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Installing RHEL on the provisioner node

With the configuration of the prerequisites complete, the next step is to install RHEL 9.x on the provisioner node. The installer uses the provisioner node as the orchestrator while installing the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. For the purposes of this document, installing RHEL on the provisioner node is out of scope. However, options include but are not limited to using a RHEL Satellite server, PXE, or installation media.

Preparing the provisioner node for OpenShift Container Platform installation

Perform the following steps to prepare the environment.

Procedure
  1. Log in to the provisioner node via ssh.

  2. Create a non-root user (kni) and provide that user with sudo privileges:

    # useradd kni
    # passwd kni
    # echo "kni ALL=(root) NOPASSWD:ALL" | tee -a /etc/sudoers.d/kni
    # chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/kni
  3. Create an ssh key for the new user:

    # su - kni -c "ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /home/kni/.ssh/id_rsa -N ''"
  4. Log in as the new user on the provisioner node:

    # su - kni
  5. Use Red Hat Subscription Manager to register the provisioner node:

    $ sudo subscription-manager register --username=<user> --password=<pass> --auto-attach
    $ sudo subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-9-for-<architecture>-appstream-rpms --enable=rhel-9-for-<architecture>-baseos-rpms

    For more information about Red Hat Subscription Manager, see Using and Configuring Red Hat Subscription Manager.

  6. Install the following packages:

    $ sudo dnf install -y libvirt qemu-kvm mkisofs python3-devel jq ipmitool
  7. Modify the user to add the libvirt group to the newly created user:

    $ sudo usermod --append --groups libvirt <user>
  8. Restart firewalld and enable the http service:

    $ sudo systemctl start firewalld
    $ sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=http --permanent
    $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
  9. Start and enable the libvirtd service:

    $ sudo systemctl enable libvirtd --now
  10. Create the default storage pool and start it:

    $ sudo virsh pool-define-as --name default --type dir --target /var/lib/libvirt/images
    $ sudo virsh pool-start default
    $ sudo virsh pool-autostart default
  11. Create a pull-secret.txt file:

    $ vim pull-secret.txt

    In a web browser, navigate to Install OpenShift on Bare Metal with installer-provisioned infrastructure. Click Copy pull secret. Paste the contents into the pull-secret.txt file and save the contents in the kni user’s home directory.

Checking NTP server synchronization

The OpenShift Container Platform installation program installs the chrony Network Time Protocol (NTP) service on the cluster nodes. To complete installation, each node must have access to an NTP time server. You can verify NTP server synchronization by using the chrony service.

For disconnected clusters, you must configure the NTP servers on the control plane nodes. For more information see the Additional resources section.

Prerequisites
  • You installed the chrony package on the target node.

Procedure
  1. Log in to the node by using the ssh command.

  2. View the NTP servers available to the node by running the following command:

    $ chronyc sources
    Example output
    MS Name/IP address         Stratum Poll Reach LastRx Last sample
    ===============================================================================
    ^+ time.cloudflare.com           3  10   377   187   -209us[ -209us] +/-   32ms
    ^+ t1.time.ir2.yahoo.com         2  10   377   185  -4382us[-4382us] +/-   23ms
    ^+ time.cloudflare.com           3  10   377   198   -996us[-1220us] +/-   33ms
    ^* brenbox.westnet.ie            1  10   377   193  -9538us[-9761us] +/-   24ms
  3. Use the ping command to ensure that the node can access an NTP server, for example:

    $ ping time.cloudflare.com
    Example output
    PING time.cloudflare.com (162.159.200.123) 56(84) bytes of data.
    64 bytes from time.cloudflare.com (162.159.200.123): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=32.3 ms
    64 bytes from time.cloudflare.com (162.159.200.123): icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=30.9 ms
    64 bytes from time.cloudflare.com (162.159.200.123): icmp_seq=3 ttl=54 time=36.7 ms
    ...

Configuring networking

Before installation, you must configure the networking on the provisioner node. Installer-provisioned clusters deploy with a bare-metal bridge and network, and an optional provisioning bridge and network.

Configure networking

You can also configure networking from the web console.

Procedure
  1. Export the bare-metal network NIC name by running the following command:

    $ export PUB_CONN=<baremetal_nic_name>
  2. Configure the bare-metal network:

    The SSH connection might disconnect after executing these steps.

    1. For a network using DHCP, run the following command:

      $ sudo nohup bash -c "
          nmcli con down \"$PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli con delete \"$PUB_CONN\"
          # RHEL 8.1 appends the word \"System\" in front of the connection, delete in case it exists
          nmcli con down \"System $PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli con delete \"System $PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli connection add ifname baremetal type bridge <con_name> baremetal bridge.stp no (1)
          nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname \"$PUB_CONN\" master baremetal
          pkill dhclient;dhclient baremetal
      "
      1 Replace <con_name> with the connection name.
    2. For a network using static IP addressing and no DHCP network, run the following command:

      $ sudo nohup bash -c "
          nmcli con down \"$PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli con delete \"$PUB_CONN\"
          # RHEL 8.1 appends the word \"System\" in front of the connection, delete in case it exists
          nmcli con down \"System $PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli con delete \"System $PUB_CONN\"
          nmcli connection add ifname baremetal type bridge con-name baremetal bridge.stp no ipv4.method manual ipv4.addr "x.x.x.x/yy" ipv4.gateway "a.a.a.a" ipv4.dns "b.b.b.b" (1)
          nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname \"$PUB_CONN\" master baremetal
          nmcli con up baremetal
      "
      1 Replace <con_name> with the connection name. Replace x.x.x.x/yy with the IP address and CIDR for the network. Replace a.a.a.a with the network gateway. Replace b.b.b.b with the IP address of the DNS server.
  3. Optional: If you are deploying with a provisioning network, export the provisioning network NIC name by running the following command:

    $ export PROV_CONN=<prov_nic_name>
  4. Optional: If you are deploying with a provisioning network, configure the provisioning network by running the following command:

    $ sudo nohup bash -c "
        nmcli con down \"$PROV_CONN\"
        nmcli con delete \"$PROV_CONN\"
        nmcli connection add ifname provisioning type bridge con-name provisioning
        nmcli con add type bridge-slave ifname \"$PROV_CONN\" master provisioning
        nmcli connection modify provisioning ipv6.addresses fd00:1101::1/64 ipv6.method manual
        nmcli con down provisioning
        nmcli con up provisioning
    "

    The SSH connection might disconnect after executing these steps.

    The IPv6 address can be any address that is not routable through the bare-metal network.

    Ensure that UEFI is enabled and UEFI PXE settings are set to the IPv6 protocol when using IPv6 addressing.

  5. Optional: If you are deploying with a provisioning network, configure the IPv4 address on the provisioning network connection by running the following command:

    $ nmcli connection modify provisioning ipv4.addresses 172.22.0.254/24 ipv4.method manual
  6. SSH back into the provisioner node (if required) by running the following command:

    # ssh kni@provisioner.<cluster-name>.<domain>
  7. Verify that the connection bridges have been properly created by running the following command:

    $ sudo nmcli con show
    Example output
    NAME               UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE
    baremetal          4d5133a5-8351-4bb9-bfd4-3af264801530  bridge    baremetal
    provisioning       43942805-017f-4d7d-a2c2-7cb3324482ed  bridge    provisioning
    virbr0             d9bca40f-eee1-410b-8879-a2d4bb0465e7  bridge    virbr0
    bridge-slave-eno1  76a8ed50-c7e5-4999-b4f6-6d9014dd0812  ethernet  eno1
    bridge-slave-eno2  f31c3353-54b7-48de-893a-02d2b34c4736  ethernet  eno2

Optional: Creating a manifest object that includes a customized br-ex bridge

As an alternative to using the configure-ovs.sh shell script to set a customized br-ex bridge on a bare-metal platform, you can create a MachineConfig object that includes a customized br-ex bridge network configuration.

Creating a MachineConfig object that includes a customized br-ex bridge 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.

Consider the following use cases for creating a manifest object that includes a customized br-ex bridge:

  • You want to make postinstallation changes to the bridge, such as changing the Open vSwitch (OVS) or OVN-Kubernetes br-ex bridge network. The configure-ovs.sh shell script does not support making postinstallation changes to the bridge.

  • You want to deploy the bridge on a different interface than the interface available on a host or server IP address.

  • You want to make advanced configurations to the bridge that are not possible with the configure-ovs.sh shell script. Using the script for these configurations might result in the bridge failing to connect multiple network interfaces and facilitating data forwarding between the interfaces.

If you require an environment with a single network interface controller (NIC) and default network settings, use the configure-ovs.sh shell script.

After you install Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) and the system reboots, the Machine Config Operator injects Ignition configuration files into each node in your cluster, so that each node received the br-ex bridge network configuration. To prevent configuration conflicts, the configure-ovs.sh shell script receives a signal to not configure the br-ex bridge.

Prerequisites
  • Optional: You have installed the nmstate API so that you can validate the NMState configuration.

Procedure
  1. Create a NMState configuration file that has decoded base64 information for your customized br-ex bridge network:

    Example of an NMState configuration for a customized br-ex bridge network
    interfaces:
    - name: enp2s0 (1)
      type: ethernet (2)
      state: up (3)
      ipv4:
        enabled: false (4)
      ipv6:
        enabled: false
    - name: br-ex
      type: ovs-bridge
      state: up
      ipv4:
        enabled: false
        dhcp: false
      ipv6:
        enabled: false
        dhcp: false
      bridge:
        port:
        - name: enp2s0 (5)
        - name: br-ex
    - name: br-ex
      type: ovs-interface
      state: up
      copy-mac-from: enp2s0
      ipv4:
        enabled: true
        dhcp: true
      ipv6:
        enabled: false
        dhcp: false
    # ...
    1 Name of the interface.
    2 The type of ethernet.
    3 The requested state for the interface after creation.
    4 Disables IPv4 and IPv6 in this example.
    5 The node NIC to which the bridge attaches.
  2. Use the cat command to base64-encode the contents of the NMState configuration:

    $ cat <nmstate_configuration>.yaml | base64 (1)
    1 Replace <nmstate_configuration> with the name of your NMState resource YAML file.
  3. Create a MachineConfig manifest file and define a customized br-ex bridge network configuration analogous to the following example:

    apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
    kind: MachineConfig
    metadata:
      labels:
        machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker (1)
      name: 10-br-ex-worker (2)
    spec:
      config:
        ignition:
          version: 3.2.0
        storage:
          files:
          - contents:
              source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,<base64_encoded_nmstate_configuration> (3)
            mode: 0644
            overwrite: true
            path: /etc/nmstate/openshift/cluster.yml
    # ...
    1 For each node in your cluster, specify the hostname path to your node and the base-64 encoded Ignition configuration file data for the machine type. If you have a single global configuration specified in an /etc/nmstate/openshift/cluster.yml configuration file that you want to apply to all nodes in your cluster, you do not need to specify the hostname path for each node. The worker role is the default role for nodes in your cluster. The .yaml extension does not work when specifying the hostname path for each node or all nodes in the MachineConfig manifest file.
    2 The name of the policy.
    3 Writes the encoded base64 information to the specified path.

Optional: Scaling each machine set to compute nodes

To apply a customized br-ex bridge configuration to all compute nodes in your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, you must edit your MachineConfig custom resource (CR) and modify its roles. Additionally, you must create a BareMetalHost CR that defines information for your bare-metal machine, such as hostname, credentials, and so on.

After you configure these resources, you must scale machine sets, so that the machine sets can apply the resource configuration to each compute node and reboot the nodes.

Prerequisites
  • You created a MachineConfig manifest object that includes a customized br-ex bridge configuration.

Procedure
  1. Edit the MachineConfig CR by entering the following command:

    $ oc edit mc <machineconfig_custom_resource_name>
  2. Add each compute node configuration to the CR, so that the CR can manage roles for each defined compute node in your cluster.

  3. Create a Secret object named extraworker-secret that has a minimal static IP configuration.

  4. Apply the extraworker-secret secret to each node in your cluster by entering the following command. This step provides each compute node access to the Ignition config file.

    $ oc apply -f ./extraworker-secret.yaml
  5. Create a BareMetalHost resource and specify the network secret in the preprovisioningNetworkDataName parameter:

    Example BareMetalHost resource with an attached network secret
    apiVersion: metal3.io/v1alpha1
    kind: BareMetalHost
    spec:
    # ...
      preprovisioningNetworkDataName: ostest-extraworker-0-network-config-secret
    # ...
  6. To manage the BareMetalHost object within the openshift-machine-api namespace of your cluster, change to the namespace by entering the following command:

    $ oc project openshift-machine-api
  7. Get the machine sets:

    $ oc get machinesets
  8. Scale each machine set by entering the following command. You must run this command for each machine set.

    $ oc scale machineset <machineset_name> --replicas=<n> (1)
    1 Where <machineset_name> is the name of the machine set and <n> is the number of compute nodes.

Establishing communication between subnets

In a typical OpenShift Container Platform cluster setup, all nodes, including the control plane and compute nodes, reside in the same network. However, for edge computing scenarios, it can be beneficial to locate compute nodes closer to the edge. This often involves using different network segments or subnets for the remote nodes than the subnet used by the control plane and local compute nodes. Such a setup can reduce latency for the edge and allow for enhanced scalability.

Before installing OpenShift Container Platform, you must configure the network properly to ensure that the edge subnets containing the remote nodes can reach the subnet containing the control plane nodes and receive traffic from the control plane too.

You can run control plane nodes in the same subnet or multiple subnets by configuring a user-managed load balancer in place of the default load balancer. With a multiple subnet environment, you can reduce the risk of your OpenShift Container Platform cluster from failing because of a hardware failure or a network outage. For more information, see "Services for a user-managed load balancer" and "Configuring a user-managed load balancer".

Running control plane nodes in a multiple subnet environment requires completion of the following key tasks:

  • Configuring a user-managed load balancer instead of the default load balancer by specifying UserManaged in the loadBalancer.type parameter of the install-config.yaml file.

  • Configuring a user-managed load balancer address in the ingressVIPs and apiVIPs parameters of the install-config.yaml file.

  • Adding the multiple subnet Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and the user-managed load balancer IP addresses to the networking.machineNetworks parameter in the install-config.yaml file.

Deploying a cluster with multiple subnets requires using virtual media, such as redfish-virtualmedia and idrac-virtualmedia.

This procedure details the network configuration required to allow the remote compute nodes in the second subnet to communicate effectively with the control plane nodes in the first subnet and to allow the control plane nodes in the first subnet to communicate effectively with the remote compute nodes in the second subnet.

In this procedure, the cluster spans two subnets:

  • The first subnet (10.0.0.0) contains the control plane and local compute nodes.

  • The second subnet (192.168.0.0) contains the edge compute nodes.

Procedure
  1. Configure the first subnet to communicate with the second subnet:

    1. Log in as root to a control plane node by running the following command:

      $ sudo su -
    2. Get the name of the network interface by running the following command:

      # nmcli dev status
    3. Add a route to the second subnet (192.168.0.0) via the gateway by running the following command:

      # nmcli connection modify <interface_name> +ipv4.routes "192.168.0.0/24 via <gateway>"

      Replace <interface_name> with the interface name. Replace <gateway> with the IP address of the actual gateway.

      Example
      # nmcli connection modify eth0 +ipv4.routes "192.168.0.0/24 via 192.168.0.1"
    4. Apply the changes by running the following command:

      # nmcli connection up <interface_name>

      Replace <interface_name> with the interface name.

    5. Verify the routing table to ensure the route has been added successfully:

      # ip route
    6. Repeat the previous steps for each control plane node in the first subnet.

      Adjust the commands to match your actual interface names and gateway.

  2. Configure the second subnet to communicate with the first subnet:

    1. Log in as root to a remote compute node by running the following command:

      $ sudo su -
    2. Get the name of the network interface by running the following command:

      # nmcli dev status
    3. Add a route to the first subnet (10.0.0.0) via the gateway by running the following command:

      # nmcli connection modify <interface_name> +ipv4.routes "10.0.0.0/24 via <gateway>"

      Replace <interface_name> with the interface name. Replace <gateway> with the IP address of the actual gateway.

      Example
      # nmcli connection modify eth0 +ipv4.routes "10.0.0.0/24 via 10.0.0.1"
    4. Apply the changes by running the following command:

      # nmcli connection up <interface_name>

      Replace <interface_name> with the interface name.

    5. Verify the routing table to ensure the route has been added successfully by running the following command:

      # ip route
    6. Repeat the previous steps for each compute node in the second subnet.

      Adjust the commands to match your actual interface names and gateway.

  3. After you have configured the networks, test the connectivity to ensure the remote nodes can reach the control plane nodes and the control plane nodes can reach the remote nodes.

    1. From the control plane nodes in the first subnet, ping a remote node in the second subnet by running the following command:

      $ ping <remote_node_ip_address>

      If the ping is successful, it means the control plane nodes in the first subnet can reach the remote nodes in the second subnet. If you do not receive a response, review the network configurations and repeat the procedure for the node.

    2. From the remote nodes in the second subnet, ping a control plane node in the first subnet by running the following command:

      $ ping <control_plane_node_ip_address>

      If the ping is successful, it means the remote compute nodes in the second subnet can reach the control plane in the first subnet. If you do not receive a response, review the network configurations and repeat the procedure for the node.

Retrieving the OpenShift Container Platform installer

Use the stable-4.x version of the installation program and your selected architecture to deploy the generally available stable version of OpenShift Container Platform:

$ export VERSION=stable-4.16
$ export RELEASE_ARCH=<architecture>
$ export RELEASE_IMAGE=$(curl -s https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/$RELEASE_ARCH/clients/ocp/$VERSION/release.txt | grep 'Pull From: quay.io' | awk -F ' ' '{print $3}')

Extracting the OpenShift Container Platform installer

After retrieving the installer, the next step is to extract it.

Procedure
  1. Set the environment variables:

    $ export cmd=openshift-baremetal-install
    $ export pullsecret_file=~/pull-secret.txt
    $ export extract_dir=$(pwd)
  2. Get the oc binary:

    $ curl -s https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/ocp/$VERSION/openshift-client-linux.tar.gz | tar zxvf - oc
  3. Extract the installer:

    $ sudo cp oc /usr/local/bin
    $ oc adm release extract --registry-config "${pullsecret_file}" --command=$cmd --to "${extract_dir}" ${RELEASE_IMAGE}
    $ sudo cp openshift-baremetal-install /usr/local/bin

Optional: Creating an RHCOS images cache

To employ image caching, you must download the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image used by the bootstrap VM to provision the cluster nodes. Image caching is optional, but it is especially useful when running the installation program on a network with limited bandwidth.

The installation program no longer needs the clusterOSImage RHCOS image because the correct image is in the release payload.

If you are running the installation program on a network with limited bandwidth and the RHCOS images download takes more than 15 to 20 minutes, the installation program will timeout. Caching images on a web server will help in such scenarios.

If you enable TLS for the HTTPD server, you must confirm the root certificate is signed by an authority trusted by the client and verify the trusted certificate chain between your OpenShift Container Platform hub and spoke clusters and the HTTPD server. Using a server configured with an untrusted certificate prevents the images from being downloaded to the image creation service. Using untrusted HTTPS servers is not supported.

Install a container that contains the images.

Procedure
  1. Install podman:

    $ sudo dnf install -y podman
  2. Open firewall port 8080 to be used for RHCOS image caching:

    $ sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8080/tcp --zone=public --permanent
    $ sudo firewall-cmd --reload
  3. Create a directory to store the bootstraposimage:

    $ mkdir /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache
  4. Set the appropriate SELinux context for the newly created directory:

    $ sudo semanage fcontext -a -t httpd_sys_content_t "/home/kni/rhcos_image_cache(/.*)?"
    $ sudo restorecon -Rv /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache/
  5. Get the URI for the RHCOS image that the installation program will deploy on the bootstrap VM:

    $ export RHCOS_QEMU_URI=$(/usr/local/bin/openshift-baremetal-install coreos print-stream-json | jq -r --arg ARCH "$(arch)" '.architectures[$ARCH].artifacts.qemu.formats["qcow2.gz"].disk.location')
  6. Get the name of the image that the installation program will deploy on the bootstrap VM:

    $ export RHCOS_QEMU_NAME=${RHCOS_QEMU_URI##*/}
  7. Get the SHA hash for the RHCOS image that will be deployed on the bootstrap VM:

    $ export RHCOS_QEMU_UNCOMPRESSED_SHA256=$(/usr/local/bin/openshift-baremetal-install coreos print-stream-json | jq -r --arg ARCH "$(arch)" '.architectures[$ARCH].artifacts.qemu.formats["qcow2.gz"].disk["uncompressed-sha256"]')
  8. Download the image and place it in the /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache directory:

    $ curl -L ${RHCOS_QEMU_URI} -o /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache/${RHCOS_QEMU_NAME}
  9. Confirm SELinux type is of httpd_sys_content_t for the new file:

    $ ls -Z /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache
  10. Create the pod:

    $ podman run -d --name rhcos_image_cache \(1)
    -v /home/kni/rhcos_image_cache:/var/www/html \
    -p 8080:8080/tcp \
    registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/httpd-24
    1 Creates a caching webserver with the name rhcos_image_cache. This pod serves the bootstrapOSImage image in the install-config.yaml file for deployment.
  11. Generate the bootstrapOSImage configuration:

    $ export BAREMETAL_IP=$(ip addr show dev baremetal | awk '/inet /{print $2}' | cut -d"/" -f1)
    $ export BOOTSTRAP_OS_IMAGE="http://${BAREMETAL_IP}:8080/${RHCOS_QEMU_NAME}?sha256=${RHCOS_QEMU_UNCOMPRESSED_SHA256}"
    $ echo "    bootstrapOSImage=${BOOTSTRAP_OS_IMAGE}"
  12. Add the required configuration to the install-config.yaml file under platform.baremetal:

    platform:
      baremetal:
        bootstrapOSImage: <bootstrap_os_image>  (1)
    
    1 Replace <bootstrap_os_image> with the value of $BOOTSTRAP_OS_IMAGE.

    See the "Configuring the install-config.yaml file" section for additional details.

Services for a user-managed load balancer

You can configure an OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use a user-managed load balancer in place of the default load balancer.

Configuring a user-managed load balancer depends on your vendor’s load balancer.

The information and examples in this section are for guideline purposes only. Consult the vendor documentation for more specific information about the vendor’s load balancer.

Red Hat supports the following services for a user-managed load balancer:

  • Ingress Controller

  • OpenShift API

  • OpenShift MachineConfig API

You can choose whether you want to configure one or all of these services for a user-managed load balancer. Configuring only the Ingress Controller service is a common configuration option. To better understand each service, view the following diagrams:

An image that shows an example network workflow of an Ingress Controller operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment.
Figure 1. Example network workflow that shows an Ingress Controller operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment
An image that shows an example network workflow of an OpenShift API operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment.
Figure 2. Example network workflow that shows an OpenShift API operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment
An image that shows an example network workflow of an OpenShift MachineConfig API operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment.
Figure 3. Example network workflow that shows an OpenShift MachineConfig API operating in an OpenShift Container Platform environment

The following configuration options are supported for user-managed load balancers:

  • Use a node selector to map the Ingress Controller to a specific set of nodes. You must assign a static IP address to each node in this set, or configure each node to receive the same IP address from the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). Infrastructure nodes commonly receive this type of configuration.

  • Target all IP addresses on a subnet. This configuration can reduce maintenance overhead, because you can create and destroy nodes within those networks without reconfiguring the load balancer targets. If you deploy your ingress pods by using a machine set on a smaller network, such as a /27 or /28, you can simplify your load balancer targets.

    You can list all IP addresses that exist in a network by checking the machine config pool’s resources.

Before you configure a user-managed load balancer for your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, consider the following information:

  • For a front-end IP address, you can use the same IP address for the front-end IP address, the Ingress Controller’s load balancer, and API load balancer. Check the vendor’s documentation for this capability.

  • For a back-end IP address, ensure that an IP address for an OpenShift Container Platform control plane node does not change during the lifetime of the user-managed load balancer. You can achieve this by completing one of the following actions:

    • Assign a static IP address to each control plane node.

    • Configure each node to receive the same IP address from the DHCP every time the node requests a DHCP lease. Depending on the vendor, the DHCP lease might be in the form of an IP reservation or a static DHCP assignment.

  • Manually define each node that runs the Ingress Controller in the user-managed load balancer for the Ingress Controller back-end service. For example, if the Ingress Controller moves to an undefined node, a connection outage can occur.

Configuring a user-managed load balancer

You can configure an OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use a user-managed load balancer in place of the default load balancer.

Before you configure a user-managed load balancer, ensure that you read the "Services for a user-managed load balancer" section.

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

MetalLB, which runs on a cluster, functions as a user-managed 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 show 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
  1. Configure the HAProxy Ingress Controller, so that you can enable access to the cluster from your load balancer on ports 6443, 22623, 443, and 80. Depending on your needs, you can specify the IP address of a single subnet or IP addresses from multiple subnets in your HAProxy configuration.

    Example HAProxy configuration with one listed subnet
    # ...
    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
    # ...
    Example HAProxy configuration with multiple listed subnets
    # ...
    listen api-server-6443
        bind *:6443
        mode tcp
          server master-00 192.168.83.89:6443 check inter 1s
          server master-01 192.168.84.90:6443 check inter 1s
          server master-02 192.168.85.99:6443 check inter 1s
          server bootstrap 192.168.80.89:6443 check inter 1s
    
    listen machine-config-server-22623
        bind *:22623
        mode tcp
          server master-00 192.168.83.89:22623 check inter 1s
          server master-01 192.168.84.90:22623 check inter 1s
          server master-02 192.168.85.99:22623 check inter 1s
          server bootstrap 192.168.80.89:22623 check inter 1s
    
    listen ingress-router-80
        bind *:80
        mode tcp
        balance source
          server worker-00 192.168.83.100:80 check inter 1s
          server worker-01 192.168.83.101:80 check inter 1s
    
    listen ingress-router-443
        bind *:443
        mode tcp
        balance source
          server worker-00 192.168.83.100:443 check inter 1s
          server worker-01 192.168.83.101:443 check inter 1s
    
    listen ironic-api-6385
        bind *:6385
        mode tcp
        balance source
          server master-00 192.168.83.89:6385 check inter 1s
          server master-01 192.168.84.90:6385 check inter 1s
          server master-02 192.168.85.99:6385 check inter 1s
          server bootstrap 192.168.80.89:6385 check inter 1s
    
    listen inspector-api-5050
        bind *:5050
        mode tcp
        balance source
          server master-00 192.168.83.89:5050 check inter 1s
          server master-01 192.168.84.90:5050 check inter 1s
          server master-02 192.168.85.99:5050 check inter 1s
          server bootstrap 192.168.80.89:5050 check inter 1s
    # ...
  2. Use the curl CLI command to verify that the user-managed load balancer and its resources are operational:

    1. 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"
      }
    2. 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
    3. 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
    4. 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
  3. Configure the DNS records for your cluster to target the front-end IP addresses of the user-managed 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.

  4. For your OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use the user-managed load balancer, you must specify the following configuration in your cluster’s install-config.yaml file:

    # ...
    platform:
      baremetal:
        loadBalancer:
          type: UserManaged (1)
          apiVIPs:
          - <api_ip> (2)
          ingressVIPs:
          - <ingress_ip> (3)
    # ...
    1 Set UserManaged for the type parameter to specify a user-managed load balancer for your cluster. The parameter defaults to OpenShiftManagedDefault, which denotes the default internal load balancer. For services defined in an openshift-kni-infra namespace, a user-managed load balancer can deploy the coredns service to pods in your cluster but ignores keepalived and haproxy services.
    2 Required parameter when you specify a user-managed load balancer. Specify the user-managed load balancer’s public IP address, so that the Kubernetes API can communicate with the user-managed load balancer.
    3 Required parameter when you specify a user-managed load balancer. Specify the user-managed load balancer’s public IP address, so that the user-managed load balancer can manage ingress traffic for your cluster.
Verification
  1. Use the curl CLI command to verify that the user-managed load balancer and DNS record configuration are operational:

    1. 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"
        }
    2. 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
    3. 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
    4. 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

Setting the cluster node hostnames through DHCP

On Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines, NetworkManager sets the hostnames. By default, DHCP provides the hostnames to NetworkManager, which is the recommended method. NetworkManager gets the hostnames through a reverse DNS lookup in the following cases:

  • If DHCP does not provide the hostnames

  • If you use kernel arguments to set the hostnames

  • If you use another method to set the hostnames

Reverse DNS lookup occurs after the network has been initialized on a node, and can increase the time it takes NetworkManager to set the hostname. Other system services can start prior to NetworkManager setting the hostname, which can cause those services to use a default hostname such as localhost.

You can avoid the delay in setting hostnames by using DHCP to provide the hostname for each cluster node. Additionally, setting the hostnames through DHCP can bypass manual DNS record name configuration errors in environments that have a DNS split-horizon implementation.

Configuring the install-config.yaml file

Configuring the install-config.yaml file

The install-config.yaml file requires some additional details. Most of the information teaches the installation program and the resulting cluster enough about the available hardware that it is able to fully manage it.

The installation program no longer needs the clusterOSImage RHCOS image because the correct image is in the release payload.

  1. Configure install-config.yaml. Change the appropriate variables to match the environment, including pullSecret and sshKey:

    apiVersion: v1
    baseDomain: <domain>
    metadata:
      name: <cluster_name>
    networking:
      machineNetwork:
      - cidr: <public_cidr>
      networkType: OVNKubernetes
    compute:
    - name: worker
      replicas: 2 (1)
    controlPlane:
      name: master
      replicas: 3
      platform:
        baremetal: {}
    platform:
      baremetal:
        apiVIPs:
          - <api_ip>
        ingressVIPs:
          - <wildcard_ip>
        provisioningNetworkCIDR: <CIDR>
        bootstrapExternalStaticIP: <bootstrap_static_ip_address> (2)
        bootstrapExternalStaticGateway: <bootstrap_static_gateway> (3)
        bootstrapExternalStaticDNS: <bootstrap_static_dns> (4)
        hosts:
          - name: openshift-master-0
            role: master
            bmc:
              address: ipmi://<out_of_band_ip> (5)
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            rootDeviceHints:
             deviceName: "<installation_disk_drive_path>" (6)
          - name: <openshift_master_1>
            role: master
            bmc:
              address: ipmi://<out_of_band_ip>
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            rootDeviceHints:
             deviceName: "<installation_disk_drive_path>"
          - name: <openshift_master_2>
            role: master
            bmc:
              address: ipmi://<out_of_band_ip>
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            rootDeviceHints:
             deviceName: "<installation_disk_drive_path>"
          - name: <openshift_worker_0>
            role: worker
            bmc:
              address: ipmi://<out_of_band_ip>
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
          - name: <openshift_worker_1>
            role: worker
            bmc:
              address: ipmi://<out_of_band_ip>
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            rootDeviceHints:
             deviceName: "<installation_disk_drive_path>"
    pullSecret: '<pull_secret>'
    sshKey: '<ssh_pub_key>'
    1 Scale the compute machines based on the number of compute nodes that are part of the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. Valid options for the replicas value are 0 and integers greater than or equal to 2. Set the number of replicas to 0 to deploy a three-node cluster, which contains only three control plane machines. A three-node cluster is a smaller, more resource-efficient cluster that can be used for testing, development, and production. You cannot install the cluster with only one compute node.
    2 When deploying a cluster with static IP addresses, you must set the bootstrapExternalStaticIP configuration setting to specify the static IP address of the bootstrap VM when there is no DHCP server on the bare-metal network.
    3 When deploying a cluster with static IP addresses, you must set the bootstrapExternalStaticGateway configuration setting to specify the gateway IP address for the bootstrap VM when there is no DHCP server on the bare-metal network.
    4 When deploying a cluster with static IP addresses, you must set the bootstrapExternalStaticDNS configuration setting to specify the DNS address for the bootstrap VM when there is no DHCP server on the bare-metal network.
    5 See the BMC addressing sections for more options.
    6 To set the path to the installation disk drive, enter the kernel name of the disk. For example, /dev/sda.

    Because the disk discovery order is not guaranteed, the kernel name of the disk can change across booting options for machines with multiple disks. For example, /dev/sda becomes /dev/sdb and vice versa. To avoid this issue, you must use persistent disk attributes, such as the disk World Wide Name (WWN) or /dev/disk/by-path/. It is recommended to use the /dev/disk/by-path/<device_path> link to the storage location. To use the disk WWN, replace the deviceName parameter with the wwnWithExtension parameter. Depending on the parameter that you use, enter either of the following values:

    • The disk name. For example, /dev/sda, or /dev/disk/by-path/.

    • The disk WWN. For example, "0x64cd98f04fde100024684cf3034da5c2". Ensure that you enter the disk WWN value within quotes so that it is used as a string value and not a hexadecimal value.

    Failure to meet these requirements for the rootDeviceHints parameter might result in the following error:

    ironic-inspector inspection failed: No disks satisfied root device hints

    Before OpenShift Container Platform 4.12, the cluster installation program only accepted an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address for the apiVIP and ingressVIP configuration settings. In OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 and later, these configuration settings are deprecated. Instead, use a list format in the apiVIPs and ingressVIPs configuration settings to specify IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses, or both IP address formats.

  2. Create a directory to store the cluster configuration:

    $ mkdir ~/clusterconfigs
  3. Copy the install-config.yaml file to the new directory:

    $ cp install-config.yaml ~/clusterconfigs
  4. Ensure all bare metal nodes are powered off prior to installing the OpenShift Container Platform cluster:

    $ ipmitool -I lanplus -U <user> -P <password> -H <management-server-ip> power off
  5. Remove old bootstrap resources if any are left over from a previous deployment attempt:

    for i in $(sudo virsh list | tail -n +3 | grep bootstrap | awk {'print $2'});
    do
      sudo virsh destroy $i;
      sudo virsh undefine $i;
      sudo virsh vol-delete $i --pool $i;
      sudo virsh vol-delete $i.ign --pool $i;
      sudo virsh pool-destroy $i;
      sudo virsh pool-undefine $i;
    done

Additional install-config parameters

See the following tables for the required parameters, the hosts parameter, and the bmc parameter for the install-config.yaml file.

Table 1. Required parameters
Parameters Default Description

baseDomain

The domain name for the cluster. For example, example.com.

bootMode

UEFI

The boot mode for a node. Options are legacy, UEFI, and UEFISecureBoot. If bootMode is not set, Ironic sets it while inspecting the node.

bootstrapExternalStaticDNS

The static network DNS of the bootstrap node. You must set this value when deploying a cluster with static IP addresses when there is no Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server on the bare-metal network. If you do not set this value, the installation program will use the value from bootstrapExternalStaticGateway, which causes problems when the IP address values of the gateway and DNS are different.

bootstrapExternalStaticIP

The static IP address for the bootstrap VM. You must set this value when deploying a cluster with static IP addresses when there is no DHCP server on the bare-metal network.

bootstrapExternalStaticGateway

The static IP address of the gateway for the bootstrap VM. You must set this value when deploying a cluster with static IP addresses when there is no DHCP server on the bare-metal network.

sshKey

The sshKey configuration setting contains the key in the ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file required to access the control plane nodes and compute nodes. Typically, this key is from the provisioner node.

pullSecret

The pullSecret configuration setting contains a copy of the pull secret downloaded from the Install OpenShift on Bare Metal page when preparing the provisioner node.

metadata:
    name:

The name to be given to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster. For example, openshift.

networking:
    machineNetwork:
    - cidr:

The public CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) of the external network. For example, 10.0.0.0/24.

compute:
  - name: worker

The OpenShift Container Platform cluster requires a name be provided for compute nodes even if there are zero nodes.

compute:
    replicas: 2

Replicas sets the number of compute nodes in the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

controlPlane:
    name: master

The OpenShift Container Platform cluster requires a name for control plane nodes.

controlPlane:
    replicas: 3

Replicas sets the number of control plane nodes included as part of the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

provisioningNetworkInterface

The name of the network interface on nodes connected to the provisioning network. For OpenShift Container Platform 4.9 and later releases, use the bootMACAddress configuration setting to enable Ironic to identify the IP address of the NIC instead of using the provisioningNetworkInterface configuration setting to identify the name of the NIC.

defaultMachinePlatform

The default configuration used for machine pools without a platform configuration.

apiVIPs

(Optional) The virtual IP address for Kubernetes API communication.

This setting must either be provided in the install-config.yaml file as a reserved IP from the MachineNetwork or preconfigured in the DNS so that the default name resolves correctly. Use the virtual IP address and not the FQDN when adding a value to the apiVIPs configuration setting in the install-config.yaml file. The primary IP address must be from the IPv4 network when using dual stack networking. If not set, the installation program uses api.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> to derive the IP address from the DNS.

Before OpenShift Container Platform 4.12, the cluster installation program only accepted an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address for the apiVIP configuration setting. From OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 or later, the apiVIP configuration setting is deprecated. Instead, use a list format for the apiVIPs configuration setting to specify an IPv4 address, an IPv6 address or both IP address formats.

disableCertificateVerification

False

redfish and redfish-virtualmedia need this parameter to manage BMC addresses. The value should be True when using a self-signed certificate for BMC addresses.

ingressVIPs

(Optional) The virtual IP address for ingress traffic.

This setting must either be provided in the install-config.yaml file as a reserved IP from the MachineNetwork or preconfigured in the DNS so that the default name resolves correctly. Use the virtual IP address and not the FQDN when adding a value to the ingressVIPs configuration setting in the install-config.yaml file. The primary IP address must be from the IPv4 network when using dual stack networking. If not set, the installation program uses test.apps.<cluster_name>.<base_domain> to derive the IP address from the DNS.

Before OpenShift Container Platform 4.12, the cluster installation program only accepted an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address for the ingressVIP configuration setting. In OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 and later, the ingressVIP configuration setting is deprecated. Instead, use a list format for the ingressVIPs configuration setting to specify an IPv4 addresses, an IPv6 addresses or both IP address formats.

Table 2. Optional Parameters
Parameters Default Description

provisioningDHCPRange

172.22.0.10,172.22.0.100

Defines the IP range for nodes on the provisioning network.

provisioningNetworkCIDR

172.22.0.0/24

The CIDR for the network to use for provisioning. This option is required when not using the default address range on the provisioning network.

clusterProvisioningIP

The third IP address of the provisioningNetworkCIDR.

The IP address within the cluster where the provisioning services run. Defaults to the third IP address of the provisioning subnet. For example, 172.22.0.3.

bootstrapProvisioningIP

The second IP address of the provisioningNetworkCIDR.

The IP address on the bootstrap VM where the provisioning services run while the installer is deploying the control plane (master) nodes. Defaults to the second IP address of the provisioning subnet. For example, 172.22.0.2 or 2620:52:0:1307::2.

externalBridge

baremetal

The name of the bare-metal bridge of the hypervisor attached to the bare-metal network.

provisioningBridge

provisioning

The name of the provisioning bridge on the provisioner host attached to the provisioning network.

architecture

Defines the host architecture for your cluster. Valid values are amd64 or arm64.

defaultMachinePlatform

The default configuration used for machine pools without a platform configuration.

bootstrapOSImage

A URL to override the default operating system image for the bootstrap node. The URL must contain a SHA-256 hash of the image. For example: https://mirror.openshift.com/rhcos-<version>-qemu.qcow2.gz?sha256=<uncompressed_sha256>;.

provisioningNetwork

The provisioningNetwork configuration setting determines whether the cluster uses the provisioning network. If it does, the configuration setting also determines if the cluster manages the network.

Disabled: Set this parameter to Disabled to disable the requirement for a provisioning network. When set to Disabled, you must only use virtual media based provisioning, or bring up the cluster using the assisted installer. If Disabled and using power management, BMCs must be accessible from the bare-metal network. If Disabled, you must provide two IP addresses on the bare-metal network that are used for the provisioning services.

Managed: Set this parameter to Managed, which is the default, to fully manage the provisioning network, including DHCP, TFTP, and so on.

Unmanaged: Set this parameter to Unmanaged to enable the provisioning network but take care of manual configuration of DHCP. Virtual media provisioning is recommended but PXE is still available if required.

httpProxy

Set this parameter to the appropriate HTTP proxy used within your environment.

httpsProxy

Set this parameter to the appropriate HTTPS proxy used within your environment.

noProxy

Set this parameter to the appropriate list of exclusions for proxy usage within your environment.

Hosts

The hosts parameter is a list of separate bare metal assets used to build the cluster.

Table 3. Hosts
Name Default Description

name

The name of the BareMetalHost resource to associate with the details. For example, openshift-master-0.

role

The role of the bare metal node. Either master (control plane node) or worker (compute node).

bmc

Connection details for the baseboard management controller. See the BMC addressing section for additional details.

bootMACAddress

The MAC address of the NIC that the host uses for the provisioning network. Ironic retrieves the IP address using the bootMACAddress configuration setting. Then, it binds to the host.

You must provide a valid MAC address from the host if you disabled the provisioning network.

networkConfig

Set this optional parameter to configure the network interface of a host. See "(Optional) Configuring host network interfaces" for additional details.

BMC addressing

Most vendors support Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) addressing with the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). IPMI does not encrypt communications. It is suitable for use within a data center over a secured or dedicated management network. Check with your vendor to see if they support Redfish network boot. Redfish delivers simple and secure management for converged, hybrid IT and the Software Defined Data Center (SDDC). Redfish is human readable and machine capable, and leverages common internet and web services standards to expose information directly to the modern tool chain. If your hardware does not support Redfish network boot, use IPMI.

You can modify the BMC address during installation while the node is in the Registering state. If you need to modify the BMC address after the node leaves the Registering state, you must disconnect the node from Ironic, edit the BareMetalHost resource, and reconnect the node to Ironic. See the Editing a BareMetalHost resource section for details.

IPMI

Hosts using IPMI use the ipmi://<out-of-band-ip>:<port> address format, which defaults to port 623 if not specified. The following example demonstrates an IPMI configuration within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: ipmi://<out-of-band-ip>
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

The provisioning network is required when PXE booting using IPMI for BMC addressing. It is not possible to PXE boot hosts without a provisioning network. If you deploy without a provisioning network, you must use a virtual media BMC addressing option such as redfish-virtualmedia or idrac-virtualmedia. See "Redfish virtual media for HPE iLO" in the "BMC addressing for HPE iLO" section or "Redfish virtual media for Dell iDRAC" in the "BMC addressing for Dell iDRAC" section for additional details.

Redfish network boot

To enable Redfish, use redfish:// or redfish+http:// to disable TLS. The installer requires both the hostname or the IP address and the path to the system ID. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True
Additional resources

Verifying support for Redfish APIs

When installing using the Redfish API, the installation program calls several Redfish endpoints on the baseboard management controller (BMC) when using installer-provisioned infrastructure on bare metal. If you use Redfish, ensure that your BMC supports all of the Redfish APIs before installation.

Procedure
  1. Set the IP address or hostname of the BMC by running the following command:

    $ export SERVER=<ip_address> (1)
    1 Replace <ip_address> with the IP address or hostname of the BMC.
  2. Set the ID of the system by running the following command:

    $ export SystemID=<system_id> (1)
    1 Replace <system_id> with the system ID. For example, System.Embedded.1 or 1. See the following vendor-specific BMC sections for details.
List of Redfish APIs
  1. Check power on support by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X POST -H'Content-Type: application/json' -H'Accept: application/json' -d '{"ResetType": "On"}' https://$SERVER/redfish/v1/Systems/$SystemID/Actions/ComputerSystem.Reset
  2. Check power off support by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X POST -H'Content-Type: application/json' -H'Accept: application/json' -d '{"ResetType": "ForceOff"}' https://$SERVER/redfish/v1/Systems/$SystemID/Actions/ComputerSystem.Reset
  3. Check the temporary boot implementation that uses pxe by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X PATCH -H "Content-Type: application/json"  https://$Server/redfish/v1/Systems/$SystemID/ -d '{"Boot": {"BootSourceOverrideTarget": "pxe", "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Once"}}
  4. Check the status of setting the BIOS boot mode that uses Legacy or UEFI by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X PATCH -H "Content-Type: application/json"  https://$Server/redfish/v1/Systems/$SystemID/ -d '{"Boot": {"BootSourceOverrideMode":"UEFI"}}
List of Redfish virtual media APIs
  1. Check the ability to set the temporary boot device that uses cd or dvd by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X PATCH -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://$Server/redfish/v1/Systems/$SystemID/ -d '{"Boot": {"BootSourceOverrideTarget": "cd", "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Once"}}'
  2. Check the ability to mount virtual media by running the following command:

    $ curl -u $USER:$PASS -X PATCH -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "If-Match: *" https://$Server/redfish/v1/Managers/$ManagerID/VirtualMedia/$VmediaId -d '{"Image": "https://example.com/test.iso", "TransferProtocolType": "HTTPS", "UserName": "", "Password":""}'

The PowerOn and PowerOff commands for Redfish APIs are the same for the Redfish virtual media APIs.

HTTPS and HTTP are the only supported parameter types for TransferProtocolTypes.

BMC addressing for Dell iDRAC

The address field for each bmc entry is a URL for connecting to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes, including the type of controller in the URL scheme and its location on the network.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: <hostname>
        role: <master | worker>
        bmc:
          address: <address> (1)
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
1 The address configuration setting specifies the protocol.

For Dell hardware, Red Hat supports integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) virtual media, Redfish network boot, and IPMI.

BMC address formats for Dell iDRAC

Protocol Address Format

iDRAC virtual media

idrac-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1

Redfish network boot

redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1

IPMI

ipmi://<out-of-band-ip>

Use idrac-virtualmedia as the protocol for Redfish virtual media. redfish-virtualmedia will not work on Dell hardware. Dell’s idrac-virtualmedia uses the Redfish standard with Dell’s OEM extensions.

See the following sections for additional details.

Redfish virtual media for Dell iDRAC

For Redfish virtual media on Dell servers, use idrac-virtualmedia:// in the address setting. Using redfish-virtualmedia:// will not work.

Use idrac-virtualmedia:// as the protocol for Redfish virtual media. Using redfish-virtualmedia:// will not work on Dell hardware, because the idrac-virtualmedia:// protocol corresponds to the idrac hardware type and the Redfish protocol in Ironic. Dell’s idrac-virtualmedia:// protocol uses the Redfish standard with Dell’s OEM extensions. Ironic also supports the idrac type with the WSMAN protocol. Therefore, you must specify idrac-virtualmedia:// to avoid unexpected behavior when electing to use Redfish with virtual media on Dell hardware.

The following example demonstrates using iDRAC virtual media within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: idrac-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates.

Ensure the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes have AutoAttach enabled through the iDRAC console. The menu path is: ConfigurationVirtual MediaAttach ModeAutoAttach.

The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: idrac-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True

Redfish network boot for iDRAC

To enable Redfish, use redfish:// or redfish+http:// to disable transport layer security (TLS). The installer requires both the hostname or the IP address and the path to the system ID. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True

There is a known issue on Dell iDRAC 9 with firmware version 04.40.00.00 and all releases up to including the 5.xx series for installer-provisioned installations on bare metal deployments. The virtual console plugin defaults to eHTML5, an enhanced version of HTML5, which causes problems with the InsertVirtualMedia workflow. Set the plugin to use HTML5 to avoid this issue. The menu path is ConfigurationVirtual consolePlug-in TypeHTML5 .

Ensure the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes have AutoAttach enabled through the iDRAC console. The menu path is: ConfigurationVirtual MediaAttach ModeAutoAttach .

BMC addressing for HPE iLO

The address field for each bmc entry is a URL for connecting to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes, including the type of controller in the URL scheme and its location on the network.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: <hostname>
        role: <master | worker>
        bmc:
          address: <address> (1)
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
1 The address configuration setting specifies the protocol.

For HPE integrated Lights Out (iLO), Red Hat supports Redfish virtual media, Redfish network boot, and IPMI.

Table 4. BMC address formats for HPE iLO
Protocol Address Format

Redfish virtual media

redfish-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1

Redfish network boot

redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1

IPMI

ipmi://<out-of-band-ip>

See the following sections for additional details.

Redfish virtual media for HPE iLO

To enable Redfish virtual media for HPE servers, use redfish-virtualmedia:// in the address setting. The following example demonstrates using Redfish virtual media within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish-virtualmedia://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True

Redfish virtual media is not supported on 9th generation systems running iLO4, because Ironic does not support iLO4 with virtual media.

Redfish network boot for HPE iLO

To enable Redfish, use redfish:// or redfish+http:// to disable TLS. The installer requires both the hostname or the IP address and the path to the system ID. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish://<out-of-band-ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/1
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True

BMC addressing for Fujitsu iRMC

The address field for each bmc entry is a URL for connecting to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes, including the type of controller in the URL scheme and its location on the network.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: <hostname>
        role: <master | worker>
        bmc:
          address: <address> (1)
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
1 The address configuration setting specifies the protocol.

For Fujitsu hardware, Red Hat supports integrated Remote Management Controller (iRMC) and IPMI.

Table 5. BMC address formats for Fujitsu iRMC
Protocol Address Format

iRMC

irmc://<out-of-band-ip>

IPMI

ipmi://<out-of-band-ip>

iRMC

Fujitsu nodes can use irmc://<out-of-band-ip> and defaults to port 443. The following example demonstrates an iRMC configuration within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: irmc://<out-of-band-ip>
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

Currently Fujitsu supports iRMC S5 firmware version 3.05P and above for installer-provisioned installation on bare metal.

BMC addressing for Cisco CIMC

The address field for each bmc entry is a URL for connecting to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes, including the type of controller in the URL scheme and its location on the network.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: <hostname>
        role: <master | worker>
        bmc:
          address: <address> (1)
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
1 The address configuration setting specifies the protocol.

For Cisco UCS UCSX-210C-M6 hardware, Red Hat supports Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC).

Table 6. BMC address format for Cisco CIMC
Protocol Address Format

Redfish virtual media

redfish-virtualmedia://<server_kvm_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/<serial_number>

To enable Redfish virtual media for Cisco UCS UCSX-210C-M6 hardware, use redfish-virtualmedia:// in the address setting. The following example demonstrates using Redfish virtual media within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish-virtualmedia://<server_kvm_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/<serial_number>
          username: <user>
          password: <password>

While it is recommended to have a certificate of authority for the out-of-band management addresses, you must include disableCertificateVerification: True in the bmc configuration if using self-signed certificates. The following example demonstrates a Redfish configuration by using the disableCertificateVerification: True configuration parameter within the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    hosts:
      - name: openshift-master-0
        role: master
        bmc:
          address: redfish-virtualmedia://<server_kvm_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/<serial_number>
          username: <user>
          password: <password>
          disableCertificateVerification: True

Root device hints

The rootDeviceHints parameter enables the installer to provision the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image to a particular device. The installer examines the devices in the order it discovers them, and compares the discovered values with the hint values. The installer uses the first discovered device that matches the hint value. The configuration can combine multiple hints, but a device must match all hints for the installer to select it.

Table 7. Subfields
Subfield Description

deviceName

A string containing a Linux device name such as /dev/vda or /dev/disk/by-path/. It is recommended to use the /dev/disk/by-path/<device_path> link to the storage location. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

hctl

A string containing a SCSI bus address like 0:0:0:0. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

model

A string containing a vendor-specific device identifier. The hint can be a substring of the actual value.

vendor

A string containing the name of the vendor or manufacturer of the device. The hint can be a sub-string of the actual value.

serialNumber

A string containing the device serial number. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

minSizeGigabytes

An integer representing the minimum size of the device in gigabytes.

wwn

A string containing the unique storage identifier. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

wwnWithExtension

A string containing the unique storage identifier with the vendor extension appended. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

wwnVendorExtension

A string containing the unique vendor storage identifier. The hint must match the actual value exactly.

rotational

A boolean indicating whether the device should be a rotating disk (true) or not (false).

Example usage
     - name: master-0
       role: master
       bmc:
         address: ipmi://10.10.0.3:6203
         username: admin
         password: redhat
       bootMACAddress: de:ad:be:ef:00:40
       rootDeviceHints:
         deviceName: "/dev/sda"

Optional: Setting proxy settings

To deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using a proxy, make the following changes to the install-config.yaml file.

apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: <domain>
proxy:
  httpProxy: http://USERNAME:PASSWORD@proxy.example.com:PORT
  httpsProxy: https://USERNAME:PASSWORD@proxy.example.com:PORT
  noProxy: <WILDCARD_OF_DOMAIN>,<PROVISIONING_NETWORK/CIDR>,<BMC_ADDRESS_RANGE/CIDR>

The following is an example of noProxy with values.

noProxy: .example.com,172.22.0.0/24,10.10.0.0/24

With a proxy enabled, set the appropriate values of the proxy in the corresponding key/value pair.

Key considerations:

  • If the proxy does not have an HTTPS proxy, change the value of httpsProxy from https:// to http://.

  • If using a provisioning network, include it in the noProxy setting, otherwise the installer will fail.

  • Set all of the proxy settings as environment variables within the provisioner node. For example, HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY.

When provisioning with IPv6, you cannot define a CIDR address block in the noProxy settings. You must define each address separately.

Optional: Deploying with no provisioning network

To deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster without a provisioning network, make the following changes to the install-config.yaml file.

platform:
  baremetal:
    apiVIPs:
      - <api_VIP>
    ingressVIPs:
      - <ingress_VIP>
    provisioningNetwork: "Disabled" (1)
1 Add the provisioningNetwork configuration setting, if needed, and set it to Disabled.

The provisioning network is required for PXE booting. If you deploy without a provisioning network, you must use a virtual media BMC addressing option such as redfish-virtualmedia or idrac-virtualmedia. See "Redfish virtual media for HPE iLO" in the "BMC addressing for HPE iLO" section or "Redfish virtual media for Dell iDRAC" in the "BMC addressing for Dell iDRAC" section for additional details.

Optional: Deploying with dual-stack networking

For dual-stack networking in OpenShift Container Platform clusters, you can configure IPv4 and IPv6 address endpoints for cluster nodes. To configure IPv4 and IPv6 address endpoints for cluster nodes, edit the machineNetwork, clusterNetwork, and serviceNetwork configuration settings in the install-config.yaml file. Each setting must have two CIDR entries each. For a cluster with the IPv4 family as the primary address family, specify the IPv4 setting first. For a cluster with the IPv6 family as the primary address family, specify the IPv6 setting first.

machineNetwork:
- cidr: {{ extcidrnet }}
- cidr: {{ extcidrnet6 }}
clusterNetwork:
- cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
  hostPrefix: 23
- cidr: fd02::/48
  hostPrefix: 64
serviceNetwork:
- 172.30.0.0/16
- fd03::/112

On a bare-metal platform, if you specified an NMState configuration in the networkConfig section of your install-config.yaml file, add interfaces.wait-ip: ipv4+ipv6 to the NMState YAML file to resolve an issue that prevents your cluster from deploying on a dual-stack network.

Example NMState YAML configuration file that includes the wait-ip parameter
networkConfig:
  nmstate:
    interfaces:
    - name: <interface_name>
# ...
      wait-ip: ipv4+ipv6
# ...

To provide an interface to the cluster for applications that use IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, configure IPv4 and IPv6 virtual IP (VIP) address endpoints for the Ingress VIP and API VIP services. To configure IPv4 and IPv6 address endpoints, edit the apiVIPs and ingressVIPs configuration settings in the install-config.yaml file . The apiVIPs and ingressVIPs configuration settings use a list format. The order of the list indicates the primary and secondary VIP address for each service.

platform:
  baremetal:
    apiVIPs:
      - <api_ipv4>
      - <api_ipv6>
    ingressVIPs:
      - <wildcard_ipv4>
      - <wildcard_ipv6>

For a cluster with dual-stack networking configuration, you must assign both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to the same interface.

Optional: Configuring host network interfaces

Before installation, you can set the networkConfig configuration setting in the install-config.yaml file to configure host network interfaces using NMState.

The most common use case for this functionality is to specify a static IP address on the bare-metal network, but you can also configure other networks such as a storage network. This functionality supports other NMState features such as VLAN, VXLAN, bridges, bonds, routes, MTU, and DNS resolver settings.

Prerequisites
  • Configure a PTR DNS record with a valid hostname for each node with a static IP address.

  • Install the NMState CLI (nmstate).

Procedure
  1. Optional: Consider testing the NMState syntax with nmstatectl gc before including it in the install-config.yaml file, because the installer will not check the NMState YAML syntax.

    Errors in the YAML syntax might result in a failure to apply the network configuration. Additionally, maintaining the validated YAML syntax is useful when applying changes using Kubernetes NMState after deployment or when expanding the cluster.

    1. Create an NMState YAML file:

      interfaces:
      - name: <nic1_name> (1)
        type: ethernet
        state: up
        ipv4:
          address:
          - ip: <ip_address> (1)
            prefix-length: 24
          enabled: true
      dns-resolver:
        config:
          server:
          - <dns_ip_address> (1)
      routes:
        config:
        - destination: 0.0.0.0/0
          next-hop-address: <next_hop_ip_address> (1)
          next-hop-interface: <next_hop_nic1_name> (1)
      1 Replace <nic1_name>, <ip_address>, <dns_ip_address>, <next_hop_ip_address> and <next_hop_nic1_name> with appropriate values.
    2. Test the configuration file by running the following command:

      $ nmstatectl gc <nmstate_yaml_file>

      Replace <nmstate_yaml_file> with the configuration file name.

  2. Use the networkConfig configuration setting by adding the NMState configuration to hosts within the install-config.yaml file:

        hosts:
          - name: openshift-master-0
            role: master
            bmc:
              address: redfish+http://<out_of_band_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
              disableCertificateVerification: null
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            bootMode: UEFI
            rootDeviceHints:
              deviceName: "/dev/sda"
            networkConfig: (1)
              interfaces:
              - name: <nic1_name> (2)
                type: ethernet
                state: up
                ipv4:
                  address:
                  - ip: <ip_address> (2)
                    prefix-length: 24
                  enabled: true
              dns-resolver:
                config:
                  server:
                  - <dns_ip_address> (2)
              routes:
                config:
                - destination: 0.0.0.0/0
                  next-hop-address: <next_hop_ip_address> (2)
                  next-hop-interface: <next_hop_nic1_name> (2)
    1 Add the NMState YAML syntax to configure the host interfaces.
    2 Replace <nic1_name>, <ip_address>, <dns_ip_address>, <next_hop_ip_address> and <next_hop_nic1_name> with appropriate values.

    After deploying the cluster, you cannot modify the networkConfig configuration setting of install-config.yaml file to make changes to the host network interface. Use the Kubernetes NMState Operator to make changes to the host network interface after deployment.

Configuring host network interfaces for subnets

For edge computing scenarios, it can be beneficial to locate compute nodes closer to the edge. To locate remote nodes in subnets, you might use different network segments or subnets for the remote nodes than you used for the control plane subnet and local compute nodes. You can reduce latency for the edge and allow for enhanced scalability by setting up subnets for edge computing scenarios.

When using the default load balancer, OpenShiftManagedDefault and adding remote nodes to your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, all control plane nodes must run in the same subnet. When using more than one subnet, you can also configure the Ingress VIP to run on the control plane nodes by using a manifest. See "Configuring network components to run on the control plane" for details.

If you have established different network segments or subnets for remote nodes as described in the section on "Establishing communication between subnets", you must specify the subnets in the machineNetwork configuration setting if the workers are using static IP addresses, bonds or other advanced networking. When setting the node IP address in the networkConfig parameter for each remote node, you must also specify the gateway and the DNS server for the subnet containing the control plane nodes when using static IP addresses. This ensures that the remote nodes can reach the subnet containing the control plane and that they can receive network traffic from the control plane.

Deploying a cluster with multiple subnets requires using virtual media, such as redfish-virtualmedia or idrac-virtualmedia, because remote nodes cannot access the local provisioning network.

Procedure
  1. Add the subnets to the machineNetwork in the install-config.yaml file when using static IP addresses:

    networking:
      machineNetwork:
      - cidr: 10.0.0.0/24
      - cidr: 192.168.0.0/24
      networkType: OVNKubernetes
  2. Add the gateway and DNS configuration to the networkConfig parameter of each edge compute node using NMState syntax when using a static IP address or advanced networking such as bonds:

    networkConfig:
      interfaces:
      - name: <interface_name> (1)
        type: ethernet
        state: up
        ipv4:
          enabled: true
          dhcp: false
          address:
          - ip: <node_ip> (2)
            prefix-length: 24
          gateway: <gateway_ip> (3)
      dns-resolver:
        config:
          server:
          - <dns_ip> (4)
    1 Replace <interface_name> with the interface name.
    2 Replace <node_ip> with the IP address of the node.
    3 Replace <gateway_ip> with the IP address of the gateway.
    4 Replace <dns_ip> with the IP address of the DNS server.

Optional: Configuring address generation modes for SLAAC in dual-stack networks

For dual-stack clusters that use Stateless Address AutoConfiguration (SLAAC), you must specify a global value for the ipv6.addr-gen-mode network setting. You can set this value using NMState to configure the RAM disk and the cluster configuration files. If you do not configure a consistent ipv6.addr-gen-mode in these locations, IPv6 address mismatches can occur between CSR resources and BareMetalHost resources in the cluster.

Prerequisites
  • Install the NMState CLI (nmstate).

Procedure
  1. Optional: Consider testing the NMState YAML syntax with the nmstatectl gc command before including it in the install-config.yaml file because the installation program will not check the NMState YAML syntax.

    1. Create an NMState YAML file:

      interfaces:
      - name: eth0
        ipv6:
          addr-gen-mode: <address_mode> (1)
      1 Replace <address_mode> with the type of address generation mode required for IPv6 addresses in the cluster. Valid values are eui64, stable-privacy, or random.
    2. Test the configuration file by running the following command:

      $ nmstatectl gc <nmstate_yaml_file> (1)
      1 Replace <nmstate_yaml_file> with the name of the test configuration file.
  2. Add the NMState configuration to the hosts.networkConfig section within the install-config.yaml file:

        hosts:
          - name: openshift-master-0
            role: master
            bmc:
              address: redfish+http://<out_of_band_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
              disableCertificateVerification: null
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            bootMode: UEFI
            rootDeviceHints:
              deviceName: "/dev/sda"
            networkConfig:
              interfaces:
              - name: eth0
                ipv6:
                  addr-gen-mode: <address_mode> (1)
    ...
    1 Replace <address_mode> with the type of address generation mode required for IPv6 addresses in the cluster. Valid values are eui64, stable-privacy, or random.

Optional: Configuring host network interfaces for dual port NIC

Before installation, you can set the networkConfig configuration setting in the install-config.yaml file to configure host network interfaces by using NMState to support dual port NIC.

Support for Day 1 operations associated with enabling NIC partitioning for SR-IOV devices 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.

OpenShift Virtualization only supports the following bond modes:

  • mode=1 active-backup

  • mode=2 balance-xor

  • mode=4 802.3ad

Prerequisites
  • Configure a PTR DNS record with a valid hostname for each node with a static IP address.

  • Install the NMState CLI (nmstate).

Errors in the YAML syntax might result in a failure to apply the network configuration. Additionally, maintaining the validated YAML syntax is useful when applying changes by using Kubernetes NMState after deployment or when expanding the cluster.

Procedure
  1. Add the NMState configuration to the networkConfig field to hosts within the install-config.yaml file:

        hosts:
          - name: worker-0
            role: worker
            bmc:
              address: redfish+http://<out_of_band_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/
              username: <user>
              password: <password>
              disableCertificateVerification: false
            bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
            bootMode: UEFI
            networkConfig: (1)
              interfaces: (2)
               - name: eno1 (3)
                 type: ethernet (4)
                 state: up
                 mac-address: 0c:42:a1:55:f3:06
                 ipv4:
                   enabled: true
                   dhcp: false (5)
                 ethernet:
                   sr-iov:
                     total-vfs: 2 (6)
                 ipv6:
                   enabled: false
                   dhcp: false
               - name: sriov:eno1:0
                 type: ethernet
                 state: up (7)
                 ipv4:
                   enabled: false (8)
                 ipv6:
                   enabled: false
               - name: sriov:eno1:1
                 type: ethernet
                 state: down
               - name: eno2
                 type: ethernet
                 state: up
                 mac-address: 0c:42:a1:55:f3:07
                 ipv4:
                   enabled: true
                 ethernet:
                   sr-iov:
                     total-vfs: 2
                 ipv6:
                   enabled: false
               - name: sriov:eno2:0
                 type: ethernet
                 state: up
                 ipv4:
                   enabled: false
                 ipv6:
                   enabled: false
               - name: sriov:eno2:1
                 type: ethernet
                 state: down
               - name: bond0
                 type: bond
                 state: up
                 min-tx-rate: 100 (9)
                 max-tx-rate: 200 (10)
                 link-aggregation:
                   mode: active-backup (11)
                   options:
                     primary: sriov:eno1:0 (12)
                   port:
                     - sriov:eno1:0
                     - sriov:eno2:0
                 ipv4:
                   address:
                     - ip: 10.19.16.57 (13)
                       prefix-length: 23
                   dhcp: false
                   enabled: true
                 ipv6:
                   enabled: false
              dns-resolver:
                config:
                  server:
                    - 10.11.5.160
                    - 10.2.70.215
              routes:
                config:
                  - destination: 0.0.0.0/0
                    next-hop-address: 10.19.17.254
                    next-hop-interface: bond0 (14)
                    table-id: 254
    1 The networkConfig field has information about the network configuration of the host, with subfields including interfaces, dns-resolver, and routes.
    2 The interfaces field is an array of network interfaces defined for the host.
    3 The name of the interface.
    4 The type of interface. This example creates a ethernet interface.
    5 Set this to `false to disable DHCP for the physical function (PF) if it is not strictly required.
    6 Set to the number of SR-IOV virtual functions (VFs) to instantiate.
    7 Set this to up.
    8 Set this to false to disable IPv4 addressing for the VF attached to the bond.
    9 Sets a minimum transmission rate, in Mbps, for the VF. This sample value sets a rate of 100 Mbps.
    • This value must be less than or equal to the maximum transmission rate.

    • Intel NICs do not support the min-tx-rate parameter. For more information, see BZ#1772847.

    10 Sets a maximum transmission rate, in Mbps, for the VF. This sample value sets a rate of 200 Mbps.
    11 Sets the desired bond mode.
    12 Sets the preferred port of the bonding interface. The bond uses the primary device as the first device of the bonding interfaces. The bond does not abandon the primary device interface unless it fails. This setting is particularly useful when one NIC in the bonding interface is faster and, therefore, able to handle a bigger load. This setting is only valid when the bonding interface is in active-backup mode (mode 1) and balance-tlb (mode 5).
    13 Sets a static IP address for the bond interface. This is the node IP address.
    14 Sets bond0 as the gateway for the default route.

    After deploying the cluster, you cannot change the networkConfig configuration setting of the install-config.yaml file to make changes to the host network interface. Use the Kubernetes NMState Operator to make changes to the host network interface after deployment.

Additional resources

Configuring multiple cluster nodes

You can simultaneously configure OpenShift Container Platform cluster nodes with identical settings. Configuring multiple cluster nodes avoids adding redundant information for each node to the install-config.yaml file. This file contains specific parameters to apply an identical configuration to multiple nodes in the cluster.

Compute nodes are configured separately from the controller node. However, configurations for both node types use the highlighted parameters in the install-config.yaml file to enable multi-node configuration. Set the networkConfig parameters to BOND, as shown in the following example:

hosts:
- name: ostest-master-0
 [...]
 networkConfig: &BOND
   interfaces:
   - name: bond0
     type: bond
     state: up
     ipv4:
       dhcp: true
       enabled: true
     link-aggregation:
       mode: active-backup
       port:
       - enp2s0
       - enp3s0
- name: ostest-master-1
 [...]
 networkConfig: *BOND
- name: ostest-master-2
 [...]
 networkConfig: *BOND

Configuration of multiple cluster nodes is only available for initial deployments on installer-provisioned infrastructure.

Optional: Configuring managed Secure Boot

You can enable managed Secure Boot when deploying an installer-provisioned cluster using Redfish BMC addressing, such as redfish, redfish-virtualmedia, or idrac-virtualmedia. To enable managed Secure Boot, add the bootMode configuration setting to each node:

Example
hosts:
  - name: openshift-master-0
    role: master
    bmc:
      address: redfish://<out_of_band_ip> (1)
      username: <username>
      password: <password>
    bootMACAddress: <NIC1_mac_address>
    rootDeviceHints:
     deviceName: "/dev/sda"
    bootMode: UEFISecureBoot (2)
1 Ensure the bmc.address setting uses redfish, redfish-virtualmedia, or idrac-virtualmedia as the protocol. See "BMC addressing for HPE iLO" or "BMC addressing for Dell iDRAC" for additional details.
2 The bootMode setting is UEFI by default. Change it to UEFISecureBoot to enable managed Secure Boot.

See "Configuring nodes" in the "Prerequisites" to ensure the nodes can support managed Secure Boot. If the nodes do not support managed Secure Boot, see "Configuring nodes for Secure Boot manually" in the "Configuring nodes" section. Configuring Secure Boot manually requires Redfish virtual media.

Red Hat does not support Secure Boot with IPMI, because IPMI does not provide Secure Boot management facilities.

Manifest configuration files

Creating the OpenShift Container Platform manifests

  1. Create the OpenShift Container Platform manifests.

    $ ./openshift-baremetal-install --dir ~/clusterconfigs create manifests
    INFO Consuming Install Config from target directory
    WARNING Making control-plane schedulable by setting MastersSchedulable to true for Scheduler cluster settings
    WARNING Discarding the OpenShift Manifest that was provided in the target directory because its dependencies are dirty and it needs to be regenerated

Optional: Configuring NTP for disconnected clusters

OpenShift Container Platform installs the chrony Network Time Protocol (NTP) service on the cluster nodes.

Configuring NTP for disconnected clusters

OpenShift Container Platform nodes must agree on a date and time to run properly. When compute nodes retrieve the date and time from the NTP servers on the control plane nodes, it enables the installation and operation of clusters that are not connected to a routable network and thereby do not have access to a higher stratum NTP server.

Procedure
  1. Install Butane on your installation host by using the following command:

    $ sudo dnf -y install butane
  2. Create a Butane config, 99-master-chrony-conf-override.bu, including the contents of the chrony.conf file for the control plane nodes.

    See "Creating machine configs with Butane" for information about Butane.

    Butane config example
    variant: openshift
    version: 4.16.0
    metadata:
      name: 99-master-chrony-conf-override
      labels:
        machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: master
    storage:
      files:
        - path: /etc/chrony.conf
          mode: 0644
          overwrite: true
          contents:
            inline: |
              # Use public servers from the pool.ntp.org project.
              # Please consider joining the pool (https://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html).
    
              # The Machine Config Operator manages this file
              server openshift-master-0.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst (1)
              server openshift-master-1.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst
              server openshift-master-2.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst
    
              stratumweight 0
              driftfile /var/lib/chrony/drift
              rtcsync
              makestep 10 3
              bindcmdaddress 127.0.0.1
              bindcmdaddress ::1
              keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
              commandkey 1
              generatecommandkey
              noclientlog
              logchange 0.5
              logdir /var/log/chrony
    
              # Configure the control plane nodes to serve as local NTP servers
              # for all compute nodes, even if they are not in sync with an
              # upstream NTP server.
    
              # Allow NTP client access from the local network.
              allow all
              # Serve time even if not synchronized to a time source.
              local stratum 3 orphan
    1 You must replace <cluster-name> with the name of the cluster and replace <domain> with the fully qualified domain name.
  3. Use Butane to generate a MachineConfig object file, 99-master-chrony-conf-override.yaml, containing the configuration to be delivered to the control plane nodes:

    $ butane 99-master-chrony-conf-override.bu -o 99-master-chrony-conf-override.yaml
  4. Create a Butane config, 99-worker-chrony-conf-override.bu, including the contents of the chrony.conf file for the compute nodes that references the NTP servers on the control plane nodes.

    Butane config example
    variant: openshift
    version: 4.16.0
    metadata:
      name: 99-worker-chrony-conf-override
      labels:
        machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker
    storage:
      files:
        - path: /etc/chrony.conf
          mode: 0644
          overwrite: true
          contents:
            inline: |
              # The Machine Config Operator manages this file.
              server openshift-master-0.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst (1)
              server openshift-master-1.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst
              server openshift-master-2.<cluster-name>.<domain> iburst
    
              stratumweight 0
              driftfile /var/lib/chrony/drift
              rtcsync
              makestep 10 3
              bindcmdaddress 127.0.0.1
              bindcmdaddress ::1
              keyfile /etc/chrony.keys
              commandkey 1
              generatecommandkey
              noclientlog
              logchange 0.5
              logdir /var/log/chrony
    1 You must replace <cluster-name> with the name of the cluster and replace <domain> with the fully qualified domain name.
  5. Use Butane to generate a MachineConfig object file, 99-worker-chrony-conf-override.yaml, containing the configuration to be delivered to the worker nodes:

    $ butane 99-worker-chrony-conf-override.bu -o 99-worker-chrony-conf-override.yaml

Configuring network components to run on the control plane

You can configure networking components to run exclusively on the control plane nodes. By default, OpenShift Container Platform allows any node in the machine config pool to host the ingressVIP virtual IP address. However, some environments deploy compute nodes in separate subnets from the control plane nodes, which requires configuring the ingressVIP virtual IP address to run on the control plane nodes.

When deploying remote nodes in separate subnets, you must place the ingressVIP virtual IP address exclusively with the control plane nodes.