Preparing for users | Postinstallation configuration | OpenShift Container Platform 4.17

Understanding identity provider configuration
Using RBAC to define and apply permissions
The kubeadmin user
- Removing the kubeadmin user
Populating OperatorHub from mirrored Operator catalogs
- Prerequisites
About Operator installation with OperatorHub
- Installing from OperatorHub by using the web console
- Installing from OperatorHub by using the CLI

After installing OpenShift Container Platform, you can further expand and customize your cluster to your requirements, including taking steps to prepare for users.

Understanding identity provider configuration

The OpenShift Container Platform control plane includes a built-in OAuth server. Developers and administrators obtain OAuth access tokens to authenticate themselves to the API.

As an administrator, you can configure OAuth to specify an identity provider after you install your cluster.

About identity providers in OpenShift Container Platform

By default, only a kubeadmin user exists on your cluster. To specify an identity provider, you must create a custom resource (CR) that describes that identity provider and add it to the cluster.

OpenShift Container Platform user names containing /, :, and % are not supported.

Supported identity providers

You can configure the following types of identity providers:

Identity provider Description

Identity provider	Description
htpasswd	Configure the `htpasswd` identity provider to validate user names and passwords against a flat file generated using `htpasswd`.
Keystone	Configure the `keystone` identity provider to integrate your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with Keystone to enable shared authentication with an OpenStack Keystone v3 server configured to store users in an internal database.
LDAP	Configure the `ldap` identity provider to validate user names and passwords against an LDAPv3 server, using simple bind authentication.
Basic authentication	Configure a `basic-authentication` identity provider for users to log in to OpenShift Container Platform with credentials validated against a remote identity provider. Basic authentication is a generic backend integration mechanism.
Request header	Configure a `request-header` identity provider to identify users from request header values, such as `X-Remote-User`. It is typically used in combination with an authenticating proxy, which sets the request header value.
GitHub or GitHub Enterprise	Configure a `github` identity provider to validate user names and passwords against GitHub or GitHub Enterprise’s OAuth authentication server.
GitLab	Configure a `gitlab` identity provider to use GitLab.com or any other GitLab instance as an identity provider.
Google	Configure a `google` identity provider using Google’s OpenID Connect integration.
OpenID Connect	Configure an `oidc` identity provider to integrate with an OpenID Connect identity provider using an Authorization Code Flow.

htpasswd

Configure the htpasswd identity provider to validate user names and passwords against a flat file generated using htpasswd.

Keystone

Configure the keystone identity provider to integrate your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with Keystone to enable shared authentication with an OpenStack Keystone v3 server configured to store users in an internal database.

LDAP

Configure the ldap identity provider to validate user names and passwords against an LDAPv3 server, using simple bind authentication.

Basic authentication

Configure a basic-authentication identity provider for users to log in to OpenShift Container Platform with credentials validated against a remote identity provider. Basic authentication is a generic backend integration mechanism.

Request header

Configure a request-header identity provider to identify users from request header values, such as X-Remote-User. It is typically used in combination with an authenticating proxy, which sets the request header value.

GitHub or GitHub Enterprise

Configure a github identity provider to validate user names and passwords against GitHub or GitHub Enterprise’s OAuth authentication server.

GitLab

Configure a gitlab identity provider to use GitLab.com or any other GitLab instance as an identity provider.

Google

Configure a google identity provider using Google’s OpenID Connect integration.

OpenID Connect

Configure an oidc identity provider to integrate with an OpenID Connect identity provider using an Authorization Code Flow.

After you define an identity provider, you can use RBAC to define and apply permissions.

Identity provider parameters

The following parameters are common to all identity providers:

Parameter Description

Parameter	Description
`name`	The provider name is prefixed to provider user names to form an identity name.
`mappingMethod`	Defines how new identities are mapped to users when they log in. Enter one of the following values: claim The default value. Provisions a user with the identity’s preferred user name. Fails if a user with that user name is already mapped to another identity. lookup Looks up an existing identity, user identity mapping, and user, but does not automatically provision users or identities. This allows cluster administrators to set up identities and users manually, or using an external process. Using this method requires you to manually provision users. add Provisions a user with the identity’s preferred user name. If a user with that user name already exists, the identity is mapped to the existing user, adding to any existing identity mappings for the user. Required when multiple identity providers are configured that identify the same set of users and map to the same user names.

name

The provider name is prefixed to provider user names to form an identity name.

mappingMethod

Defines how new identities are mapped to users when they log in. Enter one of the following values:

claim: The default value. Provisions a user with the identity’s preferred user name. Fails if a user with that user name is already mapped to another identity.
lookup: Looks up an existing identity, user identity mapping, and user, but does not automatically provision users or identities. This allows cluster administrators to set up identities and users manually, or using an external process. Using this method requires you to manually provision users.
add: Provisions a user with the identity’s preferred user name. If a user with that user name already exists, the identity is mapped to the existing user, adding to any existing identity mappings for the user. Required when multiple identity providers are configured that identify the same set of users and map to the same user names.

When adding or changing identity providers, you can map identities from the new provider to existing users by setting the mappingMethod parameter to add.

Sample identity provider CR

The following custom resource (CR) shows the parameters and default values that you use to configure an identity provider. This example uses the htpasswd identity provider.

Sample identity provider CR

apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: OAuth
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  identityProviders:
  - name: my_identity_provider (1)
    mappingMethod: claim (2)
    type: HTPasswd
    htpasswd:
      fileData:
        name: htpass-secret (3)

1	This provider name is prefixed to provider user names to form an identity name.
2	Controls how mappings are established between this provider’s identities and `User` objects.
3	An existing secret containing a file generated using `htpasswd`.

Using RBAC to define and apply permissions

Understand and apply role-based access control.

RBAC overview

Role-based access control (RBAC) objects determine whether a user is allowed to perform a given action within a project.

Cluster administrators can use the cluster roles and bindings to control who has various access levels to the OpenShift Container Platform platform itself and all projects.

Developers can use local roles and bindings to control who has access to their projects. Note that authorization is a separate step from authentication, which is more about determining the identity of who is taking the action.

Authorization is managed using:

Authorization object Description

Authorization object	Description
Rules	Sets of permitted verbs on a set of objects. For example, whether a user or service account can `create` pods.
Roles	Collections of rules. You can associate, or bind, users and groups to multiple roles.
Bindings	Associations between users and/or groups with a role.

Rules

Sets of permitted verbs on a set of objects. For example, whether a user or service account can create pods.

Roles

Collections of rules. You can associate, or bind, users and groups to multiple roles.

Bindings

Associations between users and/or groups with a role.

There are two levels of RBAC roles and bindings that control authorization:

RBAC level	Description
Cluster RBAC	Roles and bindings that are applicable across all projects. Cluster roles exist cluster-wide, and cluster role bindings can reference only cluster roles.
Local RBAC	Roles and bindings that are scoped to a given project. While local roles exist only in a single project, local role bindings can reference both cluster and local roles.

RBAC level

Description

Cluster RBAC

Roles and bindings that are applicable across all projects. Cluster roles exist cluster-wide, and cluster role bindings can reference only cluster roles.

Local RBAC

Roles and bindings that are scoped to a given project. While local roles exist only in a single project, local role bindings can reference both cluster and local roles.

A cluster role binding is a binding that exists at the cluster level. A role binding exists at the project level. The cluster role view must be bound to a user using a local role binding for that user to view the project. Create local roles only if a cluster role does not provide the set of permissions needed for a particular situation.

This two-level hierarchy allows reuse across multiple projects through the cluster roles while allowing customization inside of individual projects through local roles.

During evaluation, both the cluster role bindings and the local role bindings are used. For example:

Cluster-wide "allow" rules are checked.
Locally-bound "allow" rules are checked.
Deny by default.

Default cluster roles

OpenShift Container Platform includes a set of default cluster roles that you can bind to users and groups cluster-wide or locally.

It is not recommended to manually modify the default cluster roles. Modifications to these system roles can prevent a cluster from functioning properly.

Default cluster role Description

Default cluster role	Description
`admin`	A project manager. If used in a local binding, an `admin` has rights to view any resource in the project and modify any resource in the project except for quota.
`basic-user`	A user that can get basic information about projects and users.
`cluster-admin`	A super-user that can perform any action in any project. When bound to a user with a local binding, they have full control over quota and every action on every resource in the project.
`cluster-status`	A user that can get basic cluster status information.
`cluster-reader`	A user that can get or view most of the objects but cannot modify them.
`edit`	A user that can modify most objects in a project but does not have the power to view or modify roles or bindings.
`self-provisioner`	A user that can create their own projects.
`view`	A user who cannot make any modifications, but can see most objects in a project. They cannot view or modify roles or bindings.

admin

A project manager. If used in a local binding, an admin has rights to view any resource in the project and modify any resource in the project except for quota.

basic-user

A user that can get basic information about projects and users.

cluster-admin

A super-user that can perform any action in any project. When bound to a user with a local binding, they have full control over quota and every action on every resource in the project.

cluster-status

A user that can get basic cluster status information.

cluster-reader

A user that can get or view most of the objects but cannot modify them.

edit

A user that can modify most objects in a project but does not have the power to view or modify roles or bindings.

self-provisioner

A user that can create their own projects.

view

A user who cannot make any modifications, but can see most objects in a project. They cannot view or modify roles or bindings.

Be mindful of the difference between local and cluster bindings. For example, if you bind the cluster-admin role to a user by using a local role binding, it might appear that this user has the privileges of a cluster administrator. This is not the case. Binding the cluster-admin to a user in a project grants super administrator privileges for only that project to the user. That user has the permissions of the cluster role admin, plus a few additional permissions like the ability to edit rate limits, for that project. This binding can be confusing via the web console UI, which does not list cluster role bindings that are bound to true cluster administrators. However, it does list local role bindings that you can use to locally bind cluster-admin.

The relationships between cluster roles, local roles, cluster role bindings, local role bindings, users, groups and service accounts are illustrated below.

The get pods/exec, get pods/*, and get * rules grant execution privileges when they are applied to a role. Apply the principle of least privilege and assign only the minimal RBAC rights required for users and agents. For more information, see RBAC rules allow execution privileges.

Evaluating authorization

OpenShift Container Platform evaluates authorization by using:

Identity

The user name and list of groups that the user belongs to.

Action

The action you perform. In most cases, this consists of:

Project: The project you access. A project is a Kubernetes namespace with additional annotations that allows a community of users to organize and manage their content in isolation from other communities.
Verb : The action itself: get, list, create, update, delete, deletecollection, or watch.
Resource name: The API endpoint that you access.

Bindings

The full list of bindings, the associations between users or groups with a role.

OpenShift Container Platform evaluates authorization by using the following steps:

The identity and the project-scoped action is used to find all bindings that apply to the user or their groups.
Bindings are used to locate all the roles that apply.
Roles are used to find all the rules that apply.
The action is checked against each rule to find a match.
If no matching rule is found, the action is then denied by default.

Remember that users and groups can be associated with, or bound to, multiple roles at the same time.

Project administrators can use the CLI to view local roles and bindings, including a matrix of the verbs and resources each are associated with.

The cluster role bound to the project administrator is limited in a project through a local binding. It is not bound cluster-wide like the cluster roles granted to the cluster-admin or system:admin.

Cluster roles are roles defined at the cluster level but can be bound either at the cluster level or at the project level.

Cluster role aggregation

The default admin, edit, view, and cluster-reader cluster roles support cluster role aggregation, where the cluster rules for each role are dynamically updated as new rules are created. This feature is relevant only if you extend the Kubernetes API by creating custom resources.

Projects and namespaces

A Kubernetes namespace provides a mechanism to scope resources in a cluster. The Kubernetes documentation has more information on namespaces.

Namespaces provide a unique scope for:

Named resources to avoid basic naming collisions.
Delegated management authority to trusted users.
The ability to limit community resource consumption.

Most objects in the system are scoped by namespace, but some are excepted and have no namespace, including nodes and users.

A project is a Kubernetes namespace with additional annotations and is the central vehicle by which access to resources for regular users is managed. A project allows a community of users to organize and manage their content in isolation from other communities. Users must be given access to projects by administrators, or if allowed to create projects, automatically have access to their own projects.

Projects can have a separate name, displayName, and description.

The mandatory name is a unique identifier for the project and is most visible when using the CLI tools or API. The maximum name length is 63 characters.
The optional displayName is how the project is displayed in the web console (defaults to name).
The optional description can be a more detailed description of the project and is also visible in the web console.

Each project scopes its own set of:

Object Description

Object	Description
`Objects`	Pods, services, replication controllers, etc.
`Policies`	Rules for which users can or cannot perform actions on objects.
`Constraints`	Quotas for each kind of object that can be limited.
`Service accounts`	Service accounts act automatically with designated access to objects in the project.

Objects

Pods, services, replication controllers, etc.

Policies

Rules for which users can or cannot perform actions on objects.

Constraints

Quotas for each kind of object that can be limited.

Service accounts

Service accounts act automatically with designated access to objects in the project.

Cluster administrators can create projects and delegate administrative rights for the project to any member of the user community. Cluster administrators can also allow developers to create their own projects.

Developers and administrators can interact with projects by using the CLI or the web console.

Default projects

OpenShift Container Platform comes with a number of default projects, and projects starting with openshift- are the most essential to users. These projects host master components that run as pods and other infrastructure components. The pods created in these namespaces that have a critical pod annotation are considered critical, and the have guaranteed admission by kubelet. Pods created for master components in these namespaces are already marked as critical.

Do not run workloads in or share access to default projects. Default projects are reserved for running core cluster components.

The following default projects are considered highly privileged: default, kube-public, kube-system, openshift, openshift-infra, openshift-node, and other system-created projects that have the openshift.io/run-level label set to 0 or 1. Functionality that relies on admission plugins, such as pod security admission, security context constraints, cluster resource quotas, and image reference resolution, does not work in highly privileged projects.

Viewing cluster roles and bindings

You can use the oc CLI to view cluster roles and bindings by using the oc describe command.

Prerequisites

Install the oc CLI.
Obtain permission to view the cluster roles and bindings.

Users with the cluster-admin default cluster role bound cluster-wide can perform any action on any resource, including viewing cluster roles and bindings.

Procedure

To view the cluster roles and their associated rule sets:

$ oc describe clusterrole.rbac

Example output

Name:         admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
  Resources                                                  Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
  ---------                                                  -----------------  --------------  -----
  .packages.apps.redhat.com                                  []                 []              [* create update patch delete get list watch]
  imagestreams                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch create get list watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch create get list watch]
  secrets                                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  buildconfigs/webhooks                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildlogs                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/scale                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamimages                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreammappings                                        []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamtags                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  processedtemplates                                         []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  routes                                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateconfigs                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateinstances                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templates                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/scale                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io                        []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/webhooks                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildlogs.build.openshift.io                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamimages.image.openshift.io                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreammappings.image.openshift.io                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamtags.image.openshift.io                         []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  routes.route.openshift.io                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  processedtemplates.template.openshift.io                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateconfigs.template.openshift.io                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateinstances.template.openshift.io                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templates.template.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  serviceaccounts                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch impersonate create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  imagestreams/secrets                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles                                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings.authorization.openshift.io                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles.authorization.openshift.io                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/secrets                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings.rbac.authorization.k8s.io                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles.rbac.authorization.k8s.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  networkpolicies.extensions                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  networkpolicies.networking.k8s.io                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  configmaps                                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  endpoints                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  persistentvolumeclaims                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  pods                                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  services                                                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  daemonsets.apps                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps/scale                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps                                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.apps/scale                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.apps                                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  statefulsets.apps/scale                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  statefulsets.apps                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  horizontalpodautoscalers.autoscaling                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  cronjobs.batch                                             []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  jobs.batch                                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  daemonsets.extensions                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.extensions/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.extensions                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  ingresses.extensions                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.extensions/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.extensions                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers.extensions/scale                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  poddisruptionbudgets.policy                                []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps/rollback                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update]
  deployments.extensions/rollback                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update]
  catalogsources.operators.coreos.com                        []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  clusterserviceversions.operators.coreos.com                []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  installplans.operators.coreos.com                          []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  packagemanifests.operators.coreos.com                      []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  subscriptions.operators.coreos.com                         []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  buildconfigs/instantiate                                   []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs/instantiatebinary                             []                 []              [create]
  builds/clone                                               []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigrollbacks                                  []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs/instantiate                              []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs/rollback                                 []                 []              [create]
  imagestreamimports                                         []                 []              [create]
  localresourceaccessreviews                                 []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews                                  []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyreviews                                   []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyselfsubjectreviews                        []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicysubjectreviews                            []                 []              [create]
  resourceaccessreviews                                      []                 []              [create]
  routes/custom-host                                         []                 []              [create]
  subjectaccessreviews                                       []                 []              [create]
  subjectrulesreviews                                        []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigrollbacks.apps.openshift.io                []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/instantiate            []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/rollback               []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.k8s.io             []                 []              [create]
  localresourceaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io      []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io       []                 []              [create]
  resourceaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io           []                 []              [create]
  subjectaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io            []                 []              [create]
  subjectrulesreviews.authorization.openshift.io             []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/instantiate                []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/instantiatebinary          []                 []              [create]
  builds.build.openshift.io/clone                            []                 []              [create]
  imagestreamimports.image.openshift.io                      []                 []              [create]
  routes.route.openshift.io/custom-host                      []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyreviews.security.openshift.io             []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyselfsubjectreviews.security.openshift.io  []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicysubjectreviews.security.openshift.io      []                 []              [create]
  jenkins.build.openshift.io                                 []                 []              [edit view view admin edit view]
  builds                                                     []                 []              [get create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  builds.build.openshift.io                                  []                 []              [get create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  projects                                                   []                 []              [get delete get delete get patch update]
  projects.project.openshift.io                              []                 []              [get delete get delete get patch update]
  namespaces                                                 []                 []              [get get list watch]
  pods/attach                                                []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/exec                                                  []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/portforward                                           []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/proxy                                                 []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  services/proxy                                             []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  routes/status                                              []                 []              [get list watch update]
  routes.route.openshift.io/status                           []                 []              [get list watch update]
  appliedclusterresourcequotas                               []                 []              [get list watch]
  bindings                                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  builds/log                                                 []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/log                                      []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/status                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  events                                                     []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams/status                                        []                 []              [get list watch]
  limitranges                                                []                 []              [get list watch]
  namespaces/status                                          []                 []              [get list watch]
  pods/log                                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  pods/status                                                []                 []              [get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers/status                              []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotas/status                                      []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotas                                             []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotausages                                        []                 []              [get list watch]
  rolebindingrestrictions                                    []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/log                    []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/status                 []                 []              [get list watch]
  controllerrevisions.apps                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  rolebindingrestrictions.authorization.openshift.io         []                 []              [get list watch]
  builds.build.openshift.io/log                              []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/status                     []                 []              [get list watch]
  appliedclusterresourcequotas.quota.openshift.io            []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams/layers                                        []                 []              [get update get]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/layers                     []                 []              [get update get]
  builds/details                                             []                 []              [update]
  builds.build.openshift.io/details                          []                 []              [update]


Name:         basic-user
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description: A user that can get basic information about projects.
	              rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
	Resources                                           Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
	  ---------                                           -----------------  --------------  -----
	  selfsubjectrulesreviews                             []                 []              [create]
	  selfsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.k8s.io       []                 []              [create]
	  selfsubjectrulesreviews.authorization.openshift.io  []                 []              [create]
	  clusterroles.rbac.authorization.k8s.io              []                 []              [get list watch]
	  clusterroles                                        []                 []              [get list]
	  clusterroles.authorization.openshift.io             []                 []              [get list]
	  storageclasses.storage.k8s.io                       []                 []              [get list]
	  users                                               []                 [~]             [get]
	  users.user.openshift.io                             []                 [~]             [get]
	  projects                                            []                 []              [list watch]
	  projects.project.openshift.io                       []                 []              [list watch]
	  projectrequests                                     []                 []              [list]
	  projectrequests.project.openshift.io                []                 []              [list]

Name:         cluster-admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
Resources  Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
---------  -----------------  --------------  -----
*.*        []                 []              [*]
           [*]                []              [*]

...

To view the current set of cluster role bindings, which shows the users and groups that are bound to various roles:

$ oc describe clusterrolebinding.rbac

Example output

Name:         alertmanager-main
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  alertmanager-main
Subjects:
  Kind            Name               Namespace
  ----            ----               ---------
  ServiceAccount  alertmanager-main  openshift-monitoring


Name:         basic-users
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  basic-user
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                  Namespace
  ----   ----                  ---------
  Group  system:authenticated


Name:         cloud-credential-operator-rolebinding
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cloud-credential-operator-role
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  default  openshift-cloud-credential-operator


Name:         cluster-admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-admin
Subjects:
  Kind   Name            Namespace
  ----   ----            ---------
  Group  system:masters


Name:         cluster-admins
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-admin
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                   Namespace
  ----   ----                   ---------
  Group  system:cluster-admins
  User   system:admin


Name:         cluster-api-manager-rolebinding
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-api-manager-role
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  default  openshift-machine-api

...

Viewing local roles and bindings

You can use the oc CLI to view local roles and bindings by using the oc describe command.

Prerequisites

Install the oc CLI.
Obtain permission to view the local roles and bindings:
- Users with the cluster-admin default cluster role bound cluster-wide can perform any action on any resource, including viewing local roles and bindings.
- Users with the admin default cluster role bound locally can view and manage roles and bindings in that project.

Procedure

To view the current set of local role bindings, which show the users and groups that are bound to various roles for the current project:
```
$ oc describe rolebinding.rbac
```

To view the local role bindings for a different project, add the -n flag to the command:

$ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n joe-project

Example output

Name:         admin
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name        Namespace
  ----  ----        ---------
  User  kube:admin


Name:         system:deployers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows deploymentconfigs in this namespace to rollout pods in
                this namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove
                subjects to disa...
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:deployer
Subjects:
  Kind            Name      Namespace
  ----            ----      ---------
  ServiceAccount  deployer  joe-project


Name:         system:image-builders
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows builds in this namespace to push images to this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-builder
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  builder  joe-project


Name:         system:image-pullers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows all pods in this namespace to pull images from this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-puller
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                                Namespace
  ----   ----                                ---------
  Group  system:serviceaccounts:joe-project

Adding roles to users

You can use the oc adm administrator CLI to manage the roles and bindings.

Binding, or adding, a role to users or groups gives the user or group the access that is granted by the role. You can add and remove roles to and from users and groups using oc adm policy commands.

You can bind any of the default cluster roles to local users or groups in your project.

Procedure

Add a role to a user in a specific project:

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user <role> <user> -n <project>

For example, you can add the admin role to the alice user in joe project by running:

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user admin alice -n joe

You can alternatively apply the following YAML to add the role to the user:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: admin-0
  namespace: joe
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: admin
subjects:
- apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: User
  name: alice

View the local role bindings and verify the addition in the output:

$ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n <project>

For example, to view the local role bindings for the joe project:

$ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n joe

Example output


Name:         admin
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name        Namespace
  ----  ----        ---------
  User  kube:admin


Name:         admin-0
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name   Namespace
  ----  ----   ---------
  User  alice (1)


Name:         system:deployers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows deploymentconfigs in this namespace to rollout pods in
                this namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove
                subjects to disa...
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:deployer
Subjects:
  Kind            Name      Namespace
  ----            ----      ---------
  ServiceAccount  deployer  joe


Name:         system:image-builders
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows builds in this namespace to push images to this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-builder
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  builder  joe


Name:         system:image-pullers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows all pods in this namespace to pull images from this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-puller
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                                Namespace
  ----   ----                                ---------
  Group  system:serviceaccounts:joe

1	The `alice` user has been added to the `admins` `RoleBinding`.

Creating a local role

You can create a local role for a project and then bind it to a user.

Procedure

To create a local role for a project, run the following command:
```
$ oc create role <name> --verb=<verb> --resource=<resource> -n <project>
```
In this command, specify:
- <name>, the local role’s name
- <verb>, a comma-separated list of the verbs to apply to the role
- <resource>, the resources that the role applies to
- <project>, the project name
For example, to create a local role that allows a user to view pods in the blue project, run the following command:
```
$ oc create role podview --verb=get --resource=pod -n blue
```

To bind the new role to a user, run the following command:

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user podview user2 --role-namespace=blue -n blue

Creating a cluster role

You can create a cluster role.

Procedure

To create a cluster role, run the following command:
```
$ oc create clusterrole <name> --verb=<verb> --resource=<resource>
```
In this command, specify:
- <name>, the local role’s name
- <verb>, a comma-separated list of the verbs to apply to the role
- <resource>, the resources that the role applies to
For example, to create a cluster role that allows a user to view pods, run the following command:
```
$ oc create clusterrole podviewonly --verb=get --resource=pod
```

Local role binding commands

When you manage a user or group’s associated roles for local role bindings using the following operations, a project may be specified with the -n flag. If it is not specified, then the current project is used.

You can use the following commands for local RBAC management.

Table 1. Local role binding operations
Command	Description
`$ oc adm policy who-can <verb> <resource>`	Indicates which users can perform an action on a resource.
`$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user <role> <username>`	Binds a specified role to specified users in the current project.
`$ oc adm policy remove-role-from-user <role> <username>`	Removes a given role from specified users in the current project.
`$ oc adm policy remove-user <username>`	Removes specified users and all of their roles in the current project.
`$ oc adm policy add-role-to-group <role> <groupname>`	Binds a given role to specified groups in the current project.
`$ oc adm policy remove-role-from-group <role> <groupname>`	Removes a given role from specified groups in the current project.
`$ oc adm policy remove-group <groupname>`	Removes specified groups and all of their roles in the current project.

Cluster role binding commands

You can also manage cluster role bindings using the following operations. The -n flag is not used for these operations because cluster role bindings use non-namespaced resources.

Table 2. Cluster role binding operations
Command	Description
`$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-user <role> <username>`	Binds a given role to specified users for all projects in the cluster.
`$ oc adm policy remove-cluster-role-from-user <role> <username>`	Removes a given role from specified users for all projects in the cluster.
`$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-group <role> <groupname>`	Binds a given role to specified groups for all projects in the cluster.
`$ oc adm policy remove-cluster-role-from-group <role> <groupname>`	Removes a given role from specified groups for all projects in the cluster.

Creating a cluster admin

The cluster-admin role is required to perform administrator level tasks on the OpenShift Container Platform cluster, such as modifying cluster resources.

Prerequisites

You must have created a user to define as the cluster admin.

Procedure

Define the user as a cluster admin:

$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-user cluster-admin <user>

Cluster role bindings for unauthenticated groups

Before OpenShift Container Platform 4.17, unauthenticated groups were allowed access to some cluster roles. Clusters updated from versions before OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 retain this access for unauthenticated groups.

For security reasons OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 does not allow unauthenticated groups to have default access to cluster roles.

There are use cases where it might be necessary to add system:unauthenticated to a cluster role.

Cluster administrators can add unauthenticated users to the following cluster roles:

system:scope-impersonation
system:webhook
system:oauth-token-deleter
self-access-reviewer

Always verify compliance with your organization’s security standards when modifying unauthenticated access.

Adding unauthenticated groups to cluster roles

As a cluster administrator, you can add unauthenticated users to the following cluster roles in OpenShift Container Platform by creating a cluster role binding. Unauthenticated users do not have access to non-public cluster roles. This should only be done in specific use cases when necessary.

You can add unauthenticated users to the following cluster roles:

system:scope-impersonation
system:webhook
system:oauth-token-deleter
self-access-reviewer

Always verify compliance with your organization’s security standards when modifying unauthenticated access.

Prerequisites

You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

Create a YAML file named add-<cluster_role>-unauth.yaml and add the following content:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
 annotations:
   rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: "true"
 name: <cluster_role>access-unauthenticated
roleRef:
 apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
 kind: ClusterRole
 name: <cluster_role>
subjects:
 - apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
   kind: Group
   name: system:unauthenticated

Apply the configuration by running the following command:
```
$ oc apply -f add-<cluster_role>.yaml
```

The kubeadmin user

OpenShift Container Platform creates a cluster administrator, kubeadmin, after the installation process completes.

This user has the cluster-admin role automatically applied and is treated as the root user for the cluster. The password is dynamically generated and unique to your OpenShift Container Platform environment. After installation completes the password is provided in the installation program’s output. For example:

INFO Install complete!
INFO Run 'export KUBECONFIG=<your working directory>/auth/kubeconfig' to manage the cluster with 'oc', the OpenShift CLI.
INFO The cluster is ready when 'oc login -u kubeadmin -p <provided>' succeeds (wait a few minutes).
INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.demo1.openshift4-beta-abcorp.com
INFO Login to the console with user: kubeadmin, password: <provided>

Removing the kubeadmin user

After you define an identity provider and create a new cluster-admin user, you can remove the kubeadmin to improve cluster security.

If you follow this procedure before another user is a cluster-admin, then OpenShift Container Platform must be reinstalled. It is not possible to undo this command.

Prerequisites

You must have configured at least one identity provider.
You must have added the cluster-admin role to a user.
You must be logged in as an administrator.

Procedure

Remove the kubeadmin secrets:

$ oc delete secrets kubeadmin -n kube-system

Populating OperatorHub from mirrored Operator catalogs

If you mirrored Operator catalogs for use with disconnected clusters, you can populate OperatorHub with the Operators from your mirrored catalogs. You can use the generated manifests from the mirroring process to create the required ImageContentSourcePolicy and CatalogSource objects.

Prerequisites

Mirroring Operator catalogs for use with disconnected clusters

Creating the ImageContentSourcePolicy object

After mirroring Operator catalog content to your mirror registry, create the required ImageContentSourcePolicy (ICSP) object. The ICSP object configures nodes to translate between the image references stored in Operator manifests and the mirrored registry.

Procedure

On a host with access to the disconnected cluster, create the ICSP by running the following command to specify the imageContentSourcePolicy.yaml file in your manifests directory:
```
$ oc create -f <path/to/manifests/dir>/imageContentSourcePolicy.yaml
```
where <path/to/manifests/dir> is the path to the manifests directory for your mirrored content.

You can now create a CatalogSource object to reference your mirrored index image and Operator content.

Adding a catalog source to a cluster

Adding a catalog source to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster enables the discovery and installation of Operators for users. Cluster administrators can create a CatalogSource object that references an index image. OperatorHub uses catalog sources to populate the user interface.

Alternatively, you can use the web console to manage catalog sources. From the Administration → Cluster Settings → Configuration → OperatorHub page, click the Sources tab, where you can create, update, delete, disable, and enable individual sources.

Prerequisites

You built and pushed an index image to a registry.
You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

Create a CatalogSource object that references your index image. If you used the oc adm catalog mirror command to mirror your catalog to a target registry, you can use the generated catalogSource.yaml file in your manifests directory as a starting point.

Modify the following to your specifications and save it as a catalogSource.yaml file:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: CatalogSource
metadata:
  name: my-operator-catalog (1)
  namespace: openshift-marketplace (2)
spec:
  sourceType: grpc
  grpcPodConfig:
    securityContextConfig: <security_mode> (3)
  image: <registry>/<namespace>/redhat-operator-index:v4.17 (4)
  displayName: My Operator Catalog
  publisher: <publisher_name> (5)
  updateStrategy:
    registryPoll: (6)
      interval: 30m

1	If you mirrored content to local files before uploading to a registry, remove any backslash (`/`) characters from the `metadata.name` field to avoid an "invalid resource name" error when you create the object.
2	If you want the catalog source to be available globally to users in all namespaces, specify the `openshift-marketplace` namespace. Otherwise, you can specify a different namespace for the catalog to be scoped and available only for that namespace.
3	Specify the value of `legacy` or `restricted`. If the field is not set, the default value is `legacy`. In a future OpenShift Container Platform release, it is planned that the default value will be `restricted`. If your catalog cannot run with `restricted` permissions, it is recommended that you manually set this field to `legacy`.
4	Specify your index image. If you specify a tag after the image name, for example `:v4.17`, the catalog source pod uses an image pull policy of `Always`, meaning the pod always pulls the image prior to starting the container. If you specify a digest, for example `@sha256:<id>`, the image pull policy is `IfNotPresent`, meaning the pod pulls the image only if it does not already exist on the node.
5	Specify your name or an organization name publishing the catalog.
6	Catalog sources can automatically check for new versions to keep up to date.

Use the file to create the CatalogSource object:
```
$ oc apply -f catalogSource.yaml
```

Verify the following resources are created successfully.

Check the pods:

$ oc get pods -n openshift-marketplace

Example output

NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS  AGE
my-operator-catalog-6njx6               1/1     Running   0         28s
marketplace-operator-d9f549946-96sgr    1/1     Running   0         26h

Check the catalog source:

$ oc get catalogsource -n openshift-marketplace

Example output

NAME                  DISPLAY               TYPE PUBLISHER  AGE
my-operator-catalog   My Operator Catalog   grpc            5s

Check the package manifest:

$ oc get packagemanifest -n openshift-marketplace

Example output

NAME                          CATALOG               AGE
jaeger-product                My Operator Catalog   93s

You can now install the Operators from the OperatorHub page on your OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Additional resources

About Operator installation with OperatorHub

OperatorHub is a user interface for discovering Operators; it works in conjunction with Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM), which installs and manages Operators on a cluster.

As a cluster administrator, you can install an Operator from OperatorHub by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or CLI. Subscribing an Operator to one or more namespaces makes the Operator available to developers on your cluster.

During installation, you must determine the following initial settings for the Operator:

Installation Mode: Choose All namespaces on the cluster (default) to have the Operator installed on all namespaces or choose individual namespaces, if available, to only install the Operator on selected namespaces. This example chooses All namespaces… to make the Operator available to all users and projects.
Update Channel: If an Operator is available through multiple channels, you can choose which channel you want to subscribe to. For example, to deploy from the stable channel, if available, select it from the list.
Approval Strategy: You can choose automatic or manual updates.

If you choose automatic updates for an installed Operator, when a new version of that Operator is available in the selected channel, Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) automatically upgrades the running instance of your Operator without human intervention.

If you select manual updates, when a newer version of an Operator is available, OLM creates an update request. As a cluster administrator, you must then manually approve that update request to have the Operator updated to the new version.

Installing from OperatorHub by using the web console

You can install and subscribe to an Operator from OperatorHub by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Prerequisites

Access to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using an account with cluster-admin permissions.

Procedure

Navigate in the web console to the Operators → OperatorHub page.
Scroll or type a keyword into the Filter by keyword box to find the Operator you want. For example, type jaeger to find the Jaeger Operator.

You can also filter options by Infrastructure Features. For example, select Disconnected if you want to see Operators that work in disconnected environments, also known as restricted network environments.
Select the Operator to display additional information.

Choosing a Community Operator warns that Red Hat does not certify Community Operators; you must acknowledge the warning before continuing.
Read the information about the Operator and click Install.

On the Install Operator page, configure your Operator installation:

If you want to install a specific version of an Operator, select an Update channel and Version from the lists. You can browse the various versions of an Operator across any channels it might have, view the metadata for that channel and version, and select the exact version you want to install.

The version selection defaults to the latest version for the channel selected. If the latest version for the channel is selected, the Automatic approval strategy is enabled by default. Otherwise, Manual approval is required when not installing the latest version for the selected channel.

Installing an Operator with Manual approval causes all Operators installed within the namespace to function with the Manual approval strategy and all Operators are updated together. If you want to update Operators independently, install Operators into separate namespaces.

Confirm the installation mode for the Operator:
- All namespaces on the cluster (default) installs the Operator in the default openshift-operators namespace to watch and be made available to all namespaces in the cluster. This option is not always available.
- A specific namespace on the cluster allows you to choose a specific, single namespace in which to install the Operator. The Operator will only watch and be made available for use in this single namespace.
For clusters on cloud providers with token authentication enabled:
- If the cluster uses AWS Security Token Service (STS Mode in the web console), enter the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of the AWS IAM role of your service account in the role ARN field. To create the role’s ARN, follow the procedure described in Preparing AWS account.
- If the cluster uses Microsoft Entra Workload ID (Workload Identity / Federated Identity Mode in the web console), add the client ID, tenant ID, and subscription ID in the appropriate fields.
- If the cluster uses Google Cloud Platform Workload Identity (GCP Workload Identity / Federated Identity Mode in the web console), add the project number, pool ID, provider ID, and service account email in the appropriate fields.

For Update approval, select either the Automatic or Manual approval strategy.

If the web console shows that the cluster uses AWS STS, Microsoft Entra Workload ID, or GCP Workload Identity, you must set Update approval to Manual.

Subscriptions with automatic approvals for updates are not recommended because there might be permission changes to make before updating. Subscriptions with manual approvals for updates ensure that administrators have the opportunity to verify the permissions of the later version, take any necessary steps, and then update.

Click Install to make the Operator available to the selected namespaces on this OpenShift Container Platform cluster:
1. If you selected a Manual approval strategy, the upgrade status of the subscription remains Upgrading until you review and approve the install plan.
  
  After approving on the Install Plan page, the subscription upgrade status moves to Up to date.
2. If you selected an Automatic approval strategy, the upgrade status should resolve to Up to date without intervention.

Verification

After the upgrade status of the subscription is Up to date, select Operators → Installed Operators to verify that the cluster service version (CSV) of the installed Operator eventually shows up. The Status should eventually resolve to Succeeded in the relevant namespace.

For the All namespaces… installation mode, the status resolves to Succeeded in the openshift-operators namespace, but the status is Copied if you check in other namespaces.

If it does not:
- Check the logs in any pods in the openshift-operators project (or other relevant namespace if A specific namespace… installation mode was selected) on the Workloads → Pods page that are reporting issues to troubleshoot further.
When the Operator is installed, the metadata indicates which channel and version are installed.

The Channel and Version dropdown menus are still available for viewing other version metadata in this catalog context.

Installing from OperatorHub by using the CLI

Instead of using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, you can install an Operator from OperatorHub by using the CLI. Use the oc command to create or update a Subscription object.

For SingleNamespace install mode, you must also ensure an appropriate Operator group exists in the related namespace. An Operator group, defined by an OperatorGroup object, selects target namespaces in which to generate required RBAC access for all Operators in the same namespace as the Operator group.

In most cases, the web console method of this procedure is preferred because it automates tasks in the background, such as handling the creation of OperatorGroup and Subscription objects automatically when choosing SingleNamespace mode.

Prerequisites

Access to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using an account with cluster-admin permissions.
You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

View the list of Operators available to the cluster from OperatorHub:

$ oc get packagemanifests -n openshift-marketplace

Example output

NAME                               CATALOG               AGE
3scale-operator                    Red Hat Operators     91m
advanced-cluster-management        Red Hat Operators     91m
amq7-cert-manager                  Red Hat Operators     91m
# ...
couchbase-enterprise-certified     Certified Operators   91m
crunchy-postgres-operator          Certified Operators   91m
mongodb-enterprise                 Certified Operators   91m
# ...
etcd                               Community Operators   91m
jaeger                             Community Operators   91m
kubefed                            Community Operators   91m
# ...

Note the catalog for your desired Operator.

Inspect your desired Operator to verify its supported install modes and available channels:

$ oc describe packagemanifests <operator_name> -n openshift-marketplace

Example output

# ...
Kind:         PackageManifest
# ...
      Install Modes: (1)
        Supported:  true
        Type:       OwnNamespace
        Supported:  true
        Type:       SingleNamespace
        Supported:  false
        Type:       MultiNamespace
        Supported:  true
        Type:       AllNamespaces
# ...
    Entries:
      Name:       example-operator.v3.7.11
      Version:    3.7.11
      Name:       example-operator.v3.7.10
      Version:    3.7.10
    Name:         stable-3.7 (2)
# ...
   Entries:
      Name:         example-operator.v3.8.5
      Version:      3.8.5
      Name:         example-operator.v3.8.4
      Version:      3.8.4
    Name:           stable-3.8 (2)
  Default Channel:  stable-3.8 (3)

1	Indicates which install modes are supported.
2	Example channel names.
3	The channel selected by default if one is not specified.

You can print an Operator’s version and channel information in YAML format by running the following command:

$ oc get packagemanifests <operator_name> -n <catalog_namespace> -o yaml

If more than one catalog is installed in a namespace, run the following command to look up the available versions and channels of an Operator from a specific catalog:

$ oc get packagemanifest \
   --selector=catalog=<catalogsource_name> \
   --field-selector metadata.name=<operator_name> \
   -n <catalog_namespace> -o yaml

If you do not specify the Operator’s catalog, running the oc get packagemanifest and oc describe packagemanifest commands might return a package from an unexpected catalog if the following conditions are met:

Multiple catalogs are installed in the same namespace.
The catalogs contain the same Operators or Operators with the same name.

If the Operator you intend to install supports the AllNamespaces install mode, and you choose to use this mode, skip this step, because the openshift-operators namespace already has an appropriate Operator group in place by default, called global-operators.

If the Operator you intend to install supports the SingleNamespace install mode, and you choose to use this mode, you must ensure an appropriate Operator group exists in the related namespace. If one does not exist, you can create create one by following these steps:

You can only have one Operator group per namespace. For more information, see "Operator groups".
1. Create an OperatorGroup object YAML file, for example operatorgroup.yaml, for SingleNamespace install mode:
  Example OperatorGroup object for SingleNamespace install mode
  apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1 kind: OperatorGroup metadata: name: <operatorgroup_name> namespace: <namespace> (1) spec: targetNamespaces: - <namespace> (1)
  1 For SingleNamespace install mode, use the same <namespace> value for both the metadata.namespace and spec.targetNamespaces fields.
2. Create the OperatorGroup object:
  $ oc apply -f operatorgroup.yaml

Create a Subscription object to subscribe a namespace to an Operator:

Create a YAML file for the Subscription object, for example subscription.yaml:

If you want to subscribe to a specific version of an Operator, set the startingCSV field to the desired version and set the installPlanApproval field to Manual to prevent the Operator from automatically upgrading if a later version exists in the catalog. For details, see the following "Example Subscription object with a specific starting Operator version".

Example Subscription object

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: <subscription_name>
  namespace: <namespace_per_install_mode> (1)
spec:
  channel: <channel_name> (2)
  name: <operator_name> (3)
  source: <catalog_name> (4)
  sourceNamespace: <catalog_source_namespace> (5)
  config:
    env: (6)
    - name: ARGS
      value: "-v=10"
    envFrom: (7)
    - secretRef:
        name: license-secret
    volumes: (8)
    - name: <volume_name>
      configMap:
        name: <configmap_name>
    volumeMounts: (9)
    - mountPath: <directory_name>
      name: <volume_name>
    tolerations: (10)
    - operator: "Exists"
    resources: (11)
      requests:
        memory: "64Mi"
        cpu: "250m"
      limits:
        memory: "128Mi"
        cpu: "500m"
    nodeSelector: (12)
      foo: bar

1	For default `AllNamespaces` install mode usage, specify the `openshift-operators` namespace. Alternatively, you can specify a custom global namespace, if you have created one. For `SingleNamespace` install mode usage, specify the relevant single namespace.
2	Name of the channel to subscribe to.
3	Name of the Operator to subscribe to.
4	Name of the catalog source that provides the Operator.
5	Namespace of the catalog source. Use `openshift-marketplace` for the default OperatorHub catalog sources.
6	The `env` parameter defines a list of environment variables that must exist in all containers in the pod created by OLM.
7	The `envFrom` parameter defines a list of sources to populate environment variables in the container.
8	The `volumes` parameter defines a list of volumes that must exist on the pod created by OLM.
9	The `volumeMounts` parameter defines a list of volume mounts that must exist in all containers in the pod created by OLM. If a `volumeMount` references a `volume` that does not exist, OLM fails to deploy the Operator.
10	The `tolerations` parameter defines a list of tolerations for the pod created by OLM.
11	The `resources` parameter defines resource constraints for all the containers in the pod created by OLM.
12	The `nodeSelector` parameter defines a `NodeSelector` for the pod created by OLM.

Example Subscription object with a specific starting Operator version

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: example-operator
  namespace: example-operator
spec:
  channel: stable-3.7
  installPlanApproval: Manual (1)
  name: example-operator
  source: custom-operators
  sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
  startingCSV: example-operator.v3.7.10 (2)

1	Set the approval strategy to `Manual` in case your specified version is superseded by a later version in the catalog. This plan prevents an automatic upgrade to a later version and requires manual approval before the starting CSV can complete the installation.
2	Set a specific version of an Operator CSV.

For clusters on cloud providers with token authentication enabled, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Token Service (STS), Microsoft Entra Workload ID, or Google Cloud Platform Workload Identity, configure your Subscription object by following these steps:

Ensure the Subscription object is set to manual update approvals:

Example Subscription object with manual update approvals

kind: Subscription
# ...
spec:
  installPlanApproval: Manual (1)

Include the relevant cloud provider-specific fields in the Subscription object’s config section:
- If the cluster is in AWS STS mode, include the following fields:
  
  Example Subscription object with AWS STS variables
  
  kind: Subscription # ... spec: config: env: - name: ROLEARN value: "<role_arn>" (1)
  
  1 Include the role ARN details.
- If the cluster is in Workload ID mode, include the following fields:
  
  Example Subscription object with Workload ID variables
  
  kind: Subscription # ... spec: config: env: - name: CLIENTID value: "<client_id>" (1) - name: TENANTID value: "<tenant_id>" (2) - name: SUBSCRIPTIONID value: "<subscription_id>" (3)
  
  1 Include the client ID.
  
  2 Include the tenant ID.
  
  3 Include the subscription ID.
- If the cluster is in GCP Workload Identity mode, include the following fields:
  
  Example Subscription object with GCP Workload Identity variables
  
  kind: Subscription # ... spec: config: env: - name: AUDIENCE value: "<audience_url>" (1) - name: SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL value: "<service_account_email>" (2)
  
  where:
  
  <audience>
  
  Created in GCP by the administrator when they set up GCP Workload Identity, the AUDIENCE value must be a preformatted URL in the following format:
  
  //iam.googleapis.com/projects/<project_number>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>
  
  <service_account_email>
  
  The SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL value is a GCP service account email that is impersonated during Operator operation, for example:
  
  <service_account_name>@<project_id>.iam.gserviceaccount.com

Create the Subscription object by running the following command:
```
$ oc apply -f subscription.yaml
```

If you set the installPlanApproval field to Manual, manually approve the pending install plan to complete the Operator installation. For more information, see "Manually approving a pending Operator update".

At this point, OLM is now aware of the selected Operator. A cluster service version (CSV) for the Operator should appear in the target namespace, and APIs provided by the Operator should be available for creation.

Verification

Check the status of the Subscription object for your installed Operator by running the following command:
```
$ oc describe subscription <subscription_name> -n <namespace>
```
If you created an Operator group for SingleNamespace install mode, check the status of the OperatorGroup object by running the following command:
```
$ oc describe operatorgroup <operatorgroup_name> -n <namespace>
```

Additional resources

About OperatorGroups

1	Include the client ID.
2	Include the tenant ID.
3	Include the subscription ID.