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Installing with an RPM package

Red Hat build of MicroShift 4.16

Installing MicroShift with RPMs

Red Hat OpenShift Documentation Team

Abstract

This document provides information about installing MicroShift from an RPM package on a machine with a supported version of RHEL.

Chapter 1. Installing from an RPM package
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You can install MicroShift from an RPM package on a machine with a supported version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

1.1. System requirements for installing MicroShift
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These requirements are the minimum system requirements for MicroShift and RHEL. Add the system requirements for the workload you plan to run.

For example, if an IoT gateway solution requires 4 GB of RAM, your system needs to have at least 2 GB for RHEL and MicroShift, plus 4 GB for the workloads. Thus, this example deployment requires 6 GB of RAM in total.

Allow for extra capacity for future needs if you are deploying physical devices in remote locations. If you are uncertain of the RAM required, use the maximum RAM capacity that the device can support.

The following conditions must be met before installing MicroShift:

  • A compatible version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). For more information, see the following link:

  • AArch64 or x86_64 system architecture.
  • 2 CPU cores.
  • 2 GB RAM. Installing from the network (UEFI HTTPs or PXE boot) requires 3 GB RAM for RHEL.
  • 10 GB of storage.
  • You have an active MicroShift subscription on your Red Hat account. If you do not have a subscription, contact your sales representative for more information.
  • If your workload requires Persistent Volumes (PVs), you have a Logical Volume Manager (LVM) Volume Group (VG) with enough free capacity for the workloads.

  • You configure secure access to the system to be able to manage it. For more information, see the following link:

1.2. Compatibility table
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Plan to pair a supported version of RHEL for Edge with the MicroShift version you are using as described in the following compatibility table:

Red Hat Device Edge release compatibility matrix

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and MicroShift work together as a single solution for device-edge computing. You can update each component separately, but the product versions must be compatible. Supported configurations of Red Hat Device Edge use verified releases for each together as listed in the following table:

Expand

RHEL for Edge Version(s)

MicroShift Version

MicroShift Release Status

Supported MicroShift Version→MicroShift Version Updates

9.4

4.16

Generally Available

4.16.0→4.16.z, 4.14→4.16 and 4.15→4.16

9.2, 9.3

4.15

Generally Available

4.15.0→4.15.z, 4.14→4.15 and 4.15→4.16

9.2, 9.3

4.14

Generally Available

4.14.0→4.14.z, 4.14→4.15 and 4.14→4.16

9.2

4.13

Technology Preview

None

8.7

4.12

Developer Preview

None

Preparation of the host machine is recommended before installing MicroShift for memory configuration and FIPS mode.

1.3.1. Configuring volume groups
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MicroShift uses the logical volume manager storage (LVMS) Container Storage Interface (CSI) plugin for providing storage to persistent volumes (PVs). LVMS relies on the Linux logical volume manager (LVM) to dynamically manage the backing logical volumes (LVs) for PVs. For this reason, your machine must have an LVM volume group (VG) with unused space in which LVMS can create the LVs for your workload’s PVs.

To configure a volume group (VG) that allows LVMS to create the LVs for your workload’s PVs, lower the Desired Size of your root volume during the installation of RHEL. Lowering the size of your root volume allows unallocated space on the disk for additional LVs created by LVMS at runtime.

1.3.2. Prepare for FIPS mode
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If your use case requires running MicroShift containers in FIPS mode, you must install RHEL with FIPS enabled. After the worker machine is configured to run in FIPS mode, your MicroShift containers are automatically configured to also run in FIPS mode.

Important

Because FIPS must be enabled before the operating system that your node uses starts for the first time, you cannot enable FIPS after you deploy a node.

Configure your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) machine to have a logical volume manager (LVM) volume group (VG) with sufficient capacity for the persistent volumes (PVs) of your workload.

Prerequisites

  • The system requirements for installing MicroShift have been met.
  • You have root user access to your machine.
  • You have configured your LVM VG with the capacity needed for the PVs of your workload.

Procedure

  1. In the graphical installer under Installation Destination in the Storage Configuration subsection, select Custom → Done to open the dialog for configuring partitions and volumes. The Manual Partitioning window is displayed.
  2. Under New Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x Installation, select Click here to create them automatically.
  3. Select the root partition, /, reduce Desired Capacity so that the VG has sufficient capacity for your PVs, and then click Update Settings.

  4. Complete your installation.

    Note

    For more options on partition configuration, read the guide linked in the Additional information section for Configuring Manual Partitioning.

  5. As a root user, verify the VG capacity available on your system by running the following command: 

    $ sudo vgs
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Example output: 

    VG   #PV #LV #SN Attr   VSize    VFree
rhel   1   2   0 wz--n- <127.00g 54.94g
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Use the following procedure to install Red Hat build of MicroShift from an RPM package.

Prerequisites

  • The system requirements for installing Red Hat build of MicroShift have been met.
  • You have completed the steps of preparing to install Red Hat build of MicroShift from an RPM package.

Procedure

  1. As a root user, enable the Red Hat build of MicroShift repositories by running the following command: 

    $ sudo subscription-manager repos \
    --enable rhocp-4.16-for-rhel-9-$(uname -m)-rpms \
    --enable fast-datapath-for-rhel-9-$(uname -m)-rpms
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Install Red Hat build of MicroShift by running the following command: 

    $ sudo dnf install -y microshift
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
  3. Download your installation pull secret from the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console to a temporary folder, for example, $HOME/openshift-pull-secret. This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the container registries that serve the container images used by Red Hat build of MicroShift.

  4. To copy the pull secret to the /etc/crio folder of your RHEL machine, run the following command: 

    $ sudo cp $HOME/openshift-pull-secret /etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  5. Make the root user the owner of the /etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret file by running the following command: 

    $ sudo chown root:root /etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret
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  6. Make the /etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret file readable and writeable by the root user only by running the following command: 

    $ sudo chmod 600 /etc/crio/openshift-pull-secret
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  7. If your RHEL machine has a firewall enabled, you must configure a few mandatory firewall rules. For firewalld, run the following commands: 

    $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=trusted --add-source=10.42.0.0/16
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap 
    $ sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=trusted --add-source=169.254.169.1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap 
    $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

If the Volume Group (VG) that you have prepared for Red Hat build of MicroShift used the default name rhel, no further configuration is necessary. If you have used a different name, or if you want to change more configuration settings, see the Configuring Red Hat build of MicroShift section.

Chapter 2. Stopping and starting MicroShift
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You can stop or start MicroShift for a variety of reasons, including a fresh installation, adding optional RPM packages, and troubleshooting.

2.1. Starting the MicroShift service
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Use the following procedure to start the MicroShift service.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed MicroShift from an RPM package.

Procedure

  1. As a root user, start the MicroShift service by entering the following command: 

    $ sudo systemctl start microshift
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Optional: To configure your Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) machine to start MicroShift when your machine starts, enter the following command: 

    $ sudo systemctl enable microshift
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  3. Optional: To disable MicroShift from automatically starting when your machine starts, enter the following command: 

    $ sudo systemctl disable microshift
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    Note

    The first time that the MicroShift service starts, it downloads and initializes the container images for MicroShift. As a result, it can take several minutes for MicroShift to start the first time that the service is deployed. Boot time is reduced for subsequent starts of the MicroShift service.

2.2. Stopping the MicroShift service
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Use the following procedure to stop the MicroShift service.

Prerequisites

  • The MicroShift service is running.

Procedure

  1. Enter the following command to stop the MicroShift service: 

    $ sudo systemctl stop microshift
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Workloads deployed on MicroShift might continue running even after the MicroShift service has been stopped. Enter the following command to display running workloads: 

    $ sudo crictl ps -a
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  3. Enter the following commands to stop the deployed workloads: 

    $ sudo systemctl stop kubepods.slice
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Chapter 3. Accessing the MicroShift node with oc
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Access a MicroShift node by using the OpenShift CLI (oc).

3.1. How to access the MicroShift node
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Access the MicroShift service by using the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You can access the node from either the same machine running the MicroShift service or from a remote location.
  • You can use this access to observe and administer workloads.
  • When using the following steps, choose the kubeconfig file that contains the hostname or IP address you want to connect to and place it in the relevant directory.

3.1.1. Accessing the MicroShift node locally
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Use the following procedure to access the MicroShift node locally by using a kubeconfig file.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the oc binary.

Procedure

  1. 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 to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. 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
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Update the permissions on your ~/.kube/config file by running the following command: 

    $ chmod go-r ~/.kube/config
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Verification

  • Verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command: 

    $ oc get all -A
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Use the following procedure to open the firewall so that a remote user can access the MicroShift service. You must complete this procedure before a workstation user can access the node 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 installed OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • 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
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Verification

  • As user@microshift, verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command: 

    [user@microshift]$ oc get all -A
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

3.1.3. Accessing the MicroShift node remotely
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Use the following procedure to access the MicroShift service 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 installed OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • The user@microshift has opened the firewall from the local host.
  • You generated additional kubeconfig files.

Procedure

  1. 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/
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. 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>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. As user@workstation, copy the generated kubeconfig file that contains the hostname or IP address you want to connect to 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
    1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    Replace <user> with your SSH login credentials.

  4. As user@workstation, update the permissions on your ~/.kube/config file by running the following command: 

    $ chmod go-r ~/.kube/config
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Verification

  • As user@workstation, verify that MicroShift is running by entering the following command: 

    [user@workstation]$ oc get all -A
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Chapter 4. Uninstalling MicroShift
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Before you uninstall MicroShift, clean up all the MicroShift data and configuration by running the microshift-cleanup-data script.

4.1. Uninstalling MicroShift from an RPM package
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Prerequisites

  • You are logged into MicroShift as an administrator with root-user access.
  • You have filed a support case.
  • You have root access to the MicroShift node.

Procedure

  1. Clean all your data by running the following command: 

    $ sudo microshift-cleanup-data --all
    1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap
    1
    When you run the script with the --all argument, you perform the following clean up actions:
    • Stop and disable all MicroShift services
    • Delete all MicroShift pods
    • Delete all container image storage
    • Reset network configuration
    • Delete the /var/lib/microshift data directory
    • Delete OVN-K networking configuration

  2. Run the following command: 

    $ sudo dnf remove -y microshift*
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Legal Notice
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Copyright © 2025 Red Hat, Inc.
The text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hat under a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation of CC-BY-SA is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. In accordance with CC-BY-SA, if you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version.
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