console

get

POST /api/v1/enrollmentrequests

CreateEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests

create

GET /api/v1/enrollmentrequests

ListEnrollmentRequests

enrollmentrequests

list

DELETE /api/v1/enrollmentrequests

DeleteEnrollmentRequests

enrollmentrequests

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}

ReadEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests

get

PUT /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}

ReplaceEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests

update

PATCH /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}

PatchEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests

patch

DELETE /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}

DeleteEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests

delete

GET /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}/status

ReadEnrollmentRequestStatus

enrollmentrequests/status

get

POST /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}/approval

ApproveEnrollmentRequest

enrollmentrequests/approval

post

PUT /api/v1/enrollmentrequests/{name}/status

ReplaceEnrollmentRequestStatus

enrollmentrequests/status

update

POST /api/v1/fleets

CreateFleet

fleets

create

GET /api/v1/fleets

ListFleets

fleets

list

DELETE /api/v1/fleets

DeleteFleets

fleets

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/fleets/{name}

ReadFleet

fleets

get

PUT /api/v1/fleets/{name}

ReplaceFleet

fleets

update

DELETE /api/v1/fleets/{name}

DeleteFleet

fleets

delete

GET /api/v1/fleets/{name}/status

ReadFleetStatus

fleets/status

get

PUT /api/v1/fleets/{name}/status

ReplaceFleetStatus

fleets/status

update

POST /api/v1/repositories

CreateRepository

repositories

create

GET /api/v1/repositories

ListRepositories

repositories

list

DELETE /api/v1/repositories

DeleteRepositories

repositories

deletecollection

PUT /api/v1/repositories/{name}

ReplaceRepository

repositories

update

DELETE /api/v1/repositories/{name}

DeleteRepository

repositories

delete

POST /api/v1/resourcesyncs

CreateResourceSync

resourcesyncs

create

GET /api/v1/resourcesyncs

ListResourceSync

resourcesyncs

list

DELETE /api/v1/resourcesyncs

DeleteResourceSyncs

resourcesyncs

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/resourcesyncs/{name}

ReadResourceSync

resourcesyncs

get

PUT /api/v1/resourcesyncs/{name}

ReplaceResourceSync

resourcesyncs

update

DELETE /api/v1/resourcesyncs/{name}

DeleteResourceSync

resourcesyncs

delete

GET /api/v1/fleets/{fleet}/templateVersions

ListTemplateVersions

fleets/templateversions

list

DELETE /api/v1/fleets/{fleet}/templateVersions

DeleteTemplateVersions

fleets/templateversions

deletecollection

GET /api/v1/fleets/{fleet}/templateVersions/{name}

ReadTemplateVersion

fleets/templateversions

get

DELETE /api/v1/fleets/{fleet}/templateVersions/{name}

DeleteTemplateVersion

fleets/templateversions

delete

Image-based operating systems allow the operating system and the configuration and applications to be versioned, deployed, and updated as a single unit.

Using an image-based operating system reduces operational risks with the following capability:

  • Minimizing drift between tested and deployed environments.
  • Reducing failed updates through transactional updates and rollbacks, and reducing maintenance and replacement costs.

The Red Hat Edge Manager focuses on image-based Linux operating systems that run bootable container image (bootc). For more information, see bootc.

Important: The bootc tool does not update package-based operating systems.

Learn how to build images from the following:

  • Choose a base bootc operating system image, such as a Fedora, CentOS, or RHEL image.

  • Create a container file that layers the following items onto the base bootc image:

    • The Red Hat Edge Manager agent and configuration.
    • Optional: Any drivers specific to your target deployment environment.
    • Optional: Host configuration, for example certificate authority bundles, and application workloads that are common to all deployments.
  • Build, publish, and sign a bootc operating system image using podman and skopeo.
  • Create an operating system disk image by using bootc-image-builder.
  • Build, publish, and sign an operating system disk image using skopeo.

Note: The operating system disk image contains partitions, volumes, the file system, and the initial bootc image. The operating system disk image only needs to be created once, during provisioning.

For subsequent device updates, only the bootc operating system image is required, which contains the files in the file system.

See the following image building topics:

1.3.1. Special considerations for building images
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Technology Preview: The following topics cover special considerations for building images for the Red Hat Edge Manager:

Add configuration to the operating system image at build time. Adding configuration at build time ensures that the configurations are tested, distributed, and updated together. In cases when build-time configuration is not feasible or desirable, you can dynamically configure devices at runtime instead with the Red Hat Edge Manager.

Dynamic runtime configuration is preferable in the following cases:

  • You have a configuration that is deployment or site-specific, such as a hostname or a site-specific network credential.
  • You have secrets that are not secure to distribute with the image.
  • You have application workloads that need to be added, updated, or deleted without reboot or they are on a faster cadence than the operating system.
1.3.1.2. Configuration in /usr directory
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Place configuration files in the /usr directory if the configuration is static and the application or service supports that configuration. By placing the configuration in the /usr directory, the configuration remains read-only and fully defined by the image.

It is not feasible or desirable to place the configuration in the /usr directory in the following cases:

  • The configuration is deployment or site-specific.
  • The application or service only supports reading configuration from the /etc directory.
  • The configuration might need to be changed at runtime.
1.3.1.3. Drop-in directories
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Use drop-in directories to add, replace, or remove configuration files that the service aggregates. Do not directly edit your configuration files that might cause deviation from the target configuration.

Note: You can identify drop-in directories by the .d/ at the end of the directory name. For example, /etc/containers/certs.d, /etc/cron.d, and /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d.

1.3.1.4. Operating system images with scripts
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Avoid executing scripts or commands that change the file system. The bootc or the Red Hat Edge Manager can overwrite the changed files that might cause a deviation or failed integrity checks.

Instead, run such scripts or commands during image building, so changes are part of the image. Alternatively, use the configuration management mechanisms of the Red Hat Edge Manager.

1.3.1.5. Additional resources
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Technology Preview: To prepare your device to be managed by the Red Hat Edge Manager, build a bootc operating system image that contains the Red Hat Edge Manager agent. Then build an operating system disk image for your devices.

For more information, read the following sections:

1.3.2.1. Prerequisites
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See the following prerequisites for building a bootc operating system image:

1.3.2.2. Installing the Red Hat Edge Manager CLI
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To install the Red Hat Edge Manager CLI, complete the following steps:

  1. Enable the subscription manager for the repository appropriate for your system by running the following command: 

    subscription-manager repos --enable rhacm-2.13-for-rhel-<version>-<arch>-rpms
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    For a full list of available repositories for the Red Hat Edge Manager, see the Additional resources section.

  2. Install the flightctl CLI with your package manager. Run the following command: 

    sudo dnf install flightctl
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

If you want to include an agent configuration in the image, complete the following steps:

  1. Authenticate with the Red Hat Edge Manager service by using the flightctl CLI. Run the following command: 

    flightctl login --username=<your_user> --password=<your_password> https://<rhem_api_server_url>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Note: The CLI uses the certificate authority pool of the host to verify the identity of the Red Hat Edge Manager service. The verification can lead to a TLS verification error when using self-signed certificates, if you do not add your certificate authority certificate to the pool. You can bypass the server verification by adding the --insecure-skip-tls-verify flag to your command.

  2. Obtain the enrollment credentials in the format of an agent configuration file by running the following command: 

    flightctl certificate request --signer=enrollment --expiration=365d --output=embedded > config.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Notes:

    • The --expiration=365d option specifies that the credentials are valid for a year.

    • The --output=embedded option specifies that the output is an agent configuration file with the enrollment credentials embedded.

      The returned config.yaml contains the URLs of the Red Hat Edge Manager service, the certificate authority bundle, and the enrollment client certificate and key for the agent. See the following example: 

    enrollment-service:
  authentication:
    client-certificate-data: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBD...
    client-key-data: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBF...
  service:
    certificate-authority-data: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBD...
    server: https://agent-api.flightctl.127.0.0.1.nip.io:7443
  enrollment-ui-endpoint: https://ui.flightctl.127.0.0.1.nip.io:8081
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.3.2.4. Optional: Using image pull secrets
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If your device relies on containers from a private repository, you must configure a pull secret for the registry. Complete the following steps:

  1. Depending on the kind of container image you use, place the pull secret in one or both of the following system paths on the device:

    • Operating system images use the /etc/ostree/auth.json path.
    • Application container images use the /root/.config/containers/auth.json path.

    Important: The pull secret must exist on the device before the secret can be consumed.

  2. Ensure that the pull secrets have the following format: 

    {
  "auths": {
    "registry.example.com": {
      "auth": "base64-encoded-credentials"
    }
  }
}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

For more information, see the Additional resources section.

Build the operating system image with bootc that contains the Red Hat Edge Manager agent. You can optionally include the following items in your operating system image:

  • The agent configuration for early binding
  • Any drivers
  • Host configuration
  • Application workloads that you need

Complete the following steps:

  1. Create a Containerfile file with the following content to build a RHEL 9-based operating system image that includes the Red Hat Edge Manager agent and configuration: 

    FROM registry.redhat.io/rhel9/rhel-bootc:<required_os_version>
    1 
    

RUN subscription-manager repos --enable rhacm-2.13-for-rhel-9-$(uname -m)-rpms && \
    dnf -y install flightctl-agent && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    systemctl enable flightctl-agent.service && \
    systemctl mask bootc-fetch-apply-updates.timer
    2
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    The base image that is referenced in FROM is a bootable container (bootc) image that already contains a Linux kernel, which allows you to reuse existing standard container build tools and workflows.
    2
    Disables the default automatic updates. The updates are managed by the Red Hat Edge Manager.

    Important: If your device relies on containers from a private repository, the device pull secret must be placed in the /etc/ostree/auth.json path. The pull secret must exist on the device before the secret can be consumed.

    1. Optional: To enable podman-compose application support, add the following section to the Containerfile file: 

      RUN dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm && \
    dnf -y install podman-compose && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    systemctl enable podman.service
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    2. Optional: If you created the config.yaml for early binding, add the following section to the Containerfile: 

      ADD config.yaml /etc/flightctl/
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    For more information, see Optional: Requesting an enrollment certificate for early binding.

  2. Define the Open Container Initiative (OCI) registry by running the following command: 

    OCI_REGISTRY=registry.redhat.io
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Define the image repository that you have permissions to write to by running the following command: 

    OCI_IMAGE_REPO=${OCI_REGISTRY}/<your_org>/<your_image>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Define the image tag by running the following command: 

    OCI_IMAGE_TAG=v1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  5. Build the operating system image for your target platform: 

    sudo podman build -t ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} .
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

To sign the bootc operating system image by using Sigstore, complete the following steps:

  1. Generate a Sigstore key pair named signingkey.pub and signingkey.private: 

    skopeo generate-sigstore-key --output-prefix signingkey
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  2. Configure container tools such as Podman and Skopeo to upload Sigstore signatures together with your signed image to your OCI registry: 

    sudo tee "/etc/containers/registries.d/${OCI_REGISTRY}.yaml" > /dev/null <<EOF
docker:
    ${OCI_REGISTRY}:
        use-sigstore-attachments: true
EOF
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Log in to your OCI registry by running the following command: 

    sudo podman login ${OCI_REGISTRY}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Sign and publish the operating system image by running the following command: 

    sudo podman push \
    --sign-by-sigstore-private-key ./signingkey.private \
    ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.3.2.7. Building the operating system disk image
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Build the operating system disk image that contains the file system for your devices. Complete the following steps:

  1. Create a directory called output by running the following command: 

    mkdir -p output
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  2. Use bootc-image-builder to generate an operating system disk image of type iso from your operating system image. Run the following command: 

    sudo podman run --rm -it --privileged --pull=newer \
    --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
    -v "${PWD}/output":/output \
    -v /var/lib/containers/storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
    registry.redhat.io/rhel9/bootc-image-builder:latest \
    --type iso \
    ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

When the bootc-image-builder completes, you can find the ISO disk image at the ${PWD}/output/bootiso/install.iso path.

Sign and publish your disk image to your Open Container Initiative (OCI) registry. Optionally, you can compress and publish the disk image as an OCI artifact to the same OCI registry as your bootc images, which facilitates a unified hosting and distribution of bootc and disk images. To publish your ISO disk image to a repository named after your bootc image with /diskimage-iso appended, complete the following steps:

1.3.2.8.1. Prerequisites
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Sign and publish your disk image to your OCI registry. Complete the following steps:

  1. Change the owner of the directory where the ISO disk image is located from root to your current user. Run the following command: 

    sudo chown -R $(whoami):$(whoami) "${PWD}/output"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Define the OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO environmental variable to be the same repository as your bootc image with /diskimage-iso appended. Run the following command: 

    OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO=${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}/diskimage-iso
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Create a manifest list by running the following command: 

    sudo podman manifest create \
    ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Add the ISO disk image to the manifest list as an OCI artifact by running the following command: 

    sudo podman manifest add \
    --artifact --artifact-type application/vnd.diskimage.iso \
    --arch=amd64 --os=linux \
    ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} \
    "${PWD}/output/bootiso/install.iso"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  5. Sign the manifest list with your private Sigstore key and push the image to the registry. Run the following command: 

    sudo podman manifest push --all \
     --sign-by-sigstore-private-key ./signingkey.private \
    ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} \
    docker://${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.3.2.9. Additional resources
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1.3.3. Building for specific target platforms
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For optimized provisioning and integration with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and VMware vSphere, enrollment certificates and agent configurations can be provided with cloud-init utility, rather than embedding them in the image. Additionally, you can include appropriate guest tools for better platform integration. This process generates platform-specific image formats, such as QCOW2 for Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and VMDK for vSphere.

When building operating system images and disk images for Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, you can follow the Building a bootc operating system image for the Red Hat Edge Manager process with the following changes:

  • Use late binding by injecting the enrollment certificate or the agent configuration through cloud-init when provisioning the virtual device.
  • Add the open-vm-tools guest tools to the image.
  • Build a disk image of type qcow2 instead of iso.

Complete the steps with changes to the following steps:

  1. Build an operating system image that is based on RHEL 9 that includes the Red Hat Edge Manager agent and virtual machine guest tools, but excludes the agent configuration.

  2. Create a file named Containerfile with the following content: 

    FROM registry.redhat.io/rhel9/rhel-bootc:<required_os_version>

RUN subscription-manager repos --enable rhacm-2.13-for-rhel-9-$(uname -m)-rpms && \
    dnf -y install flightctl-agent && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    systemctl enable flightctl-agent.service

RUN dnf -y install cloud-init open-vm-tools && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    ln -s ../cloud-init.target /usr/lib/systemd/system/default.target.wants && \
    systemctl enable vmtoolsd.service
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Optional: To enable podman-compose application support, add the following section to the Containerfile file: 

    RUN dnf -y install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-9.noarch.rpm && \
    dnf -y install podman-compose && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    systemctl enable podman.service
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Build, sign, and publish the bootc operating system image by following the generic image building process.

  1. Create a directory called output by running the following command: 

    mkdir -p output
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Generate an operating system disk image of type vmdk from your operating system image by running the following command: 

    sudo podman run --rm -it --privileged --pull=newer \
    --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
    -v "${PWD}/output":/output \
    -v /var/lib/containers/storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
    registry.redhat.io/rhel9/bootc-image-builder:latest \
    --type qcow2 \
    ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

When bootc-image-builder completes, you can find the disk image in the ${PWD}/output/vmdk/disk.vmdk path.

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization can download disk images from an Open Container Initiative (OCI) registry, but it uses a container disk image instead of an OCI artifact.

Complete the following steps to build, sign, and upload the QCoW2 disk image:

  1. Create a file that is named Containerfile.qcow2 with the following content: 

    FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:latest AS builder
ADD --chown=107:107 output/qcow2/disk.qcow2 /disk/
    1 
    
RUN chmod 0440 /disk/*
    2 
    
FROM scratch
COPY --from=builder /disk/* /disk/
    3
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    Adds the QCoW2 disk image to a builder container to set the required 107 file ownership, which is the QEMU user.
    2
    Sets the required 0440 file permissions.
    3
    Copies the file to a scratch image.

  2. Build, sign, and publish your disk image. Run the following command: 

    sudo chown -R $(whoami):$(whoami) "${PWD}/output"
OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO=${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}/diskimage-qcow2
sudo podman build -t ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} -f Containerfile.qcow2 .
sudo podman push --sign-by-sigstore-private-key ./signingkey.private ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.3.3.2. Building images for VMware vSphere
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When building operating system images and disk images for VMware vSphere, you can follow the Building a bootc operating system image for the Red Hat Edge Manager process with the following changes:

  • Using late binding by injecting the enrollment certificate or the agent configuration through cloud-init when provisioning the virtual device.
  • Adding the open-vm-tools guest tools to the image.
  • Building a disk image of type vmdk instead of iso.

Build an operating system image that is based on RHEL 9 that includes the Red Hat Edge Manager agent and VM guest tools, but excludes the agent configuration.

Complete the generic steps with changes to the following steps:

  1. Create a file named Containerfile with the following content: 

    FROM registry.redhat.io/rhel9/rhel-bootc:<required_os_version>

RUN subscription-manager repos --enable rhacm-2.13-for-rhel-9-$(uname -m)-rpms && \
    dnf -y install flightctl-agent && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    systemctl enable flightctl-agent.service && \

RUN dnf -y install cloud-init open-vm-tools && \
    dnf -y clean all && \
    ln -s ../cloud-init.target /usr/lib/systemd/system/default.target.wants && \
    systemctl enable vmtoolsd.service
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Create a directory called output by running the following command: 

    mkdir -p output
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Generate an operating system disk image of type vmdk from your operating system image by running the following command: 

    sudo podman run --rm -it --privileged --pull=newer \
    --security-opt label=type:unconfined_t \
    -v "${PWD}/output":/output \
    -v /var/lib/containers/storage:/var/lib/containers/storage \
    registry.redhat.io/rhel9/bootc-image-builder:latest \
    --type vmdk \
    ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

When bootc-image-builder completes, you can find the disk image in the ${PWD}/output/vmdk/disk.vmdk path.

1.4. Provisioning devices
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Technology Preview: You can provision devices with the Red Hat Edge Manager in different environments. Use the operating system image or disk image that you built for use with the Red Hat Edge Manager and depending on your target environment, provision a physical or virtual device.

Required access: Cluster administrator

See the following documentation:

1.4.1. Provisioning physical devices
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Technology Preview: When you build an ISO disk image from an operating system image by using the bootc-image-builder tool, the image is similar to the RHEL ISOs available for download. However, your operating system image content is embedded in the ISO disk image.

To install the ISO disk image to a bare metal system without having access to the network, see Deploying a custom ISO container image.

For information about installing the ISO through the network, see Deploying an ISO bootc image over PXE boot.

Technology Preview: You can provision a virtual machine on OpenShift Virtualization by using a QCoW2 container disk image that is hosted on an OCI container registry.

If your operating system image does not already contain the Red Hat Edge Manager agent enrollment configuration, you can inject the configuration through the cloud-init user data at provisioning.

For more information, see the Additional resources section.

1.4.2.1. Prerequisites
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  • You installed the flightctl CLI and logged in to your Red Hat Edge Manager service instance.
  • You installed the oc CLI, used it to log in to your OpenShift cluster instance, and changed to the project in which you want to create your virtual machine.
1.4.2.2. Creating the cloud-init configuration
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To create the cloud-init configuration, complete the following steps:

  1. Request a new Red Hat Edge Manager agent enrollment configuration and store it in a file called config.yaml. Run the following command: 

    flightctl certificate request --signer=enrollment --expiration=365d --output=embedded > config.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Create a cloud configuration user data file called cloud-config.yaml that places the agent configuration in the correct location on the first boot. Run the following command: 

    cat <<EOF > cloud-config.yaml
#cloud-config
write_files:
- path: /etc/flightctl/config.yaml
  content: $(cat config.yaml | base64 -w0)
  encoding: b64
EOF
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Create a Kubernetes Secret that contains the cloud configuration user data file: 

    oc create secret generic enrollment-secret --from-file=userdata=cloud-config.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.4.2.3. Creating the virtual machine
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Create a virtual machine that has its primary disk populated from your QCoW2 container disk image and a cloud-init configuration drive that is populated from your enrollment secret. Complete the following steps:

  1. Create a file that contains a the VirtualMachine resource manifest by running the following command: 

    cat <<EOF > my-bootc-vm.yaml
apiVersion: kubevirt.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: my-bootc-vm
spec:
  runStrategy: RerunOnFailure
  template:
    spec:
      domain:
        cpu:
          cores: 1
        memory:
          guest: 1024M
        devices:
          disks:
            - name: containerdisk
              disk:
                bus: virtio
            - name: cloudinitdisk
              disk:
                bus: virtio
      volumes:
        - name: containerdisk
          containerDisk:
            image: ${OCI_DISK_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG}
        - name: cloudinitdisk
          cloudInitConfigDrive:
            secretRef:
              name: enrollment-secret
EOF
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Apply the resource manifest to your cluster by running the following command: 

    oc apply -f my-bootc-vm.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.4.2.4. Additional resources
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1.5. Managing devices
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Technology Preview: The Red Hat Edge Manager manages the device lifecycle from enrollment to decommissioning of a device. The device lifecycle also includes device management, such as organizing, monitoring, and updating your devices with the Red Hat Edge Manager.

You can manage your devices individually or in a fleet. The Red Hat Edge Manager allows you to manage a whole fleet of devices as a single object instead of managing many devices individually.

You only need to specify the desired configuration once and then, the Red Hat Edge Manager applies the configuration to all devices in the fleet.

Understanding individual device management is the foundation for managing devices in a fleet. You might want to manage your devices individually in the following scenarios:

  • If a few devices have significantly different configuration.
  • If you use external automation for updating the devices.

Required access: Cluster administrator

The following documentation focuses on managing individual devices:

To learn more about managing your devices in a fleet, see Managing device fleets.

1.5.1. Enrolling devices
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Technology Preview: To manage your devices with the Red Hat Edge Manager, you must enroll the devices to the Red Hat Edge Manager service.

The first time the Red Hat Edge Manager agents runs on a device, the agent prepares for the enrollment process by generating a cryptographic key pair. The cryptographic key pair of the device consists of a public and a private key. The private key never leaves the device, so that the device cannot be duplicated or impersonated. The key pair is registered with the Red Hat Edge Manager service during enrollment and is deleted during decommissioning of the device.

When the device is not yet enrolled, the agent performs service discovery to find its Red Hat Edge Manager service instance. Then, the device establishes a secure, mTLS-protected network connection to the service. The device uses its X.509 enrollment certificate that the device acquired during image building or device provisioning. The device submits an enrollment request to the service that includes the following:

  • a description of the device hardware and operating system
  • an X.509 Certificate Signing Request which includes the cryptographic identity of the device to obtain the initial management certificate

The device is not considered trusted and remains quarantined in a device lobby until an authorized user approves or denies the request.

For more information, read the following sections:

1.5.1.1. Prerequisites
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1.5.1.2. Enrolling devices using the CLI
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You must enroll devices into the Red Hat Edge Manager service before you can manage them. Complete the following steps:

  1. List all devices that are currently waiting for approval by running the following command: 

    flightctl get enrollmentrequests --field-selector="status.approval.approved != true"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME           APPROVAL  APPROVER  APPROVED LABELS
<device_name>  Pending   <none>    <none>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Note: The unique device name is generated by the agent and cannot be changed. The agent chooses a base32-encoded hash of its public key as device name.

  2. Approve an enrollment request by specifying the name of the enrollment request. Optionally, you can add labels to the device by using the --label or -l flags. See the following example: 

    flightctl approve -l region=eu-west-1 -l site=factory-berlin enrollmentrequest/54shovu028bvj6stkovjcvovjgo0r48618khdd5huhdjfn6raskg
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME           APPROVAL  APPROVER  APPROVED LABELS
<device_name>  Approved  user      region=eu-west-1,site=factory-berlin
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

After you approve the enrollment request, the service issues the management certificate and registers the device in the inventory. The device is now ready to be managed.

1.5.2. Viewing devices
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Technology Preview: To obtain more information about the devices in your inventory, you can use the Red Hat Edge Manager CLI.

1.5.2.1. Prerequisites
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1.5.2.2. View device inventory and device details
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View devices in your device inventory. Complete the following steps:

  1. View the devices in the device inventory by running the following command: 

    flightctl get devices
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME           ALIAS    OWNER   SYSTEM  UPDATED     APPLICATIONS  LAST SEEN
<device_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        3 seconds ago
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. View the details of this device in YAML format by running the following command: 

    flightctl get device/<device_name> -o yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  name: <device_name>
  labels:
    1 
    
    region: eu-west-1
    site: factory-berlin
spec:
  os:
    image: quay.io/flightctl/rhel:9.5
    2 
    
  config:
  - name: my-os-configuration
    3 
    
    configType: GitConfigProviderSpec
    gitRef:
      path: /configuration
      repository: my-configuration-repo
      targetRevision: production
status:
  os:
    image: quay.io/flightctl/rhel:9.5
    4 
    
  config:
    renderedVersion: "1"
    5 
    
  applications:
    data: {}
    6 
    
    summary:
      status: Unknown
    7 
    
  resources:
    8 
    
    cpu: Healthy
    disk: Healthy
    memory: Healthy
  systemInfo:
    9 
    
    architecture: amd64
    bootID: 037750f7-f293-4c5b-b06e-481eef4e883f
    operatingSystem: linux
  summary:
    info: ""
    status: Online
    10 
    
  updated:
    status: UpToDate
    11 
    
  lastSeen: "2024-08-28T11:45:34.812851905Z"
    12 
    
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    User-defined labels assigned to the device.
    2
    The target OS image version of the device.
    3
    The target OS configuration of the device.
    4
    The current OS image version of the device
    5
    The current OS configuration version of the device.
    6
    The current list of deployed applications of the device.
    7
    The health status of applications on the device.
    8
    The availability of CPU, disk, and memory resources.
    9
    Basic system information.
    10
    The health status of the device.
    11
    The update status of the device.
    12
    The last check-in time and date of the device.

1.5.3. Labels and label selectors
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Technology Preview: You can organize your resources, including individual devices, fleets and any other resources, by assigning them labels. For example, you can use labels to record location, hardware type, or purpose. The Red Hat Edge Manager labels follow the same syntax, principles, and operators as Kubernetes labels and label selectors.

You can select devices with labels when viewing the device inventory or applying operations to the devices.

Labels follow the key=value format, where you want to use the key to group devices. For example, if your labels follow the site=<location> naming convention, you can group your devices by site.

You can also use labels that only consist of keys.

Labels must adhere to the following rules to be valid:

  • Keys and value must each be 63 characters or less.
  • Keys and values can consist of alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9).
  • Keys and values can also contain dashes (-), underscores (_), dots (.) but not as the first or last character.
  • Value can be omitted.

You can apply labels to resources in the following ways:

  • Define a set of default labels during image building that are automatically applied to all devices during deployment.
  • Assign initial labels during enrollment.
  • Assign labels post-enrollment.

When resources are labeled, you can select a subset of resources by writing a label selector. A label selector is a comma-separated list of labels for selecting resources that have the same set of labels.

See the following examples:

Expand
Example label selectorSelected devices

site=factory-berlin

All devices with a site label key and a factory-berlin label value.

site!=factory-berlin

All devices with a site label key but where the label value is not factory-berlin.

site in (factory-berlin,factory-madrid)

All devices with a site label key and where the label value is either factory-berlin or factory-madrid.

For more information, see Labels and Selectors.

1.5.4. Using labels
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Technology Preview: You can organize your devices by using labels.

View devices and their associated labels. You can use labels to organize your devices and device fleets.

Complete the following steps:

  1. View devices in your inventory by using the -o wide option: 

    flightctl get devices -o wide
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME            ALIAS    OWNER   SYSTEM  UPDATED     APPLICATIONS  LAST SEEN      LABELS
<device1_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        3 seconds ago  region=eu-west-1,site=factory-berlin
<device2_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        1 minute ago   region=eu-west-1,site=factory-madrid
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. View devices in your inventory with a specific label or set of labels by using the -l <key=value> option: 

    flightctl get devices -l site=factory-berlin -o wide
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME            ALIAS    OWNER   SYSTEM  UPDATED     APPLICATIONS  LAST SEEN      LABELS
<device1_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        3 seconds ago  region=eu-west-1,site=factory-berlin
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.5.4.2. Updating labels using the CLI
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Update labels on your devices using the CLI. Complete the following steps:

  1. Export the current definition of the device into a file by running the following command: 

    flightctl get device/<device1_name> -o yaml > my_device.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Use your preferred editor to edit the my_device.yaml file. See the following example: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  labels:
    some_key: some_value
    some_other_key: some_other_value
  name: <device1_name>
spec:
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Save the file and apply the updated device definition by running the following command: 

    flightctl apply -f my_device.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Verify that the changes are applied by running the following command 

    NAME            ALIAS    OWNER   SYSTEM  UPDATED     APPLICATIONS  LAST SEEN      LABELS
<device1_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        3 minutes ago  some_key=some_value,some_other_key=some_other_value
<device2_name>  <none>   <none>  Online  Up-to-date  <none>        4 minutes ago  region=eu-west-1,site=factory-madrid
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

1.5.5. Field selectors
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Field selectors filter a list of Red Hat Edge Manager resources, including individual devices, fleets and any other resources, based on specific resource field values.

Field selectors follow the same syntax, principles, and operators as Kubernetes field and label selectors with additional operators available for more advanced search use cases.

1.5.5.1. Supported fields
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The Red Hat Edge Manager resources give a set of metadata fields that you can select.

Each resource supports the following metadata fields:

  • metadata.name
  • metadata.owner
  • metadata.creationTimestamp

Note: To query labels, use label selectors for advanced and flexible label filtering.

For more information, see Labels and label selectors.

1.5.5.2. List of additional supported fields
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In addition to the metadata fields, each resource has its own unique set of fields that you can select, offering further flexibility in filtering and selection based on resource-specific attributes.

The following table lists the fields supported for filtering for each resource kind:

Expand

Kind

Fields

Certificate Signing Request

status.certificate

Device

status.summary.status

status.applicationsSummary.status

status.updated.status

status.lastSeen

status.lifecycle.status

Enrollment Request

status.approval.approved

status.certificate

Fleet

spec.template.spec.os.image

Repository

spec.type

spec.url

Resource Sync

spec.repository

1.5.5.3. Field discovery
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Some Red Hat Edge Manager resources might expose additional supported fields. You can discover the supported fields by using the flightctl command with the --field-selector option. If you try to use an unsupported field, the error message lists the available supported fields. See the following examples: 

flightctl get device --field-selector='text'
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap 
Error: listing devices: 400, message: unknown or unsupported selector: unable to resolve selector name "text". Supported selectors are: [metadata.alias metadata.creationTimestamp metadata.name metadata.nameoralias metadata.owner status.applicationsSummary.status status.lastSeen status.summary.status status.updated.status]
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

The field text is not a valid field for filtering. The error message provides a list of supported fields that you can use with --field-selector for the Device resource.

You can then use one of the supported fields: 

flightctl get devices --field-selector 'metadata.alias contains cluster'
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

The metadata.alias field is checked with the containment operator contains to see if it has the value cluster.

1.5.5.3.1. Examples
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Excluding a specific device by name

The following command filters out a specific device by its name: 

flightctl get devices --field-selector 'metadata.name!=<device_name>'
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Filter by owner, labels, and creation timestamp

This command retrieves devices owned by Fleet/pos-fleet, located in the us region, and created in 2024: 

flightctl get devices --field-selector 'metadata.owner=Fleet/pos-fleet, metadata.creationTimestamp >= 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z, metadata.creationTimestamp < 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z' -l 'region=us'
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Filter by owner, labels, and device status

The following command retrieves devices owned by Fleet/pos-fleet, located in the us region, and with a status.updated.status of either Unknown or OutOfDate: 

flightctl get devices --field-selector 'metadata.owner=Fleet/pos-fleet, status.updated.status in (Unknown, OutOfDate)' -l 'region=us'
Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
1.5.5.4. Supported operators
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Expand

Operator

Symbol

Description

Exists

--field-selector <field>

Checks if a field exists. For example, the --field-selector 'metadata.owner' field selector returns resources that have the metadata.owner field.

DoesNotExist

!

Checks if a field does not exist.

Equals

=

Checks if a field is equal to a value.

DoubleEquals

==

Another form of equality check.

NotEquals

!=

Checks if a field is not equal to a value.

GreaterThan

>

Checks if a field is greater than a value.

GreaterThanOrEquals

>=

Checks if a field is greater than or equal to a value.

LessThan

<

Checks if a field is less than a value.

LessThanOrEquals

⇐

Checks if a field is less than or equal to a value.

In

in

Checks if a field is within a list of values.

NotIn

notin

Checks if a field is not in a list of values.

Contains

contains

Checks if a field has a value.

NotContains

notcontains

Checks if a field does not contain a value.

1.5.5.5. Operators usage by field type
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Each field type supports a specific subset of operators:

Expand

Field Type

Supported Operators

Value

String

Equals: Matches if the field value is an exact match to the specified string.

DoubleEquals: Matches if the field value is an exact match to the specified string. Alternative to Equals.

NotEquals: Matches if the field value is not an exact match to the specified string.

In: Matches if the field value matches at least one string in the list.

NotIn: Matches if the field value does not match any of the strings in the list.

Contains: Matches if the field value has the specified substring.

NotContains: Matches if the field value does not contain the specified substring.

Exists: Matches if the field is present.

DoesNotExist: Matches if the field is not present.

Text string

Timestamp

Equals: Matches if the field value is an exact match to the specified timestamp.

DoubleEquals: Matches if the field value is an exact match to the specified timestamp. Alternative to Equals.

NotEquals: Matches if the field value is not an exact match to the specified timestamp.

GreaterThan: Matches if the field value is after the specified timestamp.

GreaterThanOrEquals: Matches if the field value is after or equal to the specified timestamp.

LessThan: Matches if the field value is before the specified timestamp.

LessThanOrEquals: Matches if the field value is before or equal to the specified timestamp.

In: Matches if the field value matches at least one timestamp in the list.

NotIn: Matches if the field value does not match any of the timestamps in the list.

Exists: Matches if the field is present.

DoesNotExist: Matches if the field is not present.

RFC 3339 format

Number

Equals: Matches if the field value equals the specified number.

DoubleEquals: Matches if the field value equals the specified number. Alternative to Equals.

NotEquals: Matches if the field value does not equal to the specified number.

GreaterThan: Matches if the field value is greater than the specified number.

GreaterThanOrEquals: Matches if the field value is greater than or equal to the specified number.

LessThan: Matches if the field value is less than the specified number.

LessThanOrEquals: Matches if the field value is less than or equal to the specified number.

In: Matches if the field value equals at least one number in the list.

NotIn: Matches if the field value does not equal any numbers in the list.

Exists: Matches if the field is present.

DoesNotExist: Matches if the field is not present.

Number format

Boolean

Equals: Matches if the value is true or false.

DoubleEquals: Matches if the value is true or false. Alternative to Equals.

NotEquals: Matches if the value is the opposite of the specified value.

In: Matches if the value, true or false, is in the list. The list can only contain true or false, so this operator is limited in use.

NotIn: Matches if the value is not in the list.

Exists: Matches if the field is present.

DoesNotExist: Matches if the field is not present.

Boolean format (true, false)

Array

Contains: Matches if the array has the specified value.

NotContains: Matches if the array does not contain the specified value.

In: Matches if the array overlaps with the specified values.

NotIn: Matches if the array does not overlap with the specified values. Exists: Matches if the field is present.

DoesNotExist: Matches if the field is not present.

Array element

1.5.6. Updating the operating system
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Technology Preview: You can update the operating system of a device by updating the target operating system image name or version in the device specification.

When the Red Hat Edge Manager agent communicates with the service, the agent detects the requested update. Then, the agent automatically starts downloading and verifying the new operating system version in the background.

The Red Hat Edge Manager agent schedules the actual system update according to the update policy. At the scheduled update time, the agent installs the new version without disrupting the currently running operating system.

Finally, the device reboots into the new version.

The Red Hat Edge Manager currently supports the following image type and image reference format:

Expand

Image Type

Image Reference

bootc

An OCI image reference to a container registry. Example: quay.io/flightctl-example/rhel:9.5

During the process, the agent sends status updates to the service. You can monitor the update process by viewing the device status. For more information, see Viewing devices.

1.5.6.1. Updating the operating system on the CLI
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Update a device using the CLI. Complete the following steps:

  1. Get the current resource manifest of the device by running the following command: 

    flightctl get device/<device_name> -o yaml > my_device.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Edit the Device resource to specify the new operating system name and version target. 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  name: <device_name>
spec:
[...]
  os:
    image: quay.io/flightctl/rhel:9.5
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Apply the updated Device resource by running the following command: 

    flightctl apply -f <device_name>.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Technology Preview: You can include an operating system-level host configuration in the image to provide maximum consistency and repeatability.

To update the configuration, you create a new operating system image and update devices with the new image.

However, updating devices with a new image can be impractical in the following cases:

  • The configuration is missing in the image.
  • The configuration needs to be specific to a device.
  • The configuration needs to be updateable at runtime without updating the operating system image and rebooting.

For these cases, you can declare a set of configuration files that is present on the file system of the device. The Red Hat Edge Manager agent applies updates to the configuration files while ensuring that either all files are successfully updated in the file system, or rolled back to their pre-update state. If the user updates both an operating system and configuration set of a device at the same time, the Red Hat Edge Manager agent updates the operating system first, then applies the specified set of configuration files.

You can also specify a list of configuration sets that the Red Hat Edge Manager agent applies in sequence. In case of a conflict, the last applied configuration set is valid.

Important: After the Red Hat Edge Manager agent updates the configuration on the disk, the running applications need to reload the new configuration into memory for the configuration to become effective. If the update involves a reboot, systemd automatically restarts the applications with the new configuration and in the correct order. If the update does not involve a reboot, many application can detect changes to their configuration files and automatically reload the files. When an application does not support change detection, you can use device lifecycle hooks to run scripts or commands if certain conditions are met.

1.5.7.1. Configuration providers
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You can provide configuration from multiple sources, called configuration providers, in Red Hat Edge Manager. The Red Hat Edge Manager currently supports the following configuration providers:

Git Config Provider
Fetches device configuration files from a Git repository.
Kubernetes Secret Provider
Fetches a secret from a Kubernetes cluster and writes the content to the file system of the device.
HTTP Config Provider
Fetches device configuration files from an HTTP(S) endpoint.
Inline Config Provider
Allows specifying device configuration files inline in the device manifest without querying external systems.

Read more about the configuration providers in the following sections:

1.5.7.1.1. Configuration from a Git repository
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You can store device configuration in a Git repository such as GitHub or GitLab. You can then add a Git Config Provider so that the Red Hat Edge Manager synchronizes the configuration from the repository to the file system of the device.

The Git Config Provider takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Repository

The name of a Repository resource defined in the Red Hat Edge Manager.

TargetRevision

The branch, tag, or commit of the repository to checkout.

Path

The absolute path to the directory in the repository from which files and subdirectories are synchronized to the file system of the device. The Path directory corresponds to the root directory (/) on the device, unless the MountPath parameter is specified.

MountPath

Optional. The absolute path to the directory in the file system of the device to write the content of the repository to. By default, the value is the file system root (/).

The Repository resource defines the Git repository, the protocol and access credentials that the Red Hat Edge Manager must use. The repository needs to be set up only once. After setting up, the repository can be used to configure individual devices or device fleets.

1.5.7.1.2. Secrets from a Kubernetes cluster
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The Red Hat Edge Manager can query only the Kubernetes cluster that the Red Hat Edge Manager is running on for a Kubernetes secret. The content of that secret can be written to a path on the device file system.

The Kubernetes Secret Provider takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Name

The name of the secret.

NameSpace

The namespace of the secret.

MountPath

The directory in the file system of the device to write the secret contents to.

Note: The Red Hat Edge Manager needs permission to access secrets in the defined namespace. For example, creating a ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding allows the flightctl-worker service account to get and list secrets in that namespace.

1.5.7.1.3. Configuration from an HTTP server
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The Red Hat Edge Manager can query an HTTP server for configuration. The HTTP server can serve static or dynamically generated configuration for a device.

The HTTP Config Provider takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Repository

The name of a Repository resource defined in the Red Hat Edge Manager.

Suffix

The suffix to append to the base URL defined in the Repository resource. The suffix can include path and query parameters, for example /path/to/endpoint?query=param.

FilePath

The absolute path to the file in the file system of the device to write the response of the HTTP server to.

The Repository resource specifies the HTTP server for the Red Hat Edge Manager to connect to, and the protocol and access credentials to use. The repository needs to be set up once and then, the repository can be used to configure multiple devices or device fleets.

You can specify configuration inline in a device specification. When using the inline device specification, the Red Hat Edge Manager does not need to connect to external systems to fetch the configuration.

The Inline Config Provider takes a list of file specifications, where each file specification takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Path

The absolute path to the file in the file system of the device to write the content to. If a file already exists in the specified path, the file is overwritten.

Content

The UTF-8 or base64-encoded content of the file.

ContentEncoding

Defines how the contents are encoded. Must be either plain or base64. Default value is set to plain.

Mode

Optional. The permission mode of the file. You can specify the octal with a leading zero, for example 0644, or as a decimal without a leading zero, for example 420. The setuid, setgid, and sticky bits are supported. If not specified, the permission mode for files defaults to 0644.

User

Optional. The owner of the file. Specified either as a name or numeric ID. Default value is set to root.

Group

Optional. The group of the file. Specified either as a name or numeric ID.

1.5.7.2. Additional resources
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Technology Preview: If you have fleets of devices that are running an operating system image that includes MicroShift, you can configure your fleets to auto-register MicroShift clusters with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management.

1.5.8.1. Configuring your device template
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To enable auto-registration in a fleet, add configuration to the device template. Complete the following steps:

  1. Add the acm-crd resource configuration, which includes the filePath for your crd.yaml file, your repository, and suffix to your Fleet resource. See the following example: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Fleet
metadata:
 name: fleet-acm
spec:
 selector:
  matchLabels:
   fleet: acm
 template:
  spec:
   os:
    image: <your os image>
config:
   - name: acm-crd
    httpRef:
     filePath: /var/local/acm-import/crd.yaml
     repository: acm-registration
     suffix: /agent-registration/crds/v1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Add the acm-import resource configuration with the filePath, repository, and suffix, as you see in the following example: 

    - name: acm-import
    httpRef:
     filePath: /var/local/acm-import/import.yaml
     repository: acm-registration
     suffix: /agent-registration/manifests/{{.metadata.name}}
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Optional: If your MicroShift cluster did not pull the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management images, add the pull-secret resource, as you see in the following addition to the template: 

    - name: pull-secret
    inline:
    - path: "/etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret"
     content: "{\"auths\":{...}}"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Add the apply-acm-manifests resource with the following conditional if requirements to run kubectl apply -f on your crd.yaml file, and your import.yaml file: 

    - name: apply-acm-manifests
    inline:
    - path: "/etc/flightctl/hooks.d/afterupdating/50-acm-registration.yaml"
     content: |
      - if:
       - path: /var/local/acm-import/crd.yaml
        op: [created]
       run: kubectl apply -f /var/local/acm-import/crd.yaml
       envVars:
        KUBECONFIG: /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/kubeconfig
      - if:
       - path: /var/local/acm-import/import.yaml
        op: [created]
       run: kubectl apply -f /var/local/acm-import/import.yaml
       envVars:
        KUBECONFIG: /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/kubeconfig
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  5. In the console, label the device fleet:acm and click Approve, which automatically selects the fleet-acm fleet. See Managing device fleets for information about managing devices with labels.

Technology Preview: Create and apply a device configuration in a Git repository.

Complete the following steps:

  1. Create a file, for example site-settings-repo.yaml, that contains the following definition for a Repository resource, named site-settings: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Repository
metadata:
  name: site-settings
spec:
  type: git
  url: https://github.com/<your_org>/<your_repo>.git
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Create the Repository resource by running the following command: 

    flightctl apply -f site-settings-repo.yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Verify that the resource has been correctly created and is accessible by Red Hat Edge Manager by running the following command: 

    flightctl get repository/site-settings
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    NAME           TYPE  REPOSITORY URL                                 ACCESSIBLE
site-settings  git   https://github.com/<your_org>/<your_repo>.git  True
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  4. Apply the example-site configuration to a device by update the device specification: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  name: <device_name>
spec:
[...]
  config:
    1 
    
  - name: example-site
    configType: GitConfigProviderSpec
    gitRef:
      repository: site-settings
      targetRevision: production
      path: /etc/example-site
    2 
    
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    The example configuration takes all the files from the example-site directory from the production branch of the site-settings repository and places the files in the root directory (/).
    2
    Ensure that the target path is writeable by creating your directory structure. The root directory (/) is not writeable in bootc systems.

1.5.10. Device lifecycle hooks
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Technology Preview: The Red Hat Edge Manager agent can run user-defined commands at specific points in the device lifecycle by using device lifecycle hooks. For example, you can add a shell script to your operating system images that backs up your application data. You can then specify that the script must run and complete successfully before the agent can start updating the operating system.

As another example, certain applications or system services do not automatically reload their configuration file when the file changes on the disk. You can manually reload the configuration file by specifying a command as another hook, which is called after the agent completes the update process.

The following device lifecycle hooks are supported:

Expand

Lifecycle hook

Description

beforeUpdating

The hook is called after the agent completes preparing for the update, but before changing the operating system. If an action in this hook returns with a failure, the agent cancels the update.

afterUpdating

The hook is called after the agent writes the update to disk. If an action in this hook returns with a failure, the agent cancels and rolls back the update.

beforeRebooting

The hook is called before the system reboots. The agent blocks the reboot until the action completes or times out. If any action in this hook returns with a failure, the agent cancels and rolls back the update.

afterRebooting

The hook is called when the agent first starts after a reboot. If any action in this hook returns with a failure, the agent reports the failure but continues starting up.

1.5.10.1. Rule files
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You can define device lifecycle hooks by adding rule files to one of the following locations in the device file system:

  • Rules in the /usr/lib/flightctl/hooks.d/<lifecycle_hook_name>/ drop-in directory are read-only. To add rules to the /usr directory, you must add them to the operating system image during image building.
  • Rules in the /etc/flightctl/hooks.d/<lifecycle_hook_name>/ drop-in directory are read-writable. You can update the rules at runtime by using several methods.

When creating and placing the files, you must consider the following practices:

  • The name of the rule must be all lower case.
  • If you define rules in both locations, the rules are merged.
  • If you add more than one rule files to a lifecycle hook directory, the files are processed in lexical order of the file names.
  • If you define files with identical file names in both locations, the file in the /etc folder takes precedence over the file of the same name in the /usr folder.

A rule file is written in YAML format and contains a list of one or more actions. An action can be an instruction to run an external command.

When you specify many actions for a hook, the actions are performed in sequence, finishing one action before starting the next.

If an action returns with a failure, the following actions are skipped.

A run action takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Run

The absolute path to the command to run, followed by any flags or arguments, for example /usr/bin/nmcli connection reload. The command is not executed in a shell, so you cannot use shell variables, such as $PATH or $HOME, or chain commands, such as | or ;. If necessary, you can start a shell by specifying the shell as command to run, for example /usr/bin/bash -c 'echo $SHELL $HOME $USER'.

EnvVars

Optional. A list of key-value pairs to set as environment variables for the command.

WorkDir

Optional. The directory the command is run from.

Timeout

Optional. The maximum duration that is allowed for the action to complete. Specify the duration as a single positive integer followed by a time unit. The s, m, and h units are supported for seconds, minutes, and hours, respectively.

If

Optional. A list of conditions that must be true for the action to be run. If not provided, actions run unconditionally.

By default, actions are performed every time the hook is triggered. However, for the afterUpdating hook, you can use the If parameter to add conditions that must be true for an action to be performed. Otherwise, the action is skipped.

For example, to run an action only if a given file or directory changes during the update, you can define a path condition that takes the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Path

An absolute path to a file or directory that must change during the update as condition for the action to be performed. Specify paths by using forward slashes (/). If the path is to a directory, it must end with a forward slash (/). If you specify a path to a file, the file must have changed to satisfy the condition. If you specify a path to a directory, a file in that directory or any of its subdirectories must have changed to satisfy the condition.

Op

A list of file operations, such as created, updated, and removed, to limit the type of changes to the specified path as condition for the action to be performed.

If you specify a path condition for an action in the afterUpdating hook, you have the following variables that you can include in arguments to your command and are replaced with the absolute paths to the changed files:

Expand

Variable

Description

${ Path }

The absolute path to the file or directory specified in the path condition.

${ Files }

A space-separated list of absolute paths of the files that changed during the update and are covered by the path condition.

${ CreatedFiles }

A space-separated list of absolute paths of the files that were created during the update and are covered by the path condition.

${ UpdatedFiles }

A space-separated list of absolute paths of the files that were updated during the update and are covered by the path condition.

${ RemovedFiles }

A space-separated list of absolute paths of the files that were removed during the update and are covered by the path condition.

The Red Hat Edge Manager agent includes a built-in set of rules defined in /usr/lib/flightctl/hooks.d/afterupdating/00-default.yaml. The following commands are executed if certain files are changed:

Expand

File

Command

Description

/etc/systemd/system/

systemctl daemon-reload

Changes to systemd units are activated by signaling the systemd daemon to reload the systemd manager configuration. This reruns all generators, reloads all unit files, and re-creates the entire dependency tree.

/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/

nmcli conn reload

Changes to NetworkManager system connections are activated by signaling the NetworkManager daemon to reload all connections. For more information, see the Additional resources section.

/etc/firewalld/

firewall-cmd --reload

Changes to the permanent configuration of firewalld are activated by signaling firewalld to reload firewall rules as new runtime configuration.

1.5.10.2. Additional resources
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1.5.11. Monitoring device resources
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Technology Preview: You can set up resource monitors for device resources and create alerts when the utilization of resources crosses a defined threshold. When the agent alerts the Red Hat Edge Manager service, the service sets the device status to degraded or error, depending on the severity level.

Resource monitors take the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

MonitorType

The resource to monitor. The CPU, Memory, and Disk resources are currently supported.

SamplingInterval

The interval in which the monitor samples usage, specified as a positive integer followed by a time unit: s for seconds, m for minutes, h for hours.

AlertRules

A list of alert rules.

Path

For Disk monitor only. The absolute path to the directory to monitor. Utilization reflects the file system that contains the path, even if the defined path is not a mount point.

Alert rules take the following parameters:

Expand

Parameter

Description

Severity

The severity of the alert rule can be Info, Warning, or Critical. Only one alert rule is allowed for each severity level and monitor.

Duration

The duration that resource usage is measured and averaged over when sampling, specified as a positive integer followed by a time unit: s for seconds, m for minutes, h for hours. The duration must be smaller than the sampling interval.

Percentage

The usage threshold that triggers the alert, as percentage value. The value ranges from 0 to 100 without the % sign.

Description

A human-readable description of the alert. Add details about the alert to help with debugging. By default, the alert description is load is above >% for more than.

Monitor the resources of your device through the CLI, providing you with the tools and commands to track performance and troubleshoot issues.

Complete the following steps:

  • Add resource monitors in the spec.resources section of the device specification. For example, add the following monitor for your disk: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  name: <device_name>
spec:
[...]
  resources:
  - monitorType: Disk
    samplingInterval: 5s
    1 
    
    path: /application_data
    2 
    
    alertRules:
    - severity: Warning
    3 
    
      duration: 30m
      percentage: 75
      description: Disk space for application data is >75% full for over 30m.
    - severity: Critical
    4 
    
      duration: 10m
      percentage: 90
      description: Disk space for application data is >90% full over 10m.
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    Samples usage every 5 seconds.
    2
    Checks disk usage on the file system that is associated with the /applications_data path.
    3
    Initiates a warning if the average usage exceeds 75% for more than 30 minutes.
    4
    Initiates a critical alert if the average usage exceeds 90% for over 10 minutes.

1.6. Managing applications on an edge device
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Technology Preview: You can deploy, update, or remove applications on a device by updating the list of applications in the device specification. When the Red Hat Edge Manager agent checks in and detects the change in the specification, the agent downloads any new or updated application packages and images from an Open Container Initiative (OCI)-compatible registry. Then, the agent deploys the packages to the appropriate application runtime or removes them from that runtime.

The Red Hat Edge Manager supports the podman-compose tool as the application runtime and format.

1.6.1. Prerequisites
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1.6.2. Building an application package image
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The Red Hat Edge Manager can download application packages from an Open Container Initiative (OCI) compatible registry. You can build an OCI container image that includes your application package in the podman-compose format and push the image to your OCI registry.

Complete the following steps:

  1. Define the functionality of the application in a file called podman-compose.yaml that follows the Podman Compose specification.

    1. Create a file called Containerfile with the following content: 
    FROM scratch
    1 
    
COPY podman-compose.yaml /podman-compose.yaml
LABEL appType="compose"
    2
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    Embed the compose file in a scratch container.
    2
    Add the appType=compose label.

  2. Build and push he container image to your OCI registry.

    1. Define the image repository that you have permissions to write to by running the following command: 

      OCI_IMAGE_REPO=quai.io/<your_org>/<your_image>
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    2. Define the image tag by running the following command: 

      OCI_IMAGE_TAG=v1
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    3. Build the application container image. Run the following command: 

      podman build -t ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} .
      Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    4. Push the container image. 
    podman push ${OCI_IMAGE_REPO}:${OCI_IMAGE_TAG} .
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Deploy an application package to a device from an OCI registry by using the CLI.

Complete the following steps:

  1. Specify the application package that you want to deploy in the spec.applications field in the Device resource: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Device
metadata:
  name: <device_name>
spec:
[...]
  applications:
  - name: wordpress
    1 
    
    image: quay.io/rhem-demos/wordpress-app:latest
    2 
    
    envVars:
    3 
    
      WORDPRESS_DB_HOST: <database_host>
      WORDPRESS_DB_USER: <user_name>
      WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD: <password>
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    A user-defined name for the application that is used when the web console and the CLI list applications.
    2
    A reference to an application package in an OCI registry.
    3
    Optional. A list of key-value pairs that are passed to the deployment tool as environment variables or command line flags.

    Note: For each application in the applications section of the device specification, you can find the corresponding device status information.

  2. Verify the status of an application deployment on a device by inspecting the device status information. Run the following command: 

    flightctl get device/<your_device_id> -o yaml
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    See the following example output: 

    [...]
spec:
  applications:
  - name: example-app
    image: quay.io/flightctl-demos/example-app:v1
status:
  applications:
  - name: example-app
    ready: 3/3
    restarts: 0
    status: Running
  applicationsSummary:
    info: All application workloads are healthy.
    status: Healthy
[...]
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

1.7. Managing device fleets
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Technology Preview: The Red Hat Edge Manager simplifies the management of a large number of devices and workloads through device fleets. A fleet is a resource that defines a group of devices governed by a common device template and management policies.

When you make a change to the device template, all devices in the fleet receive the changes when the Red Hat Edge Manager agent detects the new target specification.

Device monitoring in a fleet is also simplified because you can check the status summary of the whole fleet.

Fleet-level management offers the following advantages:

  • Scales your operations because you perform operations only once for each fleet instead of once for each device.
  • Minimizes the risk of configuration mistakes and configuration drift.
  • Automatically applies the target configuration when you add devices to the fleet or replace devices in the fleet.

The fleet specification consists of the following features:

Label selector
Determines which devices are part of the fleet.
Device template
Defines the configuration that the Red Hat Edge Manager enforces on devices in the fleet.
Policies
Govern how devices are managed, for example, how changes to the device template are rolled out to the devices.

You can have both individually managed and fleet-managed devices at the same time. When a device is selected into a fleet, the Red Hat Edge Manager creates the device specification for the new device based on the device template. If you update the device template for a fleet or a new device joins the fleet, the Red Hat Edge Manager enforces the new specification in the fleet.

If a device is not selected into any fleets, the device is considered user-managed or unmanaged. For user-managed devices, you must update the device specification either manually or through an external automation.

Important: A device cannot be member of more than one fleet at the same time.

For more information, see Labels and label selectors.

1.7.1. Device selection into a fleet
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By default, devices are not assigned to a fleet. Instead, each fleet uses a selector that defines which labels a device must have to be added to the fleet.

To understand how to use labels in a fleet, see the following example:

The following list shows point-of-sales terminal devices and their labels:

Expand

Device

Labels

A

type: pos-terminal, region: east, stage: production

B

type: pos-terminal, region: east, stage: development

C

type: pos-terminal, region: west, stage: production

D

type: pos-terminal, region: west, stage: development

If all point-of-sales terminals uses the same configuration and are managed by the same operations team, you can define a single fleet called pos-terminals with the type=pos-terminal label selector. Then, the fleet contains devices A, B, C, and D.

However, you might want to create separate fleets for the different organizations for development or production. You can define a fleet for development with the type=pos-terminal, stage=development label selector, which selects devices C and D. Then, you can define another fleet for production with the type=pos-terminal, stage=production label selector. By using the correct label selectors, you can manage both fleets independently.

Important: You must define selectors in a way that two fleets do not select the same device. For example, if one fleet selects region=east, and another fleet selects stage=production, both fleets try to select device A. If two fleets try to select the same device, the Red Hat Edge Manager keeps the device in the currently assigned fleet, if any, and sets the OverlappingSelectors condition on the affected fleets to true.

1.7.2. Device templates
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A device template of a fleet contains a device specification that is applied to all devices in the fleet when the template is updated.

For example, you can specify in the device template of a fleet that all devices in the fleet must run the quay.io/flightctl/rhel:9.5 operating system image.

The Red Hat Edge Manager service then rolls out the target specification to all devices in the fleet and the Red Hat Edge Manager agents update each devices accordingly.

You can change other specification items in the device template and the Red Hat Edge Manager apply the changes in the same way.

However, sometimes not all of the devices in the fleet need to have the exact same specification. The Red Hat Edge Manager allows templates to contain placeholders that are populated based on the device name or label values.

The syntax of the placeholders matches that of Go templates. However, you can only use simple text and actions.

The use of conditionals or loops in the placeholders is not supported.

You can reference anything from the metadata of a device, such as {{ .metadata.labels.key }} or {{ .metadata.name }}.

You can also use the following functions in your placeholders:

  • The upper function changes the value to uppercase. For example, the function is {{ upper .metadata.name }}.
  • The lower function changes the value to lowercase. For example, the function is {{ lower .metadata.labels.key }}.
  • The replace function replaces all occurrences of a substring with another string. For example, the function is {{ replace "old" "new" .metadata.labels.key }}.
  • The getOrDefault function returns a default value if accessing a missing label. For example, he function is {{ getOrDefault .metadata.labels "key" "default" }}.

You can combine the functions in pipelines, for example, a combined function is {{ getOrDefault .metadata.labels "key" "default" | upper | replace " " "-" }}.

Note: Ensure using proper Go template syntax. For example, {{ .metadata.labels.target-revision }} is not valid because of the hyphen. Instead, you must refer to the field as {{ index .metadata.labels "target-revision" }}.

You can use the placeholders in device templates in the following ways:

  • You can label devices by deployment stage, for example, stage labels are stage: testing and stage: production. Then, you can use the label with the stage key as placeholder when referencing the operating system image to use, for example, use quay.io/myorg/myimage:latest-{{ .metadata.labels.stage }} or when referencing a configuration folder in a Git repository.
  • You can label devices by deployment site, for example, deployment sites are site: factory-berlin and site: factory-madrid.
  • Then, you can use the label with the site key as parameter when referencing the secret with network access credentials in Kubernetes.

The following fields in device templates support placeholders:

Expand

Field

Placeholders supported in

Operating System Image

repository name, image name, image tag

Git Config Provider

target revision, path

HTTP Config Provider

URL suffix, path

Inline Config Provider

content, path

Technology Preview: Define label selector to add devices into a fleet.

Complete the following tasks:

  1. Run the following command to verify that the label selector returns the devices that you want to add to the fleet: 

    flightctl get devices -l type=pos-terminal -l stage=development
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  2. If running the command returns the expected list of devices, you can define a fleet that selects the devices by using the following YAML file: 

    apiVersion: flightctl.io/v1alpha1
kind: Fleet
metadata:
  name: my_fleet
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      type: pos-terminal
      stage: development
[...]
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  3. Apply the change by running the following command: 

    flightctl apply -f my_fleet.yaml
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  4. Check for any overlaps with the selector of other fleets by running the following command: 

    flightctl get fleets/my_fleet -o json | jq -r '.status.conditions[] | select(.type=="OverlappingSelectors").status'
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    See the following example output: 

    False
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