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Updating a cluster in a disconnected environment using the OpenShift Update Service

About the OpenShift Update Service

The OpenShift Update Service (OSUS) provides updates to OpenShift Container Platform, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS). It provides a graph, or diagram, that contains the vertices of component Operators and the edges that connect them. The edges in the graph show which versions you can safely update to. The vertices are update payloads that specify the intended state of the managed cluster components.

The Cluster Version Operator (CVO) in your cluster checks with the OpenShift Update Service to see the valid updates and update paths based on current component versions and information in the graph. When you request an update, the CVO uses the release image for that update to update your cluster. The release artifacts are hosted in Quay as container images.

To allow the OpenShift Update Service to provide only compatible updates, a release verification pipeline drives automation. Each release artifact is verified for compatibility with supported cloud platforms and system architectures, as well as other component packages. After the pipeline confirms the suitability of a release, the OpenShift Update Service notifies you that it is available.

The OpenShift Update Service displays all recommended updates for your current cluster. If an upgrade path is not recommended by the OpenShift Update Service, it might be because of a known issue with the update or the target release.

Two controllers run during continuous update mode. The first controller continuously updates the payload manifests, applies the manifests to the cluster, and outputs the controlled rollout status of the Operators to indicate whether they are available, upgrading, or failed. The second controller polls the OpenShift Update Service to determine if updates are available.

Only upgrading to a newer version is supported. Reverting or rolling back your cluster to a previous version is not supported. If your update fails, contact Red Hat support.

During the update process, the Machine Config Operator (MCO) applies the new configuration to your cluster machines. The MCO cordons the number of nodes as specified by the maxUnavailable field on the machine configuration pool and marks them as unavailable. By default, this value is set to 1. The MCO then applies the new configuration and reboots the machine.

If you use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) machines as workers, the MCO does not update the kubelet because you must update the OpenShift API on the machines first.

With the specification for the new version applied to the old kubelet, the RHEL machine cannot return to the Ready state. You cannot complete the update until the machines are available. However, the maximum number of unavailable nodes is set to ensure that normal cluster operations can continue with that number of machines out of service.

The OpenShift Update Service is composed of an Operator and one or more application instances.

During the update process, nodes in the cluster might become temporarily unavailable. The MachineHealthCheck might identify such nodes as unhealthy and reboot them. To avoid rebooting such nodes, remove any MachineHealthCheck resource that you have deployed before updating the cluster. However, a MachineHealthCheck resource that is deployed by default (such as machine-api-termination-handler) cannot be removed and will be recreated.
Additional resources

For clusters with internet accessibility, Red Hat provides update recommendations through an OpenShift Container Platform update service as a hosted service located behind public APIs. However, clusters in a disconnected environment have no way to access public APIs for update information.

To provide a similar update experience in a disconnected environment, you can install and configure the OpenShift Update Service locally so that it is available within a disconnected environment.

The following sections describe how to provide updates for your disconnected cluster and its underlying operating system.

Prerequisites

Configuring access to a secured registry for the OpenShift Update Service

If the release images are contained in a registry whose HTTPS X.509 certificate is signed by a custom certificate authority, complete the steps in Configuring additional trust stores for image registry access along with following changes for the update service.

The OpenShift Update Service Operator needs the config map key name updateservice-registry in the registry CA cert.

Image registry CA config map example for the update service
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-registry-ca
data:
  updateservice-registry: | (1)
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    ...
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
  registry-with-port.example.com..5000: | (2)
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    ...
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
1 The OpenShift Update Service Operator requires the config map key name updateservice-registry in the registry CA cert.
2 If the registry has the port, such as registry-with-port.example.com:5000, : should be replaced with ...

Updating the global cluster pull secret

You can update the global pull secret for your cluster by either replacing the current pull secret or appending a new pull secret.

The procedure is required when users use a separate registry to store images than the registry used during installation.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. Optional: To append a new pull secret to the existing pull secret, complete the following steps:

    1. Enter the following command to download the pull secret:

      $ oc get secret/pull-secret -n openshift-config --template='{{index .data ".dockerconfigjson" | base64decode}}' ><pull_secret_location> (1)
      1 Provide the path to the pull secret file.

    2. Enter the following command to add the new pull secret:

      $ oc registry login --registry="<registry>" \ (1)
--auth-basic="<username>:<password>" \ (2)
--to=<pull_secret_location> (3)
      1 Provide the new registry. You can include multiple repositories within the same registry, for example: --registry="<registry/my-namespace/my-repository>".
      2 Provide the credentials of the new registry.
      3 Provide the path to the pull secret file.

      Alternatively, you can perform a manual update to the pull secret file.

  2. Enter the following command to update the global pull secret for your cluster:

    $ oc set data secret/pull-secret -n openshift-config --from-file=.dockerconfigjson=<pull_secret_location> (1)
    1 Provide the path to the new pull secret file.

    This update is rolled out to all nodes, which can take some time depending on the size of your cluster.

    As of OpenShift Container Platform 4.7.4, changes to the global pull secret no longer trigger a node drain or reboot.

Installing the OpenShift Update Service Operator

To install the OpenShift Update Service, you must first install the OpenShift Update Service Operator by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or CLI.

For clusters that are installed on disconnected environments, also known as disconnected clusters, Operator Lifecycle Manager by default cannot access the Red Hat-provided OperatorHub sources hosted on remote registries because those remote sources require full internet connectivity. For more information, see Using Operator Lifecycle Manager on restricted networks.

Installing the OpenShift Update Service Operator by using the web console

You can use the web console to install the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Procedure

  1. In the web console, click Operators → OperatorHub.

    Enter Update Service into the Filter by keyword…​ field to find the Operator faster.

  2. Choose OpenShift Update Service from the list of available Operators, and click Install.

    1. Channel v1 is selected as the Update Channel since it is the only channel available in this release.

    2. Select A specific namespace on the cluster under Installation Mode.

    3. Select a namespace for Installed Namespace or accept the recommended namespace openshift-update-service.

    4. Select an Approval Strategy:

      • The Automatic strategy allows Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) to automatically update the Operator when a new version is available.

      • The Manual strategy requires a cluster administrator to approve the Operator update.

    5. Click Install.

  3. Verify that the OpenShift Update Service Operator is installed by switching to the Operators → Installed Operators page.

  4. Ensure that OpenShift Update Service is listed in the selected namespace with a Status of Succeeded.

Installing the OpenShift Update Service Operator by using the CLI

You can use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to install the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Procedure

  1. Create a namespace for the OpenShift Update Service Operator:

    1. Create a Namespace object YAML file, for example, update-service-namespace.yaml, for the OpenShift Update Service Operator:

      apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: openshift-update-service
  annotations:
    openshift.io/node-selector: ""
  labels:
    openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true" (1)
      1 Set the openshift.io/cluster-monitoring label to enable Operator-recommended cluster monitoring on this namespace.

    2. Create the namespace:

      $ oc create -f <filename>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc create -f update-service-namespace.yaml

  2. Install the OpenShift Update Service Operator by creating the following objects:

    1. Create an OperatorGroup object YAML file, for example, update-service-operator-group.yaml:

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: update-service-operator-group
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
  - openshift-update-service

    2. Create an OperatorGroup object:

      $ oc -n openshift-update-service create -f <filename>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc -n openshift-update-service create -f update-service-operator-group.yaml

    3. Create a Subscription object YAML file, for example, update-service-subscription.yaml:

      Example Subscription
      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: update-service-subscription
spec:
  channel: v1
  installPlanApproval: "Automatic"
  source: "redhat-operators" (1)
  sourceNamespace: "openshift-marketplace"
  name: "cincinnati-operator"
      1 Specify the name of the catalog source that provides the Operator. For clusters that do not use a custom Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM), specify redhat-operators. If your OpenShift Container Platform cluster is installed in a disconnected environment, specify the name of the CatalogSource object created when you configured Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).

    4. Create the Subscription object:

      $ oc create -f <filename>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc -n openshift-update-service create -f update-service-subscription.yaml

      The OpenShift Update Service Operator is installed to the openshift-update-service namespace and targets the openshift-update-service namespace.

  3. Verify the Operator installation:

    $ oc -n openshift-update-service get clusterserviceversions
    Example output
    NAME                             DISPLAY                    VERSION   REPLACES   PHASE
update-service-operator.v4.6.0   OpenShift Update Service   4.6.0                Succeeded
...

    If the OpenShift Update Service Operator is listed, the installation was successful. The version number might be different than shown.

Additional resources

Creating the OpenShift Update Service graph data container image

The OpenShift Update Service requires a graph-data container image, from which the OpenShift Update Service retrieves information about channel membership and blocked update edges. Graph data is typically fetched directly from the upgrade graph data repository. In environments where an internet connection is unavailable, loading this information from an init container is another way to make the graph data available to the OpenShift Update Service. The role of the init container is to provide a local copy of the graph data, and during pod initialization, the init container copies the data to a volume that is accessible by the service.

Procedure

  1. Create a Dockerfile, for example, ./Dockerfile, containing the following:

    FROM registry.access.redhat.com/ubi8/ubi:8.1

RUN curl -L -o cincinnati-graph-data.tar.gz https://github.com/openshift/cincinnati-graph-data/archive/master.tar.gz

CMD exec /bin/bash -c "tar xvzf cincinnati-graph-data.tar.gz -C /var/lib/cincinnati/graph-data/ --strip-components=1"

  2. Use the docker file created in the above step to build a graph-data container image, for example, registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest:

    $ podman build -f ./Dockerfile -t registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest

  3. Push the graph-data container image created in the previous step to a repository that is accessible to the OpenShift Update Service, for example, registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest:

    $ podman push registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest

    To push a graph data image to a local registry in a disconnected environment, copy the graph-data container image created in the previous step to a repository that is accessible to the OpenShift Update Service. Run oc image mirror --help for available options.

Creating an OpenShift Update Service application

You can create an OpenShift Update Service application by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or CLI.

Creating an OpenShift Update Service application by using the web console

You can use the OpenShift Container Platform web console to create an OpenShift Update Service application by using the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Update Service Operator has been installed.

  • The OpenShift Update Service graph-data container image has been created and pushed to a repository that is accessible to the OpenShift Update Service.

  • The current release and update target releases have been mirrored to a locally accessible registry.

Procedure

  1. In the web console, click Operators → Installed Operators.

  2. Choose OpenShift Update Service from the list of installed Operators.

  3. Click the Update Service tab.

  4. Click Create UpdateService.

  5. Enter a name in the Name field, for example, service.

  6. Enter the local pullspec in the Graph Data Image field to the graph-data container image created in "Creating the OpenShift Update Service graph data container image", for example, registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest.

  7. In the Releases field, enter the local registry and repository created to contain the release images in "Mirroring the OpenShift Container Platform image repository", for example, registry.example.com/ocp4/openshift4-release-images.

  8. Enter 2 in the Replicas field.

  9. Click Create to create the OpenShift Update Service application.

  10. Verify the OpenShift Update Service application:

    • From the UpdateServices list in the Update Service tab, click the Update Service application just created.

    • Click the Resources tab.

    • Verify each application resource has a status of Created.

Creating an OpenShift Update Service application by using the CLI

You can use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to create an OpenShift Update Service application.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Update Service Operator has been installed.

  • The OpenShift Update Service graph-data container image has been created and pushed to a repository that is accessible to the OpenShift Update Service.

  • The current release and update target releases have been mirrored to a locally accessible registry.

Procedure

  1. Configure the OpenShift Update Service target namespace, for example, openshift-update-service:

    $ NAMESPACE=openshift-update-service

    The namespace must match the targetNamespaces value from the operator group.

  2. Configure the name of the OpenShift Update Service application, for example, service:

    $ NAME=service

  3. Configure the local registry and repository for the release images as configured in "Mirroring the OpenShift Container Platform image repository", for example, registry.example.com/ocp4/openshift4-release-images:

    $ RELEASE_IMAGES=registry.example.com/ocp4/openshift4-release-images

  4. Set the local pullspec for the graph-data image to the graph-data container image created in "Creating the OpenShift Update Service graph data container image", for example, registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest:

    $ GRAPH_DATA_IMAGE=registry.example.com/openshift/graph-data:latest

  5. Create an OpenShift Update Service application object:

    $ oc -n "${NAMESPACE}" create -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: updateservice.operator.openshift.io/v1
kind: UpdateService
metadata:
  name: ${NAME}
spec:
  replicas: 2
  releases: ${RELEASE_IMAGES}
  graphDataImage: ${GRAPH_DATA_IMAGE}
EOF

  6. Verify the OpenShift Update Service application:

    1. Use the following command to obtain a policy engine route:

      $ while sleep 1; do POLICY_ENGINE_GRAPH_URI="$(oc -n "${NAMESPACE}" get -o jsonpath='{.status.policyEngineURI}/api/upgrades_info/v1/graph{"\n"}' updateservice "${NAME}")"; SCHEME="${POLICY_ENGINE_GRAPH_URI%%:*}"; if test "${SCHEME}" = http -o "${SCHEME}" = https; then break; fi; done

      You might need to poll until the command succeeds.

    2. Retrieve a graph from the policy engine. Be sure to specify a valid version for channel. For example, if running in OpenShift Container Platform 4.8, use stable-4.8:

      $ while sleep 10; do HTTP_CODE="$(curl --header Accept:application/json --output /dev/stderr --write-out "%{http_code}" "${POLICY_ENGINE_GRAPH_URI}?channel=stable-4.6")"; if test "${HTTP_CODE}" -eq 200; then break; fi; echo "${HTTP_CODE}"; done

      This polls until the graph request succeeds; however, the resulting graph might be empty depending on which release images you have mirrored.

The policy engine route name must not be more than 63 characters based on RFC-1123. If you see ReconcileCompleted status as false with the reason CreateRouteFailed caused by host must conform to DNS 1123 naming convention and must be no more than 63 characters, try creating the Update Service with a shorter name.

Configuring the Cluster Version Operator (CVO)

After the OpenShift Update Service Operator has been installed and the OpenShift Update Service application has been created, the Cluster Version Operator (CVO) can be updated to pull graph data from the locally installed OpenShift Update Service.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Update Service Operator has been installed.

  • The OpenShift Update Service graph-data container image has been created and pushed to a repository that is accessible to the OpenShift Update Service.

  • The current release and update target releases have been mirrored to a locally accessible registry.

  • The OpenShift Update Service application has been created.

Procedure

  1. Set the OpenShift Update Service target namespace, for example, openshift-update-service:

    $ NAMESPACE=openshift-update-service

  2. Set the name of the OpenShift Update Service application, for example, service:

    $ NAME=service

  3. Obtain the policy engine route:

    $ POLICY_ENGINE_GRAPH_URI="$(oc -n "${NAMESPACE}" get -o jsonpath='{.status.policyEngineURI}/api/upgrades_info/v1/graph{"\n"}' updateservice "${NAME}")"

  4. Set the patch for the pull graph data:

    $ PATCH="{\"spec\":{\"upstream\":\"${POLICY_ENGINE_GRAPH_URI}\"}}"

  5. Patch the CVO to use the local OpenShift Update Service:

    $ oc patch clusterversion version -p $PATCH --type merge

See Enabling the cluster-wide proxy to configure the CA to trust the update server.

Deleting an OpenShift Update Service application

You can delete an OpenShift Update Service application by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or CLI.

Deleting an OpenShift Update Service application by using the web console

You can use the OpenShift Container Platform web console to delete an OpenShift Update Service application by using the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Update Service Operator has been installed.

Procedure

  1. In the web console, click Operators → Installed Operators.

  2. Choose OpenShift Update Service from the list of installed Operators.

  3. Click the Update Service tab.

  4. From the list of installed OpenShift Update Service applications, select the application to be deleted and then click Delete UpdateService.

  5. From the Delete UpdateService? confirmation dialog, click Delete to confirm the deletion.

Deleting an OpenShift Update Service application by using the CLI

You can use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to delete an OpenShift Update Service application.

Procedure

  1. Get the OpenShift Update Service application name using the namespace the OpenShift Update Service application was created in, for example, openshift-update-service:

    $ oc get updateservice -n openshift-update-service
    Example output
    NAME      AGE
service   6s

  2. Delete the OpenShift Update Service application using the NAME value from the previous step and the namespace the OpenShift Update Service application was created in, for example, openshift-update-service:

    $ oc delete updateservice service -n openshift-update-service
    Example output
    updateservice.updateservice.operator.openshift.io "service" deleted

Uninstalling the OpenShift Update Service Operator

To uninstall the OpenShift Update Service, you must first delete all OpenShift Update Service applications by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console or CLI.

Uninstalling the OpenShift Update Service Operator by using the web console

You can use the OpenShift Container Platform web console to uninstall the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Prerequisites

  • All OpenShift Update Service applications have been deleted.

Procedure

  1. In the web console, click Operators → Installed Operators.

  2. Select OpenShift Update Service from the list of installed Operators and click Uninstall Operator.

  3. From the Uninstall Operator? confirmation dialog, click Uninstall to confirm the uninstallation.

Uninstalling the OpenShift Update Service Operator by using the CLI

You can use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to uninstall the OpenShift Update Service Operator.

Prerequisites

  • All OpenShift Update Service applications have been deleted.

Procedure

  1. Change to the project containing the OpenShift Update Service Operator, for example, openshift-update-service:

    $ oc project openshift-update-service
    Example output
    Now using project "openshift-update-service" on server "https://example.com:6443".

  2. Get the name of the OpenShift Update Service Operator operator group:

    $ oc get operatorgroup
    Example output
    NAME                             AGE
openshift-update-service-fprx2   4m41s

  3. Delete the operator group, for example, openshift-update-service-fprx2:

    $ oc delete operatorgroup openshift-update-service-fprx2
    Example output
    operatorgroup.operators.coreos.com "openshift-update-service-fprx2" deleted

  4. Get the name of the OpenShift Update Service Operator subscription:

    $ oc get subscription
    Example output
    NAME                      PACKAGE                   SOURCE                        CHANNEL
update-service-operator   update-service-operator   updateservice-index-catalog   v1

  5. Using the Name value from the previous step, check the current version of the subscribed OpenShift Update Service Operator in the currentCSV field:

    $ oc get subscription update-service-operator -o yaml | grep " currentCSV"
    Example output
      currentCSV: update-service-operator.v0.0.1

  6. Delete the subscription, for example, update-service-operator:

    $ oc delete subscription update-service-operator
    Example output
    subscription.operators.coreos.com "update-service-operator" deleted

  7. Delete the CSV for the OpenShift Update Service Operator using the currentCSV value from the previous step:

    $ oc delete clusterserviceversion update-service-operator.v0.0.1
    Example output
    clusterserviceversion.operators.coreos.com "update-service-operator.v0.0.1" deleted