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Enabling Windows container workloads

Before adding Windows workloads to your cluster, you must install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO), which is available in the OpenShift Container Platform OperatorHub. The WMCO orchestrates the process of deploying and managing Windows workloads on a cluster.

Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using an account with cluster-admin permissions.

  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You have installed your cluster using installer-provisioned infrastructure, or using user-provisioned infrastructure with the platform: none field set in your install-config.yaml file.

  • You have configured hybrid networking with OVN-Kubernetes for your cluster. This must be completed during the installation of your cluster. For more information, see Configuring hybrid networking.

  • You are running an OpenShift Container Platform cluster version 4.6.8 or later.

The WMCO is not supported in clusters that use a cluster-wide proxy because the WMCO is not able to route traffic through the proxy connection for the workloads.
Additional resources

Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator

You can install the Windows Machine Config Operator using either the web console or OpenShift CLI (oc).

Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator using the web console

You can use the OpenShift Container Platform web console to install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO).

Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances.
Procedure

  1. From the Administrator perspective in the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to the Operators → OperatorHub page.

  2. Use the Filter by keyword box to search for Windows Machine Config Operator in the catalog. Click the Windows Machine Config Operator tile.

  3. Review the information about the Operator and click Install.

  4. On the Install Operator page:

    1. Select the stable channel as the Update Channel. The stable channel enables the latest stable release of the WMCO to be installed.

    2. The Installation Mode is preconfigured because the WMCO must be available in a single namespace only.

    3. Choose the Installed Namespace for the WMCO. The default Operator recommended namespace is openshift-windows-machine-config-operator.

    4. Click the Enable Operator recommended cluster monitoring on the Namespace checkbox to enable cluster monitoring for the WMCO.

    5. 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 user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator update.

  1. Click Install. The WMCO is now listed on the Installed Operators page.

    The WMCO is installed automatically into the namespace you defined, like openshift-windows-machine-config-operator.

  2. Verify that the Status shows Succeeded to confirm successful installation of the WMCO.

Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator using the CLI

You can use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO).

Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances.
Procedure

  1. Create a namespace for the WMCO.

    1. Create a Namespace object YAML file for the WMCO. For example, wmco-namespace.yaml:

      apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator (1)
  labels:
    openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true" (2)
      1 It is recommended to deploy the WMCO in the openshift-windows-machine-config-operator namespace.
      2 This label is required for enabling cluster monitoring for the WMCO.

    2. Create the namespace:

      $ oc create -f <file-name>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc create -f wmco-namespace.yaml

  2. Create the Operator group for the WMCO.

    1. Create an OperatorGroup object YAML file. For example, wmco-og.yaml:

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  name: windows-machine-config-operator
  namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
  - openshift-windows-machine-config-operator

    2. Create the Operator group:

      $ oc create -f <file-name>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc create -f wmco-og.yaml

  3. Subscribe the namespace to the WMCO.

    1. Create a Subscription object YAML file. For example, wmco-sub.yaml:

      apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: windows-machine-config-operator
  namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
spec:
  channel: "stable" (1)
  installPlanApproval: "Automatic" (2)
  name: "windows-machine-config-operator"
  source: "redhat-operators" (3)
  sourceNamespace: "openshift-marketplace" (4)
      1 Specify stable as the channel.
      2 Set an approval strategy. You can set Automatic or Manual.
      3 Specify the redhat-operators catalog source, which contains the windows-machine-config-operator package manifests. If your OpenShift Container Platform is installed on a restricted network, also known as a disconnected cluster, specify the name of the CatalogSource object you created when you configured the Operator LifeCycle Manager (OLM).
      4 Namespace of the catalog source. Use openshift-marketplace for the default OperatorHub catalog sources.

    2. Create the subscription:

      $ oc create -f <file-name>.yaml

      For example:

      $ oc create -f wmco-sub.yaml

      The WMCO is now installed to the openshift-windows-machine-config-operator.

  4. Verify the WMCO installation:

    $ oc get csv -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
    Example output
    NAME                                    DISPLAY                           VERSION   REPLACES   PHASE
windows-machine-config-operator.2.0.0   Windows Machine Config Operator   2.0.0                Succeeded

Configuring a secret for the Windows Machine Config Operator

To run the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO), you must create a secret in the WMCO namespace containing a private key. This is required to allow the WMCO to communicate with the Windows virtual machine (VM).

Prerequisites

  • You installed the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO) using Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM).

  • You created a PEM-encoded file containing an RSA key.

Procedure

  • Define the secret required to access the Windows VMs:

    $ oc create secret generic cloud-private-key --from-file=private-key.pem=${HOME}/.ssh/<key> \
    -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator (1)
1 You must create the private key in the WMCO namespace, like openshift-windows-machine-config-operator.

It is recommended to use a different private key than the one used when installing the cluster.

Additional resources