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Installing Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh

Installing the Service Mesh involves installing the Elasticsearch, Jaeger, Kiali and Service Mesh Operators, creating and managing a ServiceMeshControlPlane resource to deploy the control plane, and creating a ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource to specify the namespaces associated with the Service Mesh.

Mixer’s policy enforcement is disabled by default. You must enable it to run policy tasks. See Update Mixer policy enforcement for instructions on enabling Mixer policy enforcement.

Multi-tenant control plane installations are the default configuration starting with Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.0.

The Service Mesh documentation uses istio-system as the example project, but you may deploy the service mesh to any project.

Prerequisites

The Service Mesh installation process uses the OperatorHub to install the ServiceMeshControlPlane custom resource definition within the openshift-operators project. The Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh defines and monitors the ServiceMeshControlPlane related to the deployment, update, and deletion of the control plane.

Starting with Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.1.16, you must install the Elasticsearch Operator, the Jaeger Operator, and the Kiali Operator before the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator can install the control plane.

Installing the Elasticsearch Operator

The default Jaeger deployment uses in-memory storage because it is designed to be installed quickly for those evaluating Jaeger, giving demonstrations, or using Jaeger in a test environment. If you plan to use Jaeger in production, you must install a persistent storage option, in this case, Elasticsearch.

Prerequisites

  • Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  • An account with the cluster-admin role.

Do not install Community versions of the Operators. Community Operators are not supported.

If you have already installed the Elasticsearch Operator as part of OpenShift cluster logging, you do not need to install the Elasticsearch Operator again. The Jaeger Operator will create the Elasticsearch instance using the installed Elasticsearch Operator.
Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

  2. Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.

  3. Type Elasticsearch into the filter box to locate the Elasticsearch Operator.

  4. Click the Elasticsearch Operator provided by Red Hat to display information about the Operator.

  5. Click Install.

  6. On the Install Operator page, select the A specific namespace on the cluster option and then select openshift-operators-redhat from the menu.

    The Elasticsearch installation guide says you must specify the openshift-operators-redhat namespace for the Elasticsearch operator for Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh.

  7. Select the Update Channel that matches your OpenShift Container Platform installation. For example, if you are installing on OpenShift Container Platform version 4.6, select the 4.6 update channel.

  8. Select the Automatic Approval Strategy.

    The Manual approval strategy requires a user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator install and subscription process.

  9. Click Install.

  10. On the Installed Operators page, select the openshift-operators-redhat project. Wait until you see that the Elasticsearch Operator shows a status of "InstallSucceeded" before continuing.

Installing the Jaeger Operator

To install Jaeger you use the OperatorHub to install the Jaeger Operator.

By default the Operator is installed in the openshift-operators project.

Prerequisites

  • Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  • An account with the cluster-admin role.

  • If you require persistent storage, you must also install the Elasticsearch Operator before installing the Jaeger Operator.

Do not install Community versions of the Operators. Community Operators are not supported.
Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

  2. Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.

  3. Type Jaeger into the filter to locate the Jaeger Operator.

  4. Click the Jaeger Operator provided by Red Hat to display information about the Operator.

  5. Click Install.

  6. On the Install Operator page, select All namespaces on the cluster (default). This installs the Operator in the default openshift-operators project and makes the Operator available to all projects in the cluster.

  7. Select the stable Update Channel. This will automatically update Jaeger as new versions are released. If you select a maintenance channel, for example, 1.17-stable, you will receive bug fixes and security patches for the length of the support cycle for that version.

    • Select an Approval Strategy. You can select Automatic or Manual updates. If you choose Automatic updates for an installed Operator, when a new version of that Operator is available, the 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, the 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.

      The Manual approval strategy requires a user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator install and subscription process.

  8. Click Install.

  9. On the Subscription Overview page, select the openshift-operators project. Wait until you see that the Jaeger Operator shows a status of "InstallSucceeded" before continuing.

Installing the Kiali Operator

You must install the Kiali Operator for the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator to install the control plane.

Do not install Community versions of the Operators. Community Operators are not supported.
Prerequisites

  • Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  2. Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.

  3. Type Kiali into the filter box to find the Kiali Operator.

  4. Click the Kiali Operator provided by Red Hat to display information about the Operator.

  5. Click Install.

  6. On the Install Operator page, select All namespaces on the cluster (default). This installs the Operator in the default openshift-operators project and makes the Operator available to all projects in the cluster.

  7. Select the stable Update Channel.

  8. Select the Automatic Approval Strategy.

    The Manual approval strategy requires a user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator install and subscription process.

  9. Click Install.

  10. The Installed Operators page displays the Kiali Operator’s installation progress.

Installing the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator

Prerequisites

  • Access to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  • The Elasticsearch Operator must be installed.

  • The Jaeger Operator must be installed.

  • The Kiali Operator must be installed.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  2. Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.

  3. Type Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh into the filter box to find the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  4. Click the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator to display information about the Operator.

  5. On the Install Operator page, select All namespaces on the cluster (default). This installs the Operator in the default openshift-operators project and makes the Operator available to all projects in the cluster.

  6. Click Install.

  7. Select the stable Update Channel.

  8. Select the Automatic Approval Strategy.

    The Manual approval strategy requires a user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator install and subscription process.

  9. Click Install.

  10. The Installed Operators page displays the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator’s installation progress.

Deploying the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh control plane

The ServiceMeshControlPlane resource defines the configuration to be used during installation. You can deploy the default configuration provided by Red Hat or customize the ServiceMeshControlPlane file to fit your business needs.

You can deploy the Service Mesh control plane by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or from the command line using the oc client tool.

Deploying the control plane from the web console

Follow this procedure to deploy the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh control plane by using the web console.

Prerequisites

  • The Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator must be installed.

  • Review the instructions for how to customize the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation.

  • An account with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as a user with the cluster-admin role.

  2. Create a project named istio-system.

    1. Navigate to Home → Projects.

    2. Click Create Project.

    3. Enter istio-system in the Name field.

    4. Click Create.

  3. Navigate to Operators → Installed Operators.

  4. If necessary, select istio-system from the Project menu. You may have to wait a few moments for the Operators to be copied to the new project.

  5. Click the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator. Under Provided APIs, the Operator provides links to create two resource types:

    • A ServiceMeshControlPlane resource

    • A ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource

  6. Under Istio Service Mesh Control Plane click Create ServiceMeshControlPlane.

  7. On the Create Service Mesh Control Plane page, modify the YAML for the default ServiceMeshControlPlane template as needed.

    For additional information about customizing the control plane, see customizing the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation. For production, you must change the default Jaeger template.

  8. Click Create to create the control plane. The Operator creates Pods, services, and Service Mesh control plane components based on your configuration parameters.

  9. Click the Istio Service Mesh Control Plane tab.

  10. Click the name of the new control plane.

  11. Click the Resources tab to see the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh control plane resources the Operator created and configured.

Deploying the control plane from the CLI

Follow this procedure to deploy the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh control plane the command line.

Prerequisites

  • The Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator must be installed.

  • Review the instructions for how to customize the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation.

  • An account with the cluster-admin role.

  • Access to the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform CLI as a user with the cluster-admin role.

    $ oc login https://{HOSTNAME}:6443

  2. Create a project named istio-system.

    $ oc new-project istio-system

  3. Create a ServiceMeshControlPlane file named istio-installation.yaml using the example found in "Customize the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh installation". You can customize the values as needed to match your use case. For production deployments you must change the default Jaeger template.

  4. Run the following command to deploy the control plane:

    $ oc create -n istio-system -f istio-installation.yaml

  5. Execute the following command to see the status of the control plane installation.

    $ oc get smcp -n istio-system

    The installation has finished successfully when the READY column is true.

    NAME           READY
basic-install   True

  6. Run the following command to watch the progress of the Pods during the installation process:

    $ oc get pods -n istio-system -w

    You should see output similar to the following:

    Example output
    NAME                                     READY   STATUS             RESTARTS   AGE
grafana-7bf5764d9d-2b2f6                 2/2     Running            0          28h
istio-citadel-576b9c5bbd-z84z4           1/1     Running            0          28h
istio-egressgateway-5476bc4656-r4zdv     1/1     Running            0          28h
istio-galley-7d57b47bb7-lqdxv            1/1     Running            0          28h
istio-ingressgateway-dbb8f7f46-ct6n5     1/1     Running            0          28h
istio-pilot-546bf69578-ccg5x             2/2     Running            0          28h
istio-policy-77fd498655-7pvjw            2/2     Running            0          28h
istio-sidecar-injector-df45bd899-ctxdt   1/1     Running            0          28h
istio-telemetry-66f697d6d5-cj28l         2/2     Running            0          28h
jaeger-896945cbc-7lqrr                   2/2     Running            0          11h
kiali-78d9c5b87c-snjzh                   1/1     Running            0          22h
prometheus-6dff867c97-gr2n5              2/2     Running            0          28h

For a multitenant installation, Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh supports multiple independent control planes within the cluster. You can create reusable configurations with ServiceMeshControlPlane templates. For more information, see Creating control plane templates.

Creating the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh member roll

The ServiceMeshMemberRoll lists the projects belonging to the control plane. Only projects listed in the ServiceMeshMemberRoll are affected by the control plane. A project does not belong to a service mesh until you add it to the member roll for a particular control plane deployment.

You must create a ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource named default in the same project as the ServiceMeshControlPlane.

The member projects are only updated if the Service Mesh control plane installation succeeds.

Creating the member roll from the web console

Follow this procedure to add one or more projects to the Service Mesh member roll by using the web console.

Prerequisites

  • An installed, verified Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  • Location of the installed ServiceMeshControlPlane.

  • List of existing projects to add to the service mesh.

Procedure

  1. If you don’t already have projects for your mesh, or you are starting from scratch, create a project. It must be different from istio-system.

    1. Navigate to Home → Projects.

    2. Enter a name in the Name field.

    3. Click Create.

  2. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  3. Navigate to Operators → Installed Operators.

  4. Click the Project menu and choose the project where your ServiceMeshControlPlane is deployed from the list, for example istio-system.

  5. Click the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  6. Click the All Instances tab.

  7. Click Create New, and then select Create Istio Service Mesh Member Roll.

    It can take a short time for the Operator to finish copying the resources, therefore you may need to refresh the screen to see the Create Istio Service Mesh Member Roll button.

  8. On the Create Service Mesh Member Roll page, modify the YAML to add your projects as members. You can add any number of projects, but a project can only belong to one ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  9. Click Create to save the Service Mesh Member Roll.

Creating the member roll from the CLI

Follow this procedure to add a project to the ServiceMeshMemberRoll from the command line.

Prerequisites

  • An installed, verified Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  • Location of the installed ServiceMeshControlPlane.

  • List of projects to add to the service mesh.

  • Access to the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform CLI.

    $ oc login

  2. Create a ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource in the same project as the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource, in our example that is istio-system. The resource must be named default.

    $ oc create -n istio-system -f servicemeshmemberroll-default.yaml
    Example servicemeshmemberroll-default.yaml
    apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
kind: ServiceMeshMemberRoll
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: istio-system
spec:
  members:
    # a list of projects joined into the service mesh
    - your-project-name
    - another-project-name

  3. Modify the default YAML to add your projects as members. You can add any number of projects, but a project can only belong to one ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

Creating the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh members

ServiceMeshMember resources can be created by service mesh users who don’t have privileges to add members to the ServiceMeshMemberRoll directly. While project administrators are automatically given permission to create the ServiceMeshMember resource in their project, they cannot point it to any ServiceMeshControlPlane until the service mesh administrator explicitly grants access to the service mesh. Administrators can grant users permissions to access the mesh by granting them the mesh-user user role, for example:

$ oc policy add-role-to-user -n <control-plane-namespace> --role-namespace <control-plane-namespace> mesh-user <user-name>.

Administrators can modify the mesh user role binding in the control plane project to specify the users and groups that are granted access. The ServiceMeshMember adds the project to the ServiceMeshMemberRoll within the control plane project it references.

apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
kind: ServiceMeshMember
metadata:
  name: default
spec:
  controlPlaneRef:
    namespace: control-plane-namespace
    name: minimal-install

The mesh-users role binding is created automatically after the administrator creates the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource. An administrator can use the following command to add a role to a user.

$ oc policy add-role-to-user

The administrator can also create the mesh-user role binding before the administrator creates the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource. For example, the administrator can create it in the same oc apply operation as the ServiceMeshControlPlane resource.

This example adds a role binding for alice:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  namespace: control-plane-namespace
  name: mesh-users
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: Role
  name: mesh-user
subjects:
- apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: User
  name: alice

Adding or removing projects from the service mesh

Follow this procedure to modify an existing Service Mesh ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource using the web console.

  • You can add any number of projects, but a project can only belong to one ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  • The ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource is deleted when its corresponding ServiceMeshControlPlane resource is deleted.

Modifying the member roll from the web console

Prerequisites

  • An installed, verified Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  • An existing ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  • Name of the project with the ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  • Names of the projects you want to add or remove from the mesh.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

  2. Navigate to Operators → Installed Operators.

  3. Click the Project menu and choose the project where your ServiceMeshControlPlane is deployed from the list, for example istio-system.

  4. Click the Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  5. Click the Istio Service Mesh Member Roll tab.

  6. Click the default link.

  7. Click the YAML tab.

  8. Modify the YAML to add or remove projects as members. You can add any number of projects, but a project can only belong to one ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  9. Click Save.

  10. Click Reload.

Modifying the member roll from the CLI

Follow this procedure to modify an existing Service Mesh member roll using the command line.

Prerequisites

  • An installed, verified Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh Operator.

  • An existing ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  • Name of the project with the ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

  • Names of the projects you want to add or remove from the mesh.

  • Access to the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Log in to the OpenShift Container Platform CLI.

  2. Edit the ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

    $ oc edit smmr -n <controlplane-namespace>

  3. Modify the YAML to add or remove projects as members. You can add any number of projects, but a project can only belong to one ServiceMeshMemberRoll resource.

    Example servicemeshmemberroll-default.yaml
    apiVersion: maistra.io/v1
kind: ServiceMeshMemberRoll
metadata:
  name: default
  namespace: istio-system
spec:
  members:
    # a list of projects joined into the service mesh
    - your-project-name
    - another-project-name

Manual updates

If you choose to update manually, the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) controls the installation, upgrade, and role-based access control (RBAC) of Operators in a cluster. OLM runs by default in OpenShift Container Platform. OLM uses CatalogSources, which use the Operator Registry API, to query for available Operators as well as upgrades for installed Operators.

  • For more information about how OpenShift Container Platform handled upgrades, refer to the Operator Lifecycle Manager documentation.

Updating your application pods

If you selected the Automatic Approval Strategy when you were installing your Operators, then the Operators update the control plane automatically, but not your applications. Existing applications continue to be part of the mesh and function accordingly. The application administrator must restart applications to upgrade the sidecar.

If your deployment uses Automatic sidecar injection, you can update the pod template in the deployment by adding or modifying an annotation. Run the following command to redeploy the pods:

$ oc patch deployment/<deployment> -p '{"spec":{"template":{"metadata":{"annotations":{"kubectl.kubernetes.io/restartedAt": "'`date -Iseconds`'"}}}}}'

If your deployment does not use automatic sidecar injection, you must manually update the sidecars by modifying the sidecar container image specified in the deployment or pod.

Next steps