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This document describes the process to recover from a complete loss of a master host. This includes situations where a majority of master hosts have been lost, leading to etcd quorum loss and the cluster going offline. This procedure assumes that you have at least one healthy master host.

At a high level, the procedure is to:

  1. Restore etcd quorum on a remaining master host.

  2. Create new master hosts.

  3. Correct DNS and load balancer entries.

  4. Grow etcd to full membership.

If the majority of master hosts have been lost, you will need an etcd backup to restore etcd quorum on the remaining master host.

If you have a majority of your masters still available and have an etcd quorum, then follow the procedure to replace a single failed master host.

Recovering from lost master hosts

Follow these steps to recover from the loss of the majority of master hosts, leading to etcd quorum loss.

Prerequisites
  • Access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

  • SSH access to a remaining master host.

  • A backup directory containing both the etcd snapshot and static Kubernetes API server resources taken from the same backup. The file names in the directory must be in the following formats: snapshot_<datetimestamp>.db and static_kuberesources_<datetimestamp>.tar.gz.

    If the etcd backup was taken from OpenShift Container Platform 4.3.0 or 4.3.1, then it is a single file that contains the etcd snapshot and static Kubernetes API server resources. The etcd-snapshot-restore.sh script is backward compatible to accept this single file, which must be in the format of snapshot_db_kuberesources_<datetimestamp>.tar.gz.

Procedure
  1. Restore etcd quorum on the remaining master.

    1. Copy the etcd backup directory to the remaining master host.

      This procedure assumes that you copied the backup directory containing the etcd snapshot and static Kubernetes API server resources to the /home/core/ directory of your master host.

    2. Access the remaining master host.

    3. Set the INITIAL_CLUSTER variable to the list of members in the format of <name>=<url>. This variable will be passed to the restore script, and in this procedure, it is assumed that there is only a single member at this time.

      [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ export INITIAL_CLUSTER="etcd-member-ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal=https://etcd-0.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380"
    4. If the cluster-wide proxy is enabled, be sure that you have exported the NO_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables.

      You can check whether the proxy is enabled by reviewing the output of oc get proxy cluster -o yaml. The proxy is enabled if the httpProxy, httpsProxy, and noProxy fields have values set.

    5. Run the etcd-snapshot-restore.sh script.

      Pass in two parameters to the etcd-snapshot-restore.sh script: the path to the etcd backup directory and list of members, which is defined by the INITIAL_CLUSTER variable.

      Be sure to pass in the -E flag to sudo so that environment variables are properly passed to the script.

      [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/etcd-snapshot-restore.sh /home/core/backup $INITIAL_CLUSTER
      Creating asset directory ./assets
      Downloading etcdctl binary..
      etcdctl version: 3.3.10
      API version: 3.3
      Backing up /etc/kubernetes/manifests/etcd-member.yaml to ./assets/backup/
      Stopping all static pods..
      ..stopping kube-scheduler-pod.yaml
      ..stopping kube-controller-manager-pod.yaml
      ..stopping kube-apiserver-pod.yaml
      ..stopping etcd-member.yaml
      Stopping etcd..
      Waiting for etcd-member to stop
      Stopping kubelet..
      Stopping all containers..
      bd44e4bc942276eb1a6d4b48ecd9f5fe95570f54aa9c6b16939fa2d9b679e1ea
      d88defb9da5ae623592b81619e3690faeb4fa645440e71c029812cb960ff586f
      3920ced20723064a379739c4a586f909497a7b6705a5b3cf367d9b930f23a5f1
      d470f7a2d962c90f3a21bcc021970bde96bc8908f317ec70f1c21720b322c25c
      Backing up etcd data-dir..
      Removing etcd data-dir /var/lib/etcd
      Restoring etcd member etcd-member-ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal from snapshot..
      2019-05-15 19:03:34.647589 I | pkg/netutil: resolving etcd-0.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380 to 10.0.143.125:2380
      2019-05-15 19:03:34.883545 I | mvcc: restore compact to 361491
      2019-05-15 19:03:34.915679 I | etcdserver/membership: added member cbe982c74cbb42f [https://etcd-0.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380] to cluster 807ae3bffc8d69ca
      Starting static pods..
      ..starting kube-scheduler-pod.yaml
      ..starting kube-controller-manager-pod.yaml
      ..starting kube-apiserver-pod.yaml
      ..starting etcd-member.yaml
      Starting kubelet..

      Once the etcd-snapshot-restore.sh script completes, your cluster should now have a single member etcd cluster, and API services will begin restarting. This might take up to 15 minutes.

      In a terminal that has access to the cluster, run the following command to verify that it is ready:

      $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/master
      NAME                                         STATUS   ROLES    AGE   VERSION
      ip-10-0-143-125.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    master   46m   v1.16.2

      Be sure that all old etcd members being replaced are shut down. Otherwise, they might try to connect to the new cluster and will report errors like the following in the logs:

      2019-05-20 15:33:17.648445 E | rafthttp: request cluster ID mismatch (got 9f5f9f05e4d43b7f want 807ae3bffc8d69ca)
  2. Create new master hosts.

    If your cluster has its Machine API enabled and functional, then when the OpenShift machine-api Operator is restored, it will create the new masters. If you do not have the machine-api Operator enabled, you must create new masters using the same methods that were used to originally create them.

    You will also need to approve the certificates signing requests (CSRs) for these new master hosts. Two pending CSRs are generated for each machine that was added to the cluster.

    1. In a terminal that has access to the cluster, run the following commands to approve the CSRs:

      1. Get the list of current CSRs.

        $ oc get csr
      2. Review the details of a CSR to verify it is valid.

        $ oc describe csr <csr_name> (1)
        1 <csr_name> is the name of a CSR from the list of current CSRs.
      3. Approve each valid CSR.

        $ oc adm certificate approve <csr_name>

        Be sure to approve both the pending client and server CSR for each master that was added to the cluster.

    2. In a terminal that has access to the cluster, run the following command to verify that your masters are ready:

      $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/master
      NAME                                         STATUS   ROLES    AGE   VERSION
      ip-10-0-143-125.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    master   50m   v1.16.2
      ip-10-0-156-255.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    master   92s   v1.16.2
      ip-10-0-162-178.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    master   70s   v1.16.2
  3. Correct the DNS entries.

    1. From the AWS console, review the etcd-0, etcd-1, and etcd-2 Route 53 records in the private DNS zone, and if necessary, update the value to the appropriate new private IP address. See Editing Records in the AWS documentation for instructions.

      You can obtain the private IP address of an instance by running the following command in a terminal that has access to the cluster.

      $ oc get node ip-10-0-143-125.us-east-2.compute.internal -o  jsonpath='{.status.addresses[?(@.type=="InternalIP")].address}{"\n"}'
      10.0.143.125
  4. Update load balancer entries.

    If you are using a cluster-managed load balancer, the entries will automatically be updated for you. If you are not, be sure to update your load balancer with the current addresses of your master hosts.

    If your load balancing is managed by AWS, see Register or Deregister Targets by IP Address in the AWS documentation for instructions on updating load balancer entries.

  5. Grow etcd to full membership.

    1. Set up a temporary etcd certificate signer service on your master where you have restored etcd.

      1. Access the original master, and log in to your cluster as a cluster-admin user using the following command.

        [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ sudo oc login https://localhost:6443
        Authentication required for https://localhost:6443 (openshift)
        Username: kubeadmin
        Password:
        Login successful.
      2. Obtain the pull specification for the kube-etcd-signer-server image.

        [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ export KUBE_ETCD_SIGNER_SERVER=$(sudo oc adm release info --image-for kube-etcd-signer-server --registry-config=/var/lib/kubelet/config.json)
      3. Run the tokenize-signer.sh script.

        Be sure to pass in the -E flag to sudo so that environment variables are properly passed to the script.

        [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/tokenize-signer.sh ip-10-0-143-125 (1)
        Populating template /usr/local/share/openshift-recovery/template/kube-etcd-cert-signer.yaml.template
        Populating template ./assets/tmp/kube-etcd-cert-signer.yaml.stage1
        Tokenized template now ready: ./assets/manifests/kube-etcd-cert-signer.yaml
        1 The host name of the original master you just restored, where the signer should be deployed.
      4. Create the signer Pod using the file that was generated.

        [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ sudo oc create -f assets/manifests/kube-etcd-cert-signer.yaml
        pod/etcd-signer created
      5. Verify that the signer is listening on this master node.

        [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~]$ ss -ltn | grep 9943
        LISTEN   0         128                       *:9943                   *:*
    2. Add the new master hosts to the etcd cluster.

      1. Access one of the new master hosts, and log in to your cluster as a cluster-admin user using the following command.

        [core@ip-10-0-156-255 ~]$ sudo oc login https://localhost:6443
        Authentication required for https://localhost:6443 (openshift)
        Username: kubeadmin
        Password:
        Login successful.
      2. Export two environment variables that are required by the etcd-member-recover.sh script.

        [core@ip-10-0-156-255 ~]$ export SETUP_ETCD_ENVIRONMENT=$(sudo oc adm release info --image-for machine-config-operator --registry-config=/var/lib/kubelet/config.json)
        [core@ip-10-0-156-255 ~]$ export KUBE_CLIENT_AGENT=$(sudo oc adm release info --image-for kube-client-agent --registry-config=/var/lib/kubelet/config.json)
      3. Run the etcd-member-recover.sh script.

        Be sure to pass in the -E flag to sudo so that environment variables are properly passed to the script.

        [core@ip-10-0-156-255 ~]$ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/etcd-member-recover.sh 10.0.143.125 etcd-member-ip-10-0-156-255.ec2.internal (1)
        Downloading etcdctl binary..
        etcdctl version: 3.3.10
        API version: 3.3
        etcd-member.yaml found in ./assets/backup/
        etcd.conf backup upready exists ./assets/backup/etcd.conf
        Trying to backup etcd client certs..
        etcd client certs already backed up and available ./assets/backup/
        Stopping etcd..
        Waiting for etcd-member to stop
        etcd data-dir backup found ./assets/backup/etcd..
        etcd TLS certificate backups found in ./assets/backup..
        Removing etcd certs..
        Populating template /usr/local/share/openshift-recovery/template/etcd-generate-certs.yaml.template
        Populating template ./assets/tmp/etcd-generate-certs.stage1
        Populating template ./assets/tmp/etcd-generate-certs.stage2
        Starting etcd client cert recovery agent..
        Waiting for certs to generate..
        Waiting for certs to generate..
        Waiting for certs to generate..
        Waiting for certs to generate..
        Stopping cert recover..
        Waiting for generate-certs to stop
        Patching etcd-member manifest..
        Updating etcd membership..
        Member 249a4b9a790b3719 added to cluster 807ae3bffc8d69ca
        
        ETCD_NAME="etcd-member-ip-10-0-156-255.ec2.internal"
        ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER="etcd-member-ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal=https://etcd-0.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380,etcd-member-ip-10-0-156-255.ec2.internal=https://etcd-1.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380"
        ETCD_INITIAL_ADVERTISE_PEER_URLS="https://etcd-1.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380"
        ETCD_INITIAL_CLUSTER_STATE="existing"
        Starting etcd..
        1 Specify both the IP address of the original master where the signer server is running, and the etcd name of the new member.
      4. Verify that the new master host has been added to the etcd member list.

        1. Access the original master and connect to the running etcd container.

          [core@ip-10-0-143-125 ~] id=$(sudo crictl ps --name etcd-member | awk 'FNR==2{ print $1}') && sudo crictl exec -it $id /bin/sh
        2. In the etcd container, export variables needed for connecting to etcd.

          sh-4.3# export ETCDCTL_API=3 ETCDCTL_CACERT=/etc/ssl/etcd/ca.crt ETCDCTL_CERT=$(find /etc/ssl/ -name *peer*crt) ETCDCTL_KEY=$(find /etc/ssl/ -name *peer*key)
        3. In the etcd container, execute etcdctl member list and verify that the new member is listed.

          sh-4.3#  etcdctl member list -w table
          
          +------------------+---------+------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+
          |        ID        | STATUS  |                   NAME                   |                           PEER ADDRS                           |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
          +------------------+---------+------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+
          |  cbe982c74cbb42f | started |  etcd-member-ip-10-0-156-255.ec2.internal | https://etcd-0.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380 |  https://10.0.156.255:2379 |
          | 249a4b9a790b3719 | started | etcd-member-ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal | https://etcd-1.clustername.devcluster.openshift.com:2380 | https://10.0.143.125:2379 |
          +------------------+---------+------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------+

          It may take up to 20 minutes for the new member to start.

      5. Repeat these steps to add your other new master host until you have achieved full etcd membership.

    3. After all members are restored, remove the signer Pod because it is no longer needed.

      In a terminal that has access to the cluster, run the following command:

      $ oc delete pod -n openshift-config etcd-signer

Note that it might take several minutes after completing this procedure for all services to be restored. For example, authentication by using oc login might not immediately work until the OAuth server Pods are restarted.