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The Insights Operator periodically gathers configuration and component failure status and, by default, reports that data every two hours to Red Hat. This information enables Red Hat to assess configuration and deeper failure data than is reported through Telemetry. Users of OpenShift Container Platform can display the report in the Insights Advisor service on Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console.

Additional resources

Configuring Insights Operator

Insights Operator configuration is a combination of the default Operator configuration and the configuration that is stored in either the insights-config ConfigMap object in the openshift-insights namespace, OR in the support secret in the openshift-config namespace.

When a ConfigMap object or support secret exists, the contained attribute values override the default Operator configuration values. If both a ConfigMap object and a support secret exist, the Operator reads the ConfigMap object.

The ConfigMap object does not exist by default, so an OpenShift Container Platform cluster administrator must create it.

ConfigMap object configuration structure

This example of an insights-config ConfigMap object (config.yaml configuration) shows configuration options using standard YAML formatting.

Example of Insights Operator ConfigMap object
Configurable attributes and default values

The table below describes the available configuration attributes:

The insights-config ConfigMap object follows standard YAML formatting, wherein child values are below the parent attribute and indented two spaces. For the Obfuscation attribute, enter values as bulleted children of the parent attribute.

Table 1. Insights Operator configurable attributes
Attribute name Description Value type Default value

Obfuscation: - networking

Enables the global obfuscation of IP addresses and the cluster domain name.

Boolean

false

Obfuscation: - workload_names

Obfuscate data coming from the Deployment Validation Operator if it is installed.

Boolean

false

sca: interval

Specifies the frequency of the simple content access entitlements download.

Time interval

8h

sca: disabled

Disables the simple content access entitlements download.

Boolean

false

alerting: disabled

Disables Insights Operator alerts to the cluster Prometheus instance.

Boolean

false

httpProxy, httpsProxy, noProxy

Set custom proxy for Insights Operator

URL

No default

Creating the insights-config ConfigMap object

This procedure describes how to create the insights-config ConfigMap object for the Insights Operator to set custom configurations.

Red Hat recommends you consult Red Hat Support before making changes to the default Insights Operator configuration.

Prerequisites
  • Remote health reporting is enabled, which is the default.

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  1. Go to WorkloadsConfigMaps and select Project: openshift-insights.

  2. Click Create ConfigMap.

  3. Select Configure via: YAML view and enter your configuration preferences, for example

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: insights-config
      namespace: openshift-insights
    data:
      config.yaml: |
        dataReporting:
          obfuscation:
            - networking
            - workload_names
        sca:
          disable: false
          interval: 2h
        alerting:
           disabled: false
    binaryData: {}
    immutable: false
  4. Optional: Select Form view and enter the necessary information that way.

  5. In the ConfigMap Name field, enter insights-config.

  6. In the Key field, enter config.yaml.

  7. For the Value field, either browse for a file to drag and drop into the field or enter your configuration parameters manually.

  8. Click Create and you can see the ConfigMap object and configuration information.

Understanding Insights Operator alerts

The Insights Operator declares alerts through the Prometheus monitoring system to the Alertmanager. You can view these alerts in the Alerting UI in the OpenShift Container Platform web console by using one of the following methods:

  • In the Administrator perspective, click ObserveAlerting.

  • In the Developer perspective, click Observe → <project_name> → Alerts tab.

Currently, Insights Operator sends the following alerts when the conditions are met:

Table 2. Insights Operator alerts
Alert Description

InsightsDisabled

Insights Operator is disabled.

SimpleContentAccessNotAvailable

Simple content access is not enabled in Red Hat Subscription Management.

InsightsRecommendationActive

Insights has an active recommendation for the cluster.

Disabling Insights Operator alerts

To prevent the Insights Operator from sending alerts to the cluster Prometheus instance, you create or edit the insights-config ConfigMap object.

Previously, a cluster administrator would create or edit the Insights Operator configuration using a support secret in the openshift-config namespace. Red Hat Insights now supports the creation of a ConfigMap object to configure the Operator. The Operator gives preference to the config map configuration over the support secret if both exist.

If the insights-config ConfigMap object does not exist, you must create it when you first add custom configurations. Note that configurations within the ConfigMap object take precedence over the default settings defined in the config/pod.yaml file.

Prerequisites
  • Remote health reporting is enabled, which is the default.

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as cluster-admin.

  • The insights-config ConfigMap object exists in the openshift-insights namespace.

Procedure
  1. Go to WorkloadsConfigMaps and select Project: openshift-insights.

  2. Click on the insights-config ConfigMap object to open it.

  3. Click Actions and select Edit ConfigMap.

  4. Click the YAML view radio button.

  5. In the file, set the alerting attribute to disabled: true.

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    # ...
    data:
      config.yaml: |
        alerting:
          disabled: true
    # ...
  6. Click Save. The insights-config config-map details page opens.

  7. Verify that the value of the config.yaml alerting attribute is set to disabled: true.

After you save the changes, Insights Operator no longer sends alerts to the cluster Prometheus instance.

Enabling Insights Operator alerts

When alerts are disabled, the Insights Operator no longer sends alerts to the cluster Prometheus instance. You can reenable them.

Previously, a cluster administrator would create or edit the Insights Operator configuration using a support secret in the openshift-config namespace. Red Hat Insights now supports the creation of a ConfigMap object to configure the Operator. The Operator gives preference to the config map configuration over the support secret if both exist.

Prerequisites
  • Remote health reporting is enabled, which is the default.

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as cluster-admin.

  • The insights-config ConfigMap object exists in the openshift-insights namespace.

Procedure
  1. Go to WorkloadsConfigMaps and select Project: openshift-insights.

  2. Click on the insights-config ConfigMap object to open it.

  3. Click Actions and select Edit ConfigMap.

  4. Click the YAML view radio button.

  5. In the file, set the alerting attribute to disabled: false.

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    # ...
    data:
      config.yaml: |
        alerting:
          disabled: false
    # ...
  6. Click Save. The insights-config config-map details page opens.

  7. Verify that the value of the config.yaml alerting attribute is set to disabled: false.

After you save the changes, Insights Operator again sends alerts to the cluster Prometheus instance.

Downloading your Insights Operator archive

Insights Operator stores gathered data in an archive located in the openshift-insights namespace of your cluster. You can download and review the data that is gathered by the Insights Operator.

Prerequisites
  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  1. Find the name of the running pod for the Insights Operator:

    $ oc get pods --namespace=openshift-insights -o custom-columns=:metadata.name --no-headers  --field-selector=status.phase=Running
  2. Copy the recent data archives collected by the Insights Operator:

    $ oc cp openshift-insights/<insights_operator_pod_name>:/var/lib/insights-operator ./insights-data (1)
    1 Replace <insights_operator_pod_name> with the pod name output from the preceding command.

The recent Insights Operator archives are now available in the insights-data directory.

Running an Insights Operator gather operation

You can run Insights Operator data gather operations on demand. The following procedures describe how to run the default list of gather operations using the OpenShift web console or CLI. You can customize the on demand gather function to exclude any gather operations you choose. Disabling gather operations from the default list degrades Insights Advisor’s ability to offer effective recommendations for your cluster. If you have previously disabled Insights Operator gather operations in your cluster, this procedure will override those parameters.

The DataGather custom resource is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

If you enable Technology Preview in your cluster, the Insights Operator runs gather operations in individual pods. This is part of the Technology Preview feature set for the Insights Operator and supports the new data gathering features.

Viewing Insights Operator gather durations

You can view the time it takes for the Insights Operator to gather the information contained in the archive. This helps you to understand Insights Operator resource usage and issues with Insights Advisor.

Prerequisites
  • A recent copy of your Insights Operator archive.

Procedure
  1. From your archive, open /insights-operator/gathers.json.

    The file contains a list of Insights Operator gather operations:

        {
          "name": "clusterconfig/authentication",
          "duration_in_ms": 730, (1)
          "records_count": 1,
          "errors": null,
          "panic": null
        }
    1 duration_in_ms is the amount of time in milliseconds for each gather operation.
  2. Inspect each gather operation for abnormalities.

Running an Insights Operator gather operation using the web console

You can run an Insights Operator gather operation using the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Prerequisites
  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  1. Navigate to AdministrationCustomResourceDefinitions.

  2. On the CustomResourceDefinitions page, use the Search by name field to find the DataGather resource definition and click it.

  3. On the CustomResourceDefinition details page, click the Instances tab.

  4. Click Create DataGather.

  5. To create a new DataGather operation, edit the configuration file:

    apiVersion: insights.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: DataGather
    metadata:
      name: <your_data_gather> (1)
    spec:
     gatherers: (2)
       - name: workloads
         state: Disabled
    1 Replace the <your_data_gather> with a unique name for your gather operation.
    2 Enter individual gather operations to disable under the gatherers parameter. This example disables the workloads data gather operation and will run the remainder of the default operations. To run the complete list of default gather operations, leave the spec parameter empty. You can find the complete list of gather operations in the Insights Operator documentation.
  6. Click Save.

Verification
  1. Navigate to WorkloadsPods.

  2. On the Pods page, select the Project pulldown menu, and then turn on Show default projects.

  3. Select the openshift-insights project from the Project pulldown menu.

  4. Check that your new gather operation is prefixed with your chosen name under the list of pods in the openshift-insights project. Upon completion, the Insights Operator automatically uploads the data to Red Hat for processing.

Running an Insights Operator gather operation using the OpenShift CLI

You can run an Insights Operator gather operation using the OpenShift Container Platform command line interface.

Prerequisites
  • You are logged in to OpenShift Container Platform as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  • Enter the following command to run the gather operation:

    $ oc apply -f <your_datagather_definition>.yaml

    Replace <your_datagather_definition>.yaml with a configuration file using the following parameters:

    apiVersion: insights.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: DataGather
    metadata:
      name: <your_data_gather> (1)
    spec:
     gatherers: (2)
       - name: workloads
         state: Disabled
    1 Replace the <your_data_gather> with a unique name for your gather operation.
    2 Enter individual gather operations to disable under the gatherers parameter. This example disables the workloads data gather operation and will run the remainder of the default operations. To run the complete list of default gather operations, leave the spec parameter empty. You can find the complete list of gather operations in the Insights Operator documentation.
Verification
  • Check that your new gather operation is prefixed with your chosen name under the list of pods in the openshift-insights project. Upon completion, the Insights Operator automatically uploads the data to Red Hat for processing.

Disabling the Insights Operator gather operations

You can disable the Insights Operator gather operations. Disabling the gather operations gives you the ability to increase privacy for your organization as Insights Operator will no longer gather and send Insights cluster reports to Red Hat. This will disable Insights analysis and recommendations for your cluster without affecting other core functions that require communication with Red Hat such as cluster transfers. You can view a list of attempted gather operations for your cluster from the /insights-operator/gathers.json file in your Insights Operator archive. Be aware that some gather operations only occur when certain conditions are met and might not appear in your most recent archive.

The InsightsDataGather custom resource is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

If you enable Technology Preview in your cluster, the Insights Operator runs gather operations in individual pods. This is part of the Technology Preview feature set for the Insights Operator and supports the new data gathering features.

Prerequisites
  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  1. Navigate to AdministrationCustomResourceDefinitions.

  2. On the CustomResourceDefinitions page, use the Search by name field to find the InsightsDataGather resource definition and click it.

  3. On the CustomResourceDefinition details page, click the Instances tab.

  4. Click cluster, and then click the YAML tab.

  5. Disable the gather operations by performing one of the following edits to the InsightsDataGather configuration file:

    1. To disable all the gather operations, enter all under the disabledGatherers key:

      apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1alpha1
      kind: InsightsDataGather
      metadata:
      ....
      
      spec: (1)
        gatherConfig:
          disabledGatherers:
            - all (2)
      1 The spec parameter specifies gather configurations.
      2 The all value disables all gather operations.
    2. To disable individual gather operations, enter their values under the disabledGatherers key:

      spec:
        gatherConfig:
          disabledGatherers:
            - clusterconfig/container_images (1)
            - clusterconfig/host_subnets
            - workloads/workload_info
      1 Example individual gather operation
  6. Click Save.

    After you save the changes, the Insights Operator gather configurations are updated and the operations will no longer occur.

Disabling gather operations degrades Insights Advisor’s ability to offer effective recommendations for your cluster.

Enabling the Insights Operator gather operations

You can enable the Insights Operator gather operations, if the gather operations have been disabled.

The InsightsDataGather custom resource is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Prerequisites
  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure
  1. Navigate to AdministrationCustomResourceDefinitions.

  2. On the CustomResourceDefinitions page, use the Search by name field to find the InsightsDataGather resource definition and click it.

  3. On the CustomResourceDefinition details page, click the Instances tab.

  4. Click cluster, and then click the YAML tab.

  5. Enable the gather operations by performing one of the following edits:

    • To enable all disabled gather operations, remove the gatherConfig stanza:

      apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1alpha1
      kind: InsightsDataGather
      metadata:
      ....
      
      spec:
        gatherConfig: (1)
          disabledGatherers: all
      1 Remove the gatherConfig stanza to enable all gather operations.
    • To enable individual gather operations, remove their values under the disabledGatherers key:

      spec:
        gatherConfig:
          disabledGatherers:
            - clusterconfig/container_images (1)
            - clusterconfig/host_subnets
            - workloads/workload_info
      1 Remove one or more gather operations.
  6. Click Save.

    After you save the changes, the Insights Operator gather configurations are updated and the affected gather operations start.

Disabling gather operations degrades Insights Advisor’s ability to offer effective recommendations for your cluster.

Obfuscating Deployment Validation Operator data

Cluster administrators can configure the Insight Operator to obfuscate data from the Deployment Validation Operator (DVO), if the Operator is installed. When the workload_names value is added to the insights-config ConfigMap object, workload names—rather than UIDs—are displayed in Insights for Openshift, making them more recognizable for cluster administrators.

Prerequisites
  • Remote health reporting is enabled, which is the default.

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console with the "cluster-admin" role.

  • The insights-config ConfigMap object exists in the openshift-insights namespace.

  • The cluster is self managed and the Deployment Validation Operator is installed.

Procedure
  1. Go to WorkloadsConfigMaps and select Project: openshift-insights.

  2. Click on the insights-config ConfigMap object to open it.

  3. Click Actions and select Edit ConfigMap.

  4. Click the YAML view radio button.

  5. In the file, set the obfuscation attribute with the workload_names value.

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    # ...
    data:
      config.yaml: |
        dataReporting:
          obfuscation:
            - workload_names
    # ...
  6. Click Save. The insights-config config-map details page opens.

  7. Verify that the value of the config.yaml obfuscation attribute is set to - workload_names.