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Chapter 2. Governance

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Enterprises must meet internal standards for software engineering, secure engineering, resiliency, security, and regulatory compliance for workloads hosted on private, multi and hybrid clouds. Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes governance provides an extensible policy framework for enterprises to introduce their own security policies.

2.1. Governance architecture

Enhance the security for your cluster with the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes governance lifecycle. The product governance lifecycle is based on defined policies, processes, and procedures to manage security and compliance from a central interface page. View the following diagram of the governance architecture:

Governance architecture diagram

The governance architecture is composed of the following components:

  • Governance dashboard: Provides a summary of your cloud governance and risk details, which include policy and cluster violations. Refer to the Manage security policies section to learn about the structure of an Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes policy framework, and how to use the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes Governance dashboard.

    Notes:

    • When a policy is propagated to a managed cluster, it is first replicated to the cluster namespace on the hub cluster, and is named and labeled using namespaceName.policyName. When you create a policy, make sure that the length of the namespaceName.policyName does not exceed 63 characters due to the Kubernetes length limit for label values.
    • When you search for a policy in the hub cluster, you might also receive the name of the replicated policy in the managed cluster namespace. For example, if you search for policy-dhaz-cert in the default namespace, the following policy name from the hub cluster might also appear in the managed cluster namespace: default.policy-dhaz-cert.
  • Policy-based governance framework: Supports policy creation and deployment to various managed clusters based on attributes associated with clusters, such as a geographical region. There are examples of the predefined policies and instructions on deploying policies to your cluster in the open source community. Additionally, when policies are violated, automations can be configured to run and take any action that the user chooses.
  • Policy controller: Evaluates one or more policies on the managed cluster against your specified control and generates Kubernetes events for violations. Violations are propagated to the hub cluster. Policy controllers that are included in your installation are the following: Kubernetes configuration, Certificate, and IAM. Customize the your policy controllers using advanced configurations.
  • Open source community: Supports community contributions with a foundation of the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy framework. Policy controllers and third-party policies are also a part of the open-cluster-management/policy-collection repository. You can contribute and deploy policies using GitOps. For more information, see Deploying policies by using GitOps in the Manage security policies section. Learn how to integrate third-party policies with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes.

Continue reading the related topics:

2.2. Policy overview

Use the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes security policy framework to create and manage policies. Kubernetes custom resource definition instances are used to create policies.

Each Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy can have at least one or more templates. For more details about the policy elements, view the Policy YAML table section on this page.

The policy requires a PlacementRule or Placement that defines the clusters that the policy document is applied to, and a PlacementBinding that binds the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes policy to the placement rule. For more on how to define a PlacementRule, see Placement rules in the Application lifecycle documentation. For more on how to define a Placement see Placement overview in the Cluster lifecycle documentation.

Important:

  • You must create the PlacementBinding to bind your policy with either a PlacementRule (deprecated) or a Placement in order to propagate the policy to the managed clusters.

Best practice: Use the command line interface (CLI) to make updates to the policies when you use the Placement resource.

  • You can create a policy in any namespace on the hub cluster except the cluster namespace. If you create a policy in the cluster namespace, it is deleted by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes.
  • Each client and provider is responsible for ensuring that their managed cloud environment meets internal enterprise security standards for software engineering, secure engineering, resiliency, security, and regulatory compliance for workloads hosted on Kubernetes clusters.

Use the governance and security capability to gain visibility and remediate configurations to meet standards.

Learn more details about the policy components in the following sections:

2.2.1. Policy YAML structure

When you create a policy, you must include required parameter fields and values. Depending on your policy controller, you might need to include other optional fields and values. View the following YAML structure for the explained parameter fields:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  dependencies:
  - apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    compliance:
    kind: Policy
    name:
    namespace:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion:
        kind:
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
---
apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name:
placementRef:
  name:
  kind:
  apiGroup:
subjects:
- name:
  kind:
  apiGroup:
---
apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name:
spec:
  clusterConditions:
  - type:
  clusterLabels:
    matchLabels:
      cloud:

2.2.2. Policy YAML table

Table 2.1. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.annotations

Optional

Used to specify a set of security details that describes the set of standards the policy is trying to validate. All annotations documented here are represented as a string that contains a comma-separated list.

Note: You can view policy violations based on the standards and categories that you define for your policy on the Policies page, from the console.

annotations.policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards

Optional

The name or names of security standards the policy is related to. For example, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Payment Card Industry (PCI).

annotations.policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories

Optional

A security control category represent specific requirements for one or more standards. For example, a System and Information Integrity category might indicate that your policy contains a data transfer protocol to protect personal information, as required by the HIPAA and PCI standards.

annotations.policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls

Optional

The name of the security control that is being checked. For example, Access Control or System and Information Integrity.

spec.dependencies

Optional

Used to create a list of dependency objects detailed with extra considerations for compliance.

spec.policy-templates

Required

Used to create one or more policies to apply to a managed cluster.

spec.policy-templates.extraDependencies

Optional

For policy templates, this is used to create a list of dependency objects detailed with extra considerations for compliance.

spec.policy-templates.ignorePending

Optional

Used to mark a policy template as compliant until the dependency criteria is verified.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. If specified, the spec.remediationAction value that is defined overrides any remediationAction parameter defined in the child policies in the policy-templates section. For example, if the spec.remediationAction value is set to enforce, then the remediationAction in the policy-templates section is set to enforce during runtime.

Important: Some policy kinds might not support the enforce feature.

2.2.3. Policy sample file

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name: policy-role
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: AC Access Control
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: AC-3 Access Enforcement
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction: inform
  disabled: false
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name: policy-role-example
        spec:
          remediationAction: inform # the policy-template spec.remediationAction is overridden by the preceding parameter value for spec.remediationAction.
          severity: high
          namespaceSelector:
            include: ["default"]
          object-templates:
            - complianceType: mustonlyhave # role definition should exact match
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                kind: Role
                metadata:
                  name: sample-role
                rules:
                  - apiGroups: ["extensions", "apps"]
                    resources: ["deployments"]
                    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "delete","patch"]
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-policy-role
placementRef:
  name: placement-policy-role
  kind: PlacementRule
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
subjects:
- name: policy-role
  kind: Policy
  apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
---
apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: placement-policy-role
spec:
  clusterConditions:
  - status: "True"
    type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
  clusterSelector:
    matchExpressions:
      - {key: environment, operator: In, values: ["dev"]}

2.2.4. Placement YAML sample file

The PlacementBinding and Placement resources can be combined with the previous policy example to deploy the policy using the cluster Placement API instead of the PlacementRule API.

---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-policy-role
placementRef:
  name: placement-policy-role
  kind: Placement
  apiGroup: cluster.open-cluster-management.io
subjects:
- name: policy-role
  kind: Policy
  apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
---
//Depends on if governance would like to use v1beta1
apiVersion: cluster.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
kind: Placement
metadata:
  name: placement-policy-role
spec:
  predicates:
  - requiredClusterSelector:
      labelSelector:
        matchExpressions:
          - {key: environment, operator: In, values: ["dev"]}

2.3. Policy controllers

Policy controllers monitor and report whether your cluster is compliant with a policy. Use the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes policy framework by using the out-of-the-box policy templates to apply policies managed by these controllers. The policy controllers manage Kubernetes custom resource definition (CRD) instances.

Policy controllers monitor for policy violations, and can make the cluster status compliant if the controller supports the enforcement feature. View the following topics to learn more about the following Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes policy controllers:

Important: Only the configuration policy controller policies support the enforce feature. You must manually remediate policies, where the policy controller does not support the enforce feature.

Refer to Governance for more topics about managing your policies.

2.3.1. Kubernetes configuration policy controller

The configuration policy controller can be used to configure any Kubernetes resource and apply security policies across your clusters. The configuration policy is provided in the policy-templates field of the policy on the hub cluster, and is propagated to the selected managed clusters by the governance framework.

A Kubernetes object is defined (in whole or in part) in the object-templates array in the configuration policy, indicating to the configuration policy controller of the fields to compare with objects on the managed cluster. The configuration policy controller communicates with the local Kubernetes API server to get the list of your configurations that are in your cluster.

The configuration policy controller is created on the managed cluster during installation. The configuration policy controller supports the enforce feature to remediate when the configuration policy is non-compliant. When the remediationAction for the configuration policy is set to enforce, the controller applies the specified configuration to the target managed cluster. Note: Configuration policies that specify an object without a name can only be inform.

You can also use templated values within configuration policies. For more information, see Template processing.

If you have existing Kubernetes manifests that you want to put in a policy, the Policy Generator is a useful tool to accomplish this.

Continue reading to learn more about the configuration policy controller:

2.3.1.1. Configuration policy sample

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: policy-config
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    include: ["default"]
    exclude: []
    matchExpressions: []
    matchLabels: {}
  remediationAction: inform
  severity: low
  evaluationInterval:
    compliant:
    noncompliant:
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      apiVersion: v1
      kind: Pod
      metadata:
        name: pod
      spec:
        containers:
        - image: pod-image
          name: pod-name
          ports:
          - containerPort: 80
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: myconfig
      namespace: default
      data:
      testData: hello
    spec:
...

2.3.1.2. Configuration policy YAML table

Table 2.2. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to ConfigurationPolicy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name of the policy.

spec.namespaceSelector

Required for namespaced objects that do not have a namespace specified

Determines namespaces in the managed cluster that the object is applied to. The include and exclude parameters accept file path expressions to include and exclude namespaces by name. The matchExpressions and matchLabels parameters specify namespaces to include by label. See the Kubernetes labels and selectors documentation. The resulting list is compiled by using the intersection of results from all parameters.

spec.remediationAction

Required

Specifies the action to take when the policy is non-compliant. Use the following parameter values: inform or enforce.

spec.severity

Required

Specifies the severity when the policy is non-compliant. Use the following parameter values: low, medium, high, or critical.

spec.evaluationInterval.compliant

Optional

Used to define how often the policy is evaluated when it is in the compliant state. The values must be in the format of a duration which is a sequence of numbers with time unit suffixes. For example, 12h30m5s represents 12 hours, 30 minutes, and 5 seconds. It can also be set to never so that the policy is not reevaluated on the compliant cluster, unless the policy spec is updated.

By default, the minimum time between evaluations for configuration policies is approximately 10 seconds when the evaluationInterval.compliant is not set or empty. This can be longer if the configuration policy controller is saturated on the managed cluster.

spec.evaluationInterval.noncompliant

Optional

Used to define how often the policy is evaluated when it is in the non-compliant state. Similar to the evaluationInterval.compliant parameter, the values must be in the format of a duration which is a sequence of numbers with time unit suffixes. It can also be set to never so that the policy is not reevaluated on the non-compliant cluster, unless the policy spec is updated.

spec.object-templates

Optional

The array of Kubernetes objects (either fully defined or containing a subset of fields) for the controller to compare with objects on the managed cluster. Note: While spec.object-templates and spec.object-templates-raw are listed as optional, exactly one of the two parameter fields must be set.

spec.object-templates-raw

Optional

Used to set object templates with a raw YAML string. Specify conditions for the object templates, where advanced functions like if-else statements and the range function are supported values. For example, add the following value to avoid duplication in your object-templates definition:

{{- if eq .metadata.name "policy-grc-your-meta-data-name" }} replicas: 2 {{- else }} replicas: 1 {{- end }}

Note: While spec.object-templates and spec.object-templates-raw are listed as optional, exactly one of the two parameter fields must be set.

spec.object-templates[].complianceType

Required

Used to define the desired state of the Kubernetes object on the managed clusters. You must use one of the following verbs as the parameter value:

mustonlyhave: Indicates that an object must exist with the exact fields and values as defined in the objectDefinition.

musthave: Indicates an object must exist with the same fields as specified in the objectDefinition. Any existing fields on the object that are not specified in the object-template are ignored. In general, array values are appended. The exception for the array to be patched is when the item contains a name key with a value that matches an existing item. Use a fully defined objectDefinition using the mustonlyhave compliance type, if you want to replace the array.

mustnothave: Indicates that an object with the same fields as specified in the objectDefinition cannot exist.

spec.object-templates[].metadataComplianceType

Optional

Overrides spec.object-templates[].complianceType when comparing the manifest’s metadata section to objects on the cluster ("musthave", "mustonlyhave"). Default is unset to not override complianceType for metadata.

spec.object-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

A Kubernetes object (either fully defined or containing a subset of fields) for the controller to compare with objects on the managed cluster.

spec.pruneObjectBehavior

Optional

Determines whether to clean up resources related to the policy when the policy is removed from a managed cluster.

2.3.1.3. Additional resources

See the following topics for more information:

2.3.2. Certificate policy controller

Certificate policy controller can be used to detect certificates that are close to expiring, time durations (hours) that are too long, or contain DNS names that fail to match specified patterns. The certificate policy is provided in the policy-templates field of the policy on the hub cluster and is propagated to the selected managed clusters by the governance framework. See the Policy overview documentation for more details on the hub cluster policy.

Configure and customize the certificate policy controller by updating the following parameters in your controller policy:

  • minimumDuration
  • minimumCADuration
  • maximumDuration
  • maximumCADuration
  • allowedSANPattern
  • disallowedSANPattern

Your policy might become non-compliant due to either of the following scenarios:

  • When a certificate expires in less than the minimum duration of time or exceeds the maximum time.
  • When DNS names fail to match the specified pattern.

The certificate policy controller is created on your managed cluster. The controller communicates with the local Kubernetes API server to get the list of secrets that contain certificates and determine all non-compliant certificates.

Certificate policy controller does not support the enforce feature.

Note: The certificate policy controller automatically looks for a certificate in a secret in only the tls.crt key. If a secret is stored under a different key, add a label named certificate_key_name with a value set to the key to let the certificate policy controller know to look in a different key. For example, if a secret contains a certificate stored in the key named sensor-cert.pem, add the following label to the secret: certificate_key_name: sensor-cert.pem.

2.3.2.1. Certificate policy controller YAML structure

View the following example of a certificate policy and review the element in the YAML table:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: CertificatePolicy
metadata:
  name: certificate-policy-example
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    include: ["default"]
    exclude: []
    matchExpressions: []
    matchLabels: {}
  labelSelector:
    myLabelKey: myLabelValue
  remediationAction:
  severity:
  minimumDuration:
  minimumCADuration:
  maximumDuration:
  maximumCADuration:
  allowedSANPattern:
  disallowedSANPattern:
2.3.2.1.1. Certificate policy controller YAML table
Table 2.3. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to CertificatePolicy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name to identify the policy.

metadata.labels

Optional

In a certificate policy, the category=system-and-information-integrity label categorizes the policy and facilitates querying the certificate policies. If there is a different value for the category key in your certificate policy, the value is overridden by the certificate controller.

spec.namespaceSelector

Required

Determines namespaces in the managed cluster where secrets are monitored. The include and exclude parameters accept file path expressions to include and exclude namespaces by name. The matchExpressions and matchLabels parameters specify namespaces to be included by label. See the Kubernetes labels and selectors documentation. The resulting list is compiled by using the intersection of results from all parameters.

Note: If the namespaceSelector for the certificate policy controller does not match any namespace, the policy is considered compliant.

spec.labelSelector

Optional

Specifies identifying attributes of objects. See the Kubernetes labels and selectors documentation.

spec.remediationAction

Required

Specifies the remediation of your policy. Set the parameter value to inform. Certificate policy controller only supports inform feature.

spec.severity

Optional

Informs the user of the severity when the policy is non-compliant. Use the following parameter values: low, medium, high, or critical.

spec.minimumDuration

Required

When a value is not specified, the default value is 100h. This parameter specifies the smallest duration (in hours) before a certificate is considered non-compliant. The parameter value uses the time duration format from Golang. See Golang Parse Duration for more information.

spec.minimumCADuration

Optional

Set a value to identify signing certificates that might expire soon with a different value from other certificates. If the parameter value is not specified, the CA certificate expiration is the value used for the minimumDuration. See Golang Parse Duration for more information.

spec.maximumDuration

Optional

Set a value to identify certificates that have been created with a duration that exceeds your desired limit. The parameter uses the time duration format from Golang. See Golang Parse Duration for more information.

spec.maximumCADuration

Optional

Set a value to identify signing certificates that have been created with a duration that exceeds your defined limit. The parameter uses the time duration format from Golang. See Golang Parse Duration for more information.

spec.allowedSANPattern

Optional

A regular expression that must match every SAN entry that you have defined in your certificates. This parameter checks DNS names against patterns. See the Golang Regular Expression syntax for more information.

spec.disallowedSANPattern

Optional

A regular expression that must not match any SAN entries you have defined in your certificates. This parameter checks DNS names against patterns.

Note: To detect wild-card certificate, use the following SAN pattern: disallowedSANPattern: "[\\*]"

See the Golang Regular Expression syntax for more information.

2.3.2.2. Certificate policy sample

When your certificate policy controller is created on your hub cluster, a replicated policy is created on your managed cluster. See policy-certificate.yaml to view the certificate policy sample.

Learn how to manage a certificate policy, see Managing security policies for more details. Refer to Policy controllers for more topics.

2.3.3. IAM policy controller

The Identity and Access Management (IAM) policy controller can be used to receive notifications about IAM policies that are non-compliant. The compliance check is based on the parameters that you configure in the IAM policy. The IAM policy is provided in the policy-templates field of the policy on the hub cluster and is propagated to the selected managed clusters by the governance framework. See the Policy YAML structure documentation for more details on the hub cluster policy.

The IAM policy controller monitors for the desired maximum number of users with a particular cluster role (i.e. ClusterRole) in your cluster. The default cluster role to monitor is cluster-admin. The IAM policy controller communicates with the local Kubernetes API server.

The IAM policy controller runs on your managed cluster. View the following sections to learn more:

2.3.3.1. IAM policy YAML structure

View the following example of an IAM policy and review the parameters in the YAML table:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: IamPolicy
metadata:
  name:
spec:
  clusterRole:
  severity:
  remediationAction:
  maxClusterRoleBindingUsers:
  ignoreClusterRoleBindings:

2.3.3.2. IAM policy YAML table

View the following parameter table for descriptions:

Table 2.4. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

spec.clusterRole

Optional

The cluster role (i.e. ClusterRole) to monitor. This defaults to cluster-admin if not specified.

spec.severity

Optional

Informs the user of the severity when the policy is non-compliant. Use the following parameter values: low, medium, high, or critical.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. Enter inform. The IAM policy controller only supports the inform feature.

spec.ignoreClusterRoleBindings

Optional

A list of regular expression (regex) values that indicate which cluster role binding names to ignore. These regular expression values must follow Go regexp syntax. By default, all cluster role bindings that have a name that starts with system: are ignored. It is recommended to set this to a stricter value. To not ignore any cluster role binding names, set the list to a single value of .^ or some other regular expression that never matches.

spec.maxClusterRoleBindingUsers

Required

Maximum number of IAM role bindings that are available before a policy is considered non-compliant.

2.3.3.3. IAM policy sample

See policy-limitclusteradmin.yaml to view the IAM policy sample. See Managing security policies for more information. Refer to Policy controllers for more topics.

2.3.4. Policy set controller

The policy set controller aggregates the policy status scoped to policies that are defined in the same namespace. Create a policy set (PolicySet) to group policies that are in the same namespace. All policies in the PolicySet are placed together in a selected cluster by creating a PlacementBinding to bind the PolicySet and Placement. The policy set is deployed to the hub cluster.

Additionally, when a policy is a part of multiple policy sets, existing and new Placement resources remain in the policy. When a user removes a policy from the policy set, the policy is not applied to the cluster that is selected in the policy set, but the placements remain. The policy set controller only checks for violations in clusters that include the policy set placement.

Note: The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hardening sample policy set uses cluster placement. If you use cluster placement, bind the namespace containing the policy to the managed cluster set. See Deploying policies to your cluster for more details on using cluster placement.

Learn more details about the policy set structure in the following sections:

2.3.4.1. Policy set YAML structure

Your policy set might resemble the following YAML file:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
kind: PolicySet
metadata:
  name: demo-policyset
spec:
  policies:
  - policy-demo

---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: demo-policyset-pb
placementRef:
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: PlacementRule
  name: demo-policyset-pr
subjects:
- apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: PolicySet
  name: demo-policyset
---
apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: demo-policyset-pr
spec:
  clusterConditions:pagewidth:
  - status: "True"
    type: ManagedCLusterConditionAvailable
  clusterSelectors:
    matchExpressions:
      - key: name
        operator: In
        values:
          - local-cluster

2.3.4.2. Policy set table

View the following parameter table for descriptions:

Table 2.5. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1.

kind

Required

Set the value to PolicySet to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

spec

Required

Add configuration details for your policy.

spec.policies

Optional

The list of policies that you want to group together in the policy set.

2.3.4.3. Policy set sample

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
kind: PolicySet
metadata:
  name: pci
  namespace: default
spec:
  description: Policies for PCI compliance
  policies:
  - policy-pod
  - policy-namespace
status:
  compliant: NonCompliant
  placement:
  - placementBinding: binding1
    placementRule: placement1
    policySet: policyset-ps

2.3.4.4. Additional resources

2.4. Policy controller advanced configuration

You can customize policy controller configurations on your managed clusters by using the ManagedClusterAddOn custom resources. The following ManagedClusterAddOns configure the policy framework, governance-policy-framework, config-policy-controller, cert-policy-controller, and iam-policy-controller.

Required access: Cluster administrator

2.4.1. Configure the concurrency

You can configure the concurrency of the configuration policy controller for each managed cluster to change how many configuration policies it can evaluate at the same time. To change the default value of 2, set the policy-evaluation-concurrency annotation with a non-zero integer within quotation marks. You can set the value on the ManagedClusterAddOn object name to config-policy-controller in the managed cluster namespace of the hub cluster.

Note: Increased concurrency values increase CPU and memory utilization on the config-policy-controller pod, Kubernetes API server, and OpenShift API server.

In the following YAML example, concurrency is set to 5 on the managed cluster that is named cluster1:

apiVersion: addon.open-cluster-management.io/v1alpha1
kind: ManagedClusterAddOn
metadata:
  name: config-policy-controller
  namespace: cluster1
  annotations:
    policy-evaluation-concurrency: "5"
spec:
  installNamespace: open-cluster-management-agent-addon

2.4.2. Configure the rate of requests to the API server

Configure the rate of requests to the API server that the configuration policy controller makes on each managed cluster. An increased rate improves the responsiveness of the configuration policy controller, which also increases the CPU and memory utilization of the Kubernetes API server and OpenShift API server. By default, the rate of requests scales with the policy-evaluation-concurrency setting and is set to 30 queries for each second (QPS), with a 45 burst value, representing a higher number of requests over short periods of time.

You can configure the rate and burst by setting the client-qps and client-burst annotations with non-zero integers within quotation marks. You can set the value on the ManagedClusterAddOn object name to config-policy-controller in the managed cluster namespace of the hub cluster.

In the following YAML example, the queries for each second is set to 20 and the burst is set to 100 on the managed cluster called cluster1:

apiVersion: addon.open-cluster-management.io/v1alpha1
kind: ManagedClusterAddOn
metadata:
  name: config-policy-controller
  namespace: cluster1
  annotations:
    client-qps: "20"
    client-burst: "100"
spec:
  installNamespace: open-cluster-management-agent-addon

2.4.3. Configure debug log

When you configure and collect debug logs for each policy controller, you can adjust the log level.

Note: Reducing the volume of debug logs means there is less information displayed from the logs.

You can reduce the debug logs emitted by the policy controllers to be display error-only bugs in the logs. To reduce the debug logs, set the debug log value to -1 in the annotation. See what each value represents:

  • -1: error logs only
  • 0: informative logs
  • 1: debug logs
  • 2: verbose debugging logs

To receive the second level of debugging information for the Kubernetes configuration controller, add the log-level annotation with the value of 2 to the ManagedClusterAddOn custom resource. By default, the log-level is set to 0, which means you receive informative messages. View the following example:

apiVersion: addon.open-cluster-management.io/v1alpha1
kind: ManagedClusterAddOn
metadata:
  name: config-policy-controller
  namespace: cluster1
  annotations:
    log-level: "2"
spec:
  installNamespace: open-cluster-management-agent-addon

2.4.4. Governance metric

The policy framework exposes metrics that show policy distribution and compliance. Use the policy_governance_info metric on the hub cluster to view trends and analyze any policy failures. See the following topics for an overview of metrics:

2.4.4.1. Metric: policy_governance_info

The policy_governance_info is collected by the OpenShift Container Platform monitoring feature, and some aggregate data is collected by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management observability, if it is enabled.

Note: If observability is enabled, you can enter a query for the metric from the Grafana Explore page. When you create a policy, you are creating a root policy. The framework watches for root policies, as well as PlacementRules (deprecated) or Placement, and PlacementBindings to determine where to create propagated policies in order to distribute the policy to managed clusters.

For both root and propagated policies, a metric of 0 is recorded if the policy is compliant, and 1 if it is non-compliant.

The policy_governance_info metric uses the following labels:

  • type: The label values are root or propagated.
  • policy: The name of the associated root policy.
  • policy_namespace: The namespace on the hub cluster where the root policy was defined.
  • cluster_namespace: The namespace for the cluster where the policy is distributed.

These labels and values enable queries that can show us many things happening in the cluster that might be difficult to track.

Note: If the metrics are not needed, and there are any concerns about performance or security, this feature can be disabled. Set the DISABLE_REPORT_METRICS environment variable to true in the propagator deployment. You can also add policy_governance_info metric to the observability allowlist as a custom metric. See Adding custom metrics for more details.

2.4.4.2. Metric: config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds

The config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds histogram tracks the number of seconds it takes to process all configuration policies that are ready to be evaluated on the cluster. Use the following metrics to query the histogram:

  • config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds_bucket: The buckets are cumulative and represent seconds with the following possible entries: 1, 3, 9, 10.5, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 300, 450, 600, and greater.
  • config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds_count: The count of all events.
  • config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds_sum: The sum of all values.

Use the config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds metric to determine if the ConfigurationPolicy evaluationInterval setting needs to be changed for resource intensive policies that do not need frequent evaluation. You can also increase the concurrency at the cost of higher resource utilization on the Kubernetes API server. See Configure the concurrency section for more details.

To receive information about the time used to evaluate configuration policies, perform a Prometheus query that resembles the following expression:

rate(config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds_sum[10m])/rate (config_policies_evaluation_duration_seconds_count[10m]

The config-policy-controller pod running on managed clusters in the open-cluster-management-agent-addon namespace calculates the metric. The config-policy-controller does not send the metric to observability by default.

2.4.5. Verify configuration changes

When the new configuration is applied by the controller, the ManifestApplied parameter is updated in the ManagedClusterAddOn. That condition timestamp can be used to verify the configuration correctly. For example, this command can verify when the cert-policy-controller on the local-cluster was updated:

oc get -n local-cluster managedclusteraddon cert-policy-controller | grep -B4 'type: ManifestApplied'

You might receive the following output:

 - lastTransitionTime: "2023-01-26T15:42:22Z"
    message: manifests of addon are applied successfully
    reason: AddonManifestApplied
    status: "True"
    type: ManifestApplied

2.4.6. Additional resources

2.5. Supported policies

View the supported policies to learn how to define rules, processes, and controls on the hub cluster when you create and manage policies in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes.

2.5.1. Table of sample configuration policies

View the following sample configuration policies:

Table 2.6. Table list of configuration policies
Policy sampleDescription

Namespace policy

Ensure consistent environment isolation and naming with Namespaces. See the Kubernetes Namespace documentation.

Pod policy

Ensure cluster workload configuration. See the Kubernetes Pod documentation.

Memory usage policy

Limit workload resource usage by using Limit Ranges. See the Limit Range documentation.

Pod security policy (Deprecated)

Ensure consistent workload security. See the Kubernetes Pod security policy documentation.

Role policy
Role binding policy

Manage role permissions and bindings by using roles and role bindings. See the Kubernetes RBAC documentation.

Security content constraints (SCC) policy

Manage workload permissions with Security Context Constraints. See Managing Security Context Constraints documentation in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

ETCD encryption policy

Ensure data security with etcd encryption. See Encrypting etcd data in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Compliance operator policy

Deploy the Compliance Operator to scan and enforce the compliance state of clusters leveraging OpenSCAP. See Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Compliance operator E8 scan

After applying the Compliance operator policy, deploy an Essential 8 (E8) scan to check for compliance with E8 security profiles. See Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Compliance operator CIS scan

After applying the Compliance operator policy, deploy a Center for Internet Security (CIS) scan to check for compliance with CIS security profiles. See Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Image vulnerability policy

Deploy the Container Security Operator and detect known image vulnerabilities in pods running on the cluster. See the Container Security Operator GitHub repository.

Gatekeeper operator deployment

Gatekeeper is an admission webhook that enforces custom resource definition-based policies that are run by the Open Policy Agent (OPA) policy engine. See the Gatekeeper documentation.

Gatekeeper compliance policy

After deploying Gatekeeper to the clusters, deploy this sample Gatekeeper policy that ensures namespaces that are created on the cluster are labeled as specified.

Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus policy set

Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus is a hybrid-cloud suite of products to securely build, deploy, run, and manage applications for multiple infrastructures. You can deploy Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus to managed clusters using PolicySets delivered through a Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management application. For details on OpenShift Platform Plus, see the documentation for OpenShift Platform Plus.

2.5.2. Support matrix for out-of-box policies

Table 2.7. Support matrix
PolicyRed Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

Memory usage policy

x

x

Namespace policy

x

x

Image vulnerability policy

x

x

Pod policy

x

x

Pod security policy (deprecated)

  

Role policy

x

x

Role binding policy

x

x

Security Context Constraints policy (SCC)

x

x

ETCD encryption policy

 

x

Gatekeeper policy

 

x

Compliance operator policy

 

x

E8 scan policy

 

x

OpenShift CIS scan policy

 

x

Policy set

 

x

View the following policy samples to view how specific policies are applied:

Refer to Governance for more topics.

2.5.3. Namespace policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of your namespace policy. Apply the namespace policy to define specific rules for your namespace.

Learn more details about the namespace policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.3.1. Namespace policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                kind: Namespace
                apiVersion: v1
                metadata:
                  name:
                ...

2.5.3.2. Namespace policy YAML table

FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because it overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.3.3. Namespace policy sample

See policy-namespace.yaml to view the policy sample.

See Managing security policies for more details. Refer to Policy overview documentation, and to the Kubernetes configuration policy controller to learn about other configuration policies.

2.5.4. Pod policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of your pod policies. Apply the pod policy to define the container rules for your pods. A pod must exist in your cluster to use this information.

Learn more details about the pod policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.4.1. Pod policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: v1
                kind: Pod
                metadata:
                  name:
                spec:
                  containers:
                  - image:
                    name:
                ...

2.5.4.2. Pod policy table

Table 2.8. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because the value overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.4.3. Pod policy sample

See policy-pod.yaml to view the policy sample.

Refer to Kubernetes configuration policy controller to view other configuration policies that are monitored by the configuration controller, and see the Policy overview documentation to see a full description of the policy YAML structure and additional fields. Return to Managing configuration policies documentation to manage other policies.

2.5.5. Memory usage policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of the memory usage policy. Use the memory usage policy to limit or restrict your memory and compute usage. For more information, see Limit Ranges in the Kubernetes documentation.

Learn more details about the memory usage policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.5.1. Memory usage policy YAML structure

Your memory usage policy might resemble the following YAML file:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType: mustonlyhave
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: v1
                kind: LimitRange
                metadata:
                  name:
                spec:
                  limits:
                  - default:
                      memory:
                    defaultRequest:
                      memory:
                    type:
        ...

2.5.5.2. Memory usage policy table

Table 2.9. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because the value overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.5.3. Memory usage policy sample

See the policy-limitmemory.yaml to view a sample of the policy. See Managing security policies for more details. Refer to the Policy overview documentation, and to Kubernetes configuration policy controller to view other configuration policies that are monitored by the controller.

2.5.6. Pod security policy (Deprecated)

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of the pod security policy. Apply a pod security policy to secure pods and containers.

Learn more details about the pod security policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.6.1. Pod security policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: policy/v1beta1
                kind: PodSecurityPolicy
                metadata:
                  name:
                  annotations:
                    seccomp.security.alpha.kubernetes.io/allowedProfileNames:
                spec:
                  privileged:
                  allowPrivilegeEscalation:
                  allowedCapabilities:
                  volumes:
                  hostNetwork:
                  hostPorts:
                  hostIPC:
                  hostPID:
                  runAsUser:
                  seLinux:
                  supplementalGroups:
                  fsGroup:
                ...

2.5.6.2. Pod security policy table

Table 2.10. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because the value overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.6.3. Pod security policy sample

The support of pod security policies is removed from OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 and later, and from Kubernetes v1.25 and later. If you apply a PodSecurityPolicy resource, you might receive the following non-compliant message:

violation - couldn't find mapping resource with kind PodSecurityPolicy, please check if you have CRD deployed

2.5.7. Role policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of role policies. Define roles in the object-template to set rules and permissions for specific roles in your cluster.

Learn more details about the role policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.7.1. Role policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                kind: Role
                metadata:
                  name:
                rules:
                  - apiGroups:
                    resources:
                    verbs:
                ...
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-policy-role
  namespace:
placementRef:
  name: placement-policy-role
  kind: PlacementRule
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
subjects:
- name: policy-role
  kind: Policy
  apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
---
apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: placement-policy-role
  namespace:
spec:
  clusterConditions:
    - type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
      status: "True"
  clusterSelector:
    matchExpressions:
      []

         ...

2.5.7.2. Role policy table

Table 2.11. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because the value overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.7.3. Role policy sample

Apply a role policy to set rules and permissions for specific roles in your cluster. For more information on roles, see Role-based access control. View a sample of a role policy, see policy-role.yaml.

To learn how to manage role policies, refer to Managing configuration policies for more information. See the Kubernetes configuration policy controller to view other configuration policies that are monitored the controller.

2.5.8. Role binding policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of your role binding policy. Apply a role binding policy to bind a policy to a namespace in your managed cluster.

Learn more details about the namespace policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.8.1. Role binding policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                kind: RoleBinding # role binding must exist
                apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                metadata:
                  name:
                subjects:
                - kind:
                  name:
                  apiGroup:
                roleRef:
                  kind:
                  name:
                  apiGroup:
                ...

2.5.8.2. Role binding policy table

FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional since it overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.8.3. Role binding policy sample

See policy-rolebinding.yaml to view the policy sample. For a full description of the policy YAML structure and additional fields, see the Policy overview documentation. Refer to Kubernetes configuration policy controller documentation to learn about other configuration policies.

2.5.9. Security Context Constraints policy

The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of your Security Context Constraints (SCC) policy. Apply an Security Context Constraints (SCC) policy to control permissions for pods by defining conditions in the policy.

Learn more details about SCC policies in the following sections:

2.5.9.1. SCC policy YAML structure

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          namespaceSelector:
            exclude:
            include:
            matchLabels:
            matchExpressions:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: security.openshift.io/v1
                kind: SecurityContextConstraints
                metadata:
                  name:
                allowHostDirVolumePlugin:
                allowHostIPC:
                allowHostNetwork:
                allowHostPID:
                allowHostPorts:
                allowPrivilegeEscalation:
                allowPrivilegedContainer:
                fsGroup:
                readOnlyRootFilesystem:
                requiredDropCapabilities:
                runAsUser:
                seLinuxContext:
                supplementalGroups:
                users:
                volumes:
                ...

2.5.9.2. SCC policy table

FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional since it overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

For explanations on the contents of a SCC policy, see Managing Security Context Constraints from the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

2.5.9.3. SCC policy sample

Apply a Security context constraints (SCC) policy to control permissions for pods by defining conditions in the policy. For more information see, Managing Security Context Constraints (SCC).

See policy-scc.yaml to view the policy sample. For a full description of the policy YAML structure and additional fields, see the Policy overview documentation. Refer to Kubernetes configuration policy controller documentation to learn about other configuration policies.

2.5.10. ETCD encryption policy

Apply the etcd-encryption policy to detect, or enable encryption of sensitive data in the ETCD data-store. The Kubernetes configuration policy controller monitors the status of the etcd-encryption policy. For more information, see Encrypting etcd data in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation. Note: The ETCD encryption policy only supports Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and later.

Learn more details about the etcd-encryption policy structure in the following sections:

2.5.10.1. ETCD encryption policy YAML structure

Your etcd-encryption policy might resemble the following YAML file:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  name:
  namespace:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
spec:
  remediationAction:
  disabled:
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name:
        spec:
          remediationAction:
          severity:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType:
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
                kind: APIServer
                metadata:
                  name:
                spec:
                  encryption:
                ...

2.5.10.2. ETCD encryption policy table

Table 2.12. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to Policy to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

metadata.namespace

Required

The namespace of the policy.

spec.remediationAction

Optional

Specifies the remediation of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. This value is optional because it overrides any values provided in spec.policy-templates.

spec.disabled

Required

Set the value to true or false. The disabled parameter provides the ability to enable and disable your policies.

spec.policy-templates[].objectDefinition

Required

Used to list configuration policies containing Kubernetes objects that must be evaluated or applied to the managed clusters.

2.5.10.3. ETCD encryption policy sample

See policy-etcdencryption.yaml for the policy sample. See the Policy overview documentation and the Kubernetes configuration policy controller to view additional details on policy and configuration policy fields.

2.5.11. Compliance Operator policy

You can use the Compliance Operator to automate the inspection of numerous technical implementations and compare those against certain aspects of industry standards, benchmarks, and baselines. The Compliance Operator is not an auditor. To be compliant or certified with these various standards, you need to engage an authorized auditor such as a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), Joint Authorization Board (JAB), or other industry recognized regulatory authority to assess your environment.

Recommendations that are generated from the Compliance Operator are based on generally available information and practices regarding such standards, and might assist you with remediations, but actual compliance is your responsibility. Work with an authorized auditor to achieve compliance with a standard.

For the latest updates, see the Compliance Operator release notes.

2.5.11.1. Compliance Operator policy overview

You can install the Compliance Operator on your managed cluster by using the Compliance Operator policy. The Compliance Operator policy is created as a Kubernetes configuration policy in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. OpenShift Container Platform supports the Compliance Operator policy.

Note: The Compliance operator policy relies on the OpenShift Container Platform Compliance Operator, which is not supported on the IBM Power or IBM Z architectures. See Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation for more information about the Compliance Operator.

2.5.11.2. Compliance operator resources

When you create a Compliance Operator policy, the following resources are created:

  • A Compliance Operator namespace (openshift-compliance) for the operator installation:
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: comp-operator-ns
spec:
  remediationAction: inform # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
  severity: high
  object-templates:
    - complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: Namespace
        metadata:
          name: openshift-compliance
  • An operator group (compliance-operator) to specify the target namespace:
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: comp-operator-operator-group
spec:
  remediationAction: inform # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
  severity: high
  object-templates:
    - complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
        kind: OperatorGroup
        metadata:
          name: compliance-operator
          namespace: openshift-compliance
        spec:
          targetNamespaces:
            - openshift-compliance
  • A subscription (comp-operator-subscription) to reference the name and channel. The subscription pulls the profile, as a container, that it supports:
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: comp-operator-subscription
spec:
  remediationAction: inform  # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
  severity: high
  object-templates:
    - complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
        kind: Subscription
        metadata:
          name: compliance-operator
          namespace: openshift-compliance
        spec:
          channel: "4.7"
          installPlanApproval: Automatic
          name: compliance-operator
          source: redhat-operators
          sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace

2.5.11.3. Additional resources

2.5.12. E8 scan policy

An Essential 8 (E8) scan policy deploys a scan that checks the master and worker nodes for compliance with the E8 security profiles. You must install the compliance operator to apply the E8 scan policy.

The E8 scan policy is created as a Kubernetes configuration policy in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. OpenShift Container Platform 4.7 and 4.6, support the E8 scan policy. For more information, see Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation for more details.

2.5.12.1. E8 scan policy resources

When you create an E8 scan policy the following resources are created:

  • A ScanSettingBinding resource (e8) to identify which profiles to scan:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-suite-e8
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave # this template checks if scan has completed by checking the status field
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ScanSettingBinding
            metadata:
              name: e8
              namespace: openshift-compliance
            profiles:
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: ocp4-e8
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: rhcos4-e8
            settingsRef:
              apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: ScanSetting
              name: default
  • A ComplianceSuite resource (compliance-suite-e8) to verify if the scan is complete by checking the status field:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-suite-e8
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave # this template checks if scan has completed by checking the status field
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ComplianceSuite
            metadata:
              name: e8
              namespace: openshift-compliance
            status:
              phase: DONE
  • A ComplianceCheckResult resource (compliance-suite-e8-results) which reports the results of the scan suite by checking the ComplianceCheckResult custom resources (CR):

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-suite-e8-results
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: mustnothave # this template reports the results for scan suite: e8 by looking at ComplianceCheckResult CRs
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ComplianceCheckResult
            metadata:
              namespace: openshift-compliance
              labels:
                compliance.openshift.io/check-status: FAIL
                compliance.openshift.io/suite: e8

Note: Automatic remediation is supported. Set the remediation action to enforce to create ScanSettingBinding resource.

See a sample of the policy-compliance-operator-e8-scan.yaml. See Managing security policies for more information. Note: After your E8 policy is deleted, it is removed from your target cluster or clusters.

2.5.13. OpenShift CIS scan policy

An OpenShift CIS scan policy deploys a scan that checks the master and worker nodes for compliance with the OpenShift CIS security benchmark. You must install the compliance operator to apply the OpenShift CIS policy.

The OpenShift CIS scan policy is created as a Kubernetes configuration policy in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. OpenShift Container Platform 4.9, 4.7, and 4.6, support the OpenShift CIS scan policy. For more information, see Understanding the Compliance Operator in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation for more details.

2.5.13.1. OpenShift CIS resources

When you create an OpenShift CIS scan policy the following resources are created:

  • A ScanSettingBinding resource (cis) to identify which profiles to scan:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-cis-scan
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave # this template creates ScanSettingBinding:cis
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ScanSettingBinding
            metadata:
              name: cis
              namespace: openshift-compliance
            profiles:
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: ocp4-cis
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: ocp4-cis-node
            settingsRef:
              apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: ScanSetting
              name: default
  • A ComplianceSuite resource (compliance-suite-cis) to verify if the scan is complete by checking the status field:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-suite-cis
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave # this template checks if scan has completed by checking the status field
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ComplianceSuite
            metadata:
              name: cis
              namespace: openshift-compliance
            status:
              phase: DONE
  • A ComplianceCheckResult resource (compliance-suite-cis-results) which reports the results of the scan suite by checking the ComplianceCheckResult custom resources (CR):

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: compliance-suite-cis-results
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: mustnothave # this template reports the results for scan suite: cis by looking at ComplianceCheckResult CRs
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ComplianceCheckResult
            metadata:
              namespace: openshift-compliance
              labels:
                compliance.openshift.io/check-status: FAIL
                compliance.openshift.io/suite: cis

See a sample of the policy-compliance-operator-cis-scan.yaml file. For more information on creating policies, see Managing security policies.

2.5.14. Image vulnerability policy

Apply the image vulnerability policy to detect if container images have vulnerabilities by leveraging the Container Security Operator. The policy installs the Container Security Operator on your managed cluster if it is not installed.

The image vulnerability policy is checked by the Kubernetes configuration policy controller. For more information about the Security Operator, see the Container Security Operator from the Quay repository.

Notes:

View the following sections to learn more:

2.5.14.1. Image vulnerability policy YAML structure

When you create the container security operator policy, it involves the following policies:

  • A policy that creates the subscription (container-security-operator) to reference the name and channel. This configuration policy must have spec.remediationAction set to enforce to create the resources. The subscription pulls the profile, as a container, that the subscription supports. View the following example:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: policy-imagemanifestvuln-example-sub
    spec:
      remediationAction: enforce  # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
            kind: Subscription
            metadata:
              name: container-security-operator
              namespace: openshift-operators
            spec:
              # channel: quay-v3.3 # specify a specific channel if desired
              installPlanApproval: Automatic
              name: container-security-operator
              source: redhat-operators
              sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
  • An inform configuration policy to audit the ClusterServiceVersion to ensure that the container security operator installation succeeded. View the following example:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: policy-imagemanifestvuln-status
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform  # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
      severity: high
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
            kind: ClusterServiceVersion
            metadata:
              namespace: openshift-operators
            spec:
              displayName: Red Hat Quay Container Security Operator
            status:
              phase: Succeeded   # check the CSV status to determine if operator is running or not
  • An inform configuration policy to audit whether any ImageManifestVuln objects were created by the image vulnerability scans. View the following example:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: policy-imagemanifestvuln-example-imv
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform  # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
      severity: high
      namespaceSelector:
        exclude: ["kube-*"]
        include: ["*"]
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: mustnothave # mustnothave any ImageManifestVuln object
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: secscan.quay.redhat.com/v1alpha1
            kind: ImageManifestVuln # checking for a Kind

2.5.14.2. Image vulnerability policy sample

See policy-imagemanifestvuln.yaml. See Managing security policies for more information. Refer to Kubernetes configuration policy controller to view other configuration policies that are monitored by the configuration controller.

2.5.15. Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus policy set

Configure and apply the OpenShift Platform Plus policy set (openshift-plus) to install Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus.

The OpenShift Platform Plus policy set contains two PolicySets that are deployed. The OpenShift Plus policy set applies multiple policies that are set to install OpenShift Platform Plus products. The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security secured cluster services and the Compliance Operator are deployed onto all of your OpenShift Container Platform managed clusters.

2.5.15.1. Prerequisites

  • Install Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 or later, on Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment.
  • Install Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.7 or later.
  • Install the Policy Generator Kustomize plugin. See the Policy Generator documentation for more information.

2.5.15.2. OpenShift Platform Plus policy set components

When you apply the policy set to the hub cluster, the following OpenShift Platform Plus components are installed:

Table 2.13. Component table
ComponentPolicyDescription

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security

policy-acs-central-ca-bundle

Policy used to install the central server onto the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes hub cluster and the managed clusters.

policy-acs-central-status

Deployments to receive Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security status.

policy-acs-operator-central

Configuration for the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security central operator.

policy-acs-sync-resources

Policy used to verify that the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security resources are created.

OpenShift Container Platform

policy-advanced-managed-cluster-status

The managed hub cluster. Manager of the managed cluster.

Compliance operator

policy-compliance-operator-install

Policy used to install the Compliance operator.

Red Hat Quay

policy-config-quay

Configuration policy for Red Hat Quay.

policy-install-quay

Policy used to install Red Hat Quay.

policy-quay-status

Installed onto the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster.

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management

policy-ocm-observability

Sets up the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management observability service.

Red Hat OpenShift Data Platform

policy-odf

Available storage for the hub cluster components that is used by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management observability and Quay.

policy-odf-status

Policy used to configure the Red Hat OpenShift Data Platform status.

2.5.15.3. Additional resources

2.6. Manage security policies

Use the Governance dashboard to create, view, and manage your security policies and policy violations. You can create YAML files for your policies from the CLI and console.

2.6.1. Governance page

The following tabs are displayed on the Governance page:

  • Overview

    View the following summary cards from the Overview tab: Policy set violations, Policy violations, Clusters, Categories, Controls, and Standards.

  • Policy sets

    Create and manage hub cluster policy sets.

  • Policies

    Create and manage security policies. The table of policies lists the following details of a policy: Name, Namespace, Status, Remediation, Policy set, Cluster violations, Source, Automation and Created. When you expand the policy row, the Description, Standards, Controls, and Categories are displayed.

    You can edit, enable or disable, set remediation to inform or enforce, or remove a policy by selecting the Actions icon. You can view the categories and standards of a specific policy by selecting the drop-down arrow to expand the row.

    Complete bulk actions by selecting multiple policies and clicking the Actions button. You can also customize your policy table by clicking the Filter button.

When you select a policy in the table list, the following tabs of information are displayed from the console:

  • Details: Select the Details tab to view policy details and placement details. In the Placement table, the Compliance column provides links to view the compliance of the clusters that are displayed.
  • Results: Select the Results tab to view a table list of all clusters that are associated to the policy.

    From the Message column, click the View details link to view the template details, template YAML, and related resources. You can also view related resources. Click the View history link to view the violation message and a time of the last report.

2.6.2. Governance automation configuration

If there is a configured automation for a specific policy, you can select the automation to view more details. View the following descriptions of the schedule frequency options for your automation:

  • Manual run: Manually set this automation to run once. After the automation runs, it is set to disabled. Note: You can only select Manual run mode when the schedule frequency is disabled.
  • Run once mode: When a policy is violated, the automation runs one time. After the automation runs, it is set to disabled. After the automation is set to disabled, you must continue to run the automation manually. When you run once mode, the extra variable of target_clusters is automatically supplied with the list of clusters that violated the policy. The Ansible Automation Platform Job template must have PROMPT ON LAUNCH enabled for the EXTRA VARIABLES section (also known as extra_vars).
  • Run everyEvent mode: When a policy is violated, the automation runs every time for each unique policy violation per managed cluster. Use the DelayAfterRunSeconds parameter to set the minimum seconds before an automation can be restarted on the same cluster. If the policy is violated multiple times during the delay period and kept in the violated state, the automation runs one time after the delay period. The default is 0 seconds and is only applicable for the everyEvent mode. When you run everyEvent mode, the extra variable of target_clusters and Ansible Automation Platform Job template is the same as once mode.
  • Disable automation: When the scheduled automation is set to disabled, the automation does not run until the setting is updated.

The following variables are automatically provided in the extra_vars of the Ansible Automation Platform Job:

  • policy_name: The name of the non-compliant root policy that initiates the Ansible Automation Platform job on the hub cluster.
  • policy_namespace: The namespace of the root policy.
  • hub_cluster: The name of the hub cluster, which is determined by the value in the clusters DNS object.
  • policy_sets: This parameter contains all associated policy set names of the root policy. If the policy is not within a policy set, the policy_set parameter is empty.
  • policy_violations: This parameter contains a list of non-compliant cluster names, and the value is the policy status field for each non-compliant cluster.

Review the following topics to learn more about creating and updating your security policies:

2.6.3. Configuring Ansible Automation Platform for governance

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes governance can be integrated with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform to create policy violation automations. You can configure the automation from the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management console.

2.6.3.1. Prerequisites

  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.5 or later
  • You must have Ansible Automation Platform version 3.7.3 or a later version installed. It is best practice to install the latest supported version of Ansible Automation Platform. See Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform documentation for more details.
  • Install the Ansible Automation Platform Resource Operator from the Operator Lifecycle Manager. In the Update Channel section, select stable-2.x-cluster-scoped. Select the All namespaces on the cluster (default) installation mode.

    Note: Ensure that the Ansible Automation Platform job template is idempotent when you run it. If you do not have Ansible Automation Platform Resource Operator, you can find it from the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform OperatorHub page.

For more information about installing and configuring Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, see Setting up Ansible tasks.

2.6.3.2. Creating a policy violation automation from the console

After you log into your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster, select Governance from the navigation menu, and then click on the Policies tab to view the policy tables.

Configure an automation for a specific policy by clicking Configure in the Automation column. You can create automation when the policy automation panel appears. From the Ansible credential section, click the drop-down menu to select an Ansible credential. If you need to add a credential, see Managing credentials overview.

Note: This credential is copied to the same namespace as the policy. The credential is used by the AnsibleJob resource that is created to initiate the automation. Changes to the Ansible credential in the Credentials section of the console is automatically updated.

After a credential is selected, click the Ansible job drop-down list to select a job template. In the Extra variables section, add the parameter values from the extra_vars section of the PolicyAutomation. Select the frequency of the automation. You can select Run once mode, Run everyEvent mode, or Disable automation.

Save your policy violation automation by selecting Submit. When you select the View Job link from the Ansible job details side panel, the link directs you to the job template on the Search page. After you successfully create the automation, it is displayed in the Automation column.

Note: When you delete a policy that has an associated policy automation, the policy automation is automatically deleted as part of clean up.

Your policy violation automation is created from the console.

2.6.3.3. Creating a policy violation automation from the CLI

Complete the following steps to configure a policy violation automation from the CLI:

  1. From your terminal, log in to your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster using the oc login command.
  2. Find or create a policy that you want to add an automation to. Note the policy name and namespace.
  3. Create a PolicyAutomation resource using the following sample as a guide:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
    kind: PolicyAutomation
    metadata:
      name: policyname-policy-automation
    spec:
      automationDef:
        extra_vars:
          your_var: your_value
        name: Policy Compliance Template
        secret: ansible-tower
        type: AnsibleJob
      mode: disabled
      policyRef: policyname
  4. The Automation template name in the previous sample is Policy Compliance Template. Change that value to match your job template name.
  5. In the extra_vars section, add any parameters you need to pass to the Automation template.
  6. Set the mode to either once, everyEvent, or disabled.
  7. Set the policyRef to the name of your policy.
  8. Create a secret in the same namespace as this PolicyAutomation resource that contains the Ansible Automation Platform credential. In the previous example, the secret name is ansible-tower. Use the sample from application lifecycle to see how to create the secret.
  9. Create the PolicyAutomation resource.

    Notes:

    • An immediate run of the policy automation can be initiated by adding the following annotation to the PolicyAutomation resource:

      metadata:
        annotations:
          policy.open-cluster-management.io/rerun: "true"
    • When the policy is in once mode, the automation runs when the policy is non-compliant. The extra_vars variable, named target_clusters is added and the value is an array of each managed cluster name where the policy is non-compliant.
    • When the policy is in everyEvent mode and the DelayAfterRunSeconds exceeds the defined time value, the policy is non-compliant and the automation runs for every policy violation.

2.6.4. Deploying policies by using GitOps

You can deploy a set of policies across a fleet of managed clusters with the governance framework. You can add to the open source community, policy-collection by contributing to and using the policies in the repository. Policies in each of the stable and community folders from the open source community are further organized according to NIST Special Publication 800-53.

Continue reading to learn best practices to use GitOps to automate and track policy updates and creation through a Git repository.

Prerequisite: Before you begin, be sure to fork the policy-collection repository.

2.6.4.1. Customizing your local repository

Customize your local repository by consolidating the stable and community policies into a single folder. Remove the policies you do not want to use. Complete the following steps to customize your local repository:

  1. Create a new directory in the repository to hold the policies that you want to deploy. Be sure that you are in your local policy-collection repository on your main default branch for GitOps. Run the following command:

    mkdir my-policies
  2. Copy all of the stable and community policies into your my-policies directory. Start with the community policies first, in case the stable folder contains duplicates of what is available in the community. Run the following commands:

    cp -R community/* my-policies/
    
    cp -R stable/* my-policies/

    Now that you have all of the policies in a single parent directory structure, you can edit the policies in your fork.

    Tips:

    • It is best practice to remove the policies you are not planning to use.
    • Learn about policies and the definition of the policies from the following list:

      • Purpose: Understand what the policy does.
      • Remediation Action: Does the policy only inform you of compliance, or enforce the policy and make changes? See the spec.remediationAction parameter. If changes are enforced, make sure you understand the functional expectation. Remember to check which policies support enforcement. For more information, view the Validate section.

        Note: The spec.remediationAction set for the policy overrides any remediation action that is set in the individual spec.policy-templates.

      • Placement: What clusters is the policy deployed to? By default, most policies target the clusters with the environment: dev label. Some policies may target OpenShift Container Platform clusters or another label. You can update or add additional labels to include other clusters. When there is no specific value, the policy is applied to all of your clusters. You can also create multiple copies of a policy and customize each one if you want to use a policy that is configured one way for one set of clusters and configured another way for another set of clusters.

2.6.4.2. Committing to your local repository

After you are satisfied with the changes you have made to your directory, commit and push your changes to Git so that they can be accessed by your cluster.

Note: This example is used to show the basics of how to use policies with GitOps, so you might have a different workflow to get changes to your branch.

Complete the following steps:

  1. From your terminal, run git status to view your recent changes in your directory that you previously created. Add your new directory to the list of changes to be committed with the following command:

    git add my-policies/
  2. Commit the changes and customize your message. Run the following command:

    git commit -m “Policies to deploy to the hub cluster”
  3. Push the changes to the branch of your forked repository that is used for GitOps. Run the following command:

    git push origin <your_default_branch>master

Your changes are committed.

2.6.4.3. Deploying policies to your cluster

After you push your changes, you can deploy the policies to your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes installation. Post deployment, your hub cluster is connected to your Git repository. Any further changes to your chosen branch of the Git repository is reflected in your cluster.

Note: By default, policies deployed with GitOps use the merge reconcile option. If you want to use the replace reconcile option instead, add the apps.open-cluster-management.io/reconcile-option: replace annotation to the Subscription resource and remove apps.open-cluster-management.io/reconcile-option: merge. Your Subscription might resemble the following file:

apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: subscription-example
  namespace: sub-ns
  annotations:
    apps.open-cluster-management.io/git-path: sample-resources
    apps.open-cluster-management.io/reconcile-option: replace
spec:
...

The deploy.sh script creates Channel and Subscription resources in your hub cluster. The channel connects to the Git repository, and the subscription specifies the data to bring to the cluster through the channel. As a result, all policies defined in the specified subdirectory are created on your hub. After the policies are created by the subscription, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management analyzes the policies and creates additional policy resources in the namespace associated with each managed cluster that the policy is applied to, based on the defined placement rule.

The policy is then copied to the managed cluster from its respective managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster. As a result, the policies in your Git repository are pushed to all managed clusters that have labels that match the clusterSelector that are defined in the placement rule of your policy.

Complete the following steps:

  1. From the policy-collection folder, run the following command to change the directory:

    cd deploy
  2. Make sure that your command line interface (CLI) is configured to create resources on the correct cluster with the following command:

    oc cluster-info

    The output of the command displays the API server details for the cluster, where Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management is installed. If the correct URL is not displayed, configure your CLI to point to the correct cluster. See Using the OpenShift CLI in the Additional resources section for more information.

  3. Create a namespace where your policies are created to control access and to organize the policies. Run the following command:

    oc create namespace policy-namespace
  4. Run the following command to deploy the policies to your cluster:

    ./deploy.sh -u https://github.com/<your-repository>/policy-collection -p my-policies -n policy-namespace

    Replace your-repository with your Git user name or repository name.

    Note: For reference, the full list of arguments for the deploy.sh script uses the following syntax:

    ./deploy.sh [-u <url>] [-b <branch>] [-p <path/to/dir>] [-n <namespace>] [-a|--name <resource-name>]

    View the following explanations for each argument:

    • URL: The URL to the repository that you forked from the main policy-collection repository. The default URL is https://github.com/stolostron/policy-collection.git.
    • Branch: Branch of the Git repository to point to. The default branch is main.
    • Subdirectory Path: The subdirectory path you created to contain the policies you want to use. In the previous sample, we used the my-policies subdirectory, but you can also specify which folder you want start with. For example, you can use my-policies/AC-Access-Control. The default folder is stable.
    • Namespace: The namespace where the resources and policies are created on the hub cluster. These instructions use the policy-namespace namespace. The default namespace is policies.
    • Name Prefix: Prefix for the Channel and Subscription resources. The default is demo-stable-policies.

After you run the deploy.sh script, any user with access to the repository can commit changes to the branch, which pushes changes to existing policies on your clusters.

Note: To deploy policies with subscriptions, complete the following steps:

  1. Bind the open-cluster-management:subscription-admin ClusterRole to the user creating the subscription.
  2. If you are using an allow list in the subscription, include the following API entries:

        - apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
          kinds:
            - "*"
        - apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
          kinds:
            - "*"
        - apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
          kinds:
            - PlacementRule # deprecated
        - apiVersion: cluster.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta1
          kinds:
            - Placement

2.6.4.4. Verifying GitOps policy deployments from the console

Verify that your changes were applied to your policies from the console. You can also make more changes to your policy from the console, however the changes are reverted when the Subscription is reconciled with the Git repository. Complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management cluster.
  2. From the navigation menu, select Governance.
  3. Locate the policies that you deployed in the table. Policies that are deployed using GitOps have a Git label in the Source column. Click the label to view the details for the Git repository.
2.6.4.4.1. Verifying GitOps policy deployments from the CLI

Complete the following steps:

  1. Check for the following policy details:

    • Why is a specific policy compliant or non-compliant on the clusters that it was distributed to?
    • Are the policies applied to the correct clusters?
    • If this policy is not distributed to any clusters, why?
  2. Identify the GitOps deployed policies that you created or modified. The GitOps deployed policies can be identified by the annotation that is applied automatically. Annotations for the GitOps deployed policies resemble the following paths:

    apps.open-cluster-management.io/hosting-deployable: policies/deploy-stable-policies-Policy-policy-role9
    
    apps.open-cluster-management.io/hosting-subscription: policies/demo-policies
    
    apps.open-cluster-management.io/sync-source: subgbk8s-policies/demo-policies

    GitOps annotations are valuable to see which subscription created the policy. You can also add your own labels to your policies so that you can write runtime queries that select policies based on labels.

    For example, you can add a label to a policy with the following command:

    oc label policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <policy-namespace> <key>=<value>

    Then, you can query policies that have labels with the following command:

    oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io -n <policy-namespace> -l <key>=<value>

Your policies are deployed using GitOps.

2.6.4.5. Additional resources

2.7. Template processing

Configuration policies support the inclusion of Golang text templates in the object definitions. These templates are resolved at runtime either on the hub cluster or the target managed cluster using configurations related to that cluster. This gives you the ability to define configuration policies with dynamic content, and inform or enforce Kubernetes resources that are customized to the target cluster.

A configuration policy definition can contain both hub cluster and managed cluster templates. Hub cluster templates are processed first on the hub cluster, then the policy definition with resolved hub cluster templates is propagated to the target clusters. On the managed cluster, the ConfigurationPolicyController processes any managed cluster templates in the policy definition and then enforces or verifies the fully resolved object definition.

The template syntax must be conformed to the Golang template language specification, and the resource definition generated from the resolved template must be a valid YAML. See the Golang documentation about Package templates for more information. Any errors in template validation are recognized as policy violations. When you use a custom template function, the values are replaced at runtime.

Important: If you use hub cluster templates to propagate secrets or other sensitive data, the sensitive data exists in the managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster and on the managed clusters where that policy is distributed. The template content is expanded in the policy, and policies are not encrypted by the OpenShift Container Platform ETCD encryption support. To address this, use fromSecret or copySecretData, which automatically encrypts the values from the secret, or protect to encrypt other values.

See the following table for a comparison of hub cluster and managed cluster templates:

2.7.1. Comparison of hub cluster and managed cluster templates

Table 2.14. Comparison table
TemplatesHub clusterManaged cluster

Syntax

Golang text template specification

Golang text template specification

Delimiter

{{hub … hub}}

{{ … }}

Context

A .ManagedClusterName variable is available, which at runtime, resolves to the name of the target cluster where the policy is propagated. The .ManagedClusterLabels variable is also available, which resolves to a map of keys and values of the labels on the managed cluster where the policy is propagated.

No context variables

Access control

You can only reference namespaced Kubernetes objects that are in the same namespace as the Policy resource.

You can reference any resource on the cluster.

Functions

A set of template functions that support dynamic access to Kubernetes resources and string manipulation. See Template functions for more information. See the Access control row for lookup restrictions.

The fromSecret template function on the hub cluster stores the resulting value as an encrypted string on the replicated policy, in the managed cluster namespace.

The equivalent call might use the following syntax: {{hub "(lookup "v1" "Secret" "default" "my-hub-secret").data.message | protect hub}}

A set of template functions support dynamic access to Kubernetes resources and string manipulation. See Template functions for more information.

Function output storage

The output of template functions are stored in Policy resource objects in each applicable managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster, before it is synced to the managed cluster. This means that any sensitive results from template functions are readable by anyone with read access to the Policy resource objects on the hub cluster, and read access with ConfigurationPolicy resource objects on the managed clusters. Additionally, if etcd encryption is enabled, the Policy and ConfigurationPolicy resource objects are not encrypted. It is best to carefully consider this when using template functions that return sensitive output (e.g. from a secret).

The output of template functions are not stored in policy related resource objects.

Processing

Processing occurs at runtime on the hub cluster during propagation of replicated policies to clusters. Policies and the hub cluster templates within the policies are processed on the hub cluster only when templates are created or updated.

Processing occurs in the ConfigurationPolicyController on the managed cluster. Policies are processed periodically, which automatically updates the resolved object definition with data in the referenced resources.

Processing errors

Errors from the hub cluster templates are displayed as violations on the managed clusters the policy applies to.

Errors from the managed cluster templates are displayed as violations on the specific target cluster where the violation occurred.

Continue reading the following topics:

2.7.2. Template functions

Template functions, such as resource-specific and generic lookup template functions, are available for referencing Kubernetes resources on the hub cluster (using the {{hub …​ hub}} delimiters), or on the managed cluster (using the {{ …​ }} delimiters). See Template processing for more details. The resource-specific functions are used for convenience and makes content of the resources more accessible. If you use the generic function, lookup, which is more advanced, familiarize yourself with the YAML structure of the resource that is being looked up. In addition to these functions, utility functions such as base64enc, base64dec, indent, autoindent, toInt, toBool, and more are also available.

To conform templates with YAML syntax, templates must be set in the policy resource as strings using quotes or a block character (| or >). This causes the resolved template value to also be a string. To override this, use toInt or toBool as the final function in the template to initiate further processing that forces the value to be interpreted as an integer or boolean respectively. Continue reading to view descriptions and examples for some of the custom template functions that are supported:

2.7.2.1. fromSecret function

The fromSecret function returns the value of the given data key in the secret. View the following syntax for the function:

func fromSecret (ns string, secretName string, datakey string) (dataValue string, err error)

When you use this function, enter the namespace, name, and data key of a Kubernetes Secret resource. You must use the same namespace that is used for the policy when using the function in a hub cluster template. See Template processing for more details.

Note: When you use this function with hub cluster templates, the output is automatically encrypted using the protect function.

You receive a policy violation if the Kubernetes Secret resource does not exist on the target cluster. If the data key does not exist on the target cluster, the value becomes an empty string. View the following configuration policy that enforces a Secret resource on the target cluster. The value for the PASSWORD data key is a template that references the secret on the target cluster:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromsecret
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      apiVersion: v1
      data:
        USER_NAME: YWRtaW4=
        PASSWORD: '{{ fromSecret "default" "localsecret" "PASSWORD" }}'
      kind: Secret
      metadata:
        name: demosecret
        namespace: test
      type: Opaque
  remediationAction: enforce
  severity: low

2.7.2.2. fromConfigmap function

The fromConfigMap function returns the value of the given data key in the ConfigMap. View the following syntax for the function:

func fromConfigMap (ns string, configmapName string, datakey string) (dataValue string, err Error)

When you use this function, enter the namespace, name, and data key of a Kubernetes ConfigMap resource. You must use the same namespace that is used for the policy using the function in a hub cluster template. See Template processing for more details. You receive a policy violation if the Kubernetes ConfigMap resource does not exist on the target cluster. If the data key does not exist on the target cluster, the value becomes an empty string. View the following configuration policy that enforces a Kubernetes resource on the target managed cluster. The value for the log-file data key is a template that retrieves the value of the log-file from the ConfigMap, logs-config from the default namespace, and the log-level is set to the data key log-level.

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromcm-lookup
  namespace: test-templates
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      kind: ConfigMap
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: demo-app-config
        namespace: test
      data:
        app-name: sampleApp
        app-description: "this is a sample app"
        log-file: '{{ fromConfigMap "default" "logs-config" "log-file" }}'
        log-level: '{{ fromConfigMap "default" "logs-config" "log-level" }}'
  remediationAction: enforce
  severity: low

2.7.2.3. fromClusterClaim function

The fromClusterClaim function returns the value of the Spec.Value in the ClusterClaim resource. View the following syntax for the function:

func fromClusterClaim (clusterclaimName string) (dataValue string, err Error)

When you use this function, enter the name of a Kubernetes ClusterClaim resource. You receive a policy violation if the ClusterClaim resource does not exist. View the following example of the configuration policy that enforces a Kubernetes resource on the target managed cluster. The value for the platform data key is a template that retrieves the value of the platform.open-cluster-management.io cluster claim. Similarly, it retrieves values for product and version from the ClusterClaim:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-clusterclaims
  namespace: default
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      kind: ConfigMap
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: sample-app-config
        namespace: default
      data:
        # Configuration values can be set as key-value properties
        platform: '{{ fromClusterClaim "platform.open-cluster-management.io" }}'
        product: '{{ fromClusterClaim "product.open-cluster-management.io" }}'
        version: '{{ fromClusterClaim "version.openshift.io" }}'
  remediationAction: enforce
  severity: low

2.7.2.4. lookup function

The lookup function returns the Kubernetes resource as a JSON compatible map. If the requested resource does not exist, an empty map is returned. If the resource does not exist and the value is provided to another template function, you might get the following error: invalid value; expected string.

Note: Use the default template function, so the correct type is provided to later template functions. See the Supported Sprig open source functions section.

View the following syntax for the function:

func lookup (apiversion string, kind string, namespace string, name string, labelselector ...string) (value string, err Error)

When you use this function, enter the API version, kind, namespace, name, and optional label selectors of the Kubernetes resource. You must use the same namespace that is used for the policy within the hub cluster template. See Template processing for more details. For label selector examples, see the reference to the Kubernetes labels and selectors documentation, in the Additional resources section. View the following example of the configuration policy that enforces a Kubernetes resource on the target managed cluster. The value for the metrics-url data key is a template that retrieves the v1/Service Kubernetes resource metrics from the default namespace, and is set to the value of the Spec.ClusterIP in the queried resource:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-lookup
  namespace: test-templates
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      kind: ConfigMap
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: demo-app-config
        namespace: test
      data:
        # Configuration values can be set as key-value properties
        app-name: sampleApp
        app-description: "this is a sample app"
        metrics-url: |
          http://{{ (lookup "v1" "Service" "default" "metrics").spec.clusterIP }}:8080
  remediationAction: enforce
  severity: low

2.7.2.5. base64enc function

The base64enc function returns a base64 encoded value of the input data string. View the following syntax for the function:

func base64enc (data string) (enc-data string)

When you use this function, enter a string value. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the base64enc function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromsecret
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    data:
      USER_NAME: '{{ fromConfigMap "default" "myconfigmap" "admin-user" | base64enc }}'

2.7.2.6. base64dec function

The base64dec function returns a base64 decoded value of the input enc-data string. View the following syntax for the function:

func base64dec (enc-data string) (data string)

When you use this function, enter a string value. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the base64dec function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromsecret
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    data:
      app-name: |
         "{{ ( lookup "v1"  "Secret" "testns" "mytestsecret") .data.appname ) | base64dec }}"

2.7.2.7. indent function

The indent function returns the padded data string. View the following syntax for the function:

func indent (spaces  int,  data string) (padded-data string)

When you use this function, enter a data string with the specific number of spaces. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the indent function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromsecret
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    data:
      Ca-cert:  |
        {{ ( index ( lookup "v1" "Secret" "default" "mycert-tls"  ).data  "ca.pem"  ) |  base64dec | indent 4  }}

2.7.2.8. autoindent function

The autoindent function acts like the indent function that automatically determines the number of leading spaces based on the number of spaces before the template. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the autoindent function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-fromsecret
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    data:
      Ca-cert:  |
        {{ ( index ( lookup "v1" "Secret" "default" "mycert-tls"  ).data  "ca.pem"  ) |  base64dec | autoindent }}

2.7.2.9. toInt function

The toInt function casts and returns the integer value of the input value. Also, when this is the last function in the template, there is further processing of the source content. This is to ensure that the value is interpreted as an integer by the YAML. View the following syntax for the function:

func toInt (input interface{}) (output int)

When you use this function, enter the data that needs to be casted as an integer. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the toInt function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-template-function
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    spec:
      vlanid:  |
        {{ (fromConfigMap "site-config" "site1" "vlan")  | toInt }}

2.7.2.10. toBool function

The toBool function converts the input string into a boolean, and returns the boolean. Also, when this is the last function in the template, there is further processing of the source content. This is to ensure that the value is interpreted as a boolean by the YAML. View the following syntax for the function:

func toBool (input string) (output bool)

When you use this function, enter the string data that needs to be converted to a boolean. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the toBool function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-template-function
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    spec:
      enabled:  |
        {{ (fromConfigMap "site-config" "site1" "enabled")  | toBool }}

2.7.2.11. protect function

The protect function enables you to encrypt a string in a hub cluster policy template. It is automatically decrypted on the managed cluster when the policy is evaluated. View the following example of the configuration policy that uses the protect function:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: demo-template-function
  namespace: test
spec:
  namespaceSelector:
    exclude:
    - kube-*
    include:
    - default
  object-templates:
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
    ...
    spec:
      enabled:  |
        {{hub (lookup "v1" "Secret" "default" "my-hub-secret").data.message | protect hub}}

In the previous YAML example, there is an existing hub cluster policy template that is defined to use the lookup function. On the replicated policy in the managed cluster namespace, the value might resemble the following syntax: $ocm_encrypted:okrrBqt72oI+3WT/0vxeI3vGa+wpLD7Z0ZxFMLvL204=

Each encryption algorithm used is AES-CBC using 256-bit keys. Each encryption key is unique per managed cluster and is automatically rotated every 30 days.

This ensures that your decrypted value is to never be stored in the policy on the managed cluster.

To force an immediate rotation, delete the policy.open-cluster-management.io/last-rotated annotation on the policy-encryption-key Secret in the managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster. Policies are then reprocessed to use the new encryption key.

2.7.2.12. toLiteral function

The toLiteral function removes any quotation marks around the template string after it is processed. You can use this function to convert a JSON string from a ConfigMap field to a JSON value in the manifest. Run the following function to remove quotation marks from the key parameter value:

key: '{{ "[\"10.10.10.10\", \"1.1.1.1\"]" | toLiteral }}'

After using the toLiteral function, the following update is displayed:

key: ["10.10.10.10", "1.1.1.1"]

2.7.2.13. copySecretData function

The copySecretData function copies all of the data contents of the specified secret. View the following sample of the function:

complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: Secret
        metadata:
          name: my-secret-copy
        data: '{{ copySecretData "default" "my-secret" }}'

Note: When you use this function with hub cluster templates, the output is automatically encrypted using the protect function.

2.7.2.14. copyConfigMapData function

The copyConfigMapData function copies all of the data content of the specified ConfigMap. View the following sample of the function:

complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        metadata:
          name: my-secret-copy
        data: '{{ copyConfigMapData "default" "my-configmap" }}'

2.7.2.15. Supported Sprig open source functions

Additionally, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management supports the following template functions that are included from the sprig open source project:

  • cat
  • contains
  • default
  • empty
  • fromJson
  • hasPrefix
  • hasSuffix
  • join
  • list
  • lower
  • mustFromJson
  • quote
  • replace
  • semver
  • semverCompare
  • split
  • splitn
  • ternary
  • trim
  • until
  • untilStep
  • upper

2.7.2.16. Additional resources

2.7.3. Advanced template processing in configuration policies

Use both managed cluster and hub cluster templates to reduce the need to create separate policies for each target cluster or hardcode configuration values in the policy definitions. For security, both resource-specific and the generic lookup functions in hub cluster templates are restricted to the namespace of the policy on the hub cluster.

Important: If you use hub cluster templates to propagate secrets or other sensitive data, that causes sensitive data exposure in the managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster and on the managed clusters where that policy is distributed. The template content is expanded in the policy, and policies are not encrypted by the OpenShift Container Platform ETCD encryption support. To address this, use fromSecret or copySecretData, which automatically encrypts the values from the secret, or protect to encrypt other values.

Continue reading for advanced template use-cases:

2.7.3.1. Special annotation for reprocessing

Hub cluster templates are resolved to the data in the referenced resources during policy creation, or when the referenced resources are updated.

If you need to manually initiate an update, use the special annotation, policy.open-cluster-management.io/trigger-update, to indicate changes for the data referenced by the templates. Any change to the special annotation value automatically initiates template processing. Additionally, the latest contents of the referenced resource are read and updated in the policy definition that is propagated for processing on managed clusters. A way to use this annotation is to increment the value by one each time.

2.7.3.2. Object template processing

Set object templates with a YAML string representation. The object-template-raw parameter is an optional parameter that supports advanced templating use-cases, such as if-else and the range function. The following example is defined to add the species-category: mammal label to any ConfigMap in the default namespace that has a name key equal to Sea Otter:

object-templates-raw: |
  {{- range (lookup "v1" "ConfigMap" "default" "").items }}
  {{- if eq .data.name "Sea Otter" }}
  - complianceType: musthave
    objectDefinition:
      kind: ConfigMap
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: {{ .metadata.name }}
        namespace: {{ .metadata.namespace }}
        labels:
          species-category: mammal
  {{- end }}
  {{- end }}

Note: While spec.object-templates and spec.object-templates-raw are optional, exactly one of the two parameter fields must be set.

View the following policy example that uses advanced templates to create and configure infrastructure MachineSet objects for your managed clusters.

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: ConfigurationPolicy
metadata:
  name: create-infra-machineset
spec:
  remediationAction: enforce
  severity: low
  object-templates-raw: |
    {{- /* Specify the parameters needed to create the MachineSet  */ -}}
    {{- $machineset_role := "infra" }}
    {{- $region := "ap-southeast-1" }}
    {{- $zones := list "ap-southeast-1a" "ap-southeast-1b" "ap-southeast-1c" }}
    {{- $infrastructure_id := (lookup "config.openshift.io/v1" "Infrastructure" "" "cluster").status.infrastructureName }}
    {{- $worker_ms := (index (lookup "machine.openshift.io/v1beta1" "MachineSet" "openshift-machine-api" "").items 0) }}
    {{- /* Generate the MachineSet for each zone as specified  */ -}}
    {{- range $zone := $zones }}
    - complianceType: musthave
      objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: machine.openshift.io/v1beta1
        kind: MachineSet
        metadata:
          labels:
            machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-cluster: {{ $infrastructure_id }}
          name: {{ $infrastructure_id }}-{{ $machineset_role }}-{{ $zone }}
          namespace: openshift-machine-api
        spec:
          replicas: 1
          selector:
            matchLabels:
              machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-cluster: {{ $infrastructure_id }}
              machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machineset: {{ $infrastructure_id }}-{{ $machineset_role }}-{{ $zone }}
          template:
            metadata:
              labels:
                machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-cluster: {{ $infrastructure_id }}
                machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role: {{ $machineset_role }}
                machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-type: {{ $machineset_role }}
                machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machineset: {{ $infrastructure_id }}-{{ $machineset_role }}-{{ $zone }}
            spec:
              metadata:
                labels:
                  node-role.kubernetes.io/{{ $machineset_role }}: ""
              taints:
                - key: node-role.kubernetes.io/{{ $machineset_role }}
                  effect: NoSchedule
              providerSpec:
                value:
                  ami:
                    id: {{ $worker_ms.spec.template.spec.providerSpec.value.ami.id }}
                  apiVersion: awsproviderconfig.openshift.io/v1beta1
                  blockDevices:
                    - ebs:
                        encrypted: true
                        iops: 2000
                        kmsKey:
                          arn: ''
                        volumeSize: 500
                        volumeType: io1
                  credentialsSecret:
                    name: aws-cloud-credentials
                  deviceIndex: 0
                  instanceType: {{ $worker_ms.spec.template.spec.providerSpec.value.instanceType }}
                  iamInstanceProfile:
                    id: {{ $infrastructure_id }}-worker-profile
                  kind: AWSMachineProviderConfig
                  placement:
                    availabilityZone: {{ $zone }}
                    region: {{ $region }}
                  securityGroups:
                    - filters:
                        - name: tag:Name
                          values:
                            - {{ $infrastructure_id }}-worker-sg
                  subnet:
                    filters:
                      - name: tag:Name
                        values:
                          - {{ $infrastructure_id }}-private-{{ $zone }}
                  tags:
                    - name: kubernetes.io/cluster/{{ $infrastructure_id }}
                      value: owned
                  userDataSecret:
                    name: worker-user-data
    {{- end }}

2.7.3.3. Bypass template processing

You might create a policy that contains a template that is not intended to be processed by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. By default, Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management processes all templates.

To bypass template processing for your hub cluster, you must change {{ template content }} to {{ `{{ template content }}` }}.

Alternatively, you can add the following annotation in the ConfigurationPolicy section of your Policy: policy.open-cluster-management.io/disable-templates: "true". When this annotation is included, the previous workaround is not necessary. Template processing is bypassed for the ConfigurationPolicy.

2.7.3.4. Additional resources

2.8. Managing security policies

Create a security policy to report and validate your cluster compliance based on your specified security standards, categories, and controls.

View the following sections:

2.8.1. Creating a security policy

You can create a security policy from the command line interface (CLI) or from the console.

Required access: Cluster administrator

Important: You must define a placement rule (deprecated) or placement, and placement binding to apply your policy to a specific cluster. Enter a valid value for the Cluster selector field to define a PlacementRule (deprecated) or Placement and PlacementBinding.

See Resources that support support set-based requirements in the Kubernetes documentation for a valid expression. View the definitions of the objects that are required for your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy:

  • PlacementRule: Defines a cluster selector where the policy must be deployed.
  • PlacementBinding: Binds the placement to a placement rule.

View more descriptions of the policy YAML files in the Policy overview.

2.8.1.1. Creating a security policy from the command line interface

Complete the following steps to create a policy from the command line interface (CLI):

  1. Create a policy by running the following command:

    oc create -f policy.yaml -n <policy-namespace>
  2. Define the template that the policy uses. Edit your YAML file by adding a policy-templates field to define a template. Your policy might resemble the following YAML file:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: Policy
    metadata:
      name: policy1
    spec:
      remediationAction: "enforce" # or inform
      disabled: false # or true
      namespaceSelector:
        include:
        - "default"
        - "my-namespace"
      policy-templates:
        - objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
            kind: ConfigurationPolicy
            metadata:
              name: operator
              # namespace: # will be supplied by the controller via the namespaceSelector
            spec:
              remediationAction: "inform"
              object-templates:
              - complianceType: "musthave" # at this level, it means the role must exist and must have the following rules
                apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                kind: Role
                metadata:
                  name: example
                objectDefinition:
                  rules:
                    - complianceType: "musthave" # at this level, it means if the role exists the rule is a musthave
                      apiGroups: ["extensions", "apps"]
                      resources: ["deployments"]
                      verbs: ["get", "list", "watch", "create", "delete","patch"]
  3. Deprecated Define a PlacementRule. Be sure to change the PlacementRule to specify the clusters where the policies need to be applied by adjusting the clusterSelector. View Placement rule samples overview

    Note: Use Placement instead.

    Your PlacementRule might resemble the following content:

    apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: PlacementRule
    metadata:
      name: placement1
    spec:
      clusterConditions:
        - type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
          status: "True"
      clusterNames:
      - "cluster1"
      - "cluster2"
    - clusterSelector
        matchLabels:
          cloud: IBM
  4. Define a PlacementBinding to bind your policy to your PlacementRule. Your PlacementBinding might resemble the following YAML sample:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: PlacementBinding
    metadata:
      name: binding1
    placementRef:
      name: placement1
      apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
      kind: PlacementRule
    subjects:
    - name: policy1
      apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
      kind: Policy
2.8.1.1.1. Viewing your security policy from the CLI

Complete the following steps to view your security policy from the CLI:

  1. View details for a specific security policy by running the following command:

    oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <policy-namespace> -o yaml
  2. View a description of your security policy by running the following command:

    oc describe policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <policy-namespace>

2.8.1.2. Creating a cluster security policy from the console

After you log into your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management, navigate to the Governance page and click Create policy. As you create your new policy from the console, a YAML file is also created in the YAML editor. To view the YAML editor, select the toggle at the beginning of the Create policy form to enable it.

  1. Complete the Create policy form, then select the Submit button. Your YAML file might resemble the following policy:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: Policy
    metadata:
      name: policy-pod
      annotations:
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: 'SystemAndCommunicationsProtections,SystemAndInformationIntegrity'
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: 'control example'
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: 'NIST,HIPAA'
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
    spec:
      complianceType: musthave
      namespaces:
        exclude: ["kube*"]
        include: ["default"]
        pruneObjectBehavior: None
      object-templates:
      - complianceType: musthave
        objectDefinition:
          apiVersion: v1
          kind: Pod
          metadata:
            name: pod1
          spec:
            containers:
            - name: pod-name
              image: 'pod-image'
              ports:
              - containerPort: 80
      remediationAction: enforce
      disabled: false

    See the following PlacementBinding example:

    apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: PlacementBinding
    metadata:
      name: binding-pod
    placementRef:
      name: placement-pod
      kind: PlacementRule
      apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
    subjects:
    - name: policy-pod
      kind: Policy
      apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io

    See the following PlacementRule example:

    apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
     kind: PlacementRule
     metadata:
       name: placement-pod
    spec:
      clusterConditions: []
      clusterSelector:
         matchLabels:
           cloud: "IBM"
  2. Optional: Add a description for your policy.
  3. Click Create Policy. A security policy is created from the console.
2.8.1.2.1. Viewing your security policy from the console

View any security policy and the status from the console.

  1. Navigate to the Governance page to view a table list of your policies. Note: You can filter the table list of your policies by selecting the Policies tab or Cluster violations tab.
  2. Select one of your policies to view more details. The Details, Clusters, and Templates tabs are displayed. When the cluster or policy status cannot be determined, the following message is displayed: No status.
  3. Alternatively, select the Policies tab to view the list of policies. Expand a policy row to view the Description, Standards, Controls, and Categories details.

2.8.1.3. Creating policy sets from the CLI

By default, the policy set is created with no policies or placements. You must create a placement for the policy set and have at least one policy that exists on your cluster. When you create a policy set, you can add numerous policies.

Run the following command to create a policy set from the CLI:

oc apply -f <policyset-filename>

2.8.1.4. Creating policy sets from the console

  1. From the navigation menu, select Governance.
  2. Select the Policy sets tab.
  3. Select the Create policy set button and complete the form.
  4. Add the details for your policy set and select the Submit button.
  5. View the stable Policysets, which require the Policy Generator for deployment, PolicySets-- Stable.

2.8.2. Updating security policies

Learn to update security policies.

2.8.2.1. Adding a policy to a policy set from the CLI

  1. Run the following command to edit your policy set:

    oc edit policysets <your-policyset-name>
  2. Add the policy name to the list in the policies section of the policy set.
  3. Apply your added policy in the placement section of your policy set with the following command:
oc apply -f <your-added-policy.yaml>

PlacementBinding and PlacementRule are both created.

Note: If you delete the placement binding, the policy is still placed by the policy set.

2.8.2.2. Adding a policy to a policy set from the console

  1. Add a policy to the policy set by selecting the Policy sets tab.
  2. Select the Actions icon and select Edit. The Edit policy set form appears.
  3. Navigate to the Policies section of the form to select a policy to add to the policy set.

2.8.2.3. Disabling security policies

Your policy is enabled by default. Disable your policy from the console.

After you log into your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console, navigate to the Governance page to view a table list of your policies.

Select the Actions icon > Disable policy. The Disable Policy dialog box appears.

Click Disable policy. Your policy is disabled.

2.8.3. Deleting a security policy

Delete a security policy from the CLI or the console.

  • Delete a security policy from the CLI:

    1. Delete a security policy by running the following command:

      oc delete policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <policy-namespace>

      After your policy is deleted, it is removed from your target cluster or clusters. Verify that your policy is removed by running the following command: oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <policy-namespace>

  • Delete a security policy from the console:

    From the navigation menu, click Governance to view a table list of your policies. Click the Actions icon for the policy you want to delete in the policy violation table.

    Click Remove. From the Remove policy dialog box, click Remove policy.

2.8.3.1. Deleting policy sets from the console

  1. From the Policy sets tab, select the Actions icon for the policy set. When you click Delete, the Permanently delete Policyset? dialogue box appears.
  2. Click the Delete button.

To manage other policies, see Managing security policies for more information. Refer to Governance for more topics about policies.

2.8.4. Cleaning up resources that are created by policies

Use the pruneObjectBehavior parameter in a configuration policy to clean up resources that are created by the policy. When pruneObjectBehavior is set, the related objects are only cleaned up after the configuration policy (or parent policy) associated with them is deleted.

View the following descriptions of the values that can be used for the parameter:

  • DeleteIfCreated: Cleans up any resources created by the policy.
  • DeleteAll: Cleans up all resources managed by the policy.
  • None: This is the default value and maintains the same behavior from previous releases, where no related resources are deleted.

You can set the value directly in the YAML file as you create a policy from the command line.

From the console, you can select the value in the Prune Object Behavior section of the Policy templates step.

Notes:

  • If a policy that installs an operator has the pruneObjectBehavior parameter defined, then additional clean up is needed to complete the operator uninstall. You might need to delete the operator ClusterServiceVersion object as part of this cleanup.
  • As you disable the config-policy-addon resource on the managed cluster, the pruneObjbectBehavior is ignored. To automatically clean up the related resources on the policies, you must remove the policies from the managed cluster before the add-on is disabled.

2.8.5. Managing configuration policies

Learn to create, apply, view, and update your configuration policies.

Required access: Administrator or cluster administrator

2.8.5.1. Creating a configuration policy

You can create a YAML file for your configuration policy from the command line interface (CLI) or from the console.

If you have an existing Kubernetes manifest, consider using the Policy Generator to automatically include the manifests in a policy. See the Policy Generator documentation. View the following sections to create a configuration policy:

2.8.5.1.1. Creating a configuration policy from the CLI

Complete the following steps to create a configuration policy from the (CLI):

  1. Create a YAML file for your configuration policy. Run the following command:

    oc create -f configpolicy-1.yaml

    Your configuration policy might resemble the following policy:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: Policy
    metadata:
      name: policy-1
      namespace: my-policies
    policy-templates:
    - apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
      kind: ConfigurationPolicy
      metadata:
        name: mustonlyhave-configuration
      spec:
        namespaceSelector:
          include: ["default"]
          exclude: ["kube-system"]
        remediationAction: inform
        disabled: false
        complianceType: mustonlyhave
        object-templates:
  2. Apply the policy by running the following command:

    oc apply -f <policy-file-name>  --namespace=<namespace>
  3. Verify and list the policies by running the following command:

    oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io --namespace=<namespace>

Your configuration policy is created.

2.8.5.1.2. Viewing your configuration policy from the CLI

Complete the following steps to view your configuration policy from the CLI:

  1. View details for a specific configuration policy by running the following command:

    oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <namespace> -o yaml
  2. View a description of your configuration policy by running the following command:

    oc describe policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <name> -n <namespace>
2.8.5.1.3. Creating a configuration policy from the console

As you create a configuration policy from the console, a YAML file is also created in the YAML editor.

  1. Log in to your cluster from the console, and select Governance from the navigation menu.
  2. Click Create policy. Specify the policy you want to create by selecting one of the configuration policies for the specification parameter.
  3. Continue with configuration policy creation by completing the policy form. Enter or select the appropriate values for the following fields:

    • Name
    • Specifications
    • Cluster selector
    • Remediation action
    • Standards
    • Categories
    • Controls
  4. Click Create. Your configuration policy is created.
2.8.5.1.4. Viewing your configuration policy from the console

View any configuration policy and its status from the console.

After you log into your cluster from the console, select Governance to view a table list of your policies. Note: You can filter the table list of your policies by selecting the All policies tab or Cluster violations tab.

Select one of your policies to view more details. The Details, Clusters, and Templates tabs are displayed.

2.8.5.2. Updating configuration policies

Learn to update configuration policies by viewing the following section.

2.8.5.2.1. Disabling configuration policies

Disable your configuration policy. Similar to the instructions mentioned earlier, log in and navigate to the Governance page to complete the tasks.

  1. Select the Actions icon for a configuration policy from the table list, then click Disable. The Disable Policy dialog box appears.
  2. Click Disable policy.

The policy is disabled, but not deleted.

2.8.5.3. Deleting a configuration policy

Delete a configuration policy from the CLI or the console.

  • Delete a configuration policy from the CLI with the following procedure:

    1. Run the following command to delete the policy from your target cluster or clusters:

      oc delete policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <namespace>
    2. Verify that your policy is removed by running the following command:
    oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-name> -n <namespace>
  • Delete a configuration policy from the console with the following procedure:

    1. From the navigation menu, click Governance to view a table list of your policies.
    2. Click the Actions icon for the policy you want to delete in the policy violation table, then click Remove.
    3. From the Remove policy dialog box, click Remove policy.

Your policy is deleted.

See configuration policy samples that are supported by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management from the CM-Configuration-Management folder.

Alternatively, you can refer to the Table of sample configuration policies to view other configuration policies that are monitored by the controller. For details to manage other policies, refer to Managing security policies.

2.8.6. Managing Gatekeeper operator policies

Use the Gatekeeper operator policy to install the Gatekeeper operator and Gatekeeper on a managed cluster. Learn to create, view, and update your Gatekeeper operator policies in the following sections.

Required access: Cluster administrator

2.8.6.1. Installing Gatekeeper using a Gatekeeper operator policy

Use the governance framework to install the Gatekeeper operator. Gatekeeper operator is available in the OpenShift Container Platform catalog. See Adding Operators to a cluster in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation for more information.

Use the configuration policy controller to install the Gatekeeper operator policy. During the install, the operator group and subscription pull the Gatekeeper operator to install it in your managed cluster. Then, the Gatekeeper operator creates a Gatekeeper custom resource to configure Gatekeeper. View the Gatekeeper operator custom resource sample.

Gatekeeper operator policy is monitored by the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management configuration policy controller, where enforce remediation action is supported. Gatekeeper operator policies are created automatically by the controller when set to enforce.

2.8.6.2. Creating a Gatekeeper policy from the console

Install the Gatekeeper policy by creating a Gatekeeper policy from the console. Alternatively, navigate to the Additional resources section for a reference to the sample YAML to deploy policy-gatekeeper-operator.yaml.

After you log into your cluster, navigate to the Governance page.

Select Create policy. As you complete the form, select Gatekeeper Operator from the Specifications field. The parameter values for your policy are automatically populated and the policy is set to inform by default. Set your remediation action to enforce to install Gatekeeper.

Note: Default values are generated by the operator.

2.8.6.2.1. Gatekeeper operator custom resource
apiVersion: operator.gatekeeper.sh/v1alpha1
kind: Gatekeeper
metadata:
  name: gatekeeper
spec:
  audit:
    replicas: 1
    logLevel: DEBUG
    auditInterval: 10s
    constraintViolationLimit: 55
    auditFromCache: Enabled
    auditChunkSize: 66
    emitAuditEvents: Enabled
    resources:
      limits:
        cpu: 500m
        memory: 150Mi
      requests:
        cpu: 500m
        memory: 130Mi
  validatingWebhook: Enabled
  webhook:
    replicas: 2
    logLevel: ERROR
    emitAdmissionEvents: Enabled
    failurePolicy: Fail
    resources:
      limits:
        cpu: 480m
        memory: 140Mi
      requests:
        cpu: 400m
        memory: 120Mi
  nodeSelector:
    region: "EMEA"
  affinity:
    podAffinity:
      requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
        - labelSelector:
            matchLabels:
              auditKey: "auditValue"
          topologyKey: topology.kubernetes.io/zone
  tolerations:
    - key: "Example"
      operator: "Exists"
      effect: "NoSchedule"
  podAnnotations:
    some-annotation: "this is a test"
    other-annotation: "another test"

2.8.6.3. Upgrading Gatekeeper and the Gatekeeper operator

You can upgrade the versions for Gatekeeper and the Gatekeeper operator. When you install the Gatekeeper operator with the Gatekeeper operator policy, notice the value for installPlanApproval. The operator upgrades automatically when installPlanApproval is set to Automatic.

You must approve the upgrade of the Gatekeeper operator manually, for each cluster, when installPlanApproval is set to Manual.

2.8.6.4. Updating Gatekeeper operator policy

Learn to update the Gatekeeper operator policy by viewing the following section.

2.8.6.4.1. Viewing Gatekeeper operator policy from the console

View your Gatekeeper operator policy and its status from the console.

After you log into your cluster from the console, click Governance to view a table list of your policies. Note: You can filter the table list of your policies by selecting the Policies tab or Cluster violations tab.

Select the policy-gatekeeper-operator policy to view more details. View the policy violations by selecting the Clusters tab.

2.8.6.4.2. Disabling Gatekeeper operator policy

Disable your gatekeeper operator policy.

After you log into your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console, navigate to the Governance page to view a table list of your policies.

Select the Actions icon for the policy-gatekeeper-operator policy, then click Disable. The Disable Policy dialog box appears.

Click Disable policy. Your policy-gatekeeper-operator policy is disabled.

2.8.6.5. Deleting Gatekeeper operator policy

Delete the Gatekeeper operator policy from the CLI or the console.

  • Delete Gatekeeper operator policy from the CLI:

    1. Delete Gatekeeper operator policy by running the following command:

      oc delete policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-gatekeeper-operator-name> -n <namespace>

      After your policy is deleted, it is removed from your target cluster or clusters.

    2. Verify that your policy is removed by running the following command:

      oc get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io <policy-gatekeeper-operator-name> -n <namespace>
  • Delete Gatekeeper operator policy from the console:

    Navigate to the Governance page to view a table list of your policies.

    Similar to the previous console instructions, click the Actions icon for the policy-gatekeeper-operator policy. Click Remove to delete the policy. From the Remove policy dialog box, click Remove policy.

Your Gatekeeper operator policy is deleted.

2.8.6.6. Uninstalling Gatekeeper policy, Gatekeeper, and Gatekeeper operator policy

Complete the following steps to uninstall Gatekeeper policy, Gatekeeper, and Gatekeeper operator policy:

  1. Remove the Gatekeeper Constraint and ConstraintTemplate that is applied on your managed cluster:

    1. Edit your Gatekeeper operator policy. Locate the ConfigurationPolicy template that you used to create the Gatekeeper Constraint and ConstraintTemplate.
    2. Change the value for complianceType of the ConfigurationPolicy template to mustnothave.
    3. Save and apply the policy.
  2. Remove Gatekeeper instance from your managed cluster:

    1. Edit your Gatekeeper operator policy. Locate the ConfigurationPolicy template that you used to create the Gatekeeper custom resource.
    2. Change the value for complianceType of the ConfigurationPolicy template to mustnothave.
  3. Remove the Gatekeeper operator that is on your managed cluster:

    1. Edit your Gatekeeper operator policy. Locate the ConfigurationPolicy template that you used to create the Subscription CR.
    2. Change the value for complianceType of the ConfigurationPolicy template to mustnothave.

Gatekeeper policy, Gatekeeper, and Gatekeeper operator policy are uninstalled.

2.8.6.7. Additional resources

2.8.7. Managing operator policies in disconnected environments

You might need to deploy Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes policies on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform clusters that are not connected to the internet (disconnected). If the policies you deploy are used to deploy policies that install an Operator Lifecycle Manager operator, you must follow the procedure for Mirroring an Operator catalog.

Complete the following steps to validate access to the operator images:

  1. See Verify required packages are available to validate that packages you require to use with policies are available. You must validate availability for each image registry used by any managed cluster that the following policies are deployed to:

    • container-security-operator
    • Deprecated: gatekeeper-operator-product
    • compliance-operator
  2. See Configure image content source policies to validate that the sources are available. The image content source policies must exist on each of the disconnected managed clusters and can be deployed using a policy to simplify the process. See the following table of image source locations:

    Governance policy typeImage source location

    Container security

    registry.redhat.io/quay

    Compliance

    registry.redhat.io/compliance

    Gatekeeper

    registry.redhat.io/rhacm2

2.8.8. Installing Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus by using a policy set

Continue reading for guidance to apply the Red Hat Openshift Platform Plus policy set. When you apply the Red Hat OpenShift policy set, the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security secured cluster services and the Compliance Operator are deployed onto all of your OpenShift Container Platform managed clusters.

2.8.8.1. Prerequisites

Complete the following steps before you apply the policy set:

  1. To allow for subscriptions to be applied to your cluster, you must apply the policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub.yaml policy and set the remediation action to enforce. Copy and paste the following YAML into the YAML editor of the console:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: Policy
    metadata:
      name: policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
      annotations:
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: CM Configuration Management
        policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: CM-2 Baseline Configuration
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform
      disabled: false
      policy-templates:
        - objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
            kind: ConfigurationPolicy
            metadata:
              name: policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
            spec:
              remediationAction: inform
              severity: low
              object-templates:
                - complianceType: musthave
                  objectDefinition:
                    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                    kind: ClusterRole
                    metadata:
                      name: open-cluster-management:subscription-admin
                    rules:
                    - apiGroups:
                      - app.k8s.io
                      resources:
                      - applications
                      verbs:
                      - '*'
                    - apiGroups:
                      - apps.open-cluster-management.io
                      resources:
                      - '*'
                      verbs:
                      - '*'
                    - apiGroups:
                      - ""
                      resources:
                      - configmaps
                      - secrets
                      - namespaces
                      verbs:
                      - '*'
                - complianceType: musthave
                  objectDefinition:
                    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
                    kind: ClusterRoleBinding
                    metadata:
                      name: open-cluster-management:subscription-admin
                    roleRef:
                      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
                      kind: ClusterRole
                      name: open-cluster-management:subscription-admin
                    subjects:
                    - apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
                      kind: User
                      name: kube:admin
                    - apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
                      kind: User
                      name: system:admin
    ---
    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: PlacementBinding
    metadata:
      name: binding-policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
    placementRef:
      name: placement-policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
      kind: PlacementRule
      apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
    subjects:
    - name: policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
      kind: Policy
      apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
    ---
    apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: PlacementRule
    metadata:
      name: placement-policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub
    spec:
      clusterConditions:
      - status: "True"
        type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
      clusterSelector:
        matchExpressions:
          - {key: name, operator: In, values: ["local-cluster"]}
  2. To apply the previous YAML from the command line interface, run the following command:

    oc apply -f policy-configure-subscription-admin-hub.yaml
  3. Install the Policy Generator kustomize plugin. Use Kustomize v4.5 or newer. See Generating a policy to install an Operator.
  4. Policies are installed to the policies namespace. You must bind that namespace to a ClusterSet. For example, copy and apply the following example YAML to bind the namespace to the default ClusterSet:

    apiVersion: cluster.open-cluster-management.io/v1beta2
    kind: ManagedClusterSetBinding
    metadata:
        name: default
        namespace: policies
    spec:
        clusterSet: default
  5. Run the following command to apply the ManagedClusterSetBinding resource from the command line interface:

    oc apply -f managed-cluster.yaml

After you meet the prerequisite requirements, you can apply the policy set.

2.8.8.2. Applying Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus policy set

  1. Use the openshift-plus/policyGenerator.yaml file that includes the prerequisite configuration for Red Hat OpenShift Plus. See openshift-plus/policyGenerator.yaml.
  2. Apply the policies to your hub cluster by using the kustomize command:

    kustomize build --enable-alpha-plugins  | oc apply -f -

    Note: For any components of OpenShift Platform Plus that you do not want to install, edit the policyGenerator.yaml file and remove or comment out the policies for those components.

2.8.8.3. Additional resources

2.9. Policy dependencies

Dependencies can be used to activate a policy or policy template when the dependency criteria are satisfied. The following fields are checked on the managed cluster, dependencies and extraDependencies. When a dependency is not met, the template status of the replicated policy template displays more details.

Required access: Policy administrator

View the following policy dependency example, where the ScanSettingBinding is only created if the upstream-compliance-operator policy is already compliant on the managed cluster:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: CM Configuration Management
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: CM-2 Baseline Configuration
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
  name: moderate-compliance-scan
  namespace: default
spec:
  dependencies:
  - apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    compliance: Compliant
    kind: Policy
    name: upstream-compliance-operator
    namespace: default
  disabled: false
  policy-templates:
  - objectDefinition:
      apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
      kind: ConfigurationPolicy
      metadata:
        name: moderate-compliance-scan
      spec:
        object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
            kind: ScanSettingBinding
            metadata:
              name: moderate
              namespace: openshift-compliance
            profiles:
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: ocp4-moderate
            - apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: Profile
              name: ocp4-moderate-node
            settingsRef:
              apiGroup: compliance.openshift.io/v1alpha1
              kind: ScanSetting
              name: default
        remediationAction: enforce
        severity: low

Note: A dependency cannot be used to apply a policy on one cluster based on the status of a policy in another cluster.

2.10. Secure the hub cluster

Secure your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes installation by enhancing the hub cluster security. Complete the following steps:

  1. Secure Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For more information, see OpenShift Container Platform security and compliance.
  2. Setup role-based access control (RBAC). For more information, see Role-based access control.
  3. Customize certificates, see Certificates.
  4. Define your cluster credentials, see Managing credentials overview
  5. Review the policies that are available to help you harden your cluster security. See Supported policies

2.11. Integrate third-party policy controllers

Integrate third-party policies to create custom annotations within the policy templates to specify one or more compliance standards, control categories, and controls.

You can also use the third-party party policies from the policy-collection/community.

Learn to integrate the following third-party policies:

2.11.1. Integrating Gatekeeper constraints and constraint templates

Gatekeeper is a validating webhook with auditing capabilities that can enforce custom resource definition-based policies that are run with the Open Policy Agent (OPA). You can install Gatekeeper on your cluster by using the Gatekeeper operator policy. Gatekeeper constraints can be used to evaluate Kubernetes resource compliance. You can leverage OPA as the policy engine, and use Rego as the policy language.

Prerequisite: You must have a Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes or Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Plus subscription to install Gatekeeper and apply Gatekeeper policies to your cluster. Gatekeeper is supported only on OpenShift Container Platform versions, except version 3.11, that are supported by the latest version of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management.

Gatekeeper policies are written using constraint templates (ConstraintTemplates) and constraints. View the following YAML examples that use Gatekeeper constraints in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies:

  • ConstraintTemplates and constraints: Use the Gatekeeper integration feature by using Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies for multicluster distribution of Gatekeeper constraints and Gatekeeper audit results aggregation on the hub cluster. The following example defines a Gatekeeper ConstraintTemplate and constraint (K8sRequiredLabels) to ensure the gatekeeper label is set on all namespaces:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: Policy
    metadata:
      name: require-gatekeeper-labels-on-ns
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform 1
      disabled: false
      policy-templates:
        - objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: templates.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1
            kind: ConstraintTemplate
            metadata:
              name: k8srequiredlabels
              annotations:
                policy.open-cluster-management.io/severity: low 2
            spec:
              crd:
                spec:
                  names:
                    kind: K8sRequiredLabels
                  validation:
                    openAPIV3Schema:
                      properties:
                        labels:
                          type: array
                          items: string
              targets:
                - target: admission.k8s.gatekeeper.sh
                  rego: |
                    package k8srequiredlabels
                    violation[{"msg": msg, "details": {"missing_labels": missing}}] {
                      provided := {label | input.review.object.metadata.labels[label]}
                      required := {label | label := input.parameters.labels[_]}
                      missing := required - provided
                      count(missing) > 0
                      msg := sprintf("you must provide labels: %v", [missing])
                    }
        - objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: constraints.gatekeeper.sh/v1beta1
            kind: K8sRequiredLabels
            metadata:
              name: ns-must-have-gk
              annotations:
                policy.open-cluster-management.io/severity: low 3
            spec:
              enforcementAction: dryrun
              match:
                kinds:
                  - apiGroups: [""]
                    kinds: ["Namespace"]
              parameters:
                labels: ["gatekeeper"]
    1
    Since the remediationAction is set to inform, the enforcementAction field of the Gatekeeper constraint is overridden to warn. This means that Gatekeeper detects and warns you about creating or updating a namespace that is missing the gatekeeper label. If the policy remediationAction is set to enforce, the Gatekeeper constraint enforcementAction field is overridden to deny. In this context, this configuration prevents any user from creating or updating a namespace that is missing the gatekeeper label.
    2 3
    Optional: Set a severity value for the policy.open-cluster-management.io/severity annotation for each Gatekeeper constraint or constraint template. Valid values are the same as for other Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy types: low, medium, high, or critical.

    With the previous policy, you might receive the following policy status message: warn - you must provide labels: {"gatekeeper"} (on Namespace default); warn - you must provide labels: {"gatekeeper"} (on Namespace gatekeeper-system). Once a policy containing Gatekeeper constraints or ConstraintTemplates is deleted, the constraints and ConstraintTemplates are also deleted from the managed cluster.

    To view the Gatekeeper audit results for a specific managed cluster from the console, navigate to the policy template Results page. If search is enabled, view the YAML of the Kubernetes objects that failed the audit.

    Notes:

    • The Related resources section is only available when the audit results are generated by Gatekeeper version 3.9 or newer.
    • The Gatekeeper audit functionality runs every minute by default. Audit results are sent back to the hub cluster to be viewed in the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy status of the managed cluster.
  • policy-gatekeeper-admission: Use the policy-gatekeeper-admission configuration policy within a Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy to check for Kubernetes API requests denied by the gatekeeper admission webhook:

    apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
    kind: ConfigurationPolicy
    metadata:
      name: policy-gatekeeper-admission
    spec:
      remediationAction: inform # will be overridden by remediationAction in parent policy
      severity: low
      object-templates:
        - complianceType: mustnothave
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: v1
            kind: Event
            metadata:
              namespace: openshift-gatekeeper-system # set it to the actual namespace where gatekeeper is running if different
              annotations:
                constraint_action: deny
                constraint_kind: K8sRequiredLabels
                constraint_name: ns-must-have-gk
                event_type: violation

2.11.1.1. Additional resources

For more details, see What is OPA Gatekeeper.

2.11.2. Policy Generator

The Policy Generator is a part of the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes application lifecycle subscription GitOps workflow that generates Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies using Kustomize. The Policy Generator builds Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies from Kubernetes manifest YAML files, which are provided through a PolicyGenerator manifest YAML file that is used to configure it. The Policy Generator is implemented as a Kustomize generator plug-in. For more information on Kustomize, read the Kustomize documentation.

View the following sections for more information:

2.11.2.1. Policy Generator capabilities

The Policy Generator and its integration with the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management application lifecycle subscription GitOps workflow simplifies the distribution of Kubernetes resource objects to managed OpenShift Container Platform clusters, and Kubernetes clusters through Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies.

Use the Policy Generator to complete the following actions:

  • Convert any Kubernetes manifest files to Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management configuration policies, including manifests that are created from a Kustomize directory.
  • Patch the input Kubernetes manifests before they are inserted into a generated Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy.
  • Generate additional configuration policies so you can report on Gatekeeper policy violations through Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes.
  • Generate policy sets on the hub cluster.

2.11.2.2. Policy Generator configuration structure

The Policy Generator is a Kustomize generator plug-in that is configured with a manifest of the PolicyGenerator kind and policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1 API version.

To use the plug-in, start by adding a generators section in a kustomization.yaml file. View the following example:

generators:
  - policy-generator-config.yaml

The policy-generator-config.yaml file that is referenced in the previous example is a YAML file with the instructions of the policies to generate. A simple PolicyGenerator configuration file might resemble the following example:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PolicyGenerator
metadata:
  name: config-data-policies
policyDefaults:
  namespace: policies
  policySets: []
policies:
  - name: config-data
    manifests:
      - path: configmap.yaml

The configmap.yaml represents a Kubernetes manifest YAML file to be included in the policy. Alternatively, you can set the path to a Kustomize directory, or a directory with multiple Kubernetes manifest YAML files. View the following example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-config
  namespace: default
data:
  key1: value1
  key2: value2

The generated Policy, along with the generated PlacementRule and PlacementBinding might resemble the following example:

apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: placement-config-data
  namespace: policies
spec:
  clusterConditions:
  - status: "True"
    type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
  clusterSelector:
    matchExpressions: []
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-config-data
  namespace: policies
placementRef:
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: PlacementRule
  name: placement-config-data
subjects:
- apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: Policy
  name: config-data
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: CM Configuration Management
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: CM-2 Baseline Configuration
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
  name: config-data
  namespace: policies
spec:
  disabled: false
  policy-templates:
  - objectDefinition:
      apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
      kind: ConfigurationPolicy
      metadata:
        name: config-data
      spec:
        object-templates:
        - complianceType: musthave
          objectDefinition:
            apiVersion: v1
            data:
              key1: value1
              key2: value2
            kind: ConfigMap
            metadata:
              name: my-config
              namespace: default
        remediationAction: inform
        severity: low

2.11.2.3. Policy Generator configuration reference table

Note that all the fields in the policyDefaults section except for namespace can be overridden for each policy, and all the fields in the policySetDefaults section can be overridden for each policy set.

Table 2.15. Parameter table
FieldOptional or requiredDescription

apiVersion

Required

Set the value to policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

kind

Required

Set the value to PolicyGenerator to indicate the type of policy.

metadata.name

Required

The name for identifying the policy resource.

placementBindingDefaults.name

Optional

If multiple policies use the same placement, this name is used to generate a unique name for the resulting PlacementBinding, binding the placement with the array of policies that reference it.

policyDefaults

Required

Any default value listed here is overridden by an entry in the policies array except for namespace.

policyDefaults.namespace

Required

The namespace of all the policies.

policyDefaults.complianceType

Optional

Determines the policy controller behavior when comparing the manifest to objects on the cluster. The values that you can use are musthave, mustonlyhave, or mustnothave. The default value is musthave.

policyDefaults.metadataComplianceType

Optional

Overrides complianceType when comparing the manifest metadata section to objects on the cluster. The values that you can use are musthave, and mustonlyhave. The default value is empty ({}) to avoid overriding the complianceType for metadata.

policyDefaults.categories

Optional

Array of categories to be used in the policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories annotation. The default value is CM Configuration Management.

policyDefaults.controls

Optional

Array of controls to be used in the policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls annotation. The default value is CM-2 Baseline Configuration.

policyDefaults.standards

Optional

An array of standards to be used in the policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards annotation. The default value is NIST SP 800-53.

policyDefaults.policyAnnotations

Optional

Annotations that the policy includes in the metadata.annotations section. It is applied for all policies unless specified in the policy. The default value is empty ({}).

policyDefaults.configurationPolicyAnnotations

Optional

Key-value pairs of annotations to set on generated configuration policies. For example, you can disable policy templates by defining the following parameter: {"policy.open-cluster-management.io/disable-templates": "true"}. The default value is empty ({}).

policyDefaults.copyPolicyMetadata

Optional

Copies the labels and annotations for all policies and adds them to a replica policy. Set to true by default. If set to false, only the policy framework specific policy labels and annotations are copied to the replicated policy.

policyDefaults.severity

Optional

The severity of the policy violation. The default value is low.

policyDefaults.disabled

Optional

Whether the policy is disabled, meaning it is not propagated and no status as a result. The default value is false to enable the policy.

policyDefaults.remediationAction

Optional

The remediation mechanism of your policy. The parameter values are enforce and inform. The default value is inform.

policyDefaults.namespaceSelector

Required for namespaced objects that do not have a namespace specified

Determines namespaces in the managed cluster that the object is applied to. The include and exclude parameters accept file path expressions to include and exclude namespaces by name. The matchExpressions and matchLabels parameters specify namespaces to include by label. Read the Kubernetes labels and selectors documentation. The resulting list is compiled by using the intersection of results from all parameters.

policyDefaults.evaluationInterval

Optional

Use the parameters compliant and noncompliant to specify the frequency for a policy to be evaluated when in a particular compliance state. When managed clusters have low CPU resources, the evaluation interval can be increased to reduce CPU usage on the Kubernetes API. These are in the format of durations. For example, "1h25m3s" represents 1 hour, 25 minutes, and 3 seconds. These can also be set to "never" to avoid evaluating the policy after it has become a particular compliance state.

policyDefaults.dependencies

Optional

A list of objects that must be in specific compliance states before this policy is applied. Cannot be specified when policyDefaults.orderPolicies is set to true.

policyDefaults.dependencies[].name

Required

The name of the object being depended on.

policyDefaults.dependencies[].namespace

Optional

The namespace of the object being depended on. The default is the namespace of policies set for the Policy Generator.

policyDefaults.dependencies[].compliance

Optional

The compliance state the object needs to be in. The default value is Compliant.

policyDefaults.dependencies[].kind

Optional

The kind of the object. By default, the kind is set to Policy, but can also be other kinds that have compliance state, such as ConfigurationPolicy.

policyDefaults.dependencies[].apiVersion

Optional

The API version of the object. The default value is policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies

Optional

A list of objects that must be in specific compliance states before this policy is applied. The dependencies that you define are added to each policy template (for example, ConfigurationPolicy) separately from the dependencies list. Cannot be specified when policyDefaults.orderManifests is set to true.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies[].name

Required

The name of the object being depended on.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies[].namespace

Optional

The namespace of the object being depended on. By default, the value is set to the namespace of policies set for the Policy Generator.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies[].compliance

Optional

The compliance state the object needs to be in. The default value is Compliant.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies[].kind

Optional

The kind of the object. The default value is to Policy, but can also be other kinds that have a compliance state, such as ConfigurationPolicy.

policyDefaults.extraDependencies[].apiVersion

Optional

The API version of the object. The default value is policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1.

policyDefaults.ignorePending

Optional

Bypass compliance status checks when the Policy Generator is waiting for its dependencies to reach their desired states. The default value is false.

policyDefaults.orderPolicies

Optional

Automatically generate dependencies on the policies so they are applied in the order you defined in the policies list. By default, the value is set to false. Cannot be specified at the same time as policyDefaults.dependencies.

policyDefaults.orderManifests

Optional

Automatically generate extraDependencies on policy templates so that they are applied in the order you defined in the manifests list for that policy. Cannot be specified when policyDefaults.consolidateManifests is set to true. Cannot be specified at the same time as policyDefaults.extraDependencies.

policyDefaults.consolidateManifests

Optional

This determines if a single configuration policy is generated for all the manifests being wrapped in the policy. If set to false, a configuration policy per manifest is generated. The default value is true.

policyDefaults.informGatekeeperPolicies (Deprecated)

Optional

Set informGatekeeperPolicies to false to use Gatekeeper manifests directly without defining it in a configuration policy. When the policy references a violated Gatekeeper policy manifest, an additional configuration policy is generated in order to receive policy violations in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. The default value is true.

policyDefaults.informKyvernoPolicies

Optional

When the policy references a Kyverno policy manifest, this determines if an additional configuration policy is generated to receive policy violations in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management, when the Kyverno policy is violated. The default value is true.

policyDefaults.policySets

Optional

Array of policy sets that the policy joins. Policy set details can be defined in the policySets section. When a policy is part of a policy set, a placement binding is not generated for the policy since one is generated for the set. Set policies[].generatePlacementWhenInSet or policyDefaults.generatePlacementWhenInSet to override policyDefaults.policySets.

policyDefaults.generatePolicyPlacement

Optional

Generate placement manifests for policies. Set to true by default. When set to false, the placement manifest generation is skipped, even if a placement is specified.

policyDefaults.generatePlacementWhenInSet

Optional

When a policy is part of a policy set, by default, the generator does not generate the placement for this policy since a placement is generated for the policy set. Set generatePlacementWhenInSet to true to deploy the policy with both policy placement and policy set placement. The default value is false.

policyDefaults.placement

Optional

The placement configuration for the policies. This defaults to a placement configuration that matches all clusters.

policyDefaults.placement.name

Optional

Specifying a name to consolidate placement rules that contain the same cluster selectors.

policyDefaults.placement.placementName

Optional

Define this parameter to use a placement that already exists on the cluster. A Placement is not created, but a PlacementBinding binds the policy to this Placement.

policyDefaults.placement.placementPath

Optional

To reuse an existing placement, specify the path relative to the location of the kustomization.yaml file. If provided, this placement rule is used by all policies by default. See labelSelector to generate a new Placement.

policyDefaults.placement.clusterSelector (Deprecated)

Optional

PlacementRule is deprecated. Use labelSelector instead to generate a placement. Specify a placement rule by defining a cluster selector using either key:value or by providing matchExpressions, matchLabels, or both, with appropriate values. See placementRulePath to specify an existing file.

policyDefaults.placement.placementRuleName (Deprecated)

Optional

PlacementRule is deprecated. Alternatively, use placementName to specify a placement. To use an existing placement rule on the cluster, specify the name for this parameter. A PlacementRule is not created, but a PlacementBinding binds the policy to the existing PlacementRule.

policyDefaults.placement.placementRulePath (Deprecated)

Optional

PlacementRule is deprecated. Alternatively, use placementPath to specify a placement. To reuse an existing placement rule, specify the path relative to the location of the kustomization.yaml file. If provided, this placement rule is used by all policies by default. See clusterSelector to generate a new PlacementRule.

policyDefaults.placement.labelSelector

Optional

Specify a placement rule by defining a cluster selector using either key:value, or providing a matchExpressions, matchLabels, or both, with appropriate values. See placementPath to specify an existing file.

policySetDefaults

Optional

Default values for policy sets. Any default value listed for this parameter is overridden by an entry in the policySets array.

policySetDefaults.placement

Optional

The placement configuration for the policies. This defaults to a placement configuration that matches all clusters. See policyDefaults.placement for description of this field.

policySetDefaults.generatePolicySetPlacement

Optional

Generate placement manifests for policy sets. Set to true by default. When set to false the placement manifest generation is skipped, even if a placement is specified.

policies

Required

The list of policies to create along with overrides to either the default values, or the values that are set in policyDefaults. See policyDefaults for additional fields and descriptions.

policies[].name

Required

The name of the policy to create.

policies[].manifests

Required

The list of Kubernetes object manifests to include in the policy, along with overrides to either the default values, the values set in this policies item, or the values set in policyDefaults. See policyDefaults for additional fields and descriptions. When consolidateManifests is set to true, only complianceType and metadataComplianceType can be overridden at the policies[].manifests level.

policies[].manifests[].path

Required

Path to a single file, a flat directory of files, or a Kustomize directory relative to the kustomization.yaml file. If the directory is a Kustomize directory, the generator runs Kustomize against the directory before generating the policies.

policies[].manifests[].patches

Optional

A list of Kustomize patches to apply to the manifest at the path. If there are multiple manifests, the patch requires the apiVersion, kind, metadata.name, and metadata.namespace (if applicable) fields to be set so Kustomize can identify the manifest that the patch applies to. If there is a single manifest, the metadata.name and metadata.namespace fields can be patched.

policySets

Optional

The list of policy sets to create, along with overrides to either the default values or the values that are set in policySetDefaults. To include a policy in a policy set, use policyDefaults.policySets, policies[].policySets, or policySets.policies. See policySetDefaults for additional fields and descriptions.

policySets[].name

Required

The name of the policy set to create.

policySets[].description

Optional

The description of the policy set to create.

policySets[].policies

Optional

The list of policies to be included in the policy set. If policyDefaults.policySets or policies[].policySets is also specified, the lists are merged.

2.11.2.4. Additional resources

2.11.3. Generating a policy to install an Operator

A common use of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policies is to install an Operator on one or more managed Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform clusters. Continue reading to learn how to generate policies using the Policy Generator, and to install the OpenShift GitOps Operator with a generated policy:

2.11.3.1. Generating a policy that installs OpenShift GitOps

You can generate a policy that installs OpenShift GitOps by using the Policy Generator. The OpenShift GitOps operator offers the all namespaces installation mode, which is used in the following example. Create a Subscription manifest file called openshift-gitops-subscription.yaml, similar to the following example:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: openshift-gitops-operator
  namespace: openshift-operators
spec:
  channel: stable
  name: openshift-gitops-operator
  source: redhat-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace

To pin to a specific version of the operator, add the following parameter and value: spec.startingCSV: openshift-gitops-operator.v<version>. Replace <version> with your preferred version.

A PolicyGenerator configuration file is required. Use the configuration file named policy-generator-config.yaml to generate a policy to install OpenShift GitOps on all OpenShift Container Platform managed clusters. See the following example:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PolicyGenerator
metadata:
  name: install-openshift-gitops
policyDefaults:
  namespace: policies
  placement:
    clusterSelectors:
      vendor: "OpenShift"
  remediationAction: enforce
policies:
  - name: install-openshift-gitops
    manifests:
      - path: openshift-gitops-subscription.yaml

The last required file is kustomization.yaml, which requires the following configuration:

generators:
  - policy-generator-config.yaml

The generated policy might resemble the following file:

apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: placement-install-openshift-gitops
  namespace: policies
spec:
  clusterConditions:
    - status: "True"
      type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
  clusterSelector:
    matchExpressions:
      - key: vendor
        operator: In
        values:
          - OpenShift
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-install-openshift-gitops
  namespace: policies
placementRef:
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: PlacementRule
  name: placement-install-openshift-gitops
subjects:
  - apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
    kind: Policy
    name: install-openshift-gitops
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: CM Configuration Management
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: CM-2 Baseline Configuration
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
  name: install-openshift-gitops
  namespace: policies
spec:
  disabled: false
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name: install-openshift-gitops
        spec:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType: musthave
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
                kind: Subscription
                metadata:
                  name: openshift-gitops-operator
                  namespace: openshift-operators
                spec:
                  channel: stable
                  name: openshift-gitops-operator
                  source: redhat-operators
                  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
          remediationAction: enforce
          severity: low

Generated policies from manifests in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation is supported. Any configuration guidance from the OpenShift Container Platform documentation can be applied using the Policy Generator.

2.11.3.2. Generating a policy that installs the Compliance Operator

For an operator that uses the namespaced installation mode, such as the Compliance Operator, an OperatorGroup manifest is also required.

Create a YAML file with a Namespace, a Subscription, and an OperatorGroup manifest called compliance-operator.yaml. The following example installs these manifests in the compliance-operator namespace:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: openshift-compliance
---
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: compliance-operator
  namespace: openshift-compliance
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
    - compliance-operator
---
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: compliance-operator
  namespace: openshift-compliance
spec:
  channel: release-0.1
  name: compliance-operator
  source: redhat-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace

A PolicyGenerator configuration file is required. View the following PolicyGenerator policy example that installs the Compliance Operator on all OpenShift Container Platform managed clusters:

apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PolicyGenerator
metadata:
  name: install-compliance-operator
policyDefaults:
  namespace: policies
  placement:
    clusterSelectors:
      vendor: "OpenShift"
  remediationAction: enforce
policies:
  - name: install-compliance-operator
    manifests:
      - path: compliance-operator.yaml

The last required file is kustomization.yaml, which requires the following configuration:

generators:
  - policy-generator-config.yaml

As a result, the generated policy resembles the following file:

apiVersion: apps.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementRule
metadata:
  name: placement-install-compliance-operator
  namespace: policies
spec:
  clusterConditions:
    - status: "True"
      type: ManagedClusterConditionAvailable
  clusterSelector:
    matchExpressions:
      - key: vendor
        operator: In
        values:
          - OpenShift
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: PlacementBinding
metadata:
  name: binding-install-compliance-operator
  namespace: policies
placementRef:
  apiGroup: apps.open-cluster-management.io
  kind: PlacementRule
  name: placement-install-compliance-operator
subjects:
  - apiGroup: policy.open-cluster-management.io
    kind: Policy
    name: install-compliance-operator
---
apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
kind: Policy
metadata:
  annotations:
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/categories: CM Configuration Management
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/controls: CM-2 Baseline Configuration
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/standards: NIST SP 800-53
    policy.open-cluster-management.io/description:
  name: install-compliance-operator
  namespace: policies
spec:
  disabled: false
  policy-templates:
    - objectDefinition:
        apiVersion: policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1
        kind: ConfigurationPolicy
        metadata:
          name: install-compliance-operator
        spec:
          object-templates:
            - complianceType: musthave
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: v1
                kind: Namespace
                metadata:
                  name: openshift-compliance
            - complianceType: musthave
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
                kind: Subscription
                metadata:
                  name: compliance-operator
                  namespace: openshift-compliance
                spec:
                  channel: release-0.1
                  name: compliance-operator
                  source: redhat-operators
                  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
            - complianceType: musthave
              objectDefinition:
                apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
                kind: OperatorGroup
                metadata:
                  name: compliance-operator
                  namespace: openshift-compliance
                spec:
                  targetNamespaces:
                    - compliance-operator
          remediationAction: enforce
          severity: low

2.11.3.3. Using policy dependencies with OperatorGroups

When you install an operator with an OperatorGroup manifest, the OperatorGroup must exist on the cluster before the Subscription is created. Use the policy dependency feature along with the Policy Generator to ensure that the OperatorGroup policy is compliant prior to enforcing the Subscription policy.

Set up policy dependencies by listing the manifests in the order that you want. For example, you might want to create the namespace policy first, create the OperatorGroup next, and create the Subscription last.

Enable the policyDefaults.orderManifests parameter and disable policyDefaults.consolidateManifests in the Policy Generator configuration manifest to automatically set up dependencies between the manifests.

2.11.4. Managing policy definitions with OpenShift GitOps (ArgoCD)

OpenShift GitOps, based on ArgoCD, can also be used to manage policy definitions. To allow this workflow, OpenShift GitOps must be granted access to create policies on the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster. Create the following ClusterRole resource called openshift-gitops-policy-admin, with access to create, read, update, and delete policies and placements. Your ClusterRole might resemble the following example:

kind: ClusterRole
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: openshift-gitops-policy-admin
rules:
  - verbs:
      - get
      - list
      - watch
      - create
      - update
      - patch
      - delete
    apiGroups:
      - policy.open-cluster-management.io
    resources:
      - policies
      - policysets
      - placementbindings
  - verbs:
      - get
      - list
      - watch
      - create
      - update
      - patch
      - delete
    apiGroups:
      - apps.open-cluster-management.io
    resources:
      - placementrules
  - verbs:
      - get
      - list
      - watch
      - create
      - update
      - patch
      - delete
    apiGroups:
      - cluster.open-cluster-management.io
    resources:
      - placements
      - placements/status
      - placementdecisions
      - placementdecisions/status

Create a ClusterRoleBinding object to grant the OpenShift GitOps service account access to the openshift-gitops-policy-admin ClusterRole object. Your ClusterRoleBinding might resemble the following example:

kind: ClusterRoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: openshift-gitops-policy-admin
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: openshift-gitops-argocd-application-controller
    namespace: openshift-gitops
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: openshift-gitops-policy-admin

When a Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy definition is deployed with OpenShift GitOps, a copy of the policy is created in each managed cluster namespace. These copies are called replicated policies. To prevent OpenShift GitOps from repeatedly deleting this replicated policy or show that the ArgoCD Application is out of sync, the argocd.argoproj.io/compare-options: IgnoreExtraneous annotation is automatically set on each replicated policy by the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy framework.

There are labels and annotations used by ArgoCD to track objects. For replicated policies to not show up at all in ArgoCD, you can set spec.copyPolicyMetadata to false on the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management policy definition to prevent these ArgoCD tracking labels and annotations from being copied to the replicated policy.

2.11.4.1. Integrating the Policy Generator with OpenShift GitOps (ArgoCD)

OpenShift GitOps, based on ArgoCD, can also be used to generate policies by using the Policy Generator through GitOps. Since the Policy Generator does not come preinstalled in the OpenShift GitOps container image, some customization must take place. In order to follow along, you must have the OpenShift GitOps Operator installed on the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster and be sure to log into the hub cluster.

In order for OpenShift GitOps to have access to the Policy Generator when you run Kustomize, an Init Container is required to copy the Policy Generator binary from the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management Application Subscription container image to the OpenShift GitOps container. Additionally, OpenShift GitOps must be configured to provide the --enable-alpha-plugins flag when it runs Kustomize. Start editing the OpenShift GitOps argocd object with the following command:

oc -n openshift-gitops edit argocd openshift-gitops

Then modify the OpenShift GitOps argocd object to contain the following additional YAML content. When a new major version of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management is released and you want to update the Policy Generator to a newer version, you need to update the registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/multicluster-operators-subscription-rhel8 image used by the Init Container to a newer tag. View the following example and replace <version> with 2.8 or your desired Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management version:

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: ArgoCD
metadata:
  name: openshift-gitops
  namespace: openshift-gitops
spec:
  kustomizeBuildOptions: --enable-alpha-plugins
  repo:
    env:
    - name: KUSTOMIZE_PLUGIN_HOME
      value: /etc/kustomize/plugin
    initContainers:
    - args:
      - -c
      - cp /etc/kustomize/plugin/policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1/policygenerator/PolicyGenerator
        /policy-generator/PolicyGenerator
      command:
      - /bin/bash
      image: registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/multicluster-operators-subscription-rhel8:v<version>
      name: policy-generator-install
      volumeMounts:
      - mountPath: /policy-generator
        name: policy-generator
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /etc/kustomize/plugin/policy.open-cluster-management.io/v1/policygenerator
      name: policy-generator
    volumes:
    - emptyDir: {}
      name: policy-generator

Now that OpenShift GitOps can use the Policy Generator, OpenShift GitOps must be granted access to create policies on the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management hub cluster. Create the ClusterRole resource called openshift-gitops-policy-admin, with access to create, read, update, and delete policies and placements. Refer to the ealier ClusterRole example.

Additionally, create a ClusterRoleBinding object to grant the OpenShift GitOps service account access to the openshift-gitops-policy-admin ClusterRole. Your ClusterRoleBinding might resemble the following resource:

kind: ClusterRoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: openshift-gitops-policy-admin
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: openshift-gitops-argocd-application-controller
    namespace: openshift-gitops
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: openshift-gitops-policy-admin

2.11.4.2. Additional resources

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