Chapter 3. Deploying confidential containers on Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift

1. Prepare your network by configuring outbound connectivity for the peer pods.
2. Install the OpenShift sandboxed containers Operator.
3. Enable the confidential containers feature gate.
4. Create initdata to initialize a peer pod with sensitive or workload-specific data at runtime.
5. Create the peer pods config map. You can add initdata to the config map to create a default global configuration for your peer pods.
6. Create the KataConfig CR.
7. Verify the attestation process.
8. You can add initdata to a pod manifest to override the global initdata configuration you set in the peer pods config map.
9. Optional: If you select a container image from an authenticated registry, you must configure a pull secret for the pod.
10. Optional: You can select a custom peer pod VM image.

Procedure

1. Create a tdx-machine-config.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
   kind: MachineConfig
   metadata:
     labels:
       machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: <role> 

   1

   
     name: 99-enable-intel-tdx
   spec:
     kernelArguments:
     - kvm_intel.tdx=1
     - nohibernate
     config:
       ignition:
         version: 3.2.0
       storage:
         files:
           - path: /etc/modules-load.d/vsock.conf
             mode: 0644
             contents:
               source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,dnNvY2stbG9vcGJhY2sK

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   1

   Specify master for single-node OpenShift or kata-oc for a multi-node cluster.

2. Create the TDX config map by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f tdx-config.yaml

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Procedure

1. Create an osc-namespace.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Namespace
   metadata:
     name: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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2. Create the namespace by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f osc-namespace.yaml

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3. Create an osc-operatorgroup.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
   kind: OperatorGroup
   metadata:
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator-group
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   spec:
     targetNamespaces:
     - openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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4. Create the operator group by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f osc-operatorgroup.yaml

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5. Create an osc-subscription.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Subscription
   metadata:
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   spec:
     channel: stable
     installPlanApproval: Automatic
     name: sandboxed-containers-operator
     source: redhat-operators
     sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
     startingCSV: sandboxed-containers-operator.v1.11.0

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6. Create the subscription by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f osc-subscription.yaml

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7. Verify that the Operator is correctly installed by running the following command:

   $ oc get csv -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   This command can take several minutes to complete.

8. Watch the process by running the following command:

   $ watch oc get csv -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator

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   Example output

   NAME                             DISPLAY                                  VERSION             REPLACES                   PHASE
   openshift-sandboxed-containers   openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator  1.11.0    1.10.3        Succeeded

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Procedure

1. Create a my-feature-gate.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: osc-feature-gates
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   data:
     confidential: "true"
     deploymentMode: <deployment_mode>

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   where

   <deployment_mode>

   On OpenShift Container Platform clusters with the Machine Config Operator (MCO), the deploymentMode field is optional and can be omitted. Specifies the strategy for installing and configuring the Kata runtime. Specify the deployment mode:

   • MachineConfig for clusters that always use the MCO
   • DaemonSet for clusters that never use the MCO
   • DaemonSetFallback for clusters that sometimes use the MCO

2. Create the my-feature-gates config map by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f my-feature-gate.yaml

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Procedure

1. Obtain the Red Hat build of Trustee URL by running the following command:

   $ TRUSTEE_URL=$(oc get route kbs-service \
     -n trustee-operator-system -o jsonpath='{.spec.host}') \
     && echo $TRUSTEE_URL

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2. Create the initdata.toml file:

   algorithm = "sha384"
   version = "0.1.0"
   
   [data]
   "aa.toml" = '''
   [token_configs]
   [token_configs.coco_as]
   
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   
   [token_configs.kbs]
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   '''
   
   "cdh.toml" = '''
   socket = 'unix:///run/confidential-containers/cdh.sock'
   credentials = []
   
   [kbc]
   name = 'cc_kbc'
   url = '<trustee_url>'
   kbs_cert = """
   -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
   <kbs_certificate>
   -----END CERTIFICATE-----
   """
   [image]
   image_security_policy_uri = 'kbs:///default/<secret-policy-name>/<key>
   '''
   
   "policy.rego" = '''
   package agent_policy
   
   default AddARPNeighborsRequest := true
   default AddSwapRequest := true
   default CloseStdinRequest := true
   default CopyFileRequest := true
   default CreateContainerRequest := true
   default CreateSandboxRequest := true
   default DestroySandboxRequest := true
   default GetMetricsRequest := true
   default GetOOMEventRequest := true
   default GuestDetailsRequest := true
   default ListInterfacesRequest := true
   default ListRoutesRequest := true
   default MemHotplugByProbeRequest := true
   default OnlineCPUMemRequest := true
   default PauseContainerRequest := true
   default PullImageRequest := true
   default ReadStreamRequest := false
   default RemoveContainerRequest := true
   default RemoveStaleVirtiofsShareMountsRequest := true
   default ReseedRandomDevRequest := true
   default ResumeContainerRequest := true
   default SetGuestDateTimeRequest := true
   default SignalProcessRequest := true
   default StartContainerRequest := true
   default StartTracingRequest := true
   default StatsContainerRequest := true
   default StopTracingRequest := true
   default TtyWinResizeRequest := true
   default UpdateContainerRequest := true
   default UpdateEphemeralMountsRequest := true
   default UpdateInterfaceRequest := true
   default UpdateRoutesRequest := true
   default WaitProcessRequest := true
   default ExecProcessRequest := false
   default SetPolicyRequest := false
   default WriteStreamRequest := false
   
   ExecProcessRequest if {
       input_command = concat(" ", input.process.Args)
       some allowed_command in policy_data.allowed_commands
       input_command == allowed_command
   }
   
   policy_data := {
     "allowed_commands": [
           "curl http://127.0.0.1:8006/cdh/resource/default/attestation-status/status"
     ]
   }
   '''

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   url

   Specify the Red Hat build of Trustee URL. If you configure the Red Hat build of Trustee with insecure_http for testing purposes, use HTTP. Otherwise, use HTTPS. For production systems, avoid using insecure_http unless you configure your environment to handle TLS externally, for example, with a proxy.

   <kbs_certificate>

   Specify the Base64-encoded TLS certificate for the attestation agent.

   kbs_cert

   Delete the kbs_cert setting if you configure insecure_http = true in the kbs-config config map for Red Hat build of Trustee.

   image_security_policy_uri

   Optional, only if you enabled the container image signature verification policy. Replace <secret-policy-name> and <key> with the secret name and key, respectively specified in Creating the KbsConfig custom resource.

3. Convert the initdata.toml file to a Base64-encoded string in gzip format in a text file by running the following command:

   $ cat initdata.toml | gzip | base64 -w0 > initdata.txt

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   Record this string to use in the peer pods config map or the peer pod manifest.

4. Calculate the SHA-256 hash of an initdata.toml file and assign its value to the hash variable by running the following command:

   $ hash=$(sha256sum initdata.toml | cut -d' ' -f1)

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5. Assign 32 bytes of 0s to the initial_pcr variable by running the following command:

   $ initial_pcr=0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

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6. Calculate the SHA-256 hash of hash and initial_pcr and assign its value to the PCR8_HASH variable by running the following command:

   $ PCR8_HASH=$(echo -n "$initial_pcr$hash" | xxd -r -p | sha256sum | cut -d' ' -f1) && echo $PCR8_HASH

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   Record the PCR8_HASH value for the RVPS config map.

Procedure

1. Obtain the following values from your Azure instance:

   1. Retrieve and record the Azure resource group:

      $ AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP=$(oc get infrastructure/cluster \
        -o jsonpath='{.status.platformStatus.azure.resourceGroupName}') \
        && echo "AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP: \"$AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP\""

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   2. Retrieve and record the Azure VNet name:

      $ AZURE_VNET_NAME=$(az network vnet list \
        --resource-group ${AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP} \
        --query "[].{Name:name}" --output tsv)

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      This value is used to retrieve the Azure subnet ID.

   3. Retrieve and record the Azure subnet ID:

      $ AZURE_SUBNET_ID=$(az network vnet subnet list \
        --resource-group ${AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP} --vnet-name $AZURE_VNET_NAME \
        --query "[].{Id:id} | [? contains(Id, 'worker')]" --output tsv) \
         && echo "AZURE_SUBNET_ID: \"$AZURE_SUBNET_ID\""

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   4. Retrieve and record the Azure network security group (NSG) ID:

      $ AZURE_NSG_ID=$(az network nsg list --resource-group ${AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP} \
        --query "[].{Id:id}" --output tsv) && echo "AZURE_NSG_ID: \"$AZURE_NSG_ID\""

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   5. Retrieve and record the Azure region:

      $ AZURE_REGION=$(az group show --resource-group ${AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP} \
        --query "{Location:location}" --output tsv) \
        && echo "AZURE_REGION: \"$AZURE_REGION\""

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2. Create a peer-pods-cm.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: ConfigMap
   metadata:
     name: peer-pods-cm
     namespace: openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator
   data:
     CLOUD_PROVIDER: "azure"
     VXLAN_PORT: "9000"
     PROXY_TIMEOUT: "5m"
     AZURE_INSTANCE_SIZE: "Standard_DC2as_v5"
     AZURE_INSTANCE_SIZES: "Standard_DC2as_v5,Standard_DC4as_v5,Standard_DC8as_v5"
     AZURE_SUBNET_ID: "<azure_subnet_id>"
     AZURE_NSG_ID: "<azure_nsg_id>"
     AZURE_IMAGE_ID: ""
     AZURE_REGION: "<azure_region>"
     AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP: "<azure_resource_group>"
     TAGS: "key1=value1,key2=value2"
     PEERPODS_LIMIT_PER_NODE: "10"
     ROOT_VOLUME_SIZE: "6"
     DISABLECVM: "false"
     INITDATA: "<initdata_string>"

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   AZURE_INSTANCE_SIZE

   Defines the default instance size that is used if the instance size is not defined in the workload object. "Standard_DC2as_v5" is for AMD SEV-SNP. If your TEE is Intel TDX, specify Standard_EC4eds_v5.

   AZURE_IMAGE_ID

   Leave this value empty. When you install the Operator, a Job is scheduled to download the default pod VM image from the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog and upload it to the Azure Image Gallery within the same Azure Resource Group as the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. This image provides root disk integrity protection (dm-verity) and encrypted container storage. See Confidential VMs: The core of confidential containers for details.

   AZURE_INSTANCE_SIZES

   Specify the allowed instance sizes, without spaces, for creating the pod. You can define smaller instance sizes for workloads that need less memory and fewer CPUs or larger instance sizes for larger workloads.

   TAGS

   You can configure custom tags as key:value pairs for pod VM instances to track peer pod costs or to identify peer pods in different clusters.

   PEERPODS_LIMIT_PER_NODE

   You can increase this value to run more peer pods on a node. The default value is 10.

   ROOT_VOLUME_SIZE

   You can increase this value for pods with larger container images. Specify the root volume size in gigabytes for the pod VM. The default and minimum size is 6 GB.

   INITDATA

   Specify the initdata string to create a default configuration for all peer pods. If you add initdata to a peer pod manifest, that setting overrides this global configuration.

3. Create the config map by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f peer-pods-cm.yaml

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Procedure

1. Add the initdata string to the pod manifest:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: ocp-cc-pod
     labels:
       app: ocp-cc-pod
     annotations:
       io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.cc_init_data: <initdata_string>
   spec:
     runtimeClassName: kata-remote
     containers:
     - name: <container_name>
       image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:latest
       command:
       - sleep
       - "36000"
       securityContext:
         privileged: false
         seccompProfile:
           type: RuntimeDefault

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2. Create the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f my-pod.yaml

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Procedure

1. Create an example-kataconfig.yaml manifest file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: kataconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
   kind: KataConfig
   metadata:
     name: example-kataconfig
   spec:
   
     enablePeerPods: true
   
     logLevel: info
   #  kataConfigPoolSelector:
   #    matchLabels:
   #      <label_key>: '<label_value>' 

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   Optional: If you have applied node labels to install kata-remote on specific nodes, specify the key and value, for example, cc: 'true'.

2. Create the KataConfig CR by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f example-kataconfig.yaml

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   The new KataConfig CR is created and installs kata-remote as a runtime class on the worker nodes.

   Wait for the kata-remote installation to complete and the worker nodes to reboot before verifying the installation.

3. Monitor the installation progress by running the following command:

   $ watch "oc describe kataconfig | sed -n /^Status:/,/^Events/p"

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   When the status of all workers under kataNodes is installed and the condition InProgress is False without specifying a reason, the kata-remote is installed on the cluster.

4. Verify the daemon set by running the following command:

   $ oc get -n openshift-sandboxed-containers-operator ds/osc-caa-ds

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5. Verify the runtime classes by running the following command:

   $ oc get runtimeclass

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   Example output

   NAME             HANDLER          AGE
   kata-remote      kata-remote      152m

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Procedure

1. Create a test-pod.yaml manifest file:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: ocp-cc-pod
     labels:
       app: ocp-cc-pod
     annotations:
       io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.cc_init_data: <initdata_string> 

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   spec:
     runtimeClassName: kata-remote
     containers:
       - name: skr-openshift
         image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:latest
         command:
           - sleep
           - "36000"
         securityContext:
           privileged: false
           seccompProfile:
             type: RuntimeDefault

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   Optional: Setting initdata in a pod annotation overrides the global INITDATA setting in the peer pods config map.

2. Create the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f test-pod.yaml

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3. Log in to the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc exec -it ocp-cc-pod -- bash

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4. Fetch the Red Hat build of Trustee resource by running the following command:

   $ curl http://127.0.0.1:8006/cdh/resource/default/attestation-status/status

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   Example output

   success #/

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Procedure

1. Set the NS variable to the namespace where you deploy your peer pods:

   $ NS=<namespace>

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2. Copy the pull secret to the peer pod namespace:

   $ oc get secret pull-secret -n openshift-config -o yaml \
     | sed "s/namespace: openshift-config/namespace: ${NS}/" \
     | oc apply -n "${NS}" -f -

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   You can use the cluster pull secret, as in this example, or a custom pull secret.

3. Optional: Link the pull secret to the default service account:

   $ oc secrets link default pull-secret --for=pull -n ${NS}

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4. Alternatively, add the pull secret to the peer pod manifest:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: <Pod>
   spec:
     containers:
     - name: <container_name>
       image: <image_name>
     imagePullSecrets:
     - name: pull-secret
   # ...

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Procedure

1. Create a my-pod-manifest.yaml file according to the following example:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: my-pod-manifest
     annotations:
       io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.image: "<custom_image_id>"
   spec:
     runtimeClassName: kata-remote
     containers:
     - name: <example_container>
       image: registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/ubi:9.3
       command: ["sleep", "36000"]

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2. Create the pod by running the following command:

   $ oc create -f my-pod-manifest.yaml

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