Configuring
Configuring MicroShift
Abstract
Chapter 1. Using the MicroShift config.yaml
A YAML file customizes MicroShift instances with your preferences, settings, and parameters.
If you want to make configuration changes or deploy applications through the MicroShift API with tools other than kustomize
manifests, you must wait until the greenboot health checks have finished. This ensures that your changes are not lost if greenboot rolls your rpm-ostree
system back to an earlier state.
1.1. Default settings
If you do not create a config.yaml
file, default values are used. The following example shows the default configuration settings.
To see the default values, run the following command:
$ microshift show-config
Default values example output in YAML form
apiServer: advertiseAddress: 10.44.0.0/32 1 auditLog: maxFileAge: 0 2 maxFileSize: 200 3 maxFiles: 10 4 profile: Default 5 namedCertificates: - certPath: "" keyPath: "" names: - "" subjectAltNames: [] 6 debugging: logLevel: "Normal" 7 dns: baseDomain: microshift.example.com 8 etcd: memoryLimitMB: 0 9 ingress: listenAddress: - "" 10 ports: 11 http: 80 https: 443 routeAdmissionPolicy: namespaceOwnership: InterNamespaceAllowed 12 status: Managed 13 manifests: 14 kustomizePaths: - /usr/lib/microshift/manifests - /usr/lib/microshift/manifests.d/* - /etc/microshift/manifests - /etc/microshift/manifests.d/* network: clusterNetwork: - 10.42.0.0/16 15 serviceNetwork: - 10.43.0.0/16 16 serviceNodePortRange: 30000-32767 17 node: hostnameOverride: "" 18 nodeIP: "" 19
- 1
- A string that specifies the IP address from which the API server is advertised to members of the cluster. The default value is calculated based on the address of the service network.
- 2
- How long log files are kept before automatic deletion. The default value of
0
in themaxFileAge
parameter means a log file is never deleted based on age. This value can be configured. - 3
- By default, when the
audit.log
file reaches themaxFileSize
limit, theaudit.log
file is rotated and MicroShift begins writing to a newaudit.log
file. This value can be configured. - 4
- The total number of log files kept. By default, MicroShift retains 10 log files. The oldest is deleted when an excess file is created. This value can be configured.
- 5
- Logs only metadata for read and write requests; does not log request bodies except for OAuth access token requests. If you do not specify this field, the
Default
profile is used. - 6
- Subject Alternative Names for API server certificates.
- 7
- Log verbosity. Valid values for this field are
Normal
,Debug
,Trace
, orTraceAll
. - 8
- By default,
etcd
uses as much memory as needed to handle the load on the system. However, in memory constrained systems, it might be preferred or necessary to limit the amount of memoryetcd
can to use at a given time. - 9
- Base domain of the cluster. All managed DNS records are subdomains of this base.
- 10
- The
ingress.listenAddress
value defaults to the entire network of the host. The valid configurable value is a list that can be either a single IP address or NIC name or multiple IP addresses and NIC names. - 11
- Default ports shown. Configurable. Valid values for both port entries are a single, unique port in the 1-65535 range. The values of the
ports.http
andports.https
fields cannot be the same. - 12
- Describes how hostname claims across namespaces are handled. By default, allows routes to claim different paths of the same hostname across namespaces. Valid values are
Strict
andInterNamespaceAllowed
. SpecifyingStrict
prevents routes in different namespaces from claiming the same hostname. If the value is deleted in a customized MicroShiftconfig.yaml
, theInterNamespaceAllowed
value is automatically set. - 13
- Default router status, can be
Managed
orRemoved
. - 14
- The locations on the file system to scan for
kustomization
files to use to load manifests. Set to a list of paths to scan only those paths. Set to an empty list to disable loading manifests. The entries in the list can be glob patterns to match multiple subdirectories. - 15
- A block of IP addresses from which pod IP addresses are allocated. This field is immutable after installation.
- 16
- A block of virtual IP addresses for Kubernetes services. IP address pool for services. A single entry is supported. This field is immutable after installation.
- 17
- The port range allowed for Kubernetes services of type
NodePort
. If not specified, the default range of 30000-32767 is used. Services without aNodePort
specified are automatically allocated one from this range. This parameter can be updated after the cluster is installed. - 18
- The name of the node. The default value is the hostname. If non-empty, this string is used to identify the node instead of the hostname. You cannot change this immutable setting after MicroShift starts for the first time.
- 19
- The IP address of the node. The default value is the IP address of the default route.
1.2. Using a YAML configuration file
At start up, MicroShift checks the system-wide /etc/microshift/
directory for a configuration file named config.yaml
. If the configuration file does not exist in the directory, the built-in default values are used to start the service.
1.2.1. Custom settings
To create custom configurations, you must create a config.yaml
file in the /etc/microshift/
directory, and then change any settings that are expected to override the defaults before starting or restarting MicroShift.
Restart MicroShift after changing any configuration settings to have them take effect. The config.yaml
file is read only when MicroShift starts.
If you add all of the configurations you need at the same time, you can minimize system restarts.
1.2.2. Configuring the advertise address network flag
The apiserver.advertiseAddress
flag specifies the IP address on which to advertise the API server to members of the cluster. This address must be reachable by the cluster. You can set a custom IP address here, but you must also add the IP address to a host interface. Customizing this parameter preempts MicroShift from adding a default IP address to the br-ex
network interface.
If you customize the advertiseAddress
IP address, make sure it is reachable by the cluster when MicroShift starts by adding the IP address to a host interface.
If unset, the default value is set to the next immediate subnet after the service network. For example, when the service network is 10.43.0.0/16
, the advertiseAddress
is set to 10.44.0.0/32
.
1.2.3. Extending the port range for NodePort services
The serviceNodePortRange
setting extends the port range available to NodePort services. This option is useful when specific standard ports under the 30000-32767
range need to be exposed. For example, if your device needs to expose the 1883/tcp
MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) port on the network because client devices cannot use a different port.
NodePorts can overlap with system ports, causing a malfunction of the system or MicroShift.
Consider the following when configuring the NodePort service ranges:
-
Do not create any NodePort service without an explicit
nodePort
selection. When an explicitnodePort
is not specified, the port is assigned randomly by thekube-apiserver
and cannot be predicted. -
Do not create any NodePort service for any system service port, MicroShift port, or other services you expose on your device
HostNetwork
. Table one specifies ports to avoid when extending the port range:
Table 1.1. Ports to avoid. Port Description 22/tcp
SSH port
80/tcp
OpenShift Router HTTP endpoint
443/tcp
OpenShift Router HTTPS endpoint
1936/tcp
Metrics service for the openshift-router, not exposed today
2379/tcp
etcd port
2380/tcp
etcd port
6443
kubernetes API
8445/tcp
openshift-route-controller-manager
9537/tcp
cri-o metrics
10250/tcp
kubelet
10248/tcp
kubelet healthz port
10259/tcp
kube scheduler
1.3. Additional resources
Chapter 2. Cluster access with kubeconfig
Learn about how kubeconfig
files are used with MicroShift deployments. CLI tools use kubeconfig
files to communicate with the API server of a cluster. These files provide cluster details, IP addresses, and other information needed for authentication.
2.1. Kubeconfig files for configuring cluster access
The two categories of kubeconfig
files used in MicroShift are local access and remote access. Every time MicroShift starts, a set of kubeconfig
files for local and remote access to the API server are generated. These files are generated in the /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/
directory using preexisting configuration information.
Each access type requires a different authentication certificate signed by different Certificate Authorities (CAs). The generation of multiple kubeconfig
files accommodates this need.
You can use the appropriate kubeconfig
file for the access type needed in each case to provide authentication details. The contents of MicroShift kubeconfig
files are determined by either default built-in values or a config.yaml
file.
A kubeconfig
file must exist for the cluster to be accessible. The values are applied from built-in default values or a config.yaml
, if one was created.
Example contents of the kubeconfig files
/var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/ ├── kubeconfig 1 ├── alt-name-1 2 │ └── kubeconfig ├── 1.2.3.4 3 │ └── kubeconfig └── microshift-rhel9 4 └── kubeconfig
2.2. Local access kubeconfig file
The local access kubeconfig
file is written to /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/kubeconfig
. This kubeconfig
file provides access to the API server using localhost
. Choose this file when you are connecting the cluster locally.
Example contents of kubeconfig
for local access
clusters: - cluster: certificate-authority-data: <base64 CA> server: https://localhost:6443
The localhost
kubeconfig
file can only be used from a client connecting to the API server from the same host. The certificates in the file do not work for remote connections.
2.2.1. Accessing the MicroShift cluster locally
Use the following procedure to access the MicroShift cluster locally by using a kubeconfig
file.
Prerequisites
-
You have installed the
oc
binary.
Procedure
Optional: to create a
~/.kube/
folder if your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) machine does not have one, run the following command:$ mkdir -p ~/.kube/
Copy the generated local access
kubeconfig
file to the~/.kube/
directory by running the following command:$ sudo cat /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/kubeconfig > ~/.kube/config
Update the permissions on your
~/.kube/config
file by running the following command:$ chmod go-r ~/.kube/config
Verification
Verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command:
$ oc get all -A
2.3. Remote access kubeconfig files
When a MicroShift cluster connects to the API server from an external source, a certificate with all of the alternative names in the SAN field is used for validation. MicroShift generates a default kubeconfig
for external access using the hostname
value. The defaults are set in the <node.hostnameOverride>
, <node.nodeIP>
and api.<dns.baseDomain>
parameter values of the default kubeconfig
file.
The /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/<hostname>/kubeconfig
file uses the hostname
of the machine, or node.hostnameOverride
if that option is set, to reach the API server. The CA of the kubeconfig
file is able to validate certificates when accessed externally.
Example contents of a default kubeconfig
file for remote access
clusters: - cluster: certificate-authority-data: <base64 CA> server: https://microshift-rhel9:6443
2.3.1. Remote access customization
Multiple remote access kubeconfig
file values can be generated for accessing the cluster with different IP addresses or host names. An additional kubeconfig
file generates for each entry in the apiServer.subjectAltNames
parameter. You can copy remote access kubeconfig
files from the host during times of IP connectivity and then use them to access the API server from other workstations.
2.4. Generating additional kubeconfig files for remote access
You can generate additional kubeconfig
files to use if you need more host names or IP addresses than the default remote access file provides.
You must restart MicroShift for configuration changes to be implemented.
Prerequisites
-
You have created a
config.yaml
for MicroShift.
Procedure
Optional: You can show the contents of the
config.yaml
. Run the following command:$ cat /etc/microshift/config.yaml
Optional: You can show the contents of the remote-access
kubeconfig
file. Run the following command:$ cat /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/<hostname>/kubeconfig
ImportantAdditional remote access
kubeconfig
files must include one of the server names listed in the Red Hat build of MicroShiftconfig.yaml
file. Additionalkubeconfig
files must also use the same CA for validation.To generate additional
kubeconfig
files for additional DNS names SANs or external IP addresses, add the entries you need to theapiServer.subjectAltNames
field. In the following example, the DNS name used isalt-name-1
and the IP address is1.2.3.4
.Example
config.yaml
with additional authentication valuesdns: baseDomain: example.com node: hostnameOverride: "microshift-rhel9" 1 nodeIP: 10.0.0.1 apiServer: subjectAltNames: - alt-name-1 2 - 1.2.3.4 3
Restart MicroShift to apply configuration changes and auto-generate the
kubeconfig
files you need by running the following command:$ sudo systemctl restart microshift
To check the contents of additional remote-access
kubeconfig
files, insert the name or IP address as listed in theconfig.yaml
into thecat
command. For example,alt-name-1
is used in the following example command:$ cat /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/alt-name-1/kubeconfig
Choose the
kubeconfig
file to use that contains the SAN or IP address you want to use to connect your cluster. In this example, thekubeconfig
containing`alt-name-1` in thecluster.server
field is the correct file.Example contents of an additional
kubeconfig
fileclusters: - cluster: certificate-authority-data: <base64 CA> server: https://alt-name-1:6443 1
- 1
- The
/var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/alt-name-1/kubeconfig
file values are from theapiServer.subjectAltNames
configuration values.
All of these parameters are included as common names (CN) and subject alternative names (SAN) in the external serving certificates for the API server.
2.4.1. Opening the firewall for remote access to the MicroShift cluster
Use the following procedure to open the firewall so that a remote user can access the MicroShift cluster. This procedure must be completed before a workstation user can access the cluster remotely.
For this procedure, user@microshift
is the user on the MicroShift host machine and is responsible for setting up that machine so that it can be accessed by a remote user on a separate workstation.
Prerequisites
-
You have installed the
oc
binary. - Your account has cluster administration privileges.
Procedure
As
user@microshift
on the MicroShift host, open the firewall port for the Kubernetes API server (6443/tcp
) by running the following command:[user@microshift]$ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-port=6443/tcp && sudo firewall-cmd --reload
Verification
As
user@microshift
, verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command:[user@microshift]$ oc get all -A
2.4.2. Accessing the MicroShift cluster remotely
Use the following procedure to access the MicroShift cluster from a remote location by using a kubeconfig
file.
The user@workstation
login is used to access the host machine remotely. The <user>
value in the procedure is the name of the user that user@workstation
logs in with to the MicroShift host.
Prerequisites
-
You have installed the
oc
binary. -
The
user@microshift
has opened the firewall from the local host.
Procedure
As
user@workstation
, create a~/.kube/
folder if your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) machine does not have one by running the following command:[user@workstation]$ mkdir -p ~/.kube/
As
user@workstation
, set a variable for the hostname of your MicroShift host by running the following command:[user@workstation]$ MICROSHIFT_MACHINE=<name or IP address of MicroShift machine>
As
user@workstation
, copy the generatedkubeconfig
file that contains the host name or IP address you want to connect with from the RHEL machine running MicroShift to your local machine by running the following command:[user@workstation]$ ssh <user>@$MICROSHIFT_MACHINE "sudo cat /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/$MICROSHIFT_MACHINE/kubeconfig" > ~/.kube/config
NoteTo generate the
kubeconfig
files for this step, see Generating additional kubeconfig files for remote access.As
user@workstation
, update the permissions on your~/.kube/config
file by running the following command:$ chmod go-r ~/.kube/config
Verification
As
user@workstation
, verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command:[user@workstation]$ oc get all -A
Chapter 3. Configuring custom certificate authorities
You can encrypt connections by using custom certificate authorities (CAs) with the MicroShift service.
3.1. How custom certificate authorities work in MicroShift
The default API server certificate is issued by an internal MicroShift cluster certificate authority (CA). Clients outside of the cluster cannot verify the API server certificate by default. This certificate can be replaced by a custom server certificate that is issued externally by a custom CA that clients trust. The following steps illustrate the workflow in MicroShift:
- Copy the certificates and keys to the preferred directory in the host operating system. Ensure that the files are accessible by root only.
Update the MicroShift configuration for each custom CA by specifying the certificate names and new fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the MicroShift
/etc/microshift/config.yaml
configuration file.Each certificate configuration can contain the following values:
- The certificate file location is a required value.
A single common name containing the API server DNS and IP address or IP address range.
TipIn most cases, MicroShift generates a new
kubeconfig
for your custom CA that includes the IP address or range that you specify. The exception is when wildcards are specified for the IP address. In this case, MicroShift generates akubeconfig
with the public IP address of the server. To use wildcards, you must update thekubeconfig
file with your specific details.- Multiple Subject Alternative Names (SANs) containing the API server DNS and IP addresses or a wildcard certificate.
- You can provide additional DNS names for each certificate.
-
After the MicroShift service restarts, you must copy the generated
kubeconfig
files to the client. - Configure additional CAs on the client system. For example, you can update CA bundles in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) truststore.
- The certificates and keys are read from the specified file location on the host. Testing and validation of configuration is done from the client.
- External server certificates are not automatically renewed. You must manually rotate your external certificates.
If any validation fails, the MicroShift service skips the custom configuration and uses the default certificate to start. The priority is to continue the service uninterrupted. MicroShift logs errors when the service starts. Common errors include expired certificates, missing files, or incorrect IP addresses.
Custom server certificates have to be validated against CA data configured in the trust root of the host operating system. For information, see The system-wide truststore.
3.2. Configuring custom certificate authorities
To configure externally generated certificates and domain names using custom certificate authorities (CAs), add them to the MicroShift /etc/microshift/config.yaml
configuration file. You must also configure the host operating system trust root.
Externally generated kubeconfig
files are created in the /var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/<hostname>/kubeconfig
directory. If you need to use localhost
in addition to externally generated configurations, retain the original kubeconfig
file in its default location. The localhost
kubeconfig
file uses the self-signed certificate authority.
Prerequisites
-
The OpenShift CLI (
oc
) is installed. - You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster administration role.
- The certificate authority has issued the custom certificates.
-
A MicroShift
/etc/microshift/config.yaml
configuration file exists.
Procedure
- Copy the custom certificates you want to add to the trust root of the MicroShift host. Ensure that the certificate and private keys are only accessible to MicroShift.
For each custom CA that you need, add an
apiServer
section callednamedCertificates
to the/etc/microshift/config.yaml
MicroShift configuration file by using the following example:apiServer: namedCertificates: - certPath: ~/certs/api_fqdn_1.crt 1 keyPath: ~/certs/api_fqdn_1.key 2 - certPath: ~/certs/api_fqdn_2.crt keyPath: ~/certs/api_fqdn_2.key names: 3 - api_fqdn_1 - *.apps.external.com
Restart the {microshift-service} to apply the certificates by running the following command:
$ systemctl microshift restart
-
Wait a few minutes for the system to restart and apply the custom server. New
kubeconfig
files are generated in the/var/lib/microshift/resources/kubeadmin/
directory. -
Copy the
kubeconfig
files to the client. If you specified wildcards for the IP address, update thekubeconfig
to remove the public IP address of the server and replace that IP address with the specific wildcard range you want to use. From the client, use the following steps:
Specify the
kubeconfig
to use by running the following command:$ export KUBECONFIG=~/custom-kubeconfigs/kubeconfig 1
- 1
- Use the location of the copied
kubeconfig
file as the path.
Check that the certificates are applied by using the following command:
$ oc --certificate-authority ~/certs/ca.ca get node
Example output
oc get node NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION dhcp-1-235-195.arm.example.com Ready control-plane,master,worker 76m v1.29.2
Add the new CA file to the $KUBECONFIG environment variable by running the following command:
$ oc config set clusters.microshift.certificate-authority /tmp/certificate-authority-data-new.crt
Verify that the new
kubeconfig
file contains the new CA by running the following command:$ oc config view --flatten
Example externally generated
kubeconfig
fileapiVersion: v1 clusters: - cluster: certificate-authority: /tmp/certificate-authority-data-new.crt 1 server: https://api.ci-ln-k0gim2b-76ef8.aws-2.ci.openshift.org:6443 name: ci-ln-k0gim2b-76ef8 contexts: - context: cluster: ci-ln-k0gim2b-76ef8 user: name: current-context: kind: Config preferences: {}
- 1
- The
certificate-authority-data
section is not present in externally generatedkubeconfig
files. It is added with theoc config set
command used previously.
Verify the
subject
andissuer
of your customized API server certificate authority by running the following command:$ curl --cacert /tmp/caCert.pem https://${fqdn_name}:6443/healthz -v
Example output
Server certificate: subject: CN=kas-test-cert_server start date: Mar 12 11:39:46 2024 GMT expire date: Mar 12 11:39:46 2025 GMT subjectAltName: host "dhcp-1-235-3.arm.eng.rdu2.redhat.com" matched cert's "dhcp-1-235-3.arm.eng.rdu2.redhat.com" issuer: CN=kas-test-cert_ca SSL certificate verify ok.
ImportantEither replace the
certificate-authority-data
in the generatedkubeconfig
file with the newrootCA
or add thecertificate-authority-data
to the trust root of the operating system. Do not use both methods.Configure additional CAs in the trust root of the operating system. For example, in the RHEL Client truststore on the client system. See The system-wide truststore for details.
- Updating the certificate bundle with the configuration that contains the CA is recommended.
-
If you do not want to configure your certificate bundles, you can alternately use the
oc login localhost:8443 --certificate-authority=/path/to/cert.crt
command, but this method is not preferred.
3.3. Custom certificates reserved name values
The following certificate problems cause MicroShift to ignore certificates dynamically and log an error:
- The certificate files do not exist on the disk or are not readable.
- The certificate is not parsable.
-
The certificate overrides the internal certificates IPAddress/DNSNames in a
SubjectAlternativeNames
(SAN) field. Do not use a reserved name when configuring SANs.
Address | Type | Comment |
---|---|---|
| DNS | |
| IP Address | |
| IP Address | Cluster Network |
| IP Address | Service Network |
169.254.169.2/29 | IP Address | br-ex Network |
| DNS | |
| DNS | |
| DNS |
3.4. Troubleshooting custom certificates
To troubleshoot the implementation of custom certificates, you can take the following steps.
Procedure
From MicroShift, ensure that the certificate is served by the
kube-apiserver
and verify that the certificate path is appended to the--tls-sni-cert-key
FLAG by running the following command:$ journalctl -u microshift -b0 | grep tls-sni-cert-key
Example output
Jan 24 14:53:00 localhost.localdomain microshift[45313]: kube-apiserver I0124 14:53:00.649099 45313 flags.go:64] FLAG: --tls-sni-cert-key="[/home/eslutsky/dev/certs/server.crt,/home/eslutsky/dev/certs/server.key;/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-external-signer/kube-external-serving/server.crt,/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-external-signer/kube-external-serving/server.key;/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-localhost-signer/kube-apiserver-localhost-serving/server.crt,/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-localhost-signer/kube-apiserver-localhost-serving/server.key;/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-service-network-signer/kube-apiserver-service-network-serving/server.crt,/var/lib/microshift/certs/kube-apiserver-service-network-signer/kube-apiserver-service-network-serving/server.key
From the client, ensure that the
kube-apiserver
is serving the correct certificate by running the following command:$ openssl s_client -connect <SNI_ADDRESS>:6443 -showcerts | openssl x509 -text -noout -in - | grep -C 1 "Alternative\|CN"
3.5. Cleaning up and recreating the custom certificates
To stop the MicroShift services, clean up the custom certificates and recreate the custom certificates, use the following steps.
Procedure
Stop the MicroShift services and clean up the custom certificates by running the following command:
$ sudo microshift-cleanup-data --cert
Example output
Stopping MicroShift services Removing MicroShift certificates MicroShift service was stopped Cleanup succeeded
Restart the MicroShift services to recreate the custom certificates by running the following command:
$ sudo systemctl start microshift
3.6. Additional resources
Chapter 4. Checking greenboot scripts status
To deploy applications or make other changes through the MicroShift API with tools other than kustomize
manifests, you must wait until the greenboot health checks have finished. This ensures that your changes are not lost if greenboot rolls your rpm-ostree
system back to an earlier state.
The greenboot-healthcheck
service runs one time and then exits. After greenboot has exited and the system is in a healthy state, you can proceed with configuration changes and deployments.
4.1. Checking the status of greenboot health checks
Check the status of greenboot health checks before making changes to the system or during troubleshooting. You can use any of the following commands to help you ensure that greenboot scripts have finished running.
Procedure
To see a report of health check status, use the following command:
$ systemctl show --property=SubState --value greenboot-healthcheck.service
-
An output of
start
means that greenboot checks are still running. -
An output of
exited
means that checks have passed and greenboot has exited. Greenboot runs the scripts in thegreen.d
directory when the system is a healthy state. -
An output of
failed
means that checks have not passed. Greenboot runs the scripts inred.d
directory when the system is in this state and might restart the system.
-
An output of
To see a report showing the numerical exit code of the service where
0
means success and non-zero values mean a failure occurred, use the following command:$ systemctl show --property=ExecMainStatus --value greenboot-healthcheck.service
To see a report showing a message about boot status, such as
Boot Status is GREEN - Health Check SUCCESS
, use the following command:$ cat /run/motd.d/boot-status
Chapter 5. Configuring audit logging policies
You can control MicroShift audit log file rotation and retention by using configuration values.
5.1. About setting limits on audit log files
Controlling the rotation and retention of the MicroShift audit log file by using configuration values helps keep the limited storage capacities of far-edge devices from being exceeded. On such devices, logging data accumulation can limit host system or cluster workloads, potentially causing the device stop working. Setting audit log policies can help ensure that critical processing space is continually available.
The values you set to limit MicroShift audit logs enable you to enforce the size, number, and age limits of audit log backups. Field values are processed independently of one another and without prioritization.
You can set fields in combination to define a maximum storage limit for retained logs. For example:
-
Set both
maxFileSize
andmaxFiles
to create a log storage upper limit. -
Set a
maxFileAge
value to automatically delete files older than the timestamp in the file name, regardless of themaxFiles
value.
5.1.1. Default audit log values
MicroShift includes the following default audit log rotation values:
Audit log parameter | Default setting | Definition |
---|---|---|
|
| How long log files are retained before automatic deletion. The default value means that a log file is never deleted based on age. This value can be configured. |
|
| The total number of log files retained. By default, MicroShift retains 10 log files. The oldest is deleted when an excess file is created. This value can be configured. |
|
|
By default, when the |
|
|
The |
The maximum default storage usage for audit log retention is 2000Mb if there are 10 or fewer files.
If you do not specify a value for a field, the default value is used. If you remove a previously set field value, the default value is restored after the next MicroShift service restart.
You must configure audit log retention and rotation in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for logs that are generated by application pods. These logs print to the console and are saved. Ensure that your log preferences are configured for the RHEL /var/log/audit/audit.log
file to maintain MicroShift cluster health.
Additional resources
- Configuring auditd for a secure environment
- Understanding Audit log files
- How to use logrotate utility to rotate log files (Solutions, dated 7 August 2024)
5.2. About audit log policy profiles
Audit log profiles define how to log requests that come to the OpenShift API server and the Kubernetes API server.
MicroShift supports the following predefined audit policy profiles:
Profile | Description |
---|---|
| Logs only metadata for read and write requests; does not log request bodies except for OAuth access token requests. This is the default policy. |
|
In addition to logging metadata for all requests, logs request bodies for every write request to the API servers ( |
|
In addition to logging metadata for all requests, logs request bodies for every read and write request to the API servers ( |
| No requests are logged, including OAuth access token requests and OAuth authorize token requests. Warning
Do not disable audit logging by using the |
-
Sensitive resources, such as
Secret
,Route
, andOAuthClient
objects, are only logged at the metadata level.
By default, MicroShift uses the Default
audit log profile. You can use another audit policy profile that also logs request bodies, but be aware of the increased resource usage such as CPU, memory, and I/O.
5.3. Configuring audit log values
You can configure audit log settings by using the MicroShift service configuration file.
Procedure
-
Make a copy of the provided
config.yaml.default
file in the/etc/microshift/
directory, renaming itconfig.yaml
. Keep the new MicroShiftconfig.yaml
you create in the/etc/microshift/
directory. The newconfig.yaml
is read whenever the MicroShift service starts. After you create it, theconfig.yaml
file takes precedence over built-in settings. Replace the default values in the
auditLog
section of the YAML with your desired valid values.Example default
auditLog
configurationapiServer: # .... auditLog: maxFileAge: 7 1 maxFileSize: 200 2 maxFiles: 1 3 profile: Default 4 # ....
- 1
- Specifies the maximum time in days that log files are kept. Files older than this limit are deleted. In this example, after a log file is more than 7 days old, it is deleted. The files are deleted regardless of whether or not the live log has reached the maximum file size specified in the
maxFileSize
field. File age is determined by the timestamp written in the name of the rotated log file, for example,audit-2024-05-16T17-03-59.994.log
. When the value is0
, the limit is disabled. - 2
- The maximum audit log file size in megabytes. In this example, the file is rotated as soon as the live log reaches the 200 MB limit. When the value is set to
0
, the limit is disabled. - 3
- The maximum number of rotated audit log files retained. After the limit is reached, the log files are deleted in order from oldest to newest. In this example, the value
1
results in only 1 file of sizemaxFileSize
being retained in addition to the current active log. When the value is set to0
, the limit is disabled. - 4
- Logs only metadata for read and write requests; does not log request bodies except for OAuth access token requests. If you do not specify this field, the
Default
profile is used.
Optional: To specify a new directory for logs, you can stop MicroShift, and then move the
/var/log/kube-apiserver
directory to your desired location:Stop MicroShift by running the following command:
$ sudo systemctl stop microshift
Move the
/var/log/kube-apiserver
directory to your desired location by running the following command:$ sudo mv /var/log/kube-apiserver <~/kube-apiserver> 1
- 1
- Replace <~/kube-apiserver> with the path to the directory that you want to use.
If you specified a new directory for logs, create a symlink to your custom directory at
/var/log/kube-apiserver
by running the following command:$ sudo ln -s <~/kube-apiserver> /var/log/kube-apiserver 1
- 1
- Replace <~/kube-apiserver> with the path to the directory that you want to use. This enables the collection of logs in sos reports.
If you are configuring audit log policies on a running instance, restart MicroShift by entering the following command:
$ sudo systemctl restart microsohift
5.4. Troubleshooting audit log configuration
Use the following steps to troubleshoot custom audit log settings and file locations.
Procedure
Check the current values that are configured by running the following command:
$ sudo microshift show-config --mode effective
Example output
auditLog: maxFileSize: 200 maxFiles: 1 maxFileAge: 7 profile: AllRequestBodies
Check the
audit.log
file permissions by running the following command:$ sudo ls -ltrh /var/log/kube-apiserver/audit.log
Example output
-rw-------. 1 root root 46M Mar 12 09:52 /var/log/kube-apiserver/audit.log
List the contents of the current log directory by running the following command:
$ sudo ls -ltrh /var/log/kube-apiserver/
Example output
total 6.0M -rw-------. 1 root root 2.0M Mar 12 10:56 audit-2024-03-12T14-56-16.267.log -rw-------. 1 root root 2.0M Mar 12 10:56 audit-2024-03-12T14-56-49.444.log -rw-------. 1 root root 962K Mar 12 10:57 audit.log