Installing a cluster on VMC - Installing on VMC | Installing

In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.13, you can install a cluster on VMware vSphere by deploying it to VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS.

OpenShift Container Platform supports deploying a cluster to a single VMware vCenter only. Deploying a cluster with machines/machine sets on multiple vCenters is not supported.

Setting up VMC for vSphere

You can install OpenShift Container Platform on VMware Cloud (VMC) on AWS hosted vSphere clusters to enable applications to be deployed and managed both on-premise and off-premise, across the hybrid cloud.

You must configure several options in your VMC environment prior to installing OpenShift Container Platform on VMware vSphere. Ensure your VMC environment has the following prerequisites:

Create a non-exclusive, DHCP-enabled, NSX-T network segment and subnet. Other virtual machines (VMs) can be hosted on the subnet, but at least eight IP addresses must be available for the OpenShift Container Platform deployment.
Allocate two IP addresses, outside the DHCP range, and configure them with reverse DNS records.
- A DNS record for api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> pointing to the allocated IP address.
- A DNS record for *.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> pointing to the allocated IP address.
Configure the following firewall rules:
- An ANY:ANY firewall rule between the OpenShift Container Platform compute network and the internet. This is used by nodes and applications to download container images.
- An ANY:ANY firewall rule between the installation host and the software-defined data center (SDDC) management network on port 443. This allows you to upload the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) OVA during deployment.
- An HTTPS firewall rule between the OpenShift Container Platform compute network and vCenter. This connection allows OpenShift Container Platform to communicate with vCenter for provisioning and managing nodes, persistent volume claims (PVCs), and other resources.
You must have the following information to deploy OpenShift Container Platform:
- The OpenShift Container Platform cluster name, such as vmc-prod-1.
- The base DNS name, such as companyname.com.
- If not using the default, the pod network CIDR and services network CIDR must be identified, which are set by default to 10.128.0.0/14 and 172.30.0.0/16, respectively. These CIDRs are used for pod-to-pod and pod-to-service communication and are not accessible externally; however, they must not overlap with existing subnets in your organization.
- The following vCenter information:
  - vCenter hostname, username, and password
  - Datacenter name, such as SDDC-Datacenter
  - Cluster name, such as Cluster-1
  - Network name
  - Datastore name, such as WorkloadDatastore
    
    It is recommended to move your vSphere cluster to the VMC Compute-ResourcePool resource pool after your cluster installation is finished.
A Linux-based host deployed to VMC as a bastion.
- The bastion host can be Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or any another Linux-based host; it must have internet connectivity and the ability to upload an OVA to the ESXi hosts.
- Download and install the OpenShift CLI tools to the bastion host.
  - The openshift-install installation program
  - The OpenShift CLI (oc) tool

You cannot use the VMware NSX Container Plugin for Kubernetes (NCP), and NSX is not used as the OpenShift SDN. The version of NSX currently available with VMC is incompatible with the version of NCP certified with OpenShift Container Platform.

However, the NSX DHCP service is used for virtual machine IP management with the full-stack automated OpenShift Container Platform deployment and with nodes provisioned, either manually or automatically, by the Machine API integration with vSphere. Additionally, NSX firewall rules are created to enable access with the OpenShift Container Platform cluster and between the bastion host and the VMC vSphere hosts.

VMC Sizer tool

VMware Cloud on AWS is built on top of AWS bare metal infrastructure; this is the same bare metal infrastructure which runs AWS native services. When a VMware cloud on AWS software-defined data center (SDDC) is deployed, you consume these physical server nodes and run the VMware ESXi hypervisor in a single tenant fashion. This means the physical infrastructure is not accessible to anyone else using VMC. It is important to consider how many physical hosts you will need to host your virtual infrastructure.

To determine this, VMware provides the VMC on AWS Sizer. With this tool, you can define the resources you intend to host on VMC:

Types of workloads
Total number of virtual machines
Specification information such as:
- Storage requirements
- vCPUs
- vRAM
- Overcommit ratios

With these details, the sizer tool can generate a report, based on VMware best practices, and recommend your cluster configuration and the number of hosts you will need.

vSphere prerequisites

You reviewed details about the OpenShift Container Platform installation and update processes.
You read the documentation on selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users.
You provisioned block registry storage. For more information on persistent storage, see Understanding persistent storage.
If you use a firewall, you configured it to allow the sites that your cluster requires access to.

Be sure to also review this site list if you are configuring a proxy.

Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, 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.

VMware vSphere infrastructure requirements

You must install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster on one of the following versions of a VMware vSphere instance that meets the requirements for the components that you use:

Version 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later
Version 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

You can host the VMware vSphere infrastructure on-premise or on a VMware Cloud Verified provider that meets the requirements outlined in the following table:

Table 1. Version requirements for vSphere virtual environments
Virtual environment product	Required version
VMware virtual hardware	15 or later
vSphere ESXi hosts	7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later
vCenter host	7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

Table 2. Minimum supported vSphere version for VMware components
Component	Minimum supported versions	Description
Hypervisor	vSphere 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; vSphere 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later with virtual hardware version 15	This hypervisor version is the minimum version that Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) supports. For more information about supported hardware on the latest version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) that is compatible with RHCOS, see Hardware on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Storage with in-tree drivers	vSphere 7.0 Update 2 and later; 8.0 Update 1 or later	This plugin creates vSphere storage by using the in-tree storage drivers for vSphere included in OpenShift Container Platform.
CPU micro-architecture	x86-64-v2 or higher	OpenShift 4.13 and later are based on RHEL 9.2 host operating system which raised the microarchitecture requirements to x86-64-v2. See the RHEL Microarchitecture requirements documentation. You can verify compatibility by following the procedures outlined in this KCS article.

You must ensure that the time on your ESXi hosts is synchronized before you install OpenShift Container Platform. See Edit Time Configuration for a Host in the VMware documentation.

Additional resources

For more information about CSI automatic migration, see "Overview" in VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator.

Network connectivity requirements

You must configure the network connectivity between machines to allow OpenShift Container Platform cluster components to communicate.

Review the following details about the required network ports.

Table 3. Ports used for all-machine to all-machine communications
Protocol	Port	Description
VRRP	N/A	Required for keepalived
ICMP	N/A	Network reachability tests
TCP	`1936`	Metrics
	`9000`-`9999`	Host level services, including the node exporter on ports `9100`-`9101` and the Cluster Version Operator on port `9099`.
	`10250`-`10259`	The default ports that Kubernetes reserves
	`10256`	openshift-sdn
UDP	`4789`	virtual extensible LAN (VXLAN)
	`6081`	Geneve
	`9000`-`9999`	Host level services, including the node exporter on ports `9100`-`9101`.
	`500`	IPsec IKE packets
	`4500`	IPsec NAT-T packets
TCP/UDP	`30000`-`32767`	Kubernetes node port
ESP	N/A	IPsec Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP)

Table 4. Ports used for all-machine to control plane communications
Protocol	Port	Description
TCP	`6443`	Kubernetes API

Table 5. Ports used for control plane machine to control plane machine communications
Protocol	Port	Description
TCP	`2379`-`2380`	etcd server and peer ports

VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator requirements

To install the vSphere CSI Driver Operator, the following requirements must be met:

VMware vSphere version: 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later
vCenter version: 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later
Virtual machines of hardware version 15 or later
No third-party vSphere CSI driver already installed in the cluster

If a third-party vSphere CSI driver is present in the cluster, OpenShift Container Platform does not overwrite it. The presence of a third-party vSphere CSI driver prevents OpenShift Container Platform from updating to OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 or later.

The VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator is supported only on clusters deployed with platform: vsphere in the installation manifest.

Additional resources

To remove a third-party CSI driver, see Removing a third-party vSphere CSI Driver.
To update the hardware version for your vSphere nodes, see Updating hardware on nodes running in vSphere.

vCenter requirements

Before you install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster on your vCenter that uses infrastructure that the installer provisions, you must prepare your environment.

Required vCenter account privileges

To install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster in a vCenter, the installation program requires access to an account with privileges to read and create the required resources. Using an account that has global administrative privileges is the simplest way to access all of the necessary permissions.

If you cannot use an account with global administrative privileges, you must create roles to grant the privileges necessary for OpenShift Container Platform cluster installation. While most of the privileges are always required, some are required only if you plan for the installation program to provision a folder to contain the OpenShift Container Platform cluster on your vCenter instance, which is the default behavior. You must create or amend vSphere roles for the specified objects to grant the required privileges.

An additional role is required if the installation program is to create a vSphere virtual machine folder.

Roles and privileges required for installation in vSphere API

vSphere object for role When required Required privileges in vSphere API

vSphere object for role	When required	Required privileges in vSphere API
vSphere vCenter	Always	`Cns.Searchable` `InventoryService.Tagging.AttachTag` `InventoryService.Tagging.CreateCategory` `InventoryService.Tagging.CreateTag` `InventoryService.Tagging.DeleteCategory` `InventoryService.Tagging.DeleteTag` `InventoryService.Tagging.EditCategory` `InventoryService.Tagging.EditTag` `Sessions.ValidateSession` `StorageProfile.Update` `StorageProfile.View`
vSphere vCenter Cluster	If VMs will be created in the cluster root	`Host.Config.Storage` `Resource.AssignVMToPool` `VApp.AssignResourcePool` `VApp.Import` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk`
vSphere vCenter Resource Pool	If an existing resource pool is provided	`Host.Config.Storage` `Resource.AssignVMToPool` `VApp.AssignResourcePool` `VApp.Import` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk`
vSphere Datastore	Always	`Datastore.AllocateSpace` `Datastore.Browse` `Datastore.FileManagement` `InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable`
vSphere Port Group	Always	`Network.Assign`
Virtual Machine Folder	Always	`InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable` `Resource.AssignVMToPool` `VApp.Import` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice` `VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig` `VirtualMachine.Config.Annotation` `VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount` `VirtualMachine.Config.DiskExtend` `VirtualMachine.Config.DiskLease` `VirtualMachine.Config.EditDevice` `VirtualMachine.Config.Memory` `VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.Rename` `VirtualMachine.Config.ResetGuestInfo` `VirtualMachine.Config.Resource` `VirtualMachine.Config.Settings` `VirtualMachine.Config.UpgradeVirtualHardware` `VirtualMachine.Interact.GuestControl` `VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff` `VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn` `VirtualMachine.Interact.Reset` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.CreateFromExisting` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.MarkAsTemplate` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DeployTemplate`
vSphere vCenter Datacenter	If the installation program creates the virtual machine folder. For UPI, `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create` and `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete` privileges are optional if your cluster does not use the Machine API.	`InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable` `Resource.AssignVMToPool` `VApp.Import` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice` `VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig` `VirtualMachine.Config.Annotation` `VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount` `VirtualMachine.Config.DiskExtend` `VirtualMachine.Config.DiskLease` `VirtualMachine.Config.EditDevice` `VirtualMachine.Config.Memory` `VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk` `VirtualMachine.Config.Rename` `VirtualMachine.Config.ResetGuestInfo` `VirtualMachine.Config.Resource` `VirtualMachine.Config.Settings` `VirtualMachine.Config.UpgradeVirtualHardware` `VirtualMachine.Interact.GuestControl` `VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff` `VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn` `VirtualMachine.Interact.Reset` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.CreateFromExisting` `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DeployTemplate` `VirtualMachine.Provisioning.MarkAsTemplate` `Folder.Create` `Folder.Delete`

vSphere vCenter

Always

Cns.Searchable
InventoryService.Tagging.AttachTag
InventoryService.Tagging.CreateCategory
InventoryService.Tagging.CreateTag
InventoryService.Tagging.DeleteCategory
InventoryService.Tagging.DeleteTag
InventoryService.Tagging.EditCategory
InventoryService.Tagging.EditTag
Sessions.ValidateSession
StorageProfile.Update
StorageProfile.View

vSphere vCenter Cluster

If VMs will be created in the cluster root

Host.Config.Storage
Resource.AssignVMToPool
VApp.AssignResourcePool
VApp.Import
VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk

vSphere vCenter Resource Pool

If an existing resource pool is provided

Host.Config.Storage
Resource.AssignVMToPool
VApp.AssignResourcePool
VApp.Import
VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk

vSphere Datastore

Always

Datastore.AllocateSpace
Datastore.Browse
Datastore.FileManagement
InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable

vSphere Port Group

Always

Network.Assign

Virtual Machine Folder

Always

InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable
Resource.AssignVMToPool
VApp.Import
VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice
VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig
VirtualMachine.Config.Annotation
VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount
VirtualMachine.Config.DiskExtend
VirtualMachine.Config.DiskLease
VirtualMachine.Config.EditDevice
VirtualMachine.Config.Memory
VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.Rename
VirtualMachine.Config.ResetGuestInfo
VirtualMachine.Config.Resource
VirtualMachine.Config.Settings
VirtualMachine.Config.UpgradeVirtualHardware
VirtualMachine.Interact.GuestControl
VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff
VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn
VirtualMachine.Interact.Reset
VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create
VirtualMachine.Inventory.CreateFromExisting
VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.MarkAsTemplate
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DeployTemplate

vSphere vCenter Datacenter

If the installation program creates the virtual machine folder. For UPI, VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create and VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete privileges are optional if your cluster does not use the Machine API.

InventoryService.Tagging.ObjectAttachable
Resource.AssignVMToPool
VApp.Import
VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice
VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig
VirtualMachine.Config.Annotation
VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount
VirtualMachine.Config.DiskExtend
VirtualMachine.Config.DiskLease
VirtualMachine.Config.EditDevice
VirtualMachine.Config.Memory
VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk
VirtualMachine.Config.Rename
VirtualMachine.Config.ResetGuestInfo
VirtualMachine.Config.Resource
VirtualMachine.Config.Settings
VirtualMachine.Config.UpgradeVirtualHardware
VirtualMachine.Interact.GuestControl
VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff
VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn
VirtualMachine.Interact.Reset
VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create
VirtualMachine.Inventory.CreateFromExisting
VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DeployTemplate
VirtualMachine.Provisioning.MarkAsTemplate
Folder.Create
Folder.Delete

Roles and privileges required for installation in vCenter graphical user interface (GUI)

vSphere object for role When required Required privileges in vCenter GUI

vSphere object for role	When required	Required privileges in vCenter GUI
vSphere vCenter	Always	`Cns.Searchable` `"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Create vSphere Tag Category"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Create vSphere Tag"` `vSphere Tagging"."Delete vSphere Tag Category"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Delete vSphere Tag"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Edit vSphere Tag Category"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Edit vSphere Tag"` `Sessions."Validate session"` `"Profile-driven storage"."Profile-driven storage update"` `"Profile-driven storage"."Profile-driven storage view"`
vSphere vCenter Cluster	If VMs will be created in the cluster root	`Host.Configuration."Storage partition configuration"` `Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"` `VApp."Assign resource pool"` `VApp.Import` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"`
vSphere vCenter Resource Pool	If an existing resource pool is provided	`Host.Configuration."Storage partition configuration"` `Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"` `VApp."Assign resource pool"` `VApp.Import` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"`
vSphere Datastore	Always	`Datastore."Allocate space"` `Datastore."Browse datastore"` `Datastore."Low level file operations"` `"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"`
vSphere Port Group	Always	`Network."Assign network"`
Virtual Machine Folder	Always	`"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"` `Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"` `VApp.Import` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add existing disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add or remove device"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Advanced configuration"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Set annotation"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change CPU count"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Extend virtual disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Acquire disk lease"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Modify device settings"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Memory"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Remove disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration".Rename` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Reset guest information"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change resource"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Settings"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Upgrade virtual machine compatibility"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Guest operating system management by VIX API"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power off"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power on"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction.Reset` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create new"` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create from existing"` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Remove"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Clone virtual machine"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Mark as template"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Deploy template"`
vSphere vCenter Datacenter	If the installation program creates the virtual machine folder. For UPI, `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create` and `VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete` privileges are optional if your cluster does not use the Machine API.	`"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"` `Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"` `VApp.Import` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add existing disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add or remove device"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Advanced configuration"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Set annotation"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change CPU count"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Extend virtual disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Acquire disk lease"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Modify device settings"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Memory"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Remove disk"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration".Rename` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Reset guest information"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change resource"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Settings"` `"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Upgrade virtual machine compatibility"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Guest operating system management by VIX API"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power off"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power on"` `"Virtual machine".Interaction.Reset` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create new"` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create from existing"` `"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Remove"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Clone virtual machine"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Deploy template"` `"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Mark as template"` `Folder."Create folder"` `Folder."Delete folder"`

vSphere vCenter

Always

Cns.Searchable
"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag"
"vSphere Tagging"."Create vSphere Tag Category"
"vSphere Tagging"."Create vSphere Tag"
vSphere Tagging"."Delete vSphere Tag Category"
"vSphere Tagging"."Delete vSphere Tag"
"vSphere Tagging"."Edit vSphere Tag Category"
"vSphere Tagging"."Edit vSphere Tag"
Sessions."Validate session"
"Profile-driven storage"."Profile-driven storage update"
"Profile-driven storage"."Profile-driven storage view"

vSphere vCenter Cluster

If VMs will be created in the cluster root

Host.Configuration."Storage partition configuration"
Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"
VApp."Assign resource pool"
VApp.Import
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"

vSphere vCenter Resource Pool

If an existing resource pool is provided

vSphere Datastore

Always

Datastore."Allocate space"
Datastore."Browse datastore"
Datastore."Low level file operations"
"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"

vSphere Port Group

Always

Network."Assign network"

Virtual Machine Folder

Always

"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"
Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"
VApp.Import
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add existing disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add or remove device"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Advanced configuration"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Set annotation"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change CPU count"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Extend virtual disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Acquire disk lease"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Modify device settings"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Memory"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Remove disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration".Rename
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Reset guest information"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change resource"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Settings"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Upgrade virtual machine compatibility"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Guest operating system management by VIX API"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power off"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power on"
"Virtual machine".Interaction.Reset
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create new"
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create from existing"
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Remove"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Clone virtual machine"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Mark as template"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Deploy template"

vSphere vCenter Datacenter

"vSphere Tagging"."Assign or Unassign vSphere Tag on Object"
Resource."Assign virtual machine to resource pool"
VApp.Import
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add existing disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add new disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Add or remove device"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Advanced configuration"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Set annotation"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change CPU count"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Extend virtual disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Acquire disk lease"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Modify device settings"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Memory"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Remove disk"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration".Rename
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Reset guest information"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change resource"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Change Settings"
"Virtual machine"."Change Configuration"."Upgrade virtual machine compatibility"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Guest operating system management by VIX API"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power off"
"Virtual machine".Interaction."Power on"
"Virtual machine".Interaction.Reset
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create new"
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Create from existing"
"Virtual machine"."Edit Inventory"."Remove"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Clone virtual machine"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Deploy template"
"Virtual machine".Provisioning."Mark as template"
Folder."Create folder"
Folder."Delete folder"

Additionally, the user requires some ReadOnly permissions, and some of the roles require permission to propogate the permissions to child objects. These settings vary depending on whether or not you install the cluster into an existing folder.

Required permissions and propagation settings

vSphere object When required Propagate to children Permissions required

vSphere object	When required	Propagate to children	Permissions required
vSphere vCenter	Always	False	Listed required privileges
vSphere vCenter Datacenter	Existing folder	False	`ReadOnly` permission
Installation program creates the folder	True	Listed required privileges
vSphere vCenter Cluster	Existing resource pool	False	`ReadOnly` permission
VMs in cluster root	True	Listed required privileges
vSphere vCenter Datastore	Always	False	Listed required privileges
vSphere Switch	Always	False	`ReadOnly` permission
vSphere Port Group	Always	False	Listed required privileges
vSphere vCenter Virtual Machine Folder	Existing folder	True	Listed required privileges
vSphere vCenter Resource Pool	Existing resource pool	True	Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter

Always

False

Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter Datacenter

Existing folder

False

ReadOnly permission

Installation program creates the folder

True

Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter Cluster

Existing resource pool

False

ReadOnly permission

VMs in cluster root

True

Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter Datastore

Always

False

Listed required privileges

vSphere Switch

Always

False

ReadOnly permission

vSphere Port Group

Always

False

Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter Virtual Machine Folder

Existing folder

True

Listed required privileges

vSphere vCenter Resource Pool

Existing resource pool

True

Listed required privileges

For more information about creating an account with only the required privileges, see vSphere Permissions and User Management Tasks in the vSphere documentation.

Using OpenShift Container Platform with vMotion

If you intend on using vMotion in your vSphere environment, consider the following before installing an OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

Using Storage vMotion can cause issues and is not supported.
Using VMware compute vMotion to migrate the workloads for both OpenShift Container Platform compute machines and control plane machines is generally supported, where generally implies that you meet all VMware best practices for vMotion.

To help ensure the uptime of your compute and control plane nodes, ensure that you follow the VMware best practices for vMotion, and use VMware anti-affinity rules to improve the availability of OpenShift Container Platform during maintenance or hardware issues.

For more information about vMotion and anti-affinity rules, see the VMware vSphere documentation for vMotion networking requirements and VM anti-affinity rules.
If you are using VMware vSphere volumes in your pods, migrating a VM across datastores, either manually or through Storage vMotion, causes invalid references within OpenShift Container Platform persistent volume (PV) objects that can result in data loss.
OpenShift Container Platform does not support selective migration of VMDKs across datastores, using datastore clusters for VM provisioning or for dynamic or static provisioning of PVs, or using a datastore that is part of a datastore cluster for dynamic or static provisioning of PVs.

Cluster resources

When you deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses installer-provisioned infrastructure, the installation program must be able to create several resources in your vCenter instance.

A standard OpenShift Container Platform installation creates the following vCenter resources:

1 Folder
1 Tag category
1 Tag
Virtual machines:
- 1 template
- 1 temporary bootstrap node
- 3 control plane nodes
- 3 compute machines

Although these resources use 856 GB of storage, the bootstrap node is destroyed during the cluster installation process. A minimum of 800 GB of storage is required to use a standard cluster.

If you deploy more compute machines, the OpenShift Container Platform cluster will use more storage.

Cluster limits

Available resources vary between clusters. The number of possible clusters within a vCenter is limited primarily by available storage space and any limitations on the number of required resources. Be sure to consider both limitations to the vCenter resources that the cluster creates and the resources that you require to deploy a cluster, such as IP addresses and networks.

Networking requirements

You can use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for the network and configure the DHCP server to set persistent IP addresses to machines in your cluster. In the DHCP lease, you must configure the DHCP to use the default gateway.

You do not need to use the DHCP for the network if you want to provision nodes with static IP addresses.

If you are installing to a restricted environment, the VM in your restricted network must have access to vCenter so that it can provision and manage nodes, persistent volume claims (PVCs), and other resources.

Ensure that each OpenShift Container Platform node in the cluster has access to a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server that is discoverable by DHCP. Installation is possible without an NTP server. However, asynchronous server clocks can cause errors, which the NTP server prevents.

Additionally, you must create the following networking resources before you install the OpenShift Container Platform cluster:

Required IP Addresses

An installer-provisioned vSphere installation requires two static IP addresses:

The API address is used to access the cluster API.
The Ingress address is used for cluster ingress traffic.

You must provide these IP addresses to the installation program when you install the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

DNS records

You must create DNS records for two static IP addresses in the appropriate DNS server for the vCenter instance that hosts your OpenShift Container Platform cluster. In each record, <cluster_name> is the cluster name and <base_domain> is the cluster base domain that you specify when you install the cluster. A complete DNS record takes the form: <component>.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>..

Table 6. Required DNS records
Component	Record	Description
API VIP	`api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>.`	This DNS A/AAAA or CNAME record must point to the load balancer for the control plane machines. This record must be resolvable by both clients external to the cluster and from all the nodes within the cluster.
Ingress VIP	`*.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>.`	A wildcard DNS A/AAAA or CNAME record that points to the load balancer that targets the machines that run the Ingress router pods, which are the worker nodes by default. This record must be resolvable by both clients external to the cluster and from all the nodes within the cluster.

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

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.
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
```
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
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.

Obtaining the installation program

Before you install OpenShift Container Platform, download the installation file on the host you are using for installation.

Prerequisites

You have a machine that runs Linux, for example Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, with 500 MB of local disk space.

If you attempt to run the installation program on macOS, a known issue related to the golang compiler causes the installation of the OpenShift Container Platform cluster to fail. For more information about this issue, see the section named "Known Issues" in the OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 release notes document.

Procedure

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.
Select your infrastructure provider.

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.

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
```
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.

Adding vCenter root CA certificates to your system trust

Because the installation program requires access to your vCenter’s API, you must add your vCenter’s trusted root CA certificates to your system trust before you install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

Procedure

From the vCenter home page, download the vCenter’s root CA certificates. Click Download trusted root CA certificates in the vSphere Web Services SDK section. The <vCenter>/certs/download.zip file downloads.

Extract the compressed file that contains the vCenter root CA certificates. The contents of the compressed file resemble the following file structure:

certs
├── lin
│   ├── 108f4d17.0
│   ├── 108f4d17.r1
│   ├── 7e757f6a.0
│   ├── 8e4f8471.0
│   └── 8e4f8471.r0
├── mac
│   ├── 108f4d17.0
│   ├── 108f4d17.r1
│   ├── 7e757f6a.0
│   ├── 8e4f8471.0
│   └── 8e4f8471.r0
└── win
    ├── 108f4d17.0.crt
    ├── 108f4d17.r1.crl
    ├── 7e757f6a.0.crt
    ├── 8e4f8471.0.crt
    └── 8e4f8471.r0.crl

3 directories, 15 files

Add the files for your operating system to the system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:
```
# cp certs/lin/* /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors
```
Update your system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:
```
# update-ca-trust extract
```

Deploying the cluster

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

When you have configured your VMC environment for OpenShift Container Platform deployment, you use the OpenShift Container Platform installation program from the bastion management host that is co-located in the VMC environment. The installation program and control plane automates the process of deploying and managing the resources needed for the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

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.
Verify the cloud provider account on your host has the correct permissions to deploy the cluster. An account with incorrect permissions causes the installation process to fail with an error message that displays the missing permissions.

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 directory name to store the files that the installation program creates.
2	To view different installation details, specify `warn`, `debug`, or `error` instead of `info`.

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.

Provide values at the prompts:

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.
Select vsphere as the platform to target.
Specify the name of your vCenter instance.

Specify the user name and password for the vCenter account that has the required permissions to create the cluster.

The installation program connects to your vCenter instance.

Some VMware vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) environments with Active Directory (AD) integration might primarily require you to use the traditional login method, which requires the <domain>\ construct.

To ensure that vCenter account permission checks complete properly, consider using the User Principal Name (UPN) login method, such as <username>@<fully_qualified_domainname>.

Select the data center in your vCenter instance to connect to.
Select the default vCenter datastore to use.

Datastore and cluster names cannot exceed 60 characters; therefore, ensure the combined string length does not exceed the 60 character limit.
Select the vCenter cluster to install the OpenShift Container Platform cluster in. The installation program uses the root resource pool of the vSphere cluster as the default resource pool.
Select the network in the vCenter instance that contains the virtual IP addresses and DNS records that you configured.
Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for control plane API access.
Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for cluster ingress.
Enter the base domain. This base domain must be the same one that you used in the DNS records that you configured.
Enter a descriptive name for your cluster. The cluster name must be the same one that you used in the DNS records that you configured.

Datastore and cluster names cannot exceed 60 characters; therefore, ensure the combined string length does not exceed the 60 character limit.
Paste the pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager.

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.

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 4.13. 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

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 Linux Client entry and save the file.
Unpack the archive:
```
$ tar xvf <file>
```
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

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 Windows Client entry and save the file.
Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.
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

Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.13 macOS Client entry and save the file.

For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.13 macOS arm64 Client entry.
Unpack and unzip the archive.
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

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.
Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration:
```
$ oc whoami
```
Example output
```
system:admin
```

Creating registry storage

After you install the cluster, you must create storage for the registry Operator.

Image registry removed during installation

On platforms that do not provide shareable object storage, the OpenShift Image Registry Operator bootstraps itself as Removed. This allows openshift-installer to complete installations on these platform types.

After installation, you must edit the Image Registry Operator configuration to switch the managementState from Removed to Managed. When this has completed, you must configure storage.

Image registry storage configuration

The Image Registry Operator is not initially available for platforms that do not provide default storage. After installation, you must configure your registry to use storage so that the Registry Operator is made available.

Instructions are shown for configuring a persistent volume, which is required for production clusters. Where applicable, instructions are shown for configuring an empty directory as the storage location, which is available for only non-production clusters.

Additional instructions are provided for allowing the image registry to use block storage types by using the Recreate rollout strategy during upgrades.

Configuring registry storage for VMware vSphere

As a cluster administrator, following installation you must configure your registry to use storage.

Prerequisites

Cluster administrator permissions.
A cluster on VMware vSphere.

Persistent storage provisioned for your cluster, such as Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation.

OpenShift Container Platform supports ReadWriteOnce access for image registry storage when you have only one replica. ReadWriteOnce access also requires that the registry uses the Recreate rollout strategy. To deploy an image registry that supports high availability with two or more replicas, ReadWriteMany access is required.

Must have "100Gi" capacity.

Testing shows issues with using the NFS server on RHEL as storage backend for core services. This includes the OpenShift Container Registry and Quay, Prometheus for monitoring storage, and Elasticsearch for logging storage. Therefore, using RHEL NFS to back PVs used by core services is not recommended.

Other NFS implementations on the marketplace might not have these issues. Contact the individual NFS implementation vendor for more information on any testing that was possibly completed against these OpenShift Container Platform core components.

Procedure

To configure your registry to use storage, change the spec.storage.pvc in the configs.imageregistry/cluster resource.

When you use shared storage, review your security settings to prevent outside access.
Verify that you do not have a registry pod:
```
$ oc get pod -n openshift-image-registry -l docker-registry=default
```
Example output
```
No resourses found in openshift-image-registry namespace
```
If you do have a registry pod in your output, you do not need to continue with this procedure.

Check the registry configuration:

$ oc edit configs.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io

Example output

storage:
  pvc:
    claim: (1)

1 Leave the claim field blank to allow the automatic creation of an image-registry-storage persistent volume claim (PVC). The PVC is generated based on the default storage class. However, be aware that the default storage class might provide ReadWriteOnce (RWO) volumes, such as a RADOS Block Device (RBD), which can cause issues when you replicate to more than one replica.

Check the clusteroperator status:

$ oc get clusteroperator image-registry

Example output

NAME             VERSION                              AVAILABLE   PROGRESSING   DEGRADED   SINCE   MESSAGE
image-registry   4.7                                  True        False         False      6h50m

Configuring block registry storage for VMware vSphere

To allow the image registry to use block storage types such as vSphere Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) during upgrades as a cluster administrator, you can use the Recreate rollout strategy.

Block storage volumes are supported but not recommended for use with image registry on production clusters. An installation where the registry is configured on block storage is not highly available because the registry cannot have more than one replica.

Procedure

Enter the following command to set the image registry storage as a block storage type, patch the registry so that it uses the Recreate rollout strategy, and runs with only 1 replica:
```
$ oc patch config.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec":{"rolloutStrategy":"Recreate","replicas":1}}'
```

Provision the PV for the block storage device, and create a PVC for that volume. The requested block volume uses the ReadWriteOnce (RWO) access mode.

Create a pvc.yaml file with the following contents to define a VMware vSphere PersistentVolumeClaim object:

kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: image-registry-storage (1)
  namespace: openshift-image-registry (2)
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce (3)
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 100Gi (4)

1	A unique name that represents the `PersistentVolumeClaim` object.
2	The namespace for the `PersistentVolumeClaim` object, which is `openshift-image-registry`.
3	The access mode of the persistent volume claim. With `ReadWriteOnce`, the volume can be mounted with read and write permissions by a single node.
4	The size of the persistent volume claim.

Enter the following command to create the PersistentVolumeClaim object from the file:
```
$ oc create -f pvc.yaml -n openshift-image-registry
```

Enter the following command to edit the registry configuration so that it references the correct PVC:
```
$ oc edit config.imageregistry.operator.openshift.io -o yaml
```
Example output
```
storage:
  pvc:
    claim: (1)
```
1 By creating a custom PVC, you can leave the claim field blank for the default automatic creation of an image-registry-storage PVC.

For instructions about configuring registry storage so that it references the correct PVC, see Configuring the registry for vSphere.

Backing up VMware vSphere volumes

OpenShift Container Platform provisions new volumes as independent persistent disks to freely attach and detach the volume on any node in the cluster. As a consequence, it is not possible to back up volumes that use snapshots, or to restore volumes from snapshots. See Snapshot Limitations for more information.

Procedure

To create a backup of persistent volumes:

Stop the application that is using the persistent volume.
Clone the persistent volume.
Restart the application.
Create a backup of the cloned volume.
Delete the cloned volume.

Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, 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

See About remote health monitoring for more information about the Telemetry service

Configuring an external load balancer

You can configure an OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use an external load balancer in place of the default load balancer.

Before you configure an external load balancer, ensure that you read the "Services for an external load balancer" section.

Read the following prerequisites that apply to the service that you want to configure for your external load balancer.

MetalLB, that runs on a cluster, functions as an external load balancer.

OpenShift API prerequisites

You defined a front-end IP address.
TCP ports 6443 and 22623 are exposed on the front-end IP address of your load balancer. Check the following items:
- Port 6443 provides access to the OpenShift API service.
- Port 22623 can provide ignition startup configurations to nodes.
The front-end IP address and port 6443 are reachable by all users of your system with a location external to your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
The front-end IP address and port 22623 are reachable only by OpenShift Container Platform nodes.
The load balancer backend can communicate with OpenShift Container Platform control plane nodes on port 6443 and 22623.

Ingress Controller prerequisites

You defined a front-end IP address.
TCP ports 443 and 80 are exposed on the front-end IP address of your load balancer.
The front-end IP address, port 80 and port 443 are be reachable by all users of your system with a location external to your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
The front-end IP address, port 80 and port 443 are reachable to all nodes that operate in your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
The load balancer backend can communicate with OpenShift Container Platform nodes that run the Ingress Controller on ports 80, 443, and 1936.

Prerequisite for health check URL specifications

You can configure most load balancers by setting health check URLs that determine if a service is available or unavailable. OpenShift Container Platform provides these health checks for the OpenShift API, Machine Configuration API, and Ingress Controller backend services.

The following examples demonstrate health check specifications for the previously listed backend services:

Example of a Kubernetes API health check specification

Path: HTTPS:6443/readyz
Healthy threshold: 2
Unhealthy threshold: 2
Timeout: 10
Interval: 10

Example of a Machine Config API health check specification

Path: HTTPS:22623/healthz
Healthy threshold: 2
Unhealthy threshold: 2
Timeout: 10
Interval: 10

Example of an Ingress Controller health check specification

Path: HTTP:1936/healthz/ready
Healthy threshold: 2
Unhealthy threshold: 2
Timeout: 5
Interval: 10

Procedure

Configure the HAProxy Ingress Controller, so that you can enable access to the cluster from your load balancer on ports 6443, 443, and 80:

Example HAProxy configuration

#...
listen my-cluster-api-6443
    bind 192.168.1.100:6443
    mode tcp
    balance roundrobin
  option httpchk
  http-check connect
  http-check send meth GET uri /readyz
  http-check expect status 200
    server my-cluster-master-2 192.168.1.101:6443 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
    server my-cluster-master-0 192.168.1.102:6443 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
    server my-cluster-master-1 192.168.1.103:6443 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2

listen my-cluster-machine-config-api-22623
    bind 192.168.1.100:22623
    mode tcp
    balance roundrobin
  option httpchk
  http-check connect
  http-check send meth GET uri /healthz
  http-check expect status 200
    server my-cluster-master-2 192.168.1.101:22623 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
    server my-cluster-master-0 192.168.1.102:22623 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
    server my-cluster-master-1 192.168.1.103:22623 check inter 10s rise 2 fall 2

listen my-cluster-apps-443
        bind 192.168.1.100:443
        mode tcp
        balance roundrobin
    option httpchk
    http-check connect
    http-check send meth GET uri /healthz/ready
    http-check expect status 200
        server my-cluster-worker-0 192.168.1.111:443 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
        server my-cluster-worker-1 192.168.1.112:443 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
        server my-cluster-worker-2 192.168.1.113:443 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2

listen my-cluster-apps-80
        bind 192.168.1.100:80
        mode tcp
        balance roundrobin
    option httpchk
    http-check connect
    http-check send meth GET uri /healthz/ready
    http-check expect status 200
        server my-cluster-worker-0 192.168.1.111:80 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
        server my-cluster-worker-1 192.168.1.112:80 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
        server my-cluster-worker-2 192.168.1.113:80 check port 1936 inter 10s rise 2 fall 2
# ...

Use the curl CLI command to verify that the external load balancer and its resources are operational:

Verify that the cluster machine configuration API is accessible to the Kubernetes API server resource, by running the following command and observing the response:

$ curl https://<loadbalancer_ip_address>:6443/version --insecure

If the configuration is correct, you receive a JSON object in response:

{
  "major": "1",
  "minor": "11+",
  "gitVersion": "v1.11.0+ad103ed",
  "gitCommit": "ad103ed",
  "gitTreeState": "clean",
  "buildDate": "2019-01-09T06:44:10Z",
  "goVersion": "go1.10.3",
  "compiler": "gc",
  "platform": "linux/amd64"
}

Verify that the cluster machine configuration API is accessible to the Machine config server resource, by running the following command and observing the output:
```
$ curl -v https://<loadbalancer_ip_address>:22623/healthz --insecure
```
If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:
```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 0
```

Verify that the controller is accessible to the Ingress Controller resource on port 80, by running the following command and observing the output:

$ curl -I -L -H "Host: console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>" http://<load_balancer_front_end_IP_address>

If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
content-length: 0
location: https://console-openshift-console.apps.ocp4.private.opequon.net/
cache-control: no-cache

Verify that the controller is accessible to the Ingress Controller resource on port 443, by running the following command and observing the output:

$ curl -I -L --insecure --resolve console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>:443:<Load Balancer Front End IP Address> https://console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>

If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
referrer-policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
set-cookie: csrf-token=UlYWOyQ62LWjw2h003xtYSKlh1a0Py2hhctw0WmV2YEdhJjFyQwWcGBsja261dGLgaYO0nxzVErhiXt6QepA7g==; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Lax
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
x-frame-options: DENY
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
date: Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:29:38 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
set-cookie: 1e2670d92730b515ce3a1bb65da45062=1bf5e9573c9a2760c964ed1659cc1673; path=/; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None
cache-control: private

Configure the DNS records for your cluster to target the front-end IP addresses of the external load balancer. You must update records to your DNS server for the cluster API and applications over the load balancer.
Examples of modified DNS records
```
<load_balancer_ip_address>  A  api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>
A record pointing to Load Balancer Front End
```
```
<load_balancer_ip_address>   A apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>
A record pointing to Load Balancer Front End
```
DNS propagation might take some time for each DNS record to become available. Ensure that each DNS record propagates before validating each record.

Use the curl CLI command to verify that the external load balancer and DNS record configuration are operational:

Verify that you can access the cluster API, by running the following command and observing the output:

$ curl https://api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>:6443/version --insecure

If the configuration is correct, you receive a JSON object in response:

{
  "major": "1",
  "minor": "11+",
  "gitVersion": "v1.11.0+ad103ed",
  "gitCommit": "ad103ed",
  "gitTreeState": "clean",
  "buildDate": "2019-01-09T06:44:10Z",
  "goVersion": "go1.10.3",
  "compiler": "gc",
  "platform": "linux/amd64"
  }

Verify that you can access the cluster machine configuration, by running the following command and observing the output:
```
$ curl -v https://api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain>:22623/healthz --insecure
```
If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:
```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Length: 0
```

Verify that you can access each cluster application on port, by running the following command and observing the output:

$ curl http://console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> -I -L --insecure

If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
content-length: 0
location: https://console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster-name>.<base domain>/
cache-control: no-cacheHTTP/1.1 200 OK
referrer-policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
set-cookie: csrf-token=39HoZgztDnzjJkq/JuLJMeoKNXlfiVv2YgZc09c3TBOBU4NI6kDXaJH1LdicNhN1UsQWzon4Dor9GWGfopaTEQ==; Path=/; Secure
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
x-frame-options: DENY
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
date: Tue, 17 Nov 2020 08:42:10 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
set-cookie: 1e2670d92730b515ce3a1bb65da45062=9b714eb87e93cf34853e87a92d6894be; path=/; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None
cache-control: private

Verify that you can access each cluster application on port 443, by running the following command and observing the output:

$ curl https://console-openshift-console.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> -I -L --insecure

If the configuration is correct, the output from the command shows the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
referrer-policy: strict-origin-when-cross-origin
set-cookie: csrf-token=UlYWOyQ62LWjw2h003xtYSKlh1a0Py2hhctw0WmV2YEdhJjFyQwWcGBsja261dGLgaYO0nxzVErhiXt6QepA7g==; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Lax
x-content-type-options: nosniff
x-dns-prefetch-control: off
x-frame-options: DENY
x-xss-protection: 1; mode=block
date: Wed, 04 Oct 2023 16:29:38 GMT
content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8
set-cookie: 1e2670d92730b515ce3a1bb65da45062=1bf5e9573c9a2760c964ed1659cc1673; path=/; HttpOnly; Secure; SameSite=None
cache-control: private

Next steps

Customize your cluster.
If necessary, you can opt out of remote health reporting.
Set up your registry and configure registry storage.
Optional: View the events from the vSphere Problem Detector Operator to determine if the cluster has permission or storage configuration issues.