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Installing a cluster on Azure with customizations

Prerequisites

Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.11, you require access to the internet to install your cluster.

You must have internet access to:

  • Access OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console to download the installation program and perform subscription management. If the cluster has internet access and you do not disable Telemetry, that service automatically entitles your cluster.

  • Access Quay.io to obtain the packages that are required to install your cluster.

  • Obtain the packages that are required to perform cluster updates.

If your cluster cannot have direct internet access, you can perform a restricted network installation on some types of infrastructure that you provision. During that process, you download the required content and use it to populate a mirror registry with the installation packages. With some installation types, the environment that you install your cluster in will not require internet access. Before you update the cluster, you update the content of the mirror registry.

Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access

During an OpenShift Container Platform installation, you can provide an SSH public key to the installation program. The key is passed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) nodes through their Ignition config files and is used to authenticate SSH access to the nodes. The key is added to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys list for the core user on each node, which enables password-less authentication.

After the key is passed to the nodes, you can use the key pair to SSH in to the RHCOS nodes as the user core. To access the nodes through SSH, the private key identity must be managed by SSH for your local user.

If you want to SSH in to your cluster nodes to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, you must provide the SSH public key during the installation process. The ./openshift-install gather command also requires the SSH public key to be in place on the cluster nodes.

Do not skip this procedure in production environments, where disaster recovery and debugging is required.

You must use a local key, not one that you configured with platform-specific approaches such as AWS key pairs.
Procedure

  1. If you do not have an existing SSH key pair on your local machine to use for authentication onto your cluster nodes, create one. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:

    $ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name> (1)
    1 Specify the path and file name, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, of the new SSH key. If you have an existing key pair, ensure your public key is in the your ~/.ssh directory.

    If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses FIPS validated or Modules In Process cryptographic libraries on the x86_64 architecture, do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm.

  2. View the public SSH key:

    $ cat <path>/<file_name>.pub

    For example, run the following to view the ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub public key:

    $ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

  3. Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command.

    On some distributions, default SSH private key identities such as ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_dsa are managed automatically.

    1. If the ssh-agent process is not already running for your local user, start it as a background task:

      $ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
      Example output
      Agent pid 31874

      If your cluster is in FIPS mode, only use FIPS-compliant algorithms to generate the SSH key. The key must be either RSA or ECDSA.

  4. Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent:

    $ ssh-add <path>/<file_name> (1)
    1 Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    Example output
    Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>)
Next steps

  • When you install OpenShift Container Platform, provide the SSH public key to the installation program.

Selecting an Azure Marketplace image

If you are deploying an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using the Azure Marketplace offering, you must first obtain the Azure Marketplace image. The installation program uses this image to deploy worker nodes. When obtaining your image, consider the following:

  • While the images are the same, the Azure Marketplace publisher is different depending on your region. If you are located in North America, specify redhat as the publisher. If you are located in EMEA, specify redhat-limited as the publisher.

  • The offer includes a rh-ocp-worker SKU and a rh-ocp-worker-gen1 SKU. The rh-ocp-worker SKU represents a Hyper-V generation version 2 VM image. The default instance types used in OpenShift Container Platform are version 2 compatible. If you are going to use an instance type that is only version 1 compatible, use the image associated with the rh-ocp-worker-gen1 SKU. The rh-ocp-worker-gen1 SKU represents a Hyper-V version 1 VM image.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the Azure CLI client (az).

  • Your Azure account is entitled for the offer and you have logged into this account with the Azure CLI client.

Procedure

  1. Display all of the available OpenShift Container Platform images by running one of the following commands:

    • North America:

      $  az vm image list --all --offer rh-ocp-worker --publisher redhat -o table
      Example output
      Offer          Publisher       Sku                 Urn                                                             Version
-------------  --------------  ------------------  --------------------------------------------------------------  --------------
rh-ocp-worker  RedHat          rh-ocp-worker       RedHat:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocpworker:4.8.2021122100               4.8.2021122100
rh-ocp-worker  RedHat          rh-ocp-worker-gen1  RedHat:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker-gen1:4.8.2021122100         4.8.2021122100

    • EMEA:

      $  az vm image list --all --offer rh-ocp-worker --publisher redhat-limited -o table
      Example output
      Offer          Publisher       Sku                 Urn                                                             Version
-------------  --------------  ------------------  --------------------------------------------------------------  --------------
rh-ocp-worker  redhat-limited  rh-ocp-worker       redhat-limited:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:4.8.2021122100       4.8.2021122100
rh-ocp-worker  redhat-limited  rh-ocp-worker-gen1  redhat-limited:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker-gen1:4.8.2021122100  4.8.2021122100

    Regardless of the version of OpenShift Container Platform you are installing, the correct version of the Azure Marketplace image to use is 4.8.x. If required, as part of the installation process, your VMs are automatically upgraded.

  2. Inspect the image for your offer by running one of the following commands:

    • North America:

      $ az vm image show --urn redhat:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

    • EMEA:

      $ az vm image show --urn redhat-limited:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

  3. Review the terms of the offer by running one of the following commands:

    • North America:

      $ az vm image terms show --urn redhat:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

    • EMEA:

      $ az vm image terms show --urn redhat-limited:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

  4. Accept the terms of the offering by running one of the following commands:

    • North America:

      $ az vm image terms accept --urn redhat:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

    • EMEA:

      $ az vm image terms accept --urn redhat-limited:rh-ocp-worker:rh-ocp-worker:<version>

  5. Record the image details of your offer. You must update the compute section in the install-config.yaml file with values for publisher, offer, sku, and version before deploying the cluster.

Sample install-config.yaml file with the Azure Marketplace worker nodes
apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com
compute:
- hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: worker
  platform:
    azure:
      type: Standard_D4s_v5
      osImage:
        publisher: redhat
        offer: rh-ocp-worker
        sku: rh-ocp-worker
        version: 4.8.2021122100
  replicas: 3

Obtaining the installation program

Before you install OpenShift Container Platform, download the installation file on a local computer.

Prerequisites

  • You have a computer that runs Linux or macOS, with 500 MB of local disk space.

Procedure

  1. Access the Infrastructure Provider page on the OpenShift Cluster Manager site. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account.

  2. Select your infrastructure provider.

  3. Navigate to the page for your installation type, download the installation program that corresponds with your host operating system and architecture, and place the file in the directory where you will store the installation configuration files.

    The installation program creates several files on the computer that you use to install your cluster. You must keep the installation program and the files that the installation program creates after you finish installing the cluster. Both files are required to delete the cluster.

    Deleting the files created by the installation program does not remove your cluster, even if the cluster failed during installation. To remove your cluster, complete the OpenShift Container Platform uninstallation procedures for your specific cloud provider.

  4. Extract the installation program. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:

    $ tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz

  5. Download your installation pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager. This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the services that are provided by the included authorities, including Quay.io, which serves the container images for OpenShift Container Platform components.

Creating the installation configuration file

You can customize the OpenShift Container Platform cluster you install on Microsoft Azure.

Prerequisites

  • Obtain the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

  • Obtain service principal permissions at the subscription level.

Procedure

  1. Create the install-config.yaml file.

    1. Change to the directory that contains the installation program and run the following command:

      $ ./openshift-install create install-config --dir <installation_directory> (1)
      1 For <installation_directory>, specify the directory name to store the files that the installation program creates.

      When specifying the directory:

      • Verify that the directory has the execute permission. This permission is required to run Terraform binaries under the installation directory.

      • Use an empty directory. Some installation assets, such as bootstrap X.509 certificates, have short expiration intervals, therefore you must not reuse an installation directory. If you want to reuse individual files from another cluster installation, you can copy them into your directory. However, the file names for the installation assets might change between releases. Use caution when copying installation files from an earlier OpenShift Container Platform version.

    2. At the prompts, provide the configuration details for your cloud:

      1. Optional: Select an SSH key to use to access your cluster machines.

        For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses.

      2. Select azure as the platform to target.

      3. If you do not have a Microsoft Azure profile stored on your computer, specify the following Azure parameter values for your subscription and service principal:

        • azure subscription id: The subscription ID to use for the cluster. Specify the id value in your account output.

        • azure tenant id: The tenant ID. Specify the tenantId value in your account output.

        • azure service principal client id: The value of the appId parameter for the service principal.

        • azure service principal client secret: The value of the password parameter for the service principal.

      4. Select the region to deploy the cluster to.

      5. Select the base domain to deploy the cluster to. The base domain corresponds to the Azure DNS Zone that you created for your cluster.

      6. Enter a descriptive name for your cluster.

        All Azure resources that are available through public endpoints are subject to resource name restrictions, and you cannot create resources that use certain terms. For a list of terms that Azure restricts, see Resolve reserved resource name errors in the Azure documentation.

      7. Paste the pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager.

  2. Modify the install-config.yaml file. You can find more information about the available parameters in the "Installation configuration parameters" section.

  3. Back up the install-config.yaml file so that you can use it to install multiple clusters.

    The install-config.yaml file is consumed during the installation process. If you want to reuse the file, you must back it up now.

Installation configuration parameters

Before you deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster, you provide parameter values to describe your account on the cloud platform that hosts your cluster and optionally customize your cluster’s platform. When you create the install-config.yaml installation configuration file, you provide values for the required parameters through the command line. If you customize your cluster, you can modify the install-config.yaml file to provide more details about the platform.

After installation, you cannot modify these parameters in the install-config.yaml file.

Required configuration parameters

Required installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 1. Required parameters
Parameter Description Values

apiVersion

The API version for the install-config.yaml content. The current version is v1. The installer may also support older API versions.

String

baseDomain

The base domain of your cloud provider. The base domain is used to create routes to your OpenShift Container Platform cluster components. The full DNS name for your cluster is a combination of the baseDomain and metadata.name parameter values that uses the <metadata.name>.<baseDomain> format.

A fully-qualified domain or subdomain name, such as example.com.

metadata

Kubernetes resource ObjectMeta, from which only the name parameter is consumed.

Object

metadata.name

The name of the cluster. DNS records for the cluster are all subdomains of {{.metadata.name}}.{{.baseDomain}}.

String of lowercase letters, hyphens (-), and periods (.), such as dev.

platform

The configuration for the specific platform upon which to perform the installation: alibabacloud, aws, baremetal, azure, gcp, ibmcloud, nutanix, openstack, ovirt, vsphere, or {}. For additional information about platform.<platform> parameters, consult the table for your specific platform that follows.

Object

pullSecret

Get a pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager to authenticate downloading container images for OpenShift Container Platform components from services such as Quay.io.

 
{
   "auths":{
      "cloud.openshift.com":{
         "auth":"b3Blb=",
         "email":"you@example.com"
      },
      "quay.io":{
         "auth":"b3Blb=",
         "email":"you@example.com"
      }
   }
}

Network configuration parameters

You can customize your installation configuration based on the requirements of your existing network infrastructure. For example, you can expand the IP address block for the cluster network or provide different IP address blocks than the defaults.

Only IPv4 addresses are supported.

Globalnet is not supported with Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation disaster recovery solutions. For regional disaster recovery scenarios, ensure that you use a nonoverlapping range of private IP addresses for the cluster and service networks in each cluster.
Table 2. Network parameters
Parameter Description Values

networking

The configuration for the cluster network.

Object

You cannot modify parameters specified by the networking object after installation.

networking.networkType

The cluster network provider Container Network Interface (CNI) cluster network provider to install.

Either OpenShiftSDN or OVNKubernetes. OpenShiftSDN is a CNI provider for all-Linux networks. OVNKubernetes is a CNI provider for Linux networks and hybrid networks that contain both Linux and Windows servers. The default value is OpenShiftSDN.

networking.clusterNetwork

The IP address blocks for pods.

The default value is 10.128.0.0/14 with a host prefix of /23.

If you specify multiple IP address blocks, the blocks must not overlap.

An array of objects. For example:

networking:
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23

networking.clusterNetwork.cidr

Required if you use networking.clusterNetwork. An IP address block.

An IPv4 network.

An IP address block in Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) notation. The prefix length for an IPv4 block is between 0 and 32.

networking.clusterNetwork.hostPrefix

The subnet prefix length to assign to each individual node. For example, if hostPrefix is set to 23 then each node is assigned a /23 subnet out of the given cidr. A hostPrefix value of 23 provides 510 (2^(32 - 23) - 2) pod IP addresses.

A subnet prefix.

The default value is 23.

networking.serviceNetwork

The IP address block for services. The default value is 172.30.0.0/16.

The OpenShift SDN and OVN-Kubernetes network providers support only a single IP address block for the service network.

An array with an IP address block in CIDR format. For example:

networking:
  serviceNetwork:
   - 172.30.0.0/16

networking.machineNetwork

The IP address blocks for machines.

If you specify multiple IP address blocks, the blocks must not overlap.

An array of objects. For example:

networking:
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16

networking.machineNetwork.cidr

Required if you use networking.machineNetwork. An IP address block. The default value is 10.0.0.0/16 for all platforms other than libvirt. For libvirt, the default value is 192.168.126.0/24.

An IP network block in CIDR notation.

For example, 10.0.0.0/16.

Set the networking.machineNetwork to match the CIDR that the preferred NIC resides in.

Optional configuration parameters

Optional installation configuration parameters are described in the following table:

Table 3. Optional parameters
Parameter Description Values

additionalTrustBundle

A PEM-encoded X.509 certificate bundle that is added to the nodes' trusted certificate store. This trust bundle may also be used when a proxy has been configured.

String

capabilities

Controls the installation of optional core cluster components. You can reduce the footprint of your OpenShift Container Platform cluster by disabling optional components.

String array

capabilities.baselineCapabilitySet

Selects an initial set of optional capabilities to enable. Valid values are None, v4.11 and vCurrent. v4.11 enables the baremetal Operator, the marketplace Operator, and the openshift-samples content. vCurrent installs the recommended set of capabilities for the current version of OpenShift Container Platform. The default value is vCurrent.

String

capabilities.additionalEnabledCapabilities

Extends the set of optional capabilities beyond what you specify in baselineCapabilitySet. Valid values are baremetal, marketplace and openshift-samples. You may specify multiple capabilities in this parameter.

String array

cgroupsV2

Enables Linux control groups version 2 (cgroups v2) on specific nodes in your cluster. The OpenShift Container Platform process for enabling cgroups v2 disables all cgroup version 1 controllers and hierarchies. The OpenShift Container Platform cgroups version 2 feature is in Developer Preview and is not supported by Red Hat at this time.

true

compute

The configuration for the machines that comprise the compute nodes.

Array of MachinePool objects.

compute.architecture

Determines the instruction set architecture of the machines in the pool. Currently, clusters with varied architectures are not supported. All pools must specify the same architecture. Valid values are amd64 (the default).

String

compute.hyperthreading

Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading, on compute machines. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores.

If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance.

Enabled or Disabled

compute.name

Required if you use compute. The name of the machine pool.

worker

compute.platform

Required if you use compute. Use this parameter to specify the cloud provider to host the worker machines. This parameter value must match the controlPlane.platform parameter value.

alibabacloud, aws, azure, gcp, ibmcloud, nutanix, openstack, ovirt, vsphere, or {}

compute.replicas

The number of compute machines, which are also known as worker machines, to provision.

A positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The default value is 3.

controlPlane

The configuration for the machines that comprise the control plane.

Array of MachinePool objects.

controlPlane.architecture

Determines the instruction set architecture of the machines in the pool. Currently, clusters with varied architectures are not supported. All pools must specify the same architecture. Valid values are amd64 (the default).

String

controlPlane.hyperthreading

Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading, on control plane machines. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores.

If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance.

Enabled or Disabled

controlPlane.name

Required if you use controlPlane. The name of the machine pool.

master

controlPlane.platform

Required if you use controlPlane. Use this parameter to specify the cloud provider that hosts the control plane machines. This parameter value must match the compute.platform parameter value.

alibabacloud, aws, azure, gcp, ibmcloud, nutanix, openstack, ovirt, vsphere, or {}

controlPlane.replicas

The number of control plane machines to provision.

The only supported value is 3, which is the default value.

credentialsMode

The Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) mode. If no mode is specified, the CCO dynamically tries to determine the capabilities of the provided credentials, with a preference for mint mode on the platforms where multiple modes are supported.

Not all CCO modes are supported for all cloud providers. For more information on CCO modes, see the Cloud Credential Operator entry in the Cluster Operators reference content.

If your AWS account has service control policies (SCP) enabled, you must configure the credentialsMode parameter to Mint, Passthrough or Manual.

Mint, Passthrough, Manual or an empty string ("").

fips

Enable or disable FIPS mode. The default is false (disabled). If FIPS mode is enabled, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines that OpenShift Container Platform runs on bypass the default Kubernetes cryptography suite and use the cryptography modules that are provided with RHCOS instead.

To enable FIPS mode for your cluster, you must run the installation program from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) computer configured to operate in FIPS mode. For more information about configuring FIPS mode on RHEL, see Installing the system in FIPS mode. The use of FIPS validated or Modules In Process cryptographic libraries is only supported on OpenShift Container Platform deployments on the x86_64 architecture.

If you are using Azure File storage, you cannot enable FIPS mode.

false or true

imageContentSources

Sources and repositories for the release-image content.

Array of objects. Includes a source and, optionally, mirrors, as described in the following rows of this table.

imageContentSources.source

Required if you use imageContentSources. Specify the repository that users refer to, for example, in image pull specifications.

String

imageContentSources.mirrors

Specify one or more repositories that may also contain the same images.

Array of strings

publish

How to publish or expose the user-facing endpoints of your cluster, such as the Kubernetes API, OpenShift routes.

Internal or External. To deploy a private cluster, which cannot be accessed from the internet, set publish to Internal. The default value is External.

sshKey

The SSH key to authenticate access to your cluster machines.

For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses.

For example, sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA...

Additional Azure configuration parameters

Additional Azure configuration parameters are described in the following table.

By default, if you specify availability zones in the install-config.yaml file, the installation program distributes the control plane machines and the compute machines across these availability zones within a region. To ensure high availability for your cluster, select a region with at least three availability zones. If your region contains fewer than three availability zones, the installation program places more than one control plane machine in the available zones.
Table 4. Additional Azure parameters
Parameter Description Values

compute.platform.azure.encryptionAtHost

Enables host-level encryption for compute machines. You can enable this encryption alongside user-managed server-side encryption. This feature encrypts temporary, ephemeral, cached and un-managed disks on the VM host. This is not a prerequisite for user-managed server-side encryption.

true or false. The default is false.

compute.platform.azure.osDisk.diskSizeGB

The Azure disk size for the VM.

Integer that represents the size of the disk in GB. The default is 128.

compute.platform.azure.osDisk.diskType

Defines the type of disk.

standard_LRS, premium_LRS, or standardSSD_LRS. The default is premium_LRS.

compute.platform.azure.ultraSSDCapability

Enables the use of Azure ultra disks for persistent storage on compute nodes. This requires that your Azure region and zone have ultra disks available.

Enabled, Disabled. The default is Disabled.

compute.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.resourceGroup

The name of the Azure resource group that contains the disk encryption set from the installation prerequisites. This resource group should be different than the resource group where you install the cluster to avoid deleting your Azure encryption key when the cluster is destroyed. This value is only necessary if you intend to install the cluster with user-managed disk encryption.

String, for example production_encryption_resource_group.

compute.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.name

The name of the disk encryption set that contains the encryption key from the installation prerequisites.

String, for example production_disk_encryption_set.

compute.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.subscriptionId

Defines the Azure subscription of the disk encryption set where the disk encryption set resides. This secondary disk encryption set is used to encrypt compute machines.

String, in the format 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.

compute.platform.azure.vmNetworkingType

Enables accelerated networking. Accelerated networking enables single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) to a VM, improving its networking performance. If instance type of compute machines support Accelerated networking, by default, the installer enables Accelerated networking, otherwise the default networking type is Basic.

Accelerated or Basic.

compute.platform.azure.type

Defines the Azure instance type for compute machines.

String

compute.platform.azure.zones

The availability zones where the installation program creates compute machines.

String list

controlPlane.platform.azure.type

Defines the Azure instance type for control plane machines.

String

controlPlane.platform.azure.zones

The availability zones where the installation program creates control plane machines.

String list

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.encryptionAtHost

Enables host-level encryption for compute machines. You can enable this encryption alongside user-managed server-side encryption. This feature encrypts temporary, ephemeral, cached, and un-managed disks on the VM host. This parameter is not a prerequisite for user-managed server-side encryption.

true or false. The default is false.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.name

The name of the disk encryption set that contains the encryption key from the installation prerequisites.

String, for example, production_disk_encryption_set.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.resourceGroup

The name of the Azure resource group that contains the disk encryption set from the installation prerequisites. To avoid deleting your Azure encryption key when the cluster is destroyed, this resource group must be different from the resource group where you install the cluster. This value is necessary only if you intend to install the cluster with user-managed disk encryption.

String, for example, production_encryption_resource_group.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.subscriptionId

Defines the Azure subscription of the disk encryption set where the disk encryption set resides. This secondary disk encryption set is used to encrypt compute machines.

String, in the format 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskSizeGB

The Azure disk size for the VM.

Integer that represents the size of the disk in GB. The default is 128.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.osDisk.diskType

Defines the type of disk.

premium_LRS or standardSSD_LRS. The default is premium_LRS.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.type

The Azure instance type for control plane and compute machines.

The Azure instance type.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.zones

The availability zones where the installation program creates compute and control plane machines.

String list.

controlPlane.platform.azure.encryptionAtHost

Enables host-level encryption for control plane machines. You can enable this encryption alongside user-managed server-side encryption. This feature encrypts temporary, ephemeral, cached and un-managed disks on the VM host. This is not a prerequisite for user-managed server-side encryption.

true or false. The default is false.

controlPlane.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.resourceGroup

The name of the Azure resource group that contains the disk encryption set from the installation prerequisites. This resource group should be different than the resource group where you install the cluster to avoid deleting your Azure encryption key when the cluster is destroyed. This value is only necessary if you intend to install the cluster with user-managed disk encryption.

String, for example production_encryption_resource_group.

controlPlane.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.name

The name of the disk encryption set that contains the encryption key from the installation prerequisites.

String, for example production_disk_encryption_set.

controlPlane.platform.azure.osDisk.diskEncryptionSet.subscriptionId

Defines the Azure subscription of the disk encryption set where the disk encryption set resides. This secondary disk encryption set is used to encrypt control plane machines.

String, in the format 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000.

controlPlane.platform.azure.osDisk.diskSizeGB

The Azure disk size for the VM.

Integer that represents the size of the disk in GB. The default is 1024.

controlPlane.platform.azure.osDisk.diskType

Defines the type of disk.

premium_LRS or standardSSD_LRS. The default is premium_LRS.

controlPlane.platform.azure.ultraSSDCapability

Enables the use of Azure ultra disks for persistent storage on control plane machines. This requires that your Azure region and zone have ultra disks available.

Enabled, Disabled. The default is Disabled.

controlPlane.platform.azure.vmNetworkingType

Enables accelerated networking. Accelerated networking enables single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) to a VM, improving its networking performance. If instance type of control plane machines support Accelerated networking, by default, the installer enables Accelerated networking, otherwise the default networking type is Basic.

Accelerated or Basic.

platform.azure.baseDomainResourceGroupName

The name of the resource group that contains the DNS zone for your base domain.

String, for example production_cluster.

platform.azure.resourceGroupName

The name of an already existing resource group to install your cluster to. This resource group must be empty and only used for this specific cluster; the cluster components assume ownership of all resources in the resource group. If you limit the service principal scope of the installation program to this resource group, you must ensure all other resources used by the installation program in your environment have the necessary permissions, such as the public DNS zone and virtual network. Destroying the cluster by using the installation program deletes this resource group.

String, for example existing_resource_group.

platform.azure.outboundType

The outbound routing strategy used to connect your cluster to the internet. If you are using user-defined routing, you must have pre-existing networking available where the outbound routing has already been configured prior to installing a cluster. The installation program is not responsible for configuring user-defined routing.

LoadBalancer or UserDefinedRouting. The default is LoadBalancer.

platform.azure.region

The name of the Azure region that hosts your cluster.

Any valid region name, such as centralus.

platform.azure.zone

List of availability zones to place machines in. For high availability, specify at least two zones.

List of zones, for example ["1", "2", "3"].

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.ultraSSDCapability

Enables the use of Azure ultra disks for persistent storage on control plane and compute machines. This requires that your Azure region and zone have ultra disks available.

Enabled, Disabled. The default is Disabled.

platform.azure.networkResourceGroupName

The name of the resource group that contains the existing VNet that you want to deploy your cluster to. This name cannot be the same as the platform.azure.baseDomainResourceGroupName.

String.

platform.azure.virtualNetwork

The name of the existing VNet that you want to deploy your cluster to.

String.

platform.azure.controlPlaneSubnet

The name of the existing subnet in your VNet that you want to deploy your control plane machines to.

Valid CIDR, for example 10.0.0.0/16.

platform.azure.computeSubnet

The name of the existing subnet in your VNet that you want to deploy your compute machines to.

Valid CIDR, for example 10.0.0.0/16.

platform.azure.cloudName

The name of the Azure cloud environment that is used to configure the Azure SDK with the appropriate Azure API endpoints. If empty, the default value AzurePublicCloud is used.

Any valid cloud environment, such as AzurePublicCloud or AzureUSGovernmentCloud.

platform.azure.defaultMachinePlatform.vmNetworkingType

Enables accelerated networking. Accelerated networking enables single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) to a VM, improving its networking performance.

Accelerated or Basic. If instance type of control plane and compute machines support Accelerated networking, by default, the installer enables Accelerated networking, otherwise the default networking type is Basic.

You cannot customize Azure Availability Zones or Use tags to organize your Azure resources with an Azure cluster.

Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation

Each cluster machine must meet the following minimum requirements:

Table 5. Minimum resource requirements
Machine Operating System vCPU [1] Virtual RAM Storage IOPS [2]

Bootstrap

RHCOS

4

16 GB

100 GB

300

Control plane

RHCOS

4

16 GB

100 GB

300

Compute

RHCOS, RHEL 8.6 and later [3]

2

8 GB

100 GB

300

  1. One vCPU is equivalent to one physical core when simultaneous multithreading (SMT), or hyperthreading, is not enabled. When enabled, use the following formula to calculate the corresponding ratio: (threads per core × cores) × sockets = vCPUs.

  2. OpenShift Container Platform and Kubernetes are sensitive to disk performance, and faster storage is recommended, particularly for etcd on the control plane nodes which require a 10 ms p99 fsync duration. Note that on many cloud platforms, storage size and IOPS scale together, so you might need to over-allocate storage volume to obtain sufficient performance.

  3. As with all user-provisioned installations, if you choose to use RHEL compute machines in your cluster, you take responsibility for all operating system life cycle management and maintenance, including performing system updates, applying patches, and completing all other required tasks. Use of RHEL 7 compute machines is deprecated and has been removed in OpenShift Container Platform 4.10 and later.

You are required to use Azure virtual machines that have the premiumIO parameter set to true.

If an instance type for your platform meets the minimum requirements for cluster machines, it is supported to use in OpenShift Container Platform.

Additional resources

Tested instance types for Azure

The following Microsoft Azure instance types have been tested with OpenShift Container Platform.

Machine types

  • standardBSFamily

  • standardBsv2Family

  • standardDADSv5Family

  • standardDASv4Family

  • standardDASv5Family

  • standardDCACCV5Family

  • standardDCADCCV5Family

  • standardDCADSv5Family

  • standardDCASv5Family

  • standardDCSv3Family

  • standardDCSv2Family

  • standardDDCSv3Family

  • standardDDSv4Family

  • standardDDSv5Family

  • standardDLDSv5Family

  • standardDLSv5Family

  • standardDSFamily

  • standardDSv2Family

  • standardDSv2PromoFamily

  • standardDSv3Family

  • standardDSv4Family

  • standardDSv5Family

  • standardEADSv5Family

  • standardEASv4Family

  • standardEASv5Family

  • standardEBDSv5Family

  • standardEBSv5Family

  • standardECACCV5Family

  • standardECADCCV5Family

  • standardECADSv5Family

  • standardECASv5Family

  • standardEDSv4Family

  • standardEDSv5Family

  • standardEIADSv5Family

  • standardEIASv4Family

  • standardEIASv5Family

  • standardEIBDSv5Family

  • standardEIBSv5Family

  • standardEIDSv5Family

  • standardEISv3Family

  • standardEISv5Family

  • standardESv3Family

  • standardESv4Family

  • standardESv5Family

  • standardFXMDVSFamily

  • standardFSFamily

  • standardFSv2Family

  • standardGSFamily

  • standardHBrsv2Family

  • standardHBSFamily

  • standardHCSFamily

  • standardHXFamily

  • standardLASv3Family

  • standardLSFamily

  • standardLSv2Family

  • standardLSv3Family

  • standardMDSMediumMemoryv2Family

  • standardMIDSMediumMemoryv2Family

  • standardMISMediumMemoryv2Family

  • standardMSFamily

  • standardMSMediumMemoryv2Family

  • StandardNCADSA100v4Family

  • Standard NCASv3_T4 Family

  • standardNCSv2Family

  • standardNCSv3Family

  • standardNDSv2Family

  • standardNPSFamily

  • StandardNVADSA10v5Family

  • standardNVSv3Family

  • standardXEISv4Family

Sample customized install-config.yaml file for Azure

You can customize the install-config.yaml file to specify more details about your OpenShift Container Platform cluster’s platform or modify the values of the required parameters.

This sample YAML file is provided for reference only. You must obtain your install-config.yaml file by using the installation program and modify it.

 
apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com (1)
controlPlane: (2)
  hyperthreading: Enabled  (3) (4)
  name: master
  platform:
    azure:
      encryptionAtHost: true
      ultraSSDCapability: Enabled
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGB: 1024 (5)
        diskType: Premium_LRS
        diskEncryptionSet:
          resourceGroup: disk_encryption_set_resource_group
          name: disk_encryption_set_name
          subscriptionId: secondary_subscription_id
      type: Standard_D8s_v3
  replicas: 3
compute: (2)
- hyperthreading: Enabled (3)
  name: worker
  platform:
    azure:
      ultraSSDCapability: Enabled
      type: Standard_D2s_v3
      encryptionAtHost: true
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGB: 512 (5)
        diskType: Standard_LRS
        diskEncryptionSet:
          resourceGroup: disk_encryption_set_resource_group
          name: disk_encryption_set_name
          subscriptionId: secondary_subscription_id
      zones: (6)
      - "1"
      - "2"
      - "3"
  replicas: 5
metadata:
  name: test-cluster (1)
networking:
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OpenShiftSDN
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  azure:
    defaultMachinePlatform:
      ultraSSDCapability: Enabled
    baseDomainResourceGroupName: resource_group (7)
    region: centralus (1)
    resourceGroupName: existing_resource_group (8)
    outboundType: Loadbalancer
    cloudName: AzurePublicCloud
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}' (1)
fips: false (9)
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA... (10)
1 Required. The installation program prompts you for this value.
2 If you do not provide these parameters and values, the installation program provides the default value.
3 The controlPlane section is a single mapping, but the compute section is a sequence of mappings. To meet the requirements of the different data structures, the first line of the compute section must begin with a hyphen, -, and the first line of the controlPlane section must not. Only one control plane pool is used.
4 Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. You can disable it by setting the parameter value to Disabled. If you disable simultaneous multithreading in some cluster machines, you must disable it in all cluster machines.

If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance. Use larger virtual machine types, such as Standard_D8s_v3, for your machines if you disable simultaneous multithreading.
5 You can specify the size of the disk to use in GB. Minimum recommendation for control plane nodes is 1024 GB.
6 Specify a list of zones to deploy your machines to. For high availability, specify at least two zones.
7 Specify the name of the resource group that contains the DNS zone for your base domain.
8 Specify the name of an already existing resource group to install your cluster to. If undefined, a new resource group is created for the cluster.
9 Whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. By default, FIPS mode is not enabled. If FIPS mode is enabled, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines that OpenShift Container Platform runs on bypass the default Kubernetes cryptography suite and use the cryptography modules that are provided with RHCOS instead.

To enable FIPS mode for your cluster, you must run the installation program from a Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) computer configured to operate in FIPS mode. For more information about configuring FIPS mode on RHEL, see Installing the system in FIPS mode. The use of FIPS validated or Modules In Process cryptographic libraries is only supported on OpenShift Container Platform deployments on the x86_64 architecture.
10 You can optionally provide the sshKey value that you use to access the machines in your cluster.

For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses.

Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation

Production environments can deny direct access to the internet and instead have an HTTP or HTTPS proxy available. You can configure a new OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use a proxy by configuring the proxy settings in the install-config.yaml file.

Prerequisites

  • You have an existing install-config.yaml file.

  • You reviewed the sites that your cluster requires access to and determined whether any of them need to bypass the proxy. By default, all cluster egress traffic is proxied, including calls to hosting cloud provider APIs. You added sites to the Proxy object’s spec.noProxy field to bypass the proxy if necessary.

    The Proxy object status.noProxy field is populated with the values of the networking.machineNetwork[].cidr, networking.clusterNetwork[].cidr, and networking.serviceNetwork[] fields from your installation configuration.

    For installations on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, and Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP), the Proxy object status.noProxy field is also populated with the instance metadata endpoint (169.254.169.254).
Procedure

  1. Edit your install-config.yaml file and add the proxy settings. For example:

    apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: my.domain.com
proxy:
  httpProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (1)
  httpsProxy: https://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (2)
  noProxy: example.com (3)
additionalTrustBundle: | (4)
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    <MY_TRUSTED_CA_CERT>
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    1 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTP connections outside the cluster. The URL scheme must be http.
    2 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTPS connections outside the cluster.
    3 A comma-separated list of destination domain names, IP addresses, or other network CIDRs to exclude from proxying. Preface a domain with . to match subdomains only. For example, .y.com matches x.y.com, but not y.com. Use * to bypass the proxy for all destinations.
    4 If provided, the installation program generates a config map that is named user-ca-bundle in the openshift-config namespace that contains one or more additional CA certificates that are required for proxying HTTPS connections. The Cluster Network Operator then creates a trusted-ca-bundle config map that merges these contents with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) trust bundle, and this config map is referenced in the trustedCA field of the Proxy object. The additionalTrustBundle field is required unless the proxy’s identity certificate is signed by an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle.

    The installation program does not support the proxy readinessEndpoints field.

    If the installer times out, restart and then complete the deployment by using the wait-for command of the installer. For example:

    $ ./openshift-install wait-for install-complete --log-level debug

  2. Save the file and reference it when installing OpenShift Container Platform.

The installation program creates a cluster-wide proxy that is named cluster that uses the proxy settings in the provided install-config.yaml file. If no proxy settings are provided, a cluster Proxy object is still created, but it will have a nil spec.

Only the Proxy object named cluster is supported, and no additional proxies can be created.
Additional resources

Deploying the cluster

You can install OpenShift Container Platform on a compatible cloud platform.

You can run the create cluster command of the installation program only once, during initial installation.
Prerequisites

  • Configure an account with the cloud platform that hosts your cluster.

  • Obtain the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

Procedure

  • Change to the directory that contains the installation program and initialize the cluster deployment:

    $ ./openshift-install create cluster --dir <installation_directory> \ (1)
    --log-level=info (2)
    1 For <installation_directory>, specify the location of your customized ./install-config.yaml file.
    2 To view different installation details, specify warn, debug, or error instead of info.

    If the cloud provider account that you configured on your host does not have sufficient permissions to deploy the cluster, the installation process stops, and the missing permissions are displayed.
Verification

When the cluster deployment completes successfully:

  • The terminal displays directions for accessing your cluster, including a link to the web console and credentials for the kubeadmin user.

  • Credential information also outputs to <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log.

Do not delete the installation program or the files that the installation program creates. Both are required to delete the cluster.
Example output
...
INFO Install complete!
INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig'
INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com
INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password"
INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s

  • The Ignition config files that the installation program generates contain certificates that expire after 24 hours, which are then renewed at that time. If the cluster is shut down before renewing the certificates and the cluster is later restarted after the 24 hours have elapsed, the cluster automatically recovers the expired certificates. The exception is that you must manually approve the pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) to recover kubelet certificates. See the documentation for Recovering from expired control plane certificates for more information.

  • It is recommended that you use Ignition config files within 12 hours after they are generated because the 24-hour certificate rotates from 16 to 22 hours after the cluster is installed. By using the Ignition config files within 12 hours, you can avoid installation failure if the certificate update runs during installation.

Finalizing user-managed encryption after installation

If you installed OpenShift Container Platform using a user-managed encryption key, you can complete the installation by creating a new storage class and granting write permissions to the Azure cluster resource group.

Procedure

  1. Obtain the identity of the cluster resource group used by the installer:

    1. If you specified an existing resource group in install-config.yaml, obtain its Azure identity by running the following command:

      $ az identity list --resource-group "<existing_resource_group>"

    2. If you did not specify a existing resource group in install-config.yaml, locate the resource group that the installer created, and then obtain its Azure identity by running the following commands:

      $ az group list
      $ az identity list --resource-group "<installer_created_resource_group>"

  2. Grant a role assignment to the cluster resource group so that it can write to the Disk Encryption Set by running the following command:

    $ az role assignment create --role "<privileged_role>" \(1)
    --assignee "<resource_group_identity>" (2)
    1 Specifies an Azure role that has read/write permissions to the disk encryption set. You can use the Owner role or a custom role with the necessary permissions.
    2 Specifies the identity of the cluster resource group.

  3. Obtain the id of the disk encryption set you created prior to installation by running the following command:

    $ az disk-encryption-set show -n <disk_encryption_set_name> \(1)
     --resource-group <resource_group_name> (2)
    1 Specifies the name of the disk encryption set.
    2 Specifies the resource group that contains the disk encryption set. The id is in the format of "/subscriptions/…​/resourceGroups/…​/providers/Microsoft.Compute/diskEncryptionSets/…​".

  4. Obtain the identity of the cluster service principal by running the following command:

    $ az identity show -g <cluster_resource_group> \(1)
     -n <cluster_service_principal_name> \(2)
     --query principalId --out tsv
    1 Specifies the name of the cluster resource group created by the installation program.
    2 Specifies the name of the cluster service principal created by the installation program. The identity is in the format of 12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567890.

  5. Create a role assignment that grants the cluster service principal Contributor privileges to the disk encryption set by running the following command:

    $ az role assignment create --assignee <cluster_service_principal_id> \(1)
     --role 'Contributor' \//
     --scope <disk_encryption_set_id> \(2)
    1 Specifies the ID of the cluster service principal obtained in the previous step.
    2 Specifies the ID of the disk encryption set.

  6. Create a storage class that uses the user-managed disk encryption set:

    1. Save the following storage class definition to a file, for example storage-class-definition.yaml:

      kind: StorageClass
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  name: managed-premium
provisioner: kubernetes.io/azure-disk
parameters:
  skuname: Premium_LRS
  kind: Managed
  diskEncryptionSetID: "<disk_encryption_set_ID>" (1)
  resourceGroup: "<resource_group_name>" (2)
reclaimPolicy: Delete
allowVolumeExpansion: true
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
      1 Specifies the ID of the disk encryption set that you created in the prerequisite steps, for example "/subscriptions/xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx/resourceGroups/test-encryption/providers/Microsoft.Compute/diskEncryptionSets/disk-encryption-set-xxxxxx".
      2 Specifies the name of the resource group used by the installer. This is the same resource group from the first step.

    2. Create the storage class managed-premium from the file you created by running the following command:

      $ oc create -f storage-class-definition.yaml

  7. Select the managed-premium storage class when you create persistent volumes to use encrypted storage.

Installing the OpenShift CLI by downloading the binary

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) to interact with OpenShift Container Platform from a command-line interface. You can install oc on Linux, Windows, or macOS.

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform 4.11. Download and install the new version of oc.

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Linux by using the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

  2. Select the architecture in the Product Variant drop-down menu.

  3. Select the appropriate version in the Version drop-down menu.

  4. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.11 Linux Client entry and save the file.

  5. Unpack the archive:

    $ tar xvf <file>

  6. Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

    To check your PATH, execute the following command:

    $ echo $PATH
Verification

  • After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

    $ oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Windows by using the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

  2. Select the appropriate version in the Version drop-down menu.

  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.11 Windows Client entry and save the file.

  4. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.

  5. Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH.

    To check your PATH, open the command prompt and execute the following command:

    C:\> path
Verification

  • After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

    C:\> oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on macOS by using the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

  2. Select the appropriate version in the Version drop-down menu.

  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.11 macOS Client entry and save the file.

    For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.11 macOS arm64 Client entry.

  4. Unpack and unzip the archive.

  5. Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH.

    To check your PATH, open a terminal and execute the following command:

    $ echo $PATH
Verification

  • After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

    $ oc <command>

Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI

You can log in to your cluster as a default system user by exporting the cluster kubeconfig file. The kubeconfig file contains information about the cluster that is used by the CLI to connect a client to the correct cluster and API server. The file is specific to a cluster and is created during OpenShift Container Platform installation.

Prerequisites

  • You deployed an OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

  • You installed the oc CLI.

Procedure

  1. Export the kubeadmin credentials:

    $ export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig (1)
    1 For <installation_directory>, specify the path to the directory that you stored the installation files in.

  2. Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration:

    $ oc whoami
    Example output
    system:admin
Additional resources

  • See Accessing the web console for more details about accessing and understanding the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.11, the Telemetry service, which runs by default to provide metrics about cluster health and the success of updates, requires internet access. If your cluster is connected to the internet, Telemetry runs automatically, and your cluster is registered to OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console.

After you confirm that your OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console inventory is correct, either maintained automatically by Telemetry or manually by using OpenShift Cluster Manager, use subscription watch to track your OpenShift Container Platform subscriptions at the account or multi-cluster level.

Additional resources

Next steps