Chapter 1. Storing models

Procedure

1. In a terminal window on your local machine, create a temporary directory for storing both the model and the support files that you need to create the OCI image:

   cd $(mktemp -d)

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2. Create a models folder inside the temporary directory:

   mkdir -p models/1

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   Note

   This example command specifies the subdirectory 1 because OpenVINO requires numbered subdirectories for model versioning. If you are not using OpenVINO, you do not need to create the 1 subdirectory to use OCI container images.

3. Download the model and support files:

   DOWNLOAD_URL=https://github.com/onnx/models/raw/main/validated/vision/classification/mobilenet/model/mobilenetv2-7.onnx
   curl -L $DOWNLOAD_URL -O --output-dir models/1/

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4. Use the tree command to confirm that the model files are located in the directory structure as expected:

   tree

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   The tree command should return a directory structure similar to the following example:

   .
   ├── Containerfile
   └── models
       └── 1
           └── mobilenetv2-7.onnx

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5. Create a Docker file named Containerfile:

   Note
   • Specify a base image that provides a shell. In the following example, ubi9-micro is the base container image. You cannot specify an empty image that does not provide a shell, such as scratch, because KServe uses the shell to ensure the model files are accessible to the model server.
   • Change the ownership of the copied model files and grant read permissions to the root group to ensure that the model server can access the files. OpenShift runs containers with a random user ID and the root group ID.

   FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi-micro:latest
   COPY --chown=0:0 models /models
   RUN chmod -R a=rX /models
   
   # nobody user
   USER 65534

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6. Use podman build commands to create the OCI container image and upload it to a registry. The following commands use Quay as the registry.

   Note

   If your repository is private, ensure that you are authenticated to the registry before uploading your container image.

   podman build --format=oci -t quay.io/<user_name>/<repository_name>:<tag_name> .
   podman push quay.io/<user_name>/<repository_name>:<tag_name>

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1. From the OpenShift AI dashboard, click the open icon ( ) to open your IDE in a new window.

2. In your IDE, navigate to the File Browser pane on the left-hand side.

   1. In JupyterLab, this is usually labeled Files.
   2. In code-server, this is usually the Explorer view.

3. In the file browser, navigate to the /opt/app-root/src/ folder. This folder represents the root of your attached PVC.

   Note

   Any files or folders that you create or upload to this folder persist in the PVC.

4. Optional: Create a new folder to organize your models:

   1. In the file browser, right-click within the /opt/app-root/src/ folder in the file browser and select New Folder.
   2. Name the folder (for example, models).
   3. Double-click the new models folder to enter it.

5. Upload your model files to the current folder (/opt/app-root/src/ or /opt/app-root/src/models/):

   • Using JupyterLab:

     1. Click the Upload Files icon ( ) in the file browser toolbar above the folder listing.
     2. In the file selection dialog, navigate to and select the model files from your local computer. Click Open.
     3. Wait for the upload progress bars next to the filenames to complete.

   • Using code-server:

     1. Drag the model files directly from your local file explorer and drop them into the file browser pane in the target folder within code-server.
6. Wait for the upload process to complete.

1. In the Deploy model dialog, select Existing cluster storage under the Source model location section.
2. From the Cluster storage list, select the PVC associated with your workbench.
3. In the Model path field, enter the path to your model or the folder containing your model.