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Configuring IP address assignment on secondary networks

Configuration of IP address assignment for an additional network

The IP address management (IPAM) Container Network Interface (CNI) plugin provides IP addresses for other CNI plugins.

You can use the following IP address assignment types:

  • Static assignment.

  • Dynamic assignment through a DHCP server. The DHCP server you specify must be reachable from the additional network.

  • Dynamic assignment through the Whereabouts IPAM CNI plugin.

Static IP address assignment configuration

The following table describes the configuration for static IP address assignment:

Table 1. ipam static configuration object
Field Type Description

type

string

The IPAM address type. The value static is required.

addresses

array

An array of objects specifying IP addresses to assign to the virtual interface. Both IPv4 and IPv6 IP addresses are supported.

routes

array

An array of objects specifying routes to configure inside the pod.

dns

array

Optional: An array of objects specifying the DNS configuration.

The addresses array requires objects with the following fields:

Table 2. ipam.addresses[] array
Field Type Description

address

string

An IP address and network prefix that you specify. For example, if you specify 10.10.21.10/24, then the additional network is assigned an IP address of 10.10.21.10 and the netmask is 255.255.255.0.

gateway

string

The default gateway to route egress network traffic to.
Table 3. ipam.routes[] array
Field Type Description

dst

string

The IP address range in CIDR format, such as 192.168.17.0/24 or 0.0.0.0/0 for the default route.

gw

string

The gateway where network traffic is routed.
Table 4. ipam.dns object
Field Type Description

nameservers

array

An array of one or more IP addresses for to send DNS queries to.

domain

array

The default domain to append to a hostname. For example, if the domain is set to example.com, a DNS lookup query for example-host is rewritten as example-host.example.com.

search

array

An array of domain names to append to an unqualified hostname, such as example-host, during a DNS lookup query.
Static IP address assignment configuration example
{
  "ipam": {
    "type": "static",
      "addresses": [
        {
          "address": "191.168.1.7/24"
        }
      ]
  }
}

Dynamic IP address (DHCP) assignment configuration

The following JSON describes the configuration for dynamic IP address address assignment with DHCP.

Renewal of DHCP leases

A pod obtains its original DHCP lease when it is created. The lease must be periodically renewed by a minimal DHCP server deployment running on the cluster.

To trigger the deployment of the DHCP server, you must create a shim network attachment by editing the Cluster Network Operator configuration, as in the following example:

Example shim network attachment definition
apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  additionalNetworks:
  - name: dhcp-shim
    namespace: default
    type: Raw
    rawCNIConfig: |-
      {
        "name": "dhcp-shim",
        "cniVersion": "0.3.1",
        "type": "bridge",
        "ipam": {
          "type": "dhcp"
        }
      }
  # ...
Table 5. ipam DHCP configuration object
Field Type Description

type

string

The IPAM address type. The value dhcp is required.
Dynamic IP address (DHCP) assignment configuration example
{
  "ipam": {
    "type": "dhcp"
  }
}

Dynamic IP address assignment configuration with Whereabouts

The Whereabouts CNI plugin allows the dynamic assignment of an IP address to an additional network without the use of a DHCP server.

The Whereabouts CNI plugin also supports overlapping IP address ranges and configuration of the same CIDR range multiple times within separate NetworkAttachmentDefinition CRDs. This provides greater flexibility and management capabilities in multi-tenant environments.

Dynamic IP address configuration objects

The following table describes the configuration objects for dynamic IP address assignment with Whereabouts:

Table 6. ipam whereabouts configuration object
Field Type Description

type

string

The IPAM address type. The value whereabouts is required.

range

string

An IP address and range in CIDR notation. IP addresses are assigned from within this range of addresses.

exclude

array

Optional: A list of zero or more IP addresses and ranges in CIDR notation. IP addresses within an excluded address range are not assigned.

network_name

string

Optional: Helps ensure that each group or domain of pods gets its own set of IP addresses, even if they share the same range of IP addresses. Setting this field is important for keeping networks separate and organized, notably in multi-tenant environments.

Dynamic IP address assignment configuration that uses Whereabouts

The following example shows a dynamic address assignment configuration that uses Whereabouts:

Whereabouts dynamic IP address assignment
{
  "ipam": {
    "type": "whereabouts",
    "range": "192.0.2.192/27",
    "exclude": [
       "192.0.2.192/30",
       "192.0.2.196/32"
    ]
  }
}

Dynamic IP address assignment that uses Whereabouts with overlapping IP address ranges

The following example shows a dynamic IP address assignment that uses overlapping IP address ranges for multi-tenant networks.

NetworkAttachmentDefinition 1
{
  "ipam": {
    "type": "whereabouts",
    "range": "192.0.2.192/29",
    "network_name": "example_net_common", (1)
  }
}
1 Optional. If set, must match the network_name of NetworkAttachmentDefinition 2.
NetworkAttachmentDefinition 2
{
  "ipam": {
    "type": "whereabouts",
    "range": "192.0.2.192/24",
    "network_name": "example_net_common", (1)
  }
}
1 Optional. If set, must match the network_name of NetworkAttachmentDefinition 1.

Creating a whereabouts-reconciler daemon set

The Whereabouts reconciler is responsible for managing dynamic IP address assignments for the pods within a cluster by using the Whereabouts IP Address Management (IPAM) solution. It ensures that each pod gets a unique IP address from the specified IP address range. It also handles IP address releases when pods are deleted or scaled down.

You can also use a NetworkAttachmentDefinition custom resource definition (CRD) for dynamic IP address assignment.

The whereabouts-reconciler daemon set is automatically created when you configure an additional network through the Cluster Network Operator. It is not automatically created when you configure an additional network from a YAML manifest.

To trigger the deployment of the whereabouts-reconciler daemon set, you must manually create a whereabouts-shim network attachment by editing the Cluster Network Operator custom resource (CR) file.

Use the following procedure to deploy the whereabouts-reconciler daemon set.

Procedure

  1. Edit the Network.operator.openshift.io custom resource (CR) by running the following command:

    $ oc edit network.operator.openshift.io cluster

  2. Include the additionalNetworks section shown in this example YAML extract within the spec definition of the custom resource (CR):

    apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
# ...
spec:
  additionalNetworks:
  - name: whereabouts-shim
    namespace: default
    rawCNIConfig: |-
      {
       "name": "whereabouts-shim",
       "cniVersion": "0.3.1",
       "type": "bridge",
       "ipam": {
         "type": "whereabouts"
       }
      }
    type: Raw
# ...

  3. Save the file and exit the text editor.

  4. Verify that the whereabouts-reconciler daemon set deployed successfully by running the following command:

    $ oc get all -n openshift-multus | grep whereabouts-reconciler
    Example output
    pod/whereabouts-reconciler-jnp6g 1/1 Running 0 6s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-k76gg 1/1 Running 0 6s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-k86t9 1/1 Running 0 6s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-p4sxw 1/1 Running 0 6s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-rvfdv 1/1 Running 0 6s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-svzw9 1/1 Running 0 6s
daemonset.apps/whereabouts-reconciler 6 6 6 6 6 kubernetes.io/os=linux 6s

Configuring the Whereabouts IP reconciler schedule

The Whereabouts IPAM CNI plugin runs the IP reconciler daily. This process cleans up any stranded IP allocations that might result in exhausting IPs and therefore prevent new pods from getting an IP allocated to them.

Use this procedure to change the frequency at which the IP reconciler runs.

Prerequisites

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

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

  • You have deployed the whereabouts-reconciler daemon set, and the whereabouts-reconciler pods are up and running.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command to create a ConfigMap object named whereabouts-config in the openshift-multus namespace with a specific cron expression for the IP reconciler:

    $ oc create configmap whereabouts-config -n openshift-multus --from-literal=reconciler_cron_expression="*/15 * * * *"

    This cron expression indicates the IP reconciler runs every 15 minutes. Adjust the expression based on your specific requirements.

    The whereabouts-reconciler daemon set can only consume a cron expression pattern that includes five asterisks. The sixth, which is used to denote seconds, is currently not supported.

  2. Retrieve information about resources related to the whereabouts-reconciler daemon set and pods within the openshift-multus namespace by running the following command:

    $ oc get all -n openshift-multus | grep whereabouts-reconciler
    Example output
    pod/whereabouts-reconciler-2p7hw                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-76jk7                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-94zw6                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-mfh68                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-pgshz                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
pod/whereabouts-reconciler-xn5xz                   1/1     Running   0             4m14s
daemonset.apps/whereabouts-reconciler          6         6         6       6            6           kubernetes.io/os=linux   4m16s

  3. Run the following command to verify that the whereabouts-reconciler pod runs the IP reconciler with the configured interval:

    $ oc -n openshift-multus logs whereabouts-reconciler-2p7hw
    Example output
    2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [debug] event not relevant: "/cron-schedule/..2024_02_02_16_33_54.1375928161": CREATE
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [debug] event not relevant: "/cron-schedule/..2024_02_02_16_33_54.1375928161": CHMOD
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [debug] event not relevant: "/cron-schedule/..data_tmp": RENAME
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [verbose] using expression: */15 * * * *
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [verbose] configuration updated to file "/cron-schedule/..data". New cron expression: */15 * * * *
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [verbose] successfully updated CRON configuration id "00c2d1c9-631d-403f-bb86-73ad104a6817" - new cron expression: */15 * * * *
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [debug] event not relevant: "/cron-schedule/config": CREATE
2024-02-02T16:33:54Z [debug] event not relevant: "/cron-schedule/..2024_02_02_16_26_17.3874177937": REMOVE
2024-02-02T16:45:00Z [verbose] starting reconciler run
2024-02-02T16:45:00Z [debug] NewReconcileLooper - inferred connection data
2024-02-02T16:45:00Z [debug] listing IP pools
2024-02-02T16:45:00Z [debug] no IP addresses to cleanup
2024-02-02T16:45:00Z [verbose] reconciler success

Creating a configuration for assignment of dual-stack IP addresses dynamically

Dual-stack IP address assignment can be configured with the ipRanges parameter for:

  • IPv4 addresses

  • IPv6 addresses

  • multiple IP address assignment

Procedure

  1. Set type to whereabouts.

  2. Use ipRanges to allocate IP addresses as shown in the following example:

    cniVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
=metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  additionalNetworks:
  - name: whereabouts-shim
    namespace: default
    type: Raw
    rawCNIConfig: |-
      {
       "name": "whereabouts-dual-stack",
       "cniVersion": "0.3.1,
       "type": "bridge",
       "ipam": {
         "type": "whereabouts",
         "ipRanges": [
                  {"range": "192.168.10.0/24"},
                  {"range": "2001:db8::/64"}
              ]
       }
      }

  3. Attach network to a pod. For more information, see "Adding a pod to an additional network".

  4. Verify that all IP addresses are assigned.

  5. Run the following command to ensure the IP addresses are assigned as metadata.

    $ oc exec -it mypod -- ip a