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In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.16, you can choose one of the following options to install a cluster on your Nutanix instance:

Using installer-provisioned infrastructure: Use the procedures in the following sections to use installer-provisioned infrastructure. Installer-provisioned infrastructure is ideal for installing in connected or disconnected network environments. The installer-provisioned infrastructure includes an installation program that provisions the underlying infrastructure for the cluster.

Using the Assisted Installer: The Assisted Installer hosted at console.redhat.com. The Assisted Installer cannot be used in disconnected environments. The Assisted Installer does not provision the underlying infrastructure for the cluster, so you must provision the infrastructure before the running the Assisted Installer. Installing with the Assisted Installer also provides integration with Nutanix, enabling autoscaling. See Installing an on-premise cluster using the Assisted Installer for additional details.

Using user-provisioned infrastructure: Complete the relevant steps outlined in the Installing a cluster on any platform documentation.

Prerequisites

  • You have reviewed details about the OpenShift Container Platform installation and update processes.

  • The installation program requires access to port 9440 on Prism Central and Prism Element. You verified that port 9440 is accessible.

  • If you use a firewall, you have met these prerequisites:

    • You confirmed that port 9440 is accessible. Control plane nodes must be able to reach Prism Central and Prism Element on port 9440 for the installation to succeed.

    • You configured the firewall to grant access to the sites that OpenShift Container Platform requires. This includes the use of Telemetry.

  • If your Nutanix environment is using the default self-signed SSL certificate, replace it with a certificate that is signed by a CA. The installation program requires a valid CA-signed certificate to access to the Prism Central API. For more information about replacing the self-signed certificate, see the Nutanix AOS Security Guide.

    If your Nutanix environment uses an internal CA to issue certificates, you must configure a cluster-wide proxy as part of the installation process. For more information, see Configuring a custom PKI.

    Use 2048-bit certificates. The installation fails if you use 4096-bit certificates with Prism Central 2022.x.

Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.16, you require access to the internet to install your cluster.

You must have internet access to:

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

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

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

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

Internet access for Prism Central

Prism Central requires internet access to obtain the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image that is required to install the cluster. The RHCOS image for Nutanix is available at rhcos.mirror.openshift.com.

Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures, do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm.

  2. View the public SSH key:

    $ cat <path>/<file_name>.pub

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

    $ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
  3. Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command.

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

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

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

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

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

    $ ssh-add <path>/<file_name> (1)
    1 Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    Example output
    Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>)
Next steps
  • When you install OpenShift Container Platform, provide the SSH public key to the installation program.

Obtaining the installation program

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

Prerequisites
  • You have a computer that runs Linux or macOS, with at least 1.2 GB of local disk space.

Procedure
  1. Go to the Cluster Type page on the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account.

  2. Select your infrastructure provider from the Run it yourself section of the page.

  3. Select your host operating system and architecture from the dropdown menus under OpenShift Installer and click Download Installer.

  4. Place the downloaded file in the directory where you want to store the installation configuration files.

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

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

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

    $ tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz
  6. Download your installation pull secret from Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager. This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the services that are provided by the included authorities, including Quay.io, which serves the container images for OpenShift Container Platform components.

Alternatively, you can retrieve the installation program from the Red Hat Customer Portal, where you can specify a version of the installation program to download. However, you must have an active subscription to access this page.

Adding Nutanix root CA certificates to your system trust

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

Procedure
  1. From the Prism Central web console, download the Nutanix root CA certificates.

  2. Extract the compressed file that contains the Nutanix root CA certificates.

  3. Add the files for your operating system to the system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:

    # cp certs/lin/* /etc/pki/ca-trust/source/anchors
  4. Update your system trust. For example, on a Fedora operating system, run the following command:

    # update-ca-trust extract

Creating the installation configuration file

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

Prerequisites
  • You have the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

  • You have verified that you have met the Nutanix networking requirements. For more information, see "Preparing to install on Nutanix".

Procedure
  1. Create the install-config.yaml file.

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

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

      When specifying the directory:

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

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

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

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

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

      2. Select nutanix as the platform to target.

      3. Enter the Prism Central domain name or IP address.

      4. Enter the port that is used to log into Prism Central.

      5. Enter the credentials that are used to log into Prism Central.

        The installation program connects to Prism Central.

      6. Select the Prism Element that will manage the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

      7. Select the network subnet to use.

      8. Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for control plane API access.

      9. Enter the virtual IP address that you configured for cluster ingress.

      10. Enter the base domain. This base domain must be the same one that you configured in the DNS records.

      11. Enter a descriptive name for your cluster.

        The cluster name you enter must match the cluster name you specified when configuring the DNS records.

  2. Optional: Update one or more of the default configuration parameters in the install.config.yaml file to customize the installation.

    For more information about the parameters, see "Installation configuration parameters".

    If you are installing a three-node cluster, be sure to set the compute.replicas parameter to 0. This ensures that cluster’s control planes are schedulable. For more information, see "Installing a three-node cluster on Nutanix".

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

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

Sample customized install-config.yaml file for Nutanix

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

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

apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com (1)
compute: (2)
- hyperthreading: Enabled (3)
  name: worker
  replicas: 3
  platform:
    nutanix: (4)
      cpus: 2
      coresPerSocket: 2
      memoryMiB: 8196
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGiB: 120
      categories: (5)
      - key: <category_key_name>
        value: <category_value>
controlPlane: (2)
  hyperthreading: Enabled (3)
  name: master
  replicas: 3
  platform:
    nutanix: (4)
      cpus: 4
      coresPerSocket: 2
      memoryMiB: 16384
      osDisk:
        diskSizeGiB: 120
      categories: (5)
      - key: <category_key_name>
        value: <category_value>
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  name: test-cluster (1)
networking:
  clusterNetwork:
    - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
      hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
    - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OVNKubernetes (6)
  serviceNetwork:
    - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  nutanix:
    apiVIPs:
      - 10.40.142.7 (1)
    defaultMachinePlatform:
      bootType: Legacy
      categories: (5)
      - key: <category_key_name>
        value: <category_value>
      project: (7)
        type: name
        name: <project_name>
    ingressVIPs:
      - 10.40.142.8 (1)
    prismCentral:
      endpoint:
        address: your.prismcentral.domainname (1)
        port: 9440 (1)
      password: <password> (1)
      username: <username> (1)
    prismElements:
    - endpoint:
        address: your.prismelement.domainname
        port: 9440
      uuid: 0005b0f1-8f43-a0f2-02b7-3cecef193712
    subnetUUIDs:
    - c7938dc6-7659-453e-a688-e26020c68e43
    clusterOSImage: http://example.com/images/rhcos-47.83.202103221318-0-nutanix.x86_64.qcow2 (8)
credentialsMode: Manual
publish: External
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}' (1)
fips: false (9)
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA... (10)
1 Required. The installation program prompts you for this value.
2 The controlPlane section is a single mapping, but the compute section is a sequence of mappings. To meet the requirements of the different data structures, the first line of the compute section must begin with a hyphen, -, and the first line of the controlPlane section must not. Although both sections currently define a single machine pool, it is possible that future versions of OpenShift Container Platform will support defining multiple compute pools during installation. Only one control plane pool is used.
3 Whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, or hyperthreading. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. You can disable it by setting the parameter value to Disabled. If you disable simultaneous multithreading in some cluster machines, you must disable it in all cluster machines.

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

4 Optional: Provide additional configuration for the machine pool parameters for the compute and control plane machines.
5 Optional: Provide one or more pairs of a prism category key and a prism category value. These category key-value pairs must exist in Prism Central. You can provide separate categories to compute machines, control plane machines, or all machines.
6 TThe cluster network plugin to install. The default value OVNKubernetes is the only supported value.
7 Optional: Specify a project with which VMs are associated. Specify either name or uuid for the project type, and then provide the corresponding UUID or project name. You can associate projects to compute machines, control plane machines, or all machines.
8 Optional: By default, the installation program downloads and installs the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) image. If Prism Central does not have internet access, you can override the default behavior by hosting the RHCOS image on any HTTP server and pointing the installation program to the image.
9 Whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. By default, FIPS mode is not enabled. If FIPS mode is enabled, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines that OpenShift Container Platform runs on bypass the default Kubernetes cryptography suite and use the cryptography modules that are provided with RHCOS instead.

When running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) booted in FIPS mode, OpenShift Container Platform core components use the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures.

10 Optional: You can provide the sshKey value that you use to access the machines in your cluster.

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

Configuring failure domains

Failure domains improve the fault tolerance of an OpenShift Container Platform cluster by distributing control plane and compute machines across multiple Nutanix Prism Elements (clusters).

It is recommended that you configure three failure domains to ensure high-availability.

Prerequisites
  • You have an installation configuration file (install-config.yaml).

Procedure
  1. Edit the install-config.yaml file and add the following stanza to configure the first failure domain:

    apiVersion: v1
    baseDomain: example.com
    compute:
    # ...
    platform:
      nutanix:
        failureDomains:
        - name: <failure_domain_name>
          prismElement:
            name: <prism_element_name>
            uuid: <prism_element_uuid>
          subnetUUIDs:
          - <network_uuid>
    # ...

    where:

    <failure_domain_name>

    Specifies a unique name for the failure domain. The name is limited to 64 or fewer characters, which can include lower-case letters, digits, and a dash (-). The dash cannot be in the leading or ending position of the name.

    <prism_element_name>

    Optional. Specifies the name of the Prism Element.

    <prism_element_uuid>

    Specifies the UUID of the Prism Element.

    <network_uuid>

    Specifies the UUID of the Prism Element subnet object. The subnet’s IP address prefix (CIDR) should contain the virtual IP addresses that the OpenShift Container Platform cluster uses. Only one subnet per failure domain (Prism Element) in an OpenShift Container Platform cluster is supported.

  2. As required, configure additional failure domains.

  3. To distribute control plane and compute machines across the failure domains, do one of the following:

    • If compute and control plane machines can share the same set of failure domains, add the failure domain names under the cluster’s default machine configuration.

      Example of control plane and compute machines sharing a set of failure domains
      apiVersion: v1
      baseDomain: example.com
      compute:
      # ...
      platform:
        nutanix:
          defaultMachinePlatform:
            failureDomains:
              - failure-domain-1
              - failure-domain-2
              - failure-domain-3
      # ...
    • If compute and control plane machines must use different failure domains, add the failure domain names under the respective machine pools.

      Example of control plane and compute machines using different failure domains
      apiVersion: v1
      baseDomain: example.com
      compute:
      # ...
      controlPlane:
        platform:
          nutanix:
            failureDomains:
              - failure-domain-1
              - failure-domain-2
              - failure-domain-3
      # ...
      compute:
        platform:
          nutanix:
            failureDomains:
              - failure-domain-1
              - failure-domain-2
      # ...
  4. Save the file.

Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation

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

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

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

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

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

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

    apiVersion: v1
    baseDomain: my.domain.com
    proxy:
      httpProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (1)
      httpsProxy: https://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port> (2)
      noProxy: example.com (3)
    additionalTrustBundle: | (4)
        -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
        <MY_TRUSTED_CA_CERT>
        -----END CERTIFICATE-----
    additionalTrustBundlePolicy: <policy_to_add_additionalTrustBundle> (5)
    1 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTP connections outside the cluster. The URL scheme must be http.
    2 A proxy URL to use for creating HTTPS connections outside the cluster.
    3 A comma-separated list of destination domain names, IP addresses, or other network CIDRs to exclude from proxying. Preface a domain with . to match subdomains only. For example, .y.com matches x.y.com, but not y.com. Use * to bypass the proxy for all destinations.
    4 If provided, the installation program generates a config map that is named user-ca-bundle in the openshift-config namespace that contains one or more additional CA certificates that are required for proxying HTTPS connections. The Cluster Network Operator then creates a trusted-ca-bundle config map that merges these contents with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) trust bundle, and this config map is referenced in the trustedCA field of the Proxy object. The additionalTrustBundle field is required unless the proxy’s identity certificate is signed by an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle.
    5 Optional: The policy to determine the configuration of the Proxy object to reference the user-ca-bundle config map in the trustedCA field. The allowed values are Proxyonly and Always. Use Proxyonly to reference the user-ca-bundle config map only when http/https proxy is configured. Use Always to always reference the user-ca-bundle config map. The default value is Proxyonly.

    The installation program does not support the proxy readinessEndpoints field.

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

    $ ./openshift-install wait-for install-complete --log-level debug
  2. Save the file and reference it when installing OpenShift Container Platform.

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

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

Installing the OpenShift CLI

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

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform 4.16. Download and install the new version of oc.

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux

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

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

  2. Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list.

  3. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.

  4. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.16 Linux Clients entry and save the file.

  5. Unpack the archive:

    $ tar xvf <file>
  6. Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

    To check your PATH, execute the following command:

    $ echo $PATH
Verification
  • After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

    $ oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows

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

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

  2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.

  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.16 Windows Client entry and save the file.

  4. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.

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

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

    C:\> path
Verification
  • After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

    C:\> oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS

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

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

  2. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list.

  3. Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.16 macOS Clients entry and save the file.

    For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.16 macOS arm64 Client entry.

  4. Unpack and unzip the archive.

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

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

    $ echo $PATH
Verification
  • Verify your installation by using an oc command:

    $ oc <command>

Configuring IAM for Nutanix

Installing the cluster requires that the Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) operate in manual mode. While the installation program configures the CCO for manual mode, you must specify the identity and access management secrets.

Prerequisites
  • You have configured the ccoctl binary.

  • You have an install-config.yaml file.

Procedure
  1. Create a YAML file that contains the credentials data in the following format:

    Credentials data format
    credentials:
    - type: basic_auth (1)
      data:
        prismCentral: (2)
          username: <username_for_prism_central>
          password: <password_for_prism_central>
        prismElements: (3)
        - name: <name_of_prism_element>
          username: <username_for_prism_element>
          password: <password_for_prism_element>
    1 Specify the authentication type. Only basic authentication is supported.
    2 Specify the Prism Central credentials.
    3 Optional: Specify the Prism Element credentials.
  2. Set a $RELEASE_IMAGE variable with the release image from your installation file by running the following command:

    $ RELEASE_IMAGE=$(./openshift-install version | awk '/release image/ {print $3}')
  3. Extract the list of CredentialsRequest custom resources (CRs) from the OpenShift Container Platform release image by running the following command:

    $ oc adm release extract \
      --from=$RELEASE_IMAGE \
      --credentials-requests \
      --included \(1)
      --install-config=<path_to_directory_with_installation_configuration>/install-config.yaml \(2)
      --to=<path_to_directory_for_credentials_requests> (3)
    1 The --included parameter includes only the manifests that your specific cluster configuration requires.
    2 Specify the location of the install-config.yaml file.
    3 Specify the path to the directory where you want to store the CredentialsRequest objects. If the specified directory does not exist, this command creates it.
    Sample CredentialsRequest object
      apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
      kind: CredentialsRequest
      metadata:
        annotations:
          include.release.openshift.io/self-managed-high-availability: "true"
        labels:
          controller-tools.k8s.io: "1.0"
        name: openshift-machine-api-nutanix
        namespace: openshift-cloud-credential-operator
      spec:
        providerSpec:
          apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
          kind: NutanixProviderSpec
        secretRef:
          name: nutanix-credentials
          namespace: openshift-machine-api
  4. Use the ccoctl tool to process all CredentialsRequest objects by running the following command:

    $ ccoctl nutanix create-shared-secrets \
      --credentials-requests-dir=<path_to_credentials_requests_directory> \(1)
      --output-dir=<ccoctl_output_dir> \(2)
      --credentials-source-filepath=<path_to_credentials_file> (3)
    1 Specify the path to the directory that contains the files for the component CredentialsRequests objects.
    2 Optional: Specify the directory in which you want the ccoctl utility to create objects. By default, the utility creates objects in the directory in which the commands are run.
    3 Optional: Specify the directory that contains the credentials data YAML file. By default, ccoctl expects this file to be in <home_directory>/.nutanix/credentials.
  5. Edit the install-config.yaml configuration file so that the credentialsMode parameter is set to Manual.

    Example install-config.yaml configuration file
    apiVersion: v1
    baseDomain: cluster1.example.com
    credentialsMode: Manual (1)
    ...
    1 Add this line to set the credentialsMode parameter to Manual.
  6. Create the installation manifests by running the following command:

    $ openshift-install create manifests --dir <installation_directory> (1)
    1 Specify the path to the directory that contains the install-config.yaml file for your cluster.
  7. Copy the generated credential files to the target manifests directory by running the following command:

    $ cp <ccoctl_output_dir>/manifests/*credentials.yaml ./<installation_directory>/manifests
Verification
  • Ensure that the appropriate secrets exist in the manifests directory.

    $ ls ./<installation_directory>/manifests
    Example output
    cluster-config.yaml
    cluster-dns-02-config.yml
    cluster-infrastructure-02-config.yml
    cluster-ingress-02-config.yml
    cluster-network-01-crd.yml
    cluster-network-02-config.yml
    cluster-proxy-01-config.yaml
    cluster-scheduler-02-config.yml
    cvo-overrides.yaml
    kube-cloud-config.yaml
    kube-system-configmap-root-ca.yaml
    machine-config-server-tls-secret.yaml
    openshift-config-secret-pull-secret.yaml
    openshift-cloud-controller-manager-nutanix-credentials-credentials.yaml
    openshift-machine-api-nutanix-credentials-credentials.yaml

Adding config map and secret resources required for Nutanix CCM

Installations on Nutanix require additional ConfigMap and Secret resources to integrate with the Nutanix Cloud Controller Manager (CCM).

Prerequisites
  • You have created a manifests directory within your installation directory.

Procedure
  1. Navigate to the manifests directory:

    $ cd <path_to_installation_directory>/manifests
  2. Create the cloud-conf ConfigMap file with the name openshift-cloud-controller-manager-cloud-config.yaml and add the following information:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: cloud-conf
      namespace: openshift-cloud-controller-manager
    data:
      cloud.conf: "{
          \"prismCentral\": {
              \"address\": \"<prism_central_FQDN/IP>\", (1)
              \"port\": 9440,
                \"credentialRef\": {
                    \"kind\": \"Secret\",
                    \"name\": \"nutanix-credentials\",
                    \"namespace\": \"openshift-cloud-controller-manager\"
                }
           },
           \"topologyDiscovery\": {
               \"type\": \"Prism\",
               \"topologyCategories\": null
           },
           \"enableCustomLabeling\": true
         }"
    1 Specify the Prism Central FQDN/IP.
  3. Verify that the file cluster-infrastructure-02-config.yml exists and has the following information:

    spec:
      cloudConfig:
        key: config
        name: cloud-provider-config

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:
      nutanix:
        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

Deploying the cluster

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

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

Prerequisites
  • You have the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

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

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

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

When the cluster deployment completes successfully:

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

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

Do not delete the installation program or the files that the installation program creates. Both are required to delete the cluster.

Example output
...
INFO Install complete!
INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig'
INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com
INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password"
INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s
  • The Ignition config files that the installation program generates contain certificates that expire after 24 hours, which are then renewed at that time. If the cluster is shut down before renewing the certificates and the cluster is later restarted after the 24 hours have elapsed, the cluster automatically recovers the expired certificates. The exception is that you must manually approve the pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) to recover kubelet certificates. See the documentation for Recovering from expired control plane certificates for more information.

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

Configuring the default storage container

After you install the cluster, you must install the Nutanix CSI Operator and configure the default storage container for the cluster.

For more information, see the Nutanix documentation for installing the CSI Operator and configuring registry storage.

Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.16, the Telemetry service, which runs by default to provide metrics about cluster health and the success of updates, requires internet access. If your cluster is connected to the internet, Telemetry runs automatically, and your cluster is registered to OpenShift Cluster Manager.

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

Additional resources