Chapter 6. Control plane backup and restore


6.1. Backing up and restoring etcd data

You can back up etcd data for your OpenShift Container Platform cluster by manually creating an etcd snapshot and saving static pod resources on a control plane host, or by configuring automated single or recurring backups.

etcd is the key-value store for OpenShift Container Platform, which persists the state of all resource objects.

Back up etcd data for your cluster regularly. Store backups in a secure location, ideally outside the OpenShift Container Platform environment.

Do not take an etcd backup before the first certificate rotation completes. Certificate rotation occurs 24 hours after installation. A backup taken before rotation completes contains expired certificates.

Take etcd backups during non-peak usage hours when possible. The etcd snapshot has a high I/O cost.

Be sure to take an etcd backup before you update your cluster. Taking a backup before you update is important because when you restore your cluster, you must use an etcd backup that was taken from the same z-stream release. For example, an OpenShift Container Platform 4.17.5 cluster must use an etcd backup that was taken from 4.17.5.

Important

Back up etcd data for your cluster by performing a single invocation of the backup script on a control plane host. Do not take a backup for each control plane host.

6.1.1. Backing up etcd data

You can back up etcd data by creating an etcd snapshot and saving the static pod resources on a control plane host. This backup preserves the cluster state and provides the resources required to restore etcd at a later time.

Important

Only save a backup from a single control plane host. Do not take a backup from each control plane host in the cluster.

For a Two-Node with Fencing (TNF) setup, follow the steps to back up etcd data on only one node in the cluster. The cluster restore process is driven by data from a single node, so you can perform the etcd backup steps on only one node.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You have verified whether the cluster-wide proxy is enabled.

    Tip

    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.

Procedure

  1. Start a debug session as root for a control plane node:

    $ oc debug --as-root node/<node_name>
  2. Change your root directory to /host in the debug shell:

    sh-4.4# chroot /host
  3. If the cluster-wide proxy is enabled, export the NO_PROXY, HTTP_PROXY, and HTTPS_PROXY environment variables by running the following commands:

    $ export HTTP_PROXY=http://<your_proxy.example.com>:8080
    $ export HTTPS_PROXY=https://<your_proxy.example.com>:8080
    $ export NO_PROXY=<example.com>
  4. Run the cluster-backup.sh script with the path to the directory where you want to save the backup:

    Tip

    The cluster-backup.sh script is maintained as a component of the etcd Cluster Operator and is a wrapper around the etcdctl snapshot save command.

    sh-4.4# /usr/local/bin/cluster-backup.sh /home/core/assets/backup

    Example script output

    found latest kube-apiserver: /etc/kubernetes/static-pod-resources/kube-apiserver-pod-6
    found latest kube-controller-manager: /etc/kubernetes/static-pod-resources/kube-controller-manager-pod-7
    found latest kube-scheduler: /etc/kubernetes/static-pod-resources/kube-scheduler-pod-6
    found latest etcd: /etc/kubernetes/static-pod-resources/etcd-pod-3
    ede95fe6b88b87ba86a03c15e669fb4aa5bf0991c180d3c6895ce72eaade54a1
    etcdctl version: 3.4.14
    API version: 3.4
    {"level":"info","ts":1624647639.0188997,"caller":"snapshot/v3_snapshot.go:119","msg":"created temporary db file","path":"/home/core/assets/backup/snapshot_2021-06-25_190035.db.part"}
    {"level":"info","ts":"2021-06-25T19:00:39.030Z","caller":"clientv3/maintenance.go:200","msg":"opened snapshot stream; downloading"}
    {"level":"info","ts":1624647639.0301006,"caller":"snapshot/v3_snapshot.go:127","msg":"fetching snapshot","endpoint":"https://10.0.0.5:2379"}
    {"level":"info","ts":"2021-06-25T19:00:40.215Z","caller":"clientv3/maintenance.go:208","msg":"completed snapshot read; closing"}
    {"level":"info","ts":1624647640.6032252,"caller":"snapshot/v3_snapshot.go:142","msg":"fetched snapshot","endpoint":"https://10.0.0.5:2379","size":"114 MB","took":1.584090459}
    {"level":"info","ts":1624647640.6047094,"caller":"snapshot/v3_snapshot.go:152","msg":"saved","path":"/home/core/assets/backup/snapshot_2021-06-25_190035.db"}
    Snapshot saved at /home/core/assets/backup/snapshot_2021-06-25_190035.db
    {"hash":3866667823,"revision":31407,"totalKey":12828,"totalSize":114446336}
    snapshot db and kube resources are successfully saved to /home/core/assets/backup

    In this example, two files are created in the /home/core/assets/backup/ directory on the control plane host:

    • snapshot_<datetimestamp>.db: This file is the etcd snapshot. The cluster-backup.sh script confirms the validity of the snapshot.
    • static_kuberesources_<datetimestamp>.tar.gz: This file contains the resources for the static pods. If etcd encryption is enabled, it also contains the encryption keys for the etcd snapshot.

      Note

      If etcd encryption is enabled, store this second file separately from the etcd snapshot for security reasons. However, this file is required to restore from the etcd snapshot.

      The etcd encryption only encrypts values, not keys. This means that resource types, namespaces, and object names are not encrypted.

6.1.3. Creating automated etcd backups

You can enable automated etcd backups for your cluster by applying a FeatureGate and backup custom resources (CRs).

Important

Automating etcd backups is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Warning

Enabling the TechPreviewNoUpgrade feature set on your cluster prevents minor version updates. The TechPreviewNoUpgrade feature set cannot be disabled. Do not enable this feature set on production clusters.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. Create a FeatureGate custom resource (CR) file named enable-tech-preview-no-upgrade.yaml with the following contents:

    apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
    kind: FeatureGate
    metadata:
      name: cluster
    spec:
      featureSet: TechPreviewNoUpgrade
  2. Apply the CR by running the following command:

    $ oc apply -f enable-tech-preview-no-upgrade.yaml

    Applying the FeatureGate enables the automated backup APIs. It takes time for the related APIs to become available.

  3. Verify that the custom resource definition (CRD) was created by running the following command:

    $ oc get crd | grep backup

    Example output

    backups.config.openshift.io 2023-10-25T13:32:43Z
    etcdbackups.operator.openshift.io 2023-10-25T13:32:04Z

6.1.3.1. Creating a single automated etcd backup

You can create a single automated etcd backup by applying an EtcdBackup custom resource (CR). Backup data is stored on either dynamically-provisioned or local storage.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. If dynamically-provisioned storage is available, complete the following steps to create a single automated etcd backup:

    1. Create a persistent volume claim (PVC) named etcd-backup-pvc.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pvc
        namespace: openshift-etcd
      spec:
        accessModes:
          - ReadWriteOnce
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: <storage_amount>
        volumeMode: Filesystem

      where:

      <storage_amount>
      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PVC. Adjust this value for your requirements, such as 200Gi.
    2. Apply the PVC by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-pvc.yaml
    3. Verify that the PVC was created by running the following command:

      $ oc get pvc

      Example output

      NAME              STATUS    VOLUME   CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
      etcd-backup-pvc   Bound                                                       51s

      Note

      Dynamic PVCs stay in the Pending state until they are mounted.

    4. Create a CR file named etcd-single-backup.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1alpha1
      kind: EtcdBackup
      metadata:
        name: etcd-single-backup
        namespace: openshift-etcd
      spec:
        pvcName: <pvc_name>

      where:

      <pvc_name>
      Specifies the name of the PVC to save the backup to. Adjust this value according to your environment, such as etcd-backup-pvc.
    5. Apply the CR to start a single backup by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-single-backup.yaml
  2. If dynamically-provisioned storage is not available, complete the following steps to create a single automated etcd backup:

    1. Create a StorageClass CR file named etcd-backup-local-storage.yaml with the following contents:

      apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
      kind: StorageClass
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-local-storage
      provisioner: kubernetes.io/no-provisioner
      volumeBindingMode: Immediate
    2. Apply the StorageClass CR by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-local-storage.yaml
    3. Create a PV named etcd-backup-pv-fs.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      apiVersion: v1
      kind: PersistentVolume
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pv-fs
      spec:
        capacity:
          storage: <storage_amount>
        volumeMode: Filesystem
        accessModes:
        - ReadWriteOnce
        persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
        storageClassName: etcd-backup-local-storage
        local:
          path: /mnt
        nodeAffinity:
          required:
            nodeSelectorTerms:
            - matchExpressions:
            - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
               operator: In
               values:
               - <node_name>

      where:

      <storage_amount>
      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PV. Adjust this value for your requirements, such as 100Gi.
      <node_name>
      Specifies the control plane node to attach this PV to. Replace with the actual node name.
    4. Verify that the PV was created by running the following command:

      $ oc get pv

      Example output

      NAME                    CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   RECLAIM POLICY   STATUS      CLAIM   STORAGECLASS                REASON   AGE
      etcd-backup-pv-fs       100Gi      RWO            Retain           Available           etcd-backup-local-storage            10s

    5. Create a PVC named etcd-backup-pvc.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pvc
        namespace: openshift-etcd
      spec:
        accessModes:
        - ReadWriteOnce
        volumeMode: Filesystem
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: <storage_amount>

      where:

      <storage_amount>
      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PVC. Adjust this value for your requirements, such as 10Gi.
    6. Apply the PVC by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-pvc.yaml
    7. Create a CR file named etcd-single-backup.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1alpha1
      kind: EtcdBackup
      metadata:
        name: etcd-single-backup
        namespace: openshift-etcd
      spec:
        pvcName: <pvc_name>

      where:

      <pvc_name>
      Specifies the name of the PVC to save the backup to. Adjust this value according to your environment, such as etcd-backup-pvc.
    8. Apply the CR to start a single backup by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-single-backup.yaml

6.1.3.2. Creating recurring automated etcd backups

You can create recurring automated etcd backups by applying a custom resource (CR) that defines a backup schedule and retention policy. Backup data is stored on either dynamically-provisioned or local storage.

Use dynamically-provisioned storage to keep the created etcd backup data in a safe, external location if possible. If dynamically-provisioned storage is not available, consider storing the backup data on an NFS share to make backup recovery more accessible.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. If dynamically-provisioned storage is available, complete the following steps to create automated recurring backups:

    1. Create a persistent volume claim (PVC) named etcd-backup-pvc.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pvc
        namespace: openshift-etcd
      spec:
        accessModes:
          - ReadWriteOnce
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 200Gi
        volumeMode: Filesystem
        storageClassName: etcd-backup-local-storage

      where:

      spec.resources.requests.storage

      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PVC. Adjust this value for your requirements.

      Note

      Each of the following providers requires changes to the accessModes and storageClassName keys:

      ProvideraccessModes valuestorageClassName value

      AWS with the versioned-installer-efc_operator-ci profile

      - ReadWriteMany

      efs-sc

      Google Cloud

      - ReadWriteMany

      filestore-csi

      Microsoft Azure

      - ReadWriteMany

      azurefile-csi

    2. Apply the PVC by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-pvc.yaml
    3. Verify that the PVC was created by running the following command:

      $ oc get pvc

      Example output

      NAME              STATUS    VOLUME   CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
      etcd-backup-pvc   Bound                                                       51s

      Note

      Dynamic PVCs stay in the Pending state until they are mounted.

  2. If dynamically-provisioned storage is unavailable, create a local storage PVC by completing the following steps:

    Warning

    If you delete or otherwise lose access to the node that contains the stored backup data, you can lose data.

    1. Create a StorageClass CR file named etcd-backup-local-storage.yaml with the following contents:

      apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
      kind: StorageClass
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-local-storage
      provisioner: kubernetes.io/no-provisioner
      volumeBindingMode: Immediate
    2. Apply the StorageClass CR by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-local-storage.yaml
    3. Create a PV named etcd-backup-pv-fs.yaml from the applied StorageClass with contents such as the following example:

      apiVersion: v1
      kind: PersistentVolume
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pv-fs
      spec:
        capacity:
          storage: 100Gi
        volumeMode: Filesystem
        accessModes:
        - ReadWriteMany
        persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Delete
        storageClassName: etcd-backup-local-storage
        local:
          path: /mnt/
        nodeAffinity:
          required:
            nodeSelectorTerms:
            - matchExpressions:
              - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
                operator: In
                values:
                - <example_control_plane_node>

      where:

      spec.capacity.storage
      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PV. Adjust this value for your requirements.
      spec.nodeAffinity.required.nodeSelectorTerms.matchExpressions.values

      Specifies the control plane node to attach this PV to. Replace with the actual node name.

      Tip

      List the available nodes by running the following command:

      $ oc get nodes
    4. Verify that the PV was created by running the following command:

      $ oc get pv

      Example output

      NAME                    CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   RECLAIM POLICY   STATUS      CLAIM   STORAGECLASS                REASON   AGE
      etcd-backup-pv-fs       100Gi      RWX            Delete           Available           etcd-backup-local-storage            10s

    5. Create a PVC named etcd-backup-pvc.yaml with contents such as the following example:

      kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
      apiVersion: v1
      metadata:
        name: etcd-backup-pvc
      spec:
        accessModes:
        - ReadWriteMany
        volumeMode: Filesystem
        resources:
          requests:
            storage: 10Gi
        storageClassName: etcd-backup-local-storage

      where:

      spec.resources.requests.storage
      Specifies the amount of storage available to the PVC. Adjust this value for your requirements.
    6. Apply the PVC by running the following command:

      $ oc apply -f etcd-backup-pvc.yaml
  3. Create a CR file named etcd-recurring-backups.yaml. The contents of the CR define the schedule and retention type of automated backups.

    • For the default retention type of RetentionNumber with 15 retained backups, use contents such as the following example:

      apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1alpha1
      kind: Backup
      metadata:
        name: etcd-recurring-backup
      spec:
        etcd:
          schedule: "20 4 * * *"
          timeZone: "UTC"
          pvcName: etcd-backup-pvc

      where:

      spec.etcd.schedule

      Specifies the CronTab schedule for recurring backups. Adjust this value for your needs.

      1. To use retention based on the maximum number of backups, add the following key-value pairs to the etcd key:

        spec:
          etcd:
            retentionPolicy:
              retentionType: RetentionNumber
              retentionNumber:
                maxNumberOfBackups: 5

        where:

      spec.etcd.retentionPolicy.retentionType
      Specifies the retention type. Defaults to RetentionNumber if unspecified.
      spec.etcd.retentionPolicy.retentionNumber.maxNumberOfBackups

      Specifies the maximum number of backups to retain. Adjust this value for your needs. Defaults to 15 backups if unspecified.

      Warning

      A known issue causes the number of retained backups to be one greater than the configured value.

      1. For retention based on the file size of backups, use the following:

        spec:
          etcd:
            retentionPolicy:
              retentionType: RetentionSize
              retentionSize:
                maxSizeOfBackupsGb: 20

        where:

      spec.etcd.retentionPolicy.retentionSize.maxSizeOfBackupsGb

      Specifies the maximum file size of the retained backups in gigabytes. Adjust this value for your needs. Defaults to 10 GB if unspecified.

      Warning

      A known issue causes the maximum size of retained backups to be up to 10 GB greater than the configured value.

  4. Create the cron job defined by the CRD by running the following command:

    $ oc create -f etcd-recurring-backup.yaml
  5. To find the created cron job, run the following command:

    $ oc get cronjob -n openshift-etcd

6.2. Replacing a healthy etcd member

You might need to replace a healthy etcd member for planned hardware maintenance, hardware upgrades, or migration to new infrastructure.

6.2.1. About replacing a healthy etcd member

To replace a control plane node without disrupting etcd, remove a healthy member and add a replacement while the cluster remains operational. The procedure you follow depends on how your cluster was installed and whether it uses the Machine API and a control plane machine set.

Note

If the etcd member is unhealthy because the machine is not running, the node is not ready, or the etcd pod is crashlooping, see "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member".

If you have lost the majority of your control plane hosts, see "Restoring to an earlier cluster state".

6.2.2. Replacing a healthy etcd member

To replace a healthy etcd member without disrupting cluster operations, choose the procedure that matches your control plane configuration. You can use a control plane machine set, the Machine API, or scale up and scale down control plane nodes.

Important

Take an etcd backup before you replace a healthy etcd member so that you can restore your cluster if any issues occur. For more information, see "Backing up etcd data".

Depending on your cluster configuration, use one of the following procedures:

  • Replacing a healthy etcd member with a control plane machine set
  • Replacing a healthy etcd member with the Machine API
  • Replacing a healthy etcd member by scaling up and scaling down

For clusters that were installed by using the Assisted Installer, see "Replacing a control plane node in a healthy cluster" in the Assisted Installer documentation.

To choose the correct procedure for replacing a healthy etcd member, check whether your cluster uses the Assisted Installer, a control plane machine set, or the Machine API. Use the OpenShift CLI (oc) to identify your cluster configuration and follow the matching replacement procedure.

Prerequisites

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You logged in to oc as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

  1. Check whether the cluster was installed by using the Assisted Installer by running the following command:

    $ oc get agentclusterinstall -A
    • If the command returns one or more AgentClusterInstall resources, follow the procedure in "Replacing a control plane node in a healthy cluster" in the Assisted Installer documentation.
    • If the command returns no resources, continue with the following steps.
  2. Check whether the cluster has a control plane machine set by running the following command:

    $ oc -n openshift-machine-api get controlplanemachineset
    • If the command returns a ControlPlaneMachineSet resource, follow the procedure in "Replacing a healthy etcd member with a control plane machine set".
    • If the command returns no resources, continue to the next step.
  3. Check whether the cluster has control plane Machine objects by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -l machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role=master -n openshift-machine-api
    • If Machine objects exist, follow the procedure in "Replacing a healthy etcd member with the Machine API".
    • If there are no Machine objects, follow the procedure in "Replacing a healthy etcd member by scaling up and scaling down".

On clusters that use a control plane machine set, you can replace a healthy control plane machine by deleting the corresponding Machine object.

The control plane machine set creates a replacement machine, and the etcd Operator uses machine lifecycle hooks to protect etcd quorum during the replacement.

For more information about how quorum protection works during control plane machine deletion, see "Quorum protection with machine lifecycle hooks".

Prerequisites

  • The cluster has a ControlPlaneMachineSet resource.
  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You have taken an etcd backup. For more information, see "Backing up etcd data".

    Important

    Take an etcd backup before you replace a healthy etcd member so that you can restore your cluster if any issues occur.

Procedure

  1. List the control plane machines in your cluster by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines \
      -l machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role=master \
      -n openshift-machine-api
  2. Identify the control plane machine that corresponds to the node that you want to replace.
  3. Optional. If you are performing planned maintenance, cordon the node by running the following command:

    $ oc adm cordon <node_name>

    Replace <node_name> with the name of the node that you are replacing.

    Important

    Delete only one control plane machine at a time. Deleting multiple control plane machines at the same time can cause etcd quorum loss.

  4. Delete the control plane machine by running the following command:

    $ oc delete machine <control_plane_machine_name> -n openshift-machine-api

    Replace <control_plane_machine_name> with the name of the control plane machine to delete.

    Note

    If you delete multiple control plane machines, the control plane machine set replaces them according to the configured update strategy:

    • For clusters that use the default RollingUpdate update strategy, the Operator replaces one machine at a time until each machine is replaced.
    • For clusters that are configured to use the OnDelete update strategy, the Operator creates all of the required replacement machines simultaneously.

    Both strategies maintain etcd health during control plane machine replacement.

  5. Monitor the replacement by running the following commands:

    1. Verify that a new control plane machine is created:

      $ oc get machines \
        -l machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role=master \
        -n openshift-machine-api -o wide
    2. Verify that the etcd cluster Operator reports Available=True and Degraded=False:

      $ oc get clusteroperator etcd
      Note

      During the replacement Progressing=True is expected and transitions to False once the new member is fully reconciled.

    3. Verify that all control plane nodes are in the Ready state:

      $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane

Verification

  1. Verify etcd health by running the following commands:

    1. Open a remote shell session to a control plane etcd pod:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd <etcd_pod_name>

      Replace <etcd_pod_name> with the name of a running etcd pod.

    2. Check endpoint health:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl endpoint health

      Expected output shows is healthy for each endpoint.

    3. List etcd members and verify that the cluster has three members:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table
  2. Verify that all cluster Operators are available by running the following command:

    $ oc get clusteroperators

On clusters that access the Machine API but do not use a control plane machine set, you can replace a healthy control plane machine by deleting the corresponding Machine object. The Machine API provisions a replacement machine, and the etcd cluster Operator adds the new node as an etcd member.

Prerequisites

  • The cluster has access to the Machine API.
  • The cluster does not have a ControlPlaneMachineSet resource.
  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You have taken an etcd backup. For more information, see "Backing up etcd data".

    Important

    Take an etcd backup before you replace a healthy etcd member so that you can restore your cluster if any issues occur.

Procedure

  1. List the control plane machines in your cluster by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines \
      -l machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role=master \
      -n openshift-machine-api -o wide
  2. Identify the control plane machine that corresponds to the node that you want to replace.
  3. Optional. If you are performing planned maintenance, cordon the node by running the following command:

    $ oc adm cordon <node_name>

    Replace <node_name> with the name of the node that you are replacing.

  4. Delete the control plane machine by running the following command:

    $ oc delete machine <control_plane_machine_name> -n openshift-machine-api

    Replace <control_plane_machine_name> with the name of the control plane machine to delete.

    Important

    Delete only one control plane machine at a time. Deleting multiple control plane machines at the same time can cause etcd quorum loss.

    A new machine is automatically provisioned after you delete the control plane machine.

  5. Monitor the replacement by running the following commands until the new machine reaches the Running phase:

    $ oc get machines \
      -l machine.openshift.io/cluster-api-machine-role=master \
      -n openshift-machine-api -o wide
    $ oc get clusteroperator etcd
    $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane

Verification

  1. Verify etcd health by running the following commands:

    1. Open a remote shell session to a control plane etcd pod:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd <etcd_pod_name>

      Replace <etcd_pod_name> with the name of a running etcd pod.

    2. Check endpoint health:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl endpoint health

      Expected output shows is healthy for each endpoint.

    3. List etcd members and verify that the cluster has three members:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table
  2. Verify that all cluster Operators are available by running the following command:

    $ oc get clusteroperators

On bare-metal clusters that do not use a control plane machine set, replace a healthy control plane node by temporarily scaling the control plane to four nodes, and then removing the node that you want to replace.

Important

Red Hat supports a cluster that has 4 or 5 control plane nodes only on bare-metal infrastructure.

Prerequisites

  • The cluster does not have a ControlPlaneMachineSet resource.
  • The cluster is installed on bare-metal infrastructure.
  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You have taken an etcd backup. For more information, see "Backing up etcd data".
  • You have created a single control plane node that you intend to add to your cluster as a postinstallation task.

    Important

    Take an etcd backup before you replace a healthy etcd member so that you can restore your cluster if any issues occur.

Procedure

  1. Add the new control plane node to your cluster by following the steps in "Adding a control plane node to your cluster".
  2. Verify that the new control plane node is in the Ready state and that etcd has four members by running the following commands:

    $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane
    $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd <etcd_pod_name>

    Replace <etcd_pod_name> with the name of a running etcd pod.

    sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table
    sh-4.2# etcdctl endpoint health

    Expected output shows four etcd members and is healthy for each endpoint.

  3. Remove the control plane node that you want to replace.

    1. Optional. If you are performing planned maintenance, cordon the node by running the following command:

      $ oc adm cordon <node_name>

      Replace <node_name> with the name of the node that you are replacing.

    2. Delete the BareMetalHost object for the control plane node that you want to replace by running the following command:

      $ oc delete bmh <node_name> -n openshift-machine-api

      Replace <node_name> with the name of the node that you are replacing.

    3. Delete the Machine object for the control plane node that you want to replace by running the following command:

      $ oc delete machine <machine_name> -n openshift-machine-api

      Replace <machine_name> with the name of the machine that is associated with the node that you are replacing.

      Note

      After you remove the BareMetalHost and Machine objects, the machine controller automatically deletes the Node object.

  4. Monitor the cluster until the control plane returns to three nodes and etcd is healthy by running the following commands:

    $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/control-plane
    $ oc get clusteroperator etcd

Verification

  1. Verify etcd health by running the following commands:

    1. Open a remote shell session to a control plane etcd pod:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd <etcd_pod_name>
    2. Check endpoint health:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl endpoint health

      Expected output shows is healthy for each endpoint.

    3. List etcd members and verify that the cluster has three members:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table
  2. Verify that all cluster Operators are available by running the following command:

    $ oc get clusteroperators

6.3. Replacing an unhealthy etcd member

To restore etcd quorum when a single member is unhealthy, identify the member and determine whether its machine is stopped, its node is not ready, or its pod is crashlooping. You can then follow the replacement procedure that matches that state.

Note

If you have lost the majority of your control plane hosts, follow the steps in "Restoring to an earlier cluster state" instead of this procedure.

If the control plane certificates are not valid on the member being replaced, then you must follow the steps in "Recovering from expired control plane certificates" instead of this procedure.

If a control plane node is lost and a new one is created, the etcd cluster Operator handles generating the new TLS certificates and adding the node as an etcd member.

Take an etcd backup before replacing an unhealthy etcd member. For more information see, "Backing up etcd data".

6.3.1. Identifying an unhealthy etcd member

You can identify an unhealthy etcd member by checking the EtcdMembersAvailable status condition to see how many members are available and which member is unhealthy.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You created an etcd backup.

Procedure

  • Check the status of the EtcdMembersAvailable status condition by running the following command:

    $ oc get etcd -o=jsonpath='{range .items[0].status.conditions[?(@.type=="EtcdMembersAvailable")]}{.message}{"\n"}{end}'

    Example output

    2 of 3 members are available, ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal is unhealthy

Determine whether the unhealthy etcd member has a stopped machine, an unready node, or a crashlooping etcd pod. Knowing the failure state enables you to follow the correct replacement procedure.

Depending on the state of your unhealthy etcd member, use one of the following procedures:

  • Machine not running or node not ready. For more information, see "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member whose machine is not running or whose node is not ready".
  • Bare-metal machine not running or node not ready on installer-provisioned bare metal. For more information, see "Replacing an unhealthy bare metal etcd member whose machine is not running or whose node is not ready".
  • Crashlooping etcd pod. For more information, see "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member whose etcd pod is crashlooping".
Note

If the machine is not running or the node is not ready, you might expect either to recover soon. In that case, you do not need to replace the etcd member. The etcd cluster Operator automatically syncs when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

Prerequisites

  • You confirmed access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You identified an unhealthy etcd member.

Procedure

  1. Determine if the machine is not running by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -A -ojsonpath='{range .items[*]}{@.status.nodeRef.name}{"\t"}{@.status.providerStatus.instanceState}{"\n"}' | grep -v running

    Example output

    ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal  stopped

    This output lists the node and the status of the machine of the node. If the status is anything other than running, then the machine is not running.

  2. Determine if the status of the node is NotReady.

    If either of the following scenarios are true, then the node is not ready.

    1. If the machine is running, then check whether the node has an unreachable taint by running the following command:

      $ oc get nodes -o jsonpath='{range .items[*]}{"\n"}{.metadata.name}{"\t"}{range .spec.taints[*]}{.key}{" "}' | grep unreachable

      Example output

      ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal	node-role.kubernetes.io/master node.kubernetes.io/unreachable node.kubernetes.io/unreachable

      If the node is listed with an unreachable taint, then the node is not ready.

    2. If the node is still reachable, then check whether the node is listed as NotReady by running the following command:

      $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/master | grep "NotReady"

      Example output

      ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   NotReady   master   122m   v1.35.4

      If the node is listed as NotReady, then the node is not ready.

      If the node is not ready, then follow the "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member whose machine is not running or whose node is not ready" procedure.

  3. Determine if the etcd pod is crashlooping.

    If the machine is running and the node status is Ready, check the status of the etcd pod.

    1. Verify that all control plane nodes are listed as Ready by running the following command:

      $ oc get nodes -l node-role.kubernetes.io/master

      Example output

      NAME                           STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION
      ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   Ready    master   6h13m   v1.35.4
      ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    Ready    master   6h13m   v1.35.4
      ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   Ready    master   6h13m   v1.35.4

    2. Check whether the status of an etcd pod is either Error or CrashloopBackoff by running the following command:

      $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd

      Example output

      etcd-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal                2/3     Error       7          6h9m
      etcd-ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal                 3/3     Running     0          6h6m
      etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal                3/3     Running     0          6h6m

      The etcd pod crashloops because the etcd-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal is Error.

      If the etcd pod is crashlooping, then follow the steps in "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member whose etcd pod is crashlooping".

6.3.3. Replacing the unhealthy etcd member

You can replace an unhealthy etcd member by following one of several procedures, depending on whether the machine is not running, the node is not ready, the etcd pod is crashlooping, or the member is a stopped bare-metal instance.

Use one of the following procedures, based on the state of your unhealthy etcd member:

Replace an unhealthy etcd member when the member machine is stopped or the node is not ready. Restoring the member returns the control plane to a healthy state.

Note

If your cluster uses a control plane machine set, see "Recovering a degraded etcd Operator" in "Troubleshooting the control plane machine set" for an etcd recovery procedure.

Prerequisites

  • You identified the unhealthy etcd member.
  • You verified that either the machine is not running or the node is not ready.
  • Do not power on other control plane nodes until the unhealthy etcd member replacement is complete.
  • You confirmed access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You created an etcd backup before replacing the unhealthy etcd member.

    Important

    Without a recent etcd backup, you might not be able to restore the cluster if replacement fails.

Procedure

  1. Remove the unhealthy member.

    1. List etcd pods and choose one that is not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd

      Example output

      etcd-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal                3/3     Running     0          123m
      etcd-ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal                 3/3     Running     0          123m
      etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal                3/3     Running     0          124m

      From the output, note a pod that is not on the affected node. In this example, the unhealthy member is ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal, so you could use etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal.

    2. Connect to the running etcd container on the pod you chose by running the following command:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal
    3. View the member list by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      |        ID        | STATUS  |             NAME             |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | 6fc1e7c9db35841d | started | ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal | https://10.0.131.183:2380 | https://10.0.131.183:2379 |
      | 757b6793e2408b6c | started |  ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.164.97:2380 |  https://10.0.164.97:2379 |
      | ca8c2990a0aa29d1 | started | ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal | https://10.0.154.204:2380 | https://10.0.154.204:2379 |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+

      Take note of the ID and the name of the unhealthy etcd member because you need these values later in the procedure. The etcdctl endpoint health command continues to list the removed member until replacement is complete and a new member is added.

    4. Remove the unhealthy etcd member by providing the ID to the etcdctl member remove command by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member remove <etcd_member_id>

      Example output

      Member 6fc1e7c9db35841d removed from cluster ead669ce1fbfb346

    5. View the member list again and verify that the member was removed by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      |        ID        | STATUS  |             NAME             |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | 757b6793e2408b6c | started |  ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.164.97:2380 |  https://10.0.164.97:2379 |
      | ca8c2990a0aa29d1 | started | ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal | https://10.0.154.204:2380 | https://10.0.154.204:2379 |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+

      You can now exit the node shell.

  2. Turn off the quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": {"useUnsupportedUnsafeNonHANonProductionUnstableEtcd": true}}}'

    This command ensures that you can successfully re-create secrets and roll out the static pods.

    Important

    After you turn off the quorum guard, the cluster might be unreachable for a short period of time while the remaining etcd instances reboot to reflect the configuration change.

    Note

    etcd cannot tolerate any additional member failure when running with two members. Restarting either remaining member breaks the quorum and causes downtime in your cluster. The quorum guard protects etcd from restarts due to configuration changes that could cause downtime, so it must be disabled to complete this procedure.

  3. Delete the affected node by running the following command:

    $ oc delete node <node_name>

    Example command

    $ oc delete node ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal

  4. Remove the old secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed.

    1. List the secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed by running the following command:

      $ oc get secrets -n openshift-etcd | grep ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal

      Replace ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal in the command with the name of the unhealthy etcd member that you noted earlier in this procedure.

      There is a peer, serving, and metrics secret as shown in the following output:

      Example output

      etcd-peer-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal              kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m
      etcd-serving-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal           kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m
      etcd-serving-metrics-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m

    2. Delete the peer secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-peer-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
    3. Delete the serving secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-serving-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
    4. Delete the metrics secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-serving-metrics-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
  5. Check whether a control plane machine set exists by running the following command:

    $ oc -n openshift-machine-api get controlplanemachineset

    If the control plane machine set exists, delete and re-create the control plane machine. After this machine is re-created, a new revision is forced and etcd scales up automatically. For more information, see "Replacing an unhealthy etcd member whose machine is not running or whose node is not ready".

    If you are running installer-provisioned infrastructure, or you used the Machine API to create your machines, follow these steps. Otherwise, you must create the new control plane by using the same method that was used to originally create it.

    1. Obtain the machine for the unhealthy member by running the following command.

      $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

      Example output

      NAME                                        PHASE     TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
      clustername-8qw5l-master-0                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h37m   ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-0ec2782f8287dfb7e   stopped
      clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
      clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

      In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-0 is the control plane machine for the unhealthy node ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal. Its STATE is stopped.

    2. Delete the machine of the unhealthy member by running the following command:

      $ oc delete machine -n openshift-machine-api clustername-8qw5l-master-0

      Replace clustername-8qw5l-master-0 with the name of the control plane machine for the unhealthy node.

      A new machine is automatically provisioned after deleting the machine of the unhealthy member.

    3. Verify that a new machine was created by running the following command:

      $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

      Example output

      NAME                                        PHASE          TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
      clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
      clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba   running
      clustername-8qw5l-master-3                  Provisioning   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   85s     ip-10-0-133-53.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1a/i-015b0888fe17bc2c8   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

      In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-3 is the new control plane machine. The machine is ready when the PHASE changes from Provisioning to Running.

      It might take a few minutes for the new machine to be created. The etcd cluster Operator automatically syncs when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

      Note

      Verify the subnet IDs that you are using for your machine sets to ensure that they end up in the correct availability zone.

      If the control plane machine set does not exist, delete and re-create the control plane machine. After this machine is re-created, a new revision is forced and etcd scales up automatically.

      If you are running installer-provisioned infrastructure, or you used the Machine API to create your machines, follow these steps. Otherwise, you must create the new control plane by using the same method that was used to originally create it.

    4. Obtain the machine for the unhealthy member by running the following command:

      $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

      Example output

      NAME                                        PHASE     TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
      clustername-8qw5l-master-0                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h37m   ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-0ec2782f8287dfb7e   stopped
      clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
      clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
      clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

      In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-0 is the control plane machine for the unhealthy node ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal. Its STATE is stopped.

    5. Save the machine configuration to a file on your file system by running the following command:

      $ oc get machine clustername-8qw5l-master-0 \
          -n openshift-machine-api \
          -o yaml \
          > new-master-machine.yaml

      Replace clustername-8qw5l-master-0 with the name of the control plane machine for the unhealthy node.

  6. Edit the new-master-machine.yaml file that was created in the previous step to assign a new name and remove unnecessary fields:

    1. Remove the entire status section:

      status:
        addresses:
        - address: 10.0.131.183
          type: InternalIP
        - address: ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
          type: InternalDNS
        - address: ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
          type: Hostname
        lastUpdated: "2020-04-20T17:44:29Z"
        nodeRef:
          kind: Node
          name: ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
          uid: acca4411-af0d-4387-b73e-52b2484295ad
        phase: Running
        providerStatus:
          apiVersion: awsproviderconfig.openshift.io/v1beta1
          conditions:
          - lastProbeTime: "2020-04-20T16:53:50Z"
            lastTransitionTime: "2020-04-20T16:53:50Z"
            message: machine successfully created
            reason: MachineCreationSucceeded
            status: "True"
            type: MachineCreation
          instanceId: i-0fdb85790d76d0c3f
          instanceState: stopped
          kind: AWSMachineProviderStatus
    2. Change the metadata.name field to a new name.

      For example:

      apiVersion: machine.openshift.io/v1beta1
      kind: Machine
      metadata:
        ...
        name: clustername-8qw5l-master-3
        ...

      Keep the same base name as the old machine and change the ending number to the next available number. In this example, clustername-8qw5l-master-0 is changed to clustername-8qw5l-master-3

    3. Remove the spec.providerID field:

        providerID: aws:///us-east-1a/i-0fdb85790d76d0c3f
  7. Delete the machine of the unhealthy member by running the following command:

    $ oc delete machine -n openshift-machine-api clustername-8qw5l-master-0

    In the command, replace clustername-8qw5l-master-0 with the control plane machine name for the unhealthy node that you identified in the example output above.

  8. Verify that the machine was deleted by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                                        PHASE     TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
    clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

  9. Create the new machine by using the new-master-machine.yaml file by running the following command:

    $ oc apply -f new-master-machine.yaml
  10. Verify that the new machine was created by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                                        PHASE          TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
    clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba   running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-3                  Provisioning   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   85s     ip-10-0-133-53.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1a/i-015b0888fe17bc2c8   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

    In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-3 is the new control plane machine. The machine is ready when the PHASE changes from Provisioning to Running.

    It might take a few minutes for the new machine to be created. The etcd cluster Operator automatically syncs when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

  11. Turn the quorum guard back on by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": null}}'
  12. You can verify that the unsupportedConfigOverrides section is removed from the object by running the following command:

    $ oc get etcd/cluster -oyaml
  13. If you are using single-node OpenShift, restart the node. Otherwise, you might experience the following error in the etcd cluster Operator:

    Example output

    EtcdCertSignerControllerDegraded: [Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-peer-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-metrics-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again]

Verification

  1. Verify that all etcd pods are running properly by running the following command:

    $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd

    Example output

    etcd-ip-10-0-133-53.ec2.internal                 3/3     Running     0          7m49s
    etcd-ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal                 3/3     Running     0          123m
    etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal                3/3     Running     0          124m

  2. If the output from the previous command lists only two pods, force an etcd redeployment by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$( date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

    The forceRedeploymentReason value must be unique, which is why a timestamp is appended in the example.

  3. Verify that there are exactly three etcd members.

    1. Connect to the running etcd container, passing in the name of a pod that was not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal
    2. View the member list by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      |        ID        | STATUS  |             NAME             |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | 5eb0d6b8ca24730c | started |  ip-10-0-133-53.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.133.53:2380 |  https://10.0.133.53:2379 |
      | 757b6793e2408b6c | started |  ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.164.97:2380 |  https://10.0.164.97:2379 |
      | ca8c2990a0aa29d1 | started | ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal | https://10.0.154.204:2380 | https://10.0.154.204:2379 |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+

      If the output from the previous command lists more than three etcd members, you must carefully remove the unwanted member.

      Warning

      Be sure to remove the correct etcd member; removing a good etcd member might lead to quorum loss.

Replace an unhealthy etcd member when the etcd pod is crashlooping. Restoring the member returns the control plane to a healthy state.

Prerequisites

  • You identified the unhealthy etcd member.
  • You verified that the etcd pod is crashlooping.
  • You confirmed access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You created an etcd backup before replacing the unhealthy etcd member.

    Important

    It is important to take an etcd backup before performing this procedure so that your cluster can be restored if you encounter any issues.

Procedure

  1. Stop the crashlooping etcd pod.

    1. Debug the node that is crashlooping by running the following command:

      $ oc debug node/<unhealthy_node>

      Replace <unhealthy_node> with the name of the unhealthy etcd member.

    2. Change your root directory to /host by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# chroot /host
    3. Create a backup directory by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# mkdir /var/lib/etcd-backup
  2. Move the existing etcd pod file out of the kubelet manifest directory by running the following commands:

    sh-4.2# mv /etc/kubernetes/manifests/etcd-pod.yaml /var/lib/etcd-backup/
    1. Move the etcd data directory to a different location by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# mv /var/lib/etcd/ /tmp

      You can now exit the node shell.

  3. Remove the unhealthy member.

    1. Choose a pod that is not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd

      Example output

      etcd-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal                2/3     Error       7          6h9m
      etcd-ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal                 3/3     Running     0          6h6m
      etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal                3/3     Running     0          6h6m

    2. Connect to the running etcd container, passing in the name of a pod that is not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal
    3. View the member list by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      |        ID        | STATUS  |             NAME             |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | 62bcf33650a7170a | started | ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal | https://10.0.131.183:2380 | https://10.0.131.183:2379 |
      | b78e2856655bc2eb | started |  ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.164.97:2380 |  https://10.0.164.97:2379 |
      | d022e10b498760d5 | started | ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal | https://10.0.154.204:2380 | https://10.0.154.204:2379 |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+

      Take note of the ID and the name of the unhealthy etcd member, because these values are needed later in the procedure.

    4. Remove the unhealthy etcd member by providing the ID to the etcdctl member remove command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member remove 62bcf33650a7170a

      Example output

      Member 62bcf33650a7170a removed from cluster ead669ce1fbfb346

    5. View the member list again and verify that the member was removed by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      |        ID        | STATUS  |             NAME             |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+
      | b78e2856655bc2eb | started |  ip-10-0-164-97.ec2.internal |  https://10.0.164.97:2380 |  https://10.0.164.97:2379 |
      | d022e10b498760d5 | started | ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal | https://10.0.154.204:2380 | https://10.0.154.204:2379 |
      +------------------+---------+------------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+

      You can now exit the node shell.

  4. Turn off the quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": {"useUnsupportedUnsafeNonHANonProductionUnstableEtcd": true}}}'

    This command ensures that you can successfully re-create secrets and roll out the static pods.

  5. Remove the old secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed.

    1. List the secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed by running the following command:

      $ oc get secrets -n openshift-etcd | grep <unhealthy_node>

      Replace <unhealthy_node> in the command with the name of the unhealthy etcd member that you noted earlier in this procedure.

      There is a peer, serving, and metrics secret as shown in the following output:

      Example output

      etcd-peer-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal              kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m
      etcd-serving-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal           kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m
      etcd-serving-metrics-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   kubernetes.io/tls                     2      47m

    2. Delete the peer secret for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-peer-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
    3. Delete the serving secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-serving-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
    4. Delete the metrics secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret -n openshift-etcd etcd-serving-metrics-ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal
  6. Force etcd redeployment by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "single-master-recovery-'"$( date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

    The forceRedeploymentReason value must be unique, which is why a timestamp is appended.

    When the etcd cluster Operator performs a redeployment, it ensures that all control plane nodes have a functioning etcd pod.

  7. Turn the quorum guard back on by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": null}}'
  8. Verify that the unsupportedConfigOverrides section is removed from the object by running the following command:

    $ oc get etcd/cluster -oyaml
  9. If you are using single-node OpenShift, restart the node. Otherwise, you might encounter the following error in the etcd cluster Operator:

    Example output

    EtcdCertSignerControllerDegraded: [Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-peer-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-metrics-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again]

Verification

  • Verify that the new member is available and healthy.

    • Connect to the running etcd container by running the following command:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-ip-10-0-154-204.ec2.internal
    • Verify that all members are healthy by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl endpoint health

      Example output

      https://10.0.131.183:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 16.671434ms
      https://10.0.154.204:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 16.698331ms
      https://10.0.164.97:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 16.621645ms

Replace an unhealthy bare metal etcd member when the machine is not running or the node is not ready. Restoring the member returns the control plane to a healthy state.

If you are running installer-provisioned infrastructure or you used the Machine API to create your machines, follow these steps. Otherwise you must create the new control plane node using the same method that was used to originally create it.

Prerequisites

  • You identified the unhealthy bare metal etcd member.
  • You verified that either the machine is not running or the node is not ready.
  • You confirmed access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.
  • You created an etcd backup.

    Important

    You must take an etcd backup before performing this procedure so that your cluster can be restored if you encounter any issues.

Procedure

  1. Verify and remove the unhealthy member.

    1. Choose a pod that is not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd -o wide

      Example output

      etcd-openshift-control-plane-0   5/5   Running   11   3h56m   192.168.10.9   openshift-control-plane-0  <none>           <none>
      etcd-openshift-control-plane-1   5/5   Running   0    3h54m   192.168.10.10   openshift-control-plane-1   <none>           <none>
      etcd-openshift-control-plane-2   5/5   Running   0    3h58m   192.168.10.11   openshift-control-plane-2   <none>           <none>

    2. Connect to the running etcd container, passing in the name of a pod that is not on the affected node by running the following command:

      $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-openshift-control-plane-0
    3. View the member list by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
      | ID               | STATUS  | NAME                      | PEER ADDRS                  | CLIENT ADDRS                | IS LEARNER |
      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
      | 7a8197040a5126c8 | started | openshift-control-plane-2 | https://192.168.10.11:2380/ | https://192.168.10.11:2379/ | false |
      | 8d5abe9669a39192 | started | openshift-control-plane-1 | https://192.168.10.10:2380/ | https://192.168.10.10:2379/ | false |
      | cc3830a72fc357f9 | started | openshift-control-plane-0 | https://192.168.10.9:2380/ | https://192.168.10.9:2379/   | false |
      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+---------------------+

      Take note of the ID and the name of the unhealthy etcd member, because these values are required later in the procedure. The etcdctl endpoint health command lists the removed member until the replacement procedure is completed and the new member is added.

      Warning

      Be sure to remove the correct etcd member. Removing a good etcd member might lead to quorum loss.

    4. Remove the unhealthy etcd member by providing the ID to the etcdctl member remove command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member remove 7a8197040a5126c8

      Example output

      Member 7a8197040a5126c8 removed from cluster b23536c33f2cdd1b

    5. View the member list again and verify that the member was removed by running the following command:

      sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

      Example output

      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+
      | ID               | STATUS  | NAME                      | PEER ADDRS                  | CLIENT ADDRS                | IS LEARNER |
      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+
      | cc3830a72fc357f9 | started | openshift-control-plane-2 | https://192.168.10.11:2380/ | https://192.168.10.11:2379/ | false |
      | 8d5abe9669a39192 | started | openshift-control-plane-1 | https://192.168.10.10:2380/ | https://192.168.10.10:2379/ | false |
      +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-------------------------+

      You can now exit the node shell.

      Important

      After you remove the member, the cluster might be unreachable for a short time while the remaining etcd instances reboot.

  2. Turn off the quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": {"useUnsupportedUnsafeNonHANonProductionUnstableEtcd": true}}}'

    This command ensures that you can successfully re-create secrets and roll out the static pods.

  3. Remove the old secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed.

    1. List the secrets for the unhealthy etcd member that was removed by running the following command:

      $ oc get secrets -n openshift-etcd | grep openshift-control-plane-2

      Pass in the name of the unhealthy etcd member that you took note of earlier in this procedure.

      There is a peer, serving, and metrics secret as shown in the following output:

      etcd-peer-openshift-control-plane-2             kubernetes.io/tls   2   134m
      etcd-serving-metrics-openshift-control-plane-2  kubernetes.io/tls   2   134m
      etcd-serving-openshift-control-plane-2          kubernetes.io/tls   2   134m
    2. Delete the secrets for the unhealthy etcd member by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret etcd-peer-openshift-control-plane-2 -n openshift-etcd

      Example output

      secret "etcd-peer-openshift-control-plane-2" deleted

    3. Delete the serving secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret etcd-serving-metrics-openshift-control-plane-2 -n openshift-etcd

      Example output

      secret "etcd-serving-metrics-openshift-control-plane-2" deleted

    4. Delete the metrics secret by running the following command:

      $ oc delete secret etcd-serving-openshift-control-plane-2 -n openshift-etcd

      Example output

      secret "etcd-serving-openshift-control-plane-2" deleted

  4. Obtain the machine for the unhealthy member by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                              PHASE     TYPE   REGION   ZONE   AGE     NODE                               PROVIDERID                                                                                              STATE
    examplecluster-control-plane-0    Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-0   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-0/da1ebe11-3ff2-41c5-b099-0aa41222964e   externally provisioned
    examplecluster-control-plane-1    Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-1   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-1/d9f9acbc-329c-475e-8d81-03b20280a3e1   externally provisioned
    examplecluster-control-plane-2    Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-2   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-2/3354bdac-61d8-410f-be5b-6a395b056135   externally provisioned
    examplecluster-compute-0          Running                          165m    openshift-compute-0         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-0/3d685b81-7410-4bb3-80ec-13a31858241f         provisioned
    examplecluster-compute-1          Running                          165m    openshift-compute-1         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-1/0fdae6eb-2066-4241-91dc-e7ea72ab13b9         provisioned

    examplecluster-control-plane-2 is the control plane machine for the unhealthy node openshift-control-plane-2.

  5. Ensure that the Bare Metal Operator is available by running the following command:

    $ oc get clusteroperator baremetal

    Example output

    NAME        VERSION   AVAILABLE   PROGRESSING   DEGRADED   SINCE   MESSAGE
    baremetal   4.22.0    True        False         False      3d15h

  6. Remove the old BareMetalHost object by running the following command:

    $ oc delete bmh openshift-control-plane-2 -n openshift-machine-api

    Example output

    baremetalhost.metal3.io "openshift-control-plane-2" deleted

  7. Delete the machine of the unhealthy member by running the following command:

    $ oc delete machine -n openshift-machine-api examplecluster-control-plane-2

    After you remove the BareMetalHost and Machine objects, then the Machine controller automatically deletes the Node object.

    If deletion of the machine is delayed for any reason or the command is obstructed and delayed, you can force deletion by removing the machine object finalizer field.

    Important

    Do not interrupt machine deletion by pressing Ctrl+c. You must allow the command to proceed to completion. Open a new terminal window to edit and delete the finalizer fields.

    A new machine is automatically provisioned after deleting the machine of the unhealthy member.

    1. Edit the machine configuration by running the following command:

      $ oc edit machine -n openshift-machine-api examplecluster-control-plane-2
    2. Delete the following fields in the Machine custom resource, and then save the updated file:

      finalizers:
      - machine.machine.openshift.io

      Example output

      machine.machine.openshift.io/examplecluster-control-plane-2 edited

  8. Verify that the machine was deleted by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                              PHASE     TYPE   REGION   ZONE   AGE     NODE                                 PROVIDERID                                                                                       STATE
    examplecluster-control-plane-0    Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-0   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-0/da1ebe11-3ff2-41c5-b099-0aa41222964e   externally provisioned
    examplecluster-control-plane-1    Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-1   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-1/d9f9acbc-329c-475e-8d81-03b20280a3e1   externally provisioned
    examplecluster-compute-0          Running                          165m    openshift-compute-0         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-0/3d685b81-7410-4bb3-80ec-13a31858241f         provisioned
    examplecluster-compute-1          Running                          165m    openshift-compute-1         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-1/0fdae6eb-2066-4241-91dc-e7ea72ab13b9         provisioned

  9. Verify that the node has been deleted by running the following command:

    $ oc get nodes

    Example output

    NAME                     STATUS ROLES   AGE   VERSION
    openshift-control-plane-0 Ready master 3h24m v1.35.4
    openshift-control-plane-1 Ready master 3h24m v1.35.4
    openshift-compute-0       Ready worker 176m v1.35.4
    openshift-compute-1       Ready worker 176m v1.35.4

  10. Create the new BareMetalHost object and the secret to store the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) credentials by running the following command:

    $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: openshift-control-plane-2-bmc-secret
      namespace: openshift-machine-api
    data:
      password: <password>
      username: <username>
    type: Opaque
    ---
    apiVersion: metal3.io/v1alpha1
    kind: BareMetalHost
    metadata:
      name: openshift-control-plane-2
      namespace: openshift-machine-api
    spec:
      automatedCleaningMode: disabled
      bmc:
        address: redfish://10.46.61.18:443/redfish/v1/Systems/1
        credentialsName: openshift-control-plane-2-bmc-secret
        disableCertificateVerification: true
      bootMACAddress: 48:df:37:b0:8a:a0
      bootMode: UEFI
      externallyProvisioned: false
      online: true
      rootDeviceHints:
        deviceName: /dev/disk/by-id/scsi-<serial_number>
      userData:
        name: master-user-data-managed
        namespace: openshift-machine-api
    EOF
    Note

    The username and password can be found from the secrets of the other bare-metal host. The protocol to use in bmc:address can be taken from other bmh objects.

    Important

    If you reuse the BareMetalHost object definition from an existing control plane host, do not leave the externallyProvisioned field set to true.

    Existing control plane BareMetalHost objects may have the externallyProvisioned flag set to true if they were provisioned by the OpenShift Container Platform installation program.

    After the inspection is complete, the BareMetalHost object is created and available to be provisioned.

  11. Verify the creation process using available BareMetalHost objects by completing the following steps:

    1. Verify that a new machine has been created by running the following command:

      $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

      The new machine is ready when the phase changes from Provisioning to Running.

      It should take a few minutes for the new machine to be created. The etcd cluster Operator automatically syncs when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

      Example output

      NAME                                   PHASE     TYPE   REGION   ZONE   AGE     NODE                              PROVIDERID                                                                                            STATE
      examplecluster-control-plane-0         Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-0   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-0/da1ebe11-3ff2-41c5-b099-0aa41222964e   externally provisioned
      examplecluster-control-plane-1         Running                          3h11m   openshift-control-plane-1   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-1/d9f9acbc-329c-475e-8d81-03b20280a3e1   externally provisioned
      examplecluster-control-plane-3         Running                          11m     openshift-control-plane-2   baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-control-plane-2/dac4335b-5c81-a641-395b-5631f0a9a545   externally provisioned
      examplecluster-compute-0               Running                          165m    openshift-compute-0         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-0/3d685b81-7410-4bb3-80ec-13a31858241f         provisioned
      examplecluster-compute-1               Running                          165m    openshift-compute-1         baremetalhost:///openshift-machine-api/openshift-compute-1/0fdae6eb-2066-4241-91dc-e7ea72ab13b9         provisioned

    2. Verify that the bare metal host becomes provisioned and no error reported by running the following command:

      $ oc get bmh -n openshift-machine-api

      Example output

      NAME                      STATE                  CONSUMER                       ONLINE ERROR AGE
      openshift-control-plane-0 externally provisioned examplecluster-control-plane-0 true         4h48m
      openshift-control-plane-1 externally provisioned examplecluster-control-plane-1 true         4h48m
      openshift-control-plane-2 provisioned            examplecluster-control-plane-3 true          47m
      openshift-compute-0       provisioned            examplecluster-compute-0       true         4h48m
      openshift-compute-1       provisioned            examplecluster-compute-1       true         4h48m

    3. Verify that the new node is added and in a ready state by running the following command:

      $ oc get nodes

      Example output

      NAME                     STATUS ROLES   AGE   VERSION
      openshift-control-plane-0 Ready master 4h26m v1.35.4
      openshift-control-plane-1 Ready master 4h26m v1.35.4
      openshift-control-plane-2 Ready master 12m   v1.35.4
      openshift-compute-0       Ready worker 3h58m v1.35.4
      openshift-compute-1       Ready worker 3h58m v1.35.4

  12. Turn the quorum guard back on by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": null}}'
  13. You can verify that the unsupportedConfigOverrides section is removed from the object by running the following command:

    $ oc get etcd/cluster -oyaml
  14. If you are using single-node OpenShift, restart the node. Otherwise, you might encounter the following error in the etcd cluster Operator:

    Example output

    EtcdCertSignerControllerDegraded: [Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-peer-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again, Operation cannot be fulfilled on secrets "etcd-serving-metrics-sno-0": the object has been modified; please apply your changes to the latest version and try again]

Verification

  1. Verify that all etcd pods are running properly by running the following command:

    $ oc -n openshift-etcd get pods -l k8s-app=etcd

    Example output

    etcd-openshift-control-plane-0      5/5     Running     0     105m
    etcd-openshift-control-plane-1      5/5     Running     0     107m
    etcd-openshift-control-plane-2      5/5     Running     0     103m

    If the output from the previous command only lists two pods, you can manually force an etcd redeployment. In a terminal that has access to the cluster as a cluster-admin user, run the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$( date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

    The forceRedeploymentReason value must be unique, which is why a timestamp is appended.

    To verify there are exactly three etcd members, connect to the running etcd container, passing in the name of a pod that was not on the affected node. In a terminal that has access to the cluster as a cluster-admin user, run the following command:

    $ oc rsh -n openshift-etcd etcd-openshift-control-plane-0
  2. View the member list by running the following command:

    sh-4.2# etcdctl member list -w table

    Example output

    +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------+
    |        ID        | STATUS  |        NAME        |        PEER ADDRS         |       CLIENT ADDRS        |    IS LEARNER    |
    +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------+
    | 7a8197040a5126c8 | started | openshift-control-plane-2 | https://192.168.10.11:2380 | https://192.168.10.11:2379 |   false |
    | 8d5abe9669a39192 | started | openshift-control-plane-1 | https://192.168.10.10:2380 | https://192.168.10.10:2379 |   false |
    | cc3830a72fc357f9 | started | openshift-control-plane-0 | https://192.168.10.9:2380 | https://192.168.10.9:2379 |     false |
    +------------------+---------+--------------------+---------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------+

    Note

    If the output from the previous command lists more than three etcd members, you must carefully remove the unwanted member.

  3. Verify that all etcd members are healthy by running the following command:

    # etcdctl endpoint health --cluster

    Example output

    https://192.168.10.10:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 8.973065ms
    https://192.168.10.9:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 11.559829ms
    https://192.168.10.11:2379 is healthy: successfully committed proposal: took = 11.665203ms

  4. Validate that all nodes are at the latest revision by running the following command:

    $ oc get etcd -o=jsonpath='{range.items[0].status.conditions[?(@.type=="NodeInstallerProgressing")]}{.reason}{"\n"}{.message}{"\n"}'
    AllNodesAtLatestRevision

6.4. Disaster recovery

6.4.1. About disaster recovery

To return your cluster to a working state after quorum loss, control plane failure, or expired certificates, follow the disaster recovery procedures for your situation. You can restore etcd quorum, restore the cluster from an etcd snapshot, or recover from expired control plane certificates.

Important

Disaster recovery requires you to have at least one healthy control plane host.

You can restore etcd quorum on high availability (HA) clusters by running the quorum-restore.sh script on a recovery host. Restored quorum returns the OpenShift Container Platform API to read/write mode when quorum loss takes the cluster offline.

The quorum-restore.sh script creates a new single-member etcd cluster from the local data directory on the recovery host. No prior backup is required.

For high availability (HA) clusters, a three-node HA cluster requires you to shut down etcd on two hosts to avoid a cluster split. On four-node and five-node HA clusters, you must shut down three hosts. Quorum requires a majority of nodes. The minimum number of nodes required for quorum on a three-node HA cluster is two. On four-node and five-node HA clusters, the minimum number of nodes required for quorum is three. If you start a new cluster from backup on your recovery host, the other etcd members might still be able to form quorum and continue service.

Warning

You might experience data loss if the host that runs the restoration does not have all data replicated to it.

Important

Quorum restoration should not be used to decrease the number of nodes outside of the restoration process. Decreasing the number of nodes results in an unsupported cluster configuration.

Prerequisites

  • You have SSH access to the node used to restore quorum.

Procedure

  1. Select a control plane host to use as the recovery host. You run the restore operation on this host.
  2. Using SSH, connect to the chosen recovery node and run the following command to restore etcd quorum:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/quorum-restore.sh

    After a few minutes, the nodes that went down are automatically synchronized with the node that the recovery script was run on. Any remaining online nodes automatically rejoin the new etcd cluster created by the quorum-restore.sh script. This process takes a few minutes.

  3. Verify that the local etcd container is running on the host by using the container runtime CLI:

    $ sudo crictl ps --name '^etcd$'
  4. Exit the SSH session.
  5. Return to a three-node configuration if any nodes are offline. Repeat the following steps for each node that is offline to delete and re-create them. After the machines are re-created, a new revision is forced and etcd automatically scales up.

    Warning

    For installer-provisioned infrastructure and user-provisioned infrastructure, do not delete and re-create the machine for the recovery host.

    • If you use a user-provisioned bare-metal installation, you can re-create a control plane machine by using the same method that you used to originally create it.

      Important

      Before starting the newly provisioned node, you must delete the existing node object from the cluster by running the oc delete node <node_name> command. Failing to delete the node object before reinstallating the node can cause conflicts and issues during the reinstallation process.

      For more information, see "Installing a user-provisioned cluster on bare metal".

      • If you are running installer-provisioned infrastructure, or you used the Machine API to create your machines, follow these steps:

        Important

        For bare-metal installations on installer-provisioned infrastructure, control plane machines are not re-created. For more information, see "Replacing a bare-metal control plane node".

        1. In a terminal that has access to the cluster as a cluster-admin user, obtain the machine for one of the offline nodes by running the following command:

          $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

          Example output

          NAME                                        PHASE     TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
          clustername-8qw5l-master-0                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h37m   ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-0ec2782f8287dfb7e   stopped
          clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
          clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-194.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba  running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

          In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-0 is the control plane machine for the offline node, ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal.

        2. Delete the machine of the offline node by running the following command:

          $ oc delete machine -n openshift-machine-api clustername-8qw5l-master-0

          Specify the name of the control plane machine for the offline node.

          A new machine is automatically provisioned after deleting the machine of the offline node.

  6. Verify that a new machine has been created by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                                        PHASE          TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
    clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-194.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba  running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-3                  Provisioning   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   85s     ip-10-0-173-171.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1a/i-015b0888fe17bc2c8  running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

    In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-3 is being created and is ready after the phase changes from Provisioning to Running.

    It might take a few minutes for the new machine to be created. The etcd cluster Operator automatically synchronizes when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

  7. For each node that is offline, repeat the previous steps to delete and re-create the node.
  8. Wait until the control plane recovers by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover.

Troubleshooting

  • If you see no progress rolling out the etcd static pods, you can force redeployment from the etcd cluster Operator by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$(date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

To assess restore risks before you choose rollback as a last resort, review how an etcd snapshot restore affects your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, including Operators, workloads, and persistent storage.

You can use an etcd backup to restore your cluster to an earlier state. This can be used to recover from the following situations:

  • The cluster has lost the majority of control plane hosts and quorum.
  • An administrator has deleted something critical and must restore to recover the cluster.

If applicable, you might also need to recover from expired control plane certificates.

Warning

Restoring to an earlier cluster state is a destructive and destabilizing action to take on a running cluster. This should only be used as a last resort.

If you cannot retrieve data using the Kubernetes API server, then etcd is available and you should not restore using an etcd backup.

Restoring etcd effectively takes a cluster back in time and all clients experience a conflicting, parallel history. This can impact the behavior of watching components like kubelets, Kubernetes controller managers, persistent volume controllers, and OpenShift Container Platform Operators, including the network Operator.

It can cause Operator churn when the content in etcd does not match the actual content on disk, causing Operators for the Kubernetes API server, Kubernetes controller manager, Kubernetes scheduler, and etcd to get stuck when files on disk conflict with content in etcd. This can require manual actions to resolve the issues.

In extreme cases, the cluster can lose track of persistent volumes, delete critical workloads that no longer exist, reimage machines, and rewrite CA bundles with expired certificates.

To restore your OpenShift Container Platform cluster on a single node, use a saved etcd snapshot to roll back to an earlier state after quorum loss or critical data deletion.

Important

When you restore your cluster, you must use an etcd backup that was taken from the same z-stream release. For example, an OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.2 cluster must use an etcd backup that was taken from 4.22.2.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role through a certificate-based kubeconfig file.
  • You have SSH access to control plane hosts.
  • You have a backup directory containing both the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods, which were 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.

Procedure

  1. Use SSH to connect to the single node and copy the etcd backup to the /home/core directory by running the following command:

    $ cp <etcd_backup_directory> /home/core
  2. To restore the cluster from an earlier backup on the single node, run the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/cluster-restore.sh /home/core/<etcd_backup_directory>
  3. Exit the SSH session.
  4. Monitor the recovery progress of the control plane by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover.

To restore your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with more than one control plane node to an earlier state, use a saved etcd snapshot after quorum loss or critical data deletion.

For a Two-Node with Fencing (TNF) setup, a single surviving node can continue to operate in degraded mode. Use a saved etcd backup to restore an earlier cluster state if only one node is operational, or when both nodes have failed and you need to restart the cluster from a known safe state. In both cases, perform the restore procedure on a single node. The peer node automatically synchronizes data with the restored node when it rejoins the cluster.

Before you restore from backup on the recovery host, shut down etcd on enough control plane nodes so the remaining members cannot form a quorum:

  • Shut down etcd on 2 hosts in a 3-node cluster.
  • Shut down etcd on 3 hosts in a 4-node or 5-node cluster.

If too few hosts are shut down, the other etcd members might still form a quorum and continue service while you restore.

Note

If your cluster uses a control plane machine set, see "Recovering a degraded etcd Operator" in the control plane machine set troubleshooting topic for an etcd recovery procedure. For OpenShift Container Platform on a single node, follow the procedure to restore to an earlier cluster state for a single node.

Important

When you restore your cluster, you must use an etcd backup that was taken from the same z-stream release. For example, an OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.2 cluster must use an etcd backup that was taken from 4.22.2.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role through a certificate-based kubeconfig file, like the one that was used during installation.
  • You have a healthy control plane host to use as the recovery host.
  • You have SSH access to control plane hosts.
  • You have a backup directory containing both the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods, which were 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.
  • Control plane nodes are accessible or bootable.
Important

For non-recovery control plane nodes, it is not required to establish SSH connectivity or to stop the static pods. You can delete and re-create other non-recovery, control plane machines, one by one.

Procedure

  1. Select a control plane host to use as the recovery host. This is the host that you run the restore operation on.
  2. Establish SSH connectivity to each of the control plane nodes, including the recovery host.

    kube-apiserver becomes inaccessible after the restore process starts, so you cannot access the control plane nodes. Establish SSH connectivity to each control plane host in a separate terminal.

    Important

    If you do not complete this step, you cannot access the control plane hosts to complete the restore procedure, and you cannot recover your cluster from this state.

  3. Using SSH, connect to each control plane node to disable etcd by running the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/disable-etcd.sh
  4. Copy the etcd backup directory to the recovery control plane host.

    This procedure assumes that you copied the backup directory containing the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods to the /home/core/ directory of your recovery control plane host.

  5. Use SSH to connect to the recovery host. Restore the cluster from an earlier backup by running the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/cluster-restore.sh /home/core/<etcd-backup-directory>
  6. Exit the SSH session.
  7. When the API responds, turn off the etcd Operator quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": {"useUnsupportedUnsafeNonHANonProductionUnstableEtcd": true}}}'
    Important

    For a TNF setup, do not:

    • Change the etcd Operator quorum setting.
    • Turn the etcd Operator quorum off.
    • Turn the etcd Operator quorum back on.
  8. Monitor the recovery progress of the control plane by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover. Wait for the control plane to recover before using the next step.

  9. Enable the quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": null}}'

Troubleshooting

If the etcd static pods do not roll out, you can manually force an etcd redeployment from the cluster-etcd-operator by running the following command:

$ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$(date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

To restore workloads safely after an etcd snapshot restore, identify and resolve outdated persistent storage references, including volumes, credentials, attachments, and devices on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

If your OpenShift Container Platform cluster uses persistent storage of any form, a state of the cluster is typically stored outside etcd. When you restore from an etcd backup, the status of the workloads in OpenShift Container Platform is also restored. However, if the etcd snapshot is old, the status might be invalid or outdated.

Important

The contents of persistent volumes (PVs) are never part of the etcd snapshot. When you restore an OpenShift Container Platform cluster from an etcd snapshot, non-critical workloads might gain access to critical data, or vice-versa.

The following are some example scenarios that produce an out-of-date status:

  • MySQL database is running in a pod backed up by a PV object. Restoring OpenShift Container Platform from an etcd snapshot does not bring back the volume on the storage provider, and does not produce a running MySQL pod, despite the pod repeatedly attempting to start. You must manually restore this pod by restoring the volume on the storage provider, and then editing the PV to point to the new volume.
  • Pod P1 is using volume A, which is attached to node X. If the etcd snapshot is taken while another pod uses the same volume on node Y, then when the etcd restore is performed, pod P1 might not be able to start correctly due to the volume still being attached to node Y. OpenShift Container Platform is not aware of the attachment, and does not automatically detach it. When this occurs, the volume must be manually detached from node Y so that the volume can attach on node X, and then pod P1 can start.
  • Cloud provider or storage provider credentials were updated after the etcd snapshot was taken. This causes any CSI drivers or Operators that depend on those credentials to not work. You might have to manually update the credentials required by those drivers or Operators.
  • A device is removed or renamed from OpenShift Container Platform nodes after the etcd snapshot is taken. The Local Storage Operator creates symlinks for each PV that it manages from /dev/disk/by-id or /dev directories. This situation might cause the local PVs to refer to devices that no longer exist.

    To fix this problem, an administrator must:

    1. Manually remove the PVs with invalid devices.
    2. Remove symlinks from respective nodes.
    3. Delete LocalVolume or LocalVolumeSet objects. For more information, see "Deleting the Local Storage Operator resources".

You can restore kubelet certificates by manually approving pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) and, on user-provisioned installations, kubelet serving CSRs. Approved CSRs return nodes to a healthy state after control plane certificates expire.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. Get the list of current CSRs by running the following command:

    $ oc get csr

    Example output

    NAME        AGE    SIGNERNAME                                    REQUESTOR                                                                   CONDITION
    csr-2s94x   8m3s   kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving                 system:node:<node_name>                                                     Pending
    csr-4bd6t   8m3s   kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving                 system:node:<node_name>                                                     Pending
    csr-4hl85   13m    kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet   system:serviceaccount:openshift-machine-config-operator:node-bootstrapper   Pending
    csr-zhhhp   3m8s   kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet   system:serviceaccount:openshift-machine-config-operator:node-bootstrapper   Pending
    ...

    In the example output, CSRs with a SIGNERNAME of kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving are kubelet serving CSRs. You see this CSR type on user-provisioned installations. CSRs with a SIGNERNAME of kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet and a node-bootstrapper requestor are node-bootstrapper CSRs that you must approve to restore kubelet certificates.

  2. Review the details of a CSR to verify that it is valid by running the following command:

    $ oc describe csr <csr_name>

    <csr_name> is the name of a CSR from the list of current CSRs.

  3. Approve each valid node-bootstrapper CSR by running the following command:

    $ oc adm certificate approve <csr_name>
  4. For user-provisioned installations, approve each valid kubelet serving CSR by running the following command:

    $ oc adm certificate approve <csr_name>

6.4.1.7. Testing restore procedures

You can test your cluster restore workflow by simulating etcd failure on nonrecovery nodes and restoring from backup. Use this test to confirm that your etcd backup and restore process works as expected.

Warning

You must have SSH access to the cluster. Without SSH access, you cannot disable etcd or manage the kubelet service on nonrecovery nodes.

Prerequisites

  • You have SSH access to control plane hosts.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Use SSH to connect to each of your nonrecovery nodes to disable etcd and the kubelet service:

    1. Disable etcd by running the following command:

      $ sudo /usr/local/bin/disable-etcd.sh
    2. Delete variable data for etcd by running the following command:

      $ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/etcd
    3. Disable the kubelet service by running the following command:

      $ sudo systemctl disable kubelet.service --now
  2. Exit every SSH session.
  3. Ensure that your nonrecovery nodes are in a NOT READY state by running the following command:

    $ oc get nodes
  4. Restore your cluster to an earlier cluster state by using an etcd backup. For more information, see "Restoring to an earlier cluster state".
  5. After you restore the cluster and the API responds, use SSH to connect to each nonrecovery node and enable the kubelet service by running the following command:

    $ sudo systemctl enable kubelet.service --now
  6. Exit every SSH session.
  7. Verify that your nodes return to the READY state by running the following command:

    $ oc get nodes
  8. Verify that etcd is available by running the following command:

    $ oc get pods -n openshift-etcd

6.4.2. Quorum restoration

You can restore etcd quorum on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster by running the quorum-restore.sh script on a recovery host when quorum loss leaves the API read-only. After quorum is restored, the API returns to read/write mode.

You can restore etcd quorum on high availability (HA) clusters by running the quorum-restore.sh script on a recovery host. Restored quorum returns the OpenShift Container Platform API to read/write mode when quorum loss takes the cluster offline.

The quorum-restore.sh script creates a new single-member etcd cluster from the local data directory on the recovery host. No prior backup is required.

For high availability (HA) clusters, a three-node HA cluster requires you to shut down etcd on two hosts to avoid a cluster split. On four-node and five-node HA clusters, you must shut down three hosts. Quorum requires a majority of nodes. The minimum number of nodes required for quorum on a three-node HA cluster is two. On four-node and five-node HA clusters, the minimum number of nodes required for quorum is three. If you start a new cluster from backup on your recovery host, the other etcd members might still be able to form quorum and continue service.

Warning

You might experience data loss if the host that runs the restoration does not have all data replicated to it.

Important

Quorum restoration should not be used to decrease the number of nodes outside of the restoration process. Decreasing the number of nodes results in an unsupported cluster configuration.

Prerequisites

  • You have SSH access to the node used to restore quorum.

Procedure

  1. Select a control plane host to use as the recovery host. You run the restore operation on this host.
  2. Using SSH, connect to the chosen recovery node and run the following command to restore etcd quorum:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/quorum-restore.sh

    After a few minutes, the nodes that went down are automatically synchronized with the node that the recovery script was run on. Any remaining online nodes automatically rejoin the new etcd cluster created by the quorum-restore.sh script. This process takes a few minutes.

  3. Verify that the local etcd container is running on the host by using the container runtime CLI:

    $ sudo crictl ps --name '^etcd$'
  4. Exit the SSH session.
  5. Return to a three-node configuration if any nodes are offline. Repeat the following steps for each node that is offline to delete and re-create them. After the machines are re-created, a new revision is forced and etcd automatically scales up.

    Warning

    For installer-provisioned infrastructure and user-provisioned infrastructure, do not delete and re-create the machine for the recovery host.

    • If you use a user-provisioned bare-metal installation, you can re-create a control plane machine by using the same method that you used to originally create it.

      Important

      Before starting the newly provisioned node, you must delete the existing node object from the cluster by running the oc delete node <node_name> command. Failing to delete the node object before reinstallating the node can cause conflicts and issues during the reinstallation process.

      For more information, see "Installing a user-provisioned cluster on bare metal".

      • If you are running installer-provisioned infrastructure, or you used the Machine API to create your machines, follow these steps:

        Important

        For bare-metal installations on installer-provisioned infrastructure, control plane machines are not re-created. For more information, see "Replacing a bare-metal control plane node".

        1. In a terminal that has access to the cluster as a cluster-admin user, obtain the machine for one of the offline nodes by running the following command:

          $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

          Example output

          NAME                                        PHASE     TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
          clustername-8qw5l-master-0                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h37m   ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-0ec2782f8287dfb7e   stopped
          clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
          clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-194.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba  running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
          clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running   m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

          In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-0 is the control plane machine for the offline node, ip-10-0-131-183.ec2.internal.

        2. Delete the machine of the offline node by running the following command:

          $ oc delete machine -n openshift-machine-api clustername-8qw5l-master-0

          Specify the name of the control plane machine for the offline node.

          A new machine is automatically provisioned after deleting the machine of the offline node.

  6. Verify that a new machine has been created by running the following command:

    $ oc get machines -n openshift-machine-api -o wide

    Example output

    NAME                                        PHASE          TYPE        REGION      ZONE         AGE     NODE                           PROVIDERID                              STATE
    clustername-8qw5l-master-1                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h37m   ip-10-0-143-125.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-096c349b700a19631   running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-2                  Running        m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h37m   ip-10-0-154-194.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1c/i-02626f1dba9ed5bba  running
    clustername-8qw5l-master-3                  Provisioning   m4.xlarge   us-east-1   us-east-1a   85s     ip-10-0-173-171.ec2.internal    aws:///us-east-1a/i-015b0888fe17bc2c8  running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1a-wbtgd   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1a   3h28m   ip-10-0-129-226.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1a/i-010ef6279b4662ced   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1b-lrdxb   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1b   3h28m   ip-10-0-144-248.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1b/i-0cb45ac45a166173b   running
    clustername-8qw5l-worker-us-east-1c-pkg26   Running        m4.large    us-east-1   us-east-1c   3h28m   ip-10-0-170-181.ec2.internal   aws:///us-east-1c/i-06861c00007751b0a   running

    In the example output, clustername-8qw5l-master-3 is being created and is ready after the phase changes from Provisioning to Running.

    It might take a few minutes for the new machine to be created. The etcd cluster Operator automatically synchronizes when the machine or node returns to a healthy state.

  7. For each node that is offline, repeat the previous steps to delete and re-create the node.
  8. Wait until the control plane recovers by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover.

Troubleshooting

  • If you see no progress rolling out the etcd static pods, you can force redeployment from the etcd cluster Operator by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$(date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

6.4.3. Restoring to an earlier cluster state

To return your OpenShift Container Platform cluster to a known good state, restore from a saved etcd snapshot after quorum loss or critical resource deletion. Understanding restore impact helps you decide whether rollback is appropriate before you begin.

To assess restore risks before you choose rollback as a last resort, review how an etcd snapshot restore affects your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, including Operators, workloads, and persistent storage.

You can use an etcd backup to restore your cluster to an earlier state. This can be used to recover from the following situations:

  • The cluster has lost the majority of control plane hosts and quorum.
  • An administrator has deleted something critical and must restore to recover the cluster.

If applicable, you might also need to recover from expired control plane certificates.

Warning

Restoring to an earlier cluster state is a destructive and destabilizing action to take on a running cluster. This should only be used as a last resort.

If you cannot retrieve data using the Kubernetes API server, then etcd is available and you should not restore using an etcd backup.

Restoring etcd effectively takes a cluster back in time and all clients experience a conflicting, parallel history. This can impact the behavior of watching components like kubelets, Kubernetes controller managers, persistent volume controllers, and OpenShift Container Platform Operators, including the network Operator.

It can cause Operator churn when the content in etcd does not match the actual content on disk, causing Operators for the Kubernetes API server, Kubernetes controller manager, Kubernetes scheduler, and etcd to get stuck when files on disk conflict with content in etcd. This can require manual actions to resolve the issues.

In extreme cases, the cluster can lose track of persistent volumes, delete critical workloads that no longer exist, reimage machines, and rewrite CA bundles with expired certificates.

To restore your OpenShift Container Platform cluster on a single node, use a saved etcd snapshot to roll back to an earlier state after quorum loss or critical data deletion.

Important

When you restore your cluster, you must use an etcd backup that was taken from the same z-stream release. For example, an OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.2 cluster must use an etcd backup that was taken from 4.22.2.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role through a certificate-based kubeconfig file.
  • You have SSH access to control plane hosts.
  • You have a backup directory containing both the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods, which were 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.

Procedure

  1. Use SSH to connect to the single node and copy the etcd backup to the /home/core directory by running the following command:

    $ cp <etcd_backup_directory> /home/core
  2. To restore the cluster from an earlier backup on the single node, run the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/cluster-restore.sh /home/core/<etcd_backup_directory>
  3. Exit the SSH session.
  4. Monitor the recovery progress of the control plane by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover.

To restore your OpenShift Container Platform cluster with more than one control plane node to an earlier state, use a saved etcd snapshot after quorum loss or critical data deletion.

For a Two-Node with Fencing (TNF) setup, a single surviving node can continue to operate in degraded mode. Use a saved etcd backup to restore an earlier cluster state if only one node is operational, or when both nodes have failed and you need to restart the cluster from a known safe state. In both cases, perform the restore procedure on a single node. The peer node automatically synchronizes data with the restored node when it rejoins the cluster.

Before you restore from backup on the recovery host, shut down etcd on enough control plane nodes so the remaining members cannot form a quorum:

  • Shut down etcd on 2 hosts in a 3-node cluster.
  • Shut down etcd on 3 hosts in a 4-node or 5-node cluster.

If too few hosts are shut down, the other etcd members might still form a quorum and continue service while you restore.

Note

If your cluster uses a control plane machine set, see "Recovering a degraded etcd Operator" in the control plane machine set troubleshooting topic for an etcd recovery procedure. For OpenShift Container Platform on a single node, follow the procedure to restore to an earlier cluster state for a single node.

Important

When you restore your cluster, you must use an etcd backup that was taken from the same z-stream release. For example, an OpenShift Container Platform 4.22.2 cluster must use an etcd backup that was taken from 4.22.2.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role through a certificate-based kubeconfig file, like the one that was used during installation.
  • You have a healthy control plane host to use as the recovery host.
  • You have SSH access to control plane hosts.
  • You have a backup directory containing both the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods, which were 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.
  • Control plane nodes are accessible or bootable.
Important

For non-recovery control plane nodes, it is not required to establish SSH connectivity or to stop the static pods. You can delete and re-create other non-recovery, control plane machines, one by one.

Procedure

  1. Select a control plane host to use as the recovery host. This is the host that you run the restore operation on.
  2. Establish SSH connectivity to each of the control plane nodes, including the recovery host.

    kube-apiserver becomes inaccessible after the restore process starts, so you cannot access the control plane nodes. Establish SSH connectivity to each control plane host in a separate terminal.

    Important

    If you do not complete this step, you cannot access the control plane hosts to complete the restore procedure, and you cannot recover your cluster from this state.

  3. Using SSH, connect to each control plane node to disable etcd by running the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/disable-etcd.sh
  4. Copy the etcd backup directory to the recovery control plane host.

    This procedure assumes that you copied the backup directory containing the etcd snapshot and the resources for the static pods to the /home/core/ directory of your recovery control plane host.

  5. Use SSH to connect to the recovery host. Restore the cluster from an earlier backup by running the following command:

    $ sudo -E /usr/local/bin/cluster-restore.sh /home/core/<etcd-backup-directory>
  6. Exit the SSH session.
  7. When the API responds, turn off the etcd Operator quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": {"useUnsupportedUnsafeNonHANonProductionUnstableEtcd": true}}}'
    Important

    For a TNF setup, do not:

    • Change the etcd Operator quorum setting.
    • Turn the etcd Operator quorum off.
    • Turn the etcd Operator quorum back on.
  8. Monitor the recovery progress of the control plane by running the following command:

    $ oc adm wait-for-stable-cluster
    Note

    It can take up to 15 minutes for the control plane to recover. Wait for the control plane to recover before using the next step.

  9. Enable the quorum guard by running the following command:

    $ oc patch etcd/cluster --type=merge -p '{"spec": {"unsupportedConfigOverrides": null}}'

Troubleshooting

If the etcd static pods do not roll out, you can manually force an etcd redeployment from the cluster-etcd-operator by running the following command:

$ oc patch etcd cluster -p='{"spec": {"forceRedeploymentReason": "recovery-'"$(date --rfc-3339=ns )"'"}}' --type=merge

To restore workloads safely after an etcd snapshot restore, identify and resolve outdated persistent storage references, including volumes, credentials, attachments, and devices on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

If your OpenShift Container Platform cluster uses persistent storage of any form, a state of the cluster is typically stored outside etcd. When you restore from an etcd backup, the status of the workloads in OpenShift Container Platform is also restored. However, if the etcd snapshot is old, the status might be invalid or outdated.

Important

The contents of persistent volumes (PVs) are never part of the etcd snapshot. When you restore an OpenShift Container Platform cluster from an etcd snapshot, non-critical workloads might gain access to critical data, or vice-versa.

The following are some example scenarios that produce an out-of-date status:

  • MySQL database is running in a pod backed up by a PV object. Restoring OpenShift Container Platform from an etcd snapshot does not bring back the volume on the storage provider, and does not produce a running MySQL pod, despite the pod repeatedly attempting to start. You must manually restore this pod by restoring the volume on the storage provider, and then editing the PV to point to the new volume.
  • Pod P1 is using volume A, which is attached to node X. If the etcd snapshot is taken while another pod uses the same volume on node Y, then when the etcd restore is performed, pod P1 might not be able to start correctly due to the volume still being attached to node Y. OpenShift Container Platform is not aware of the attachment, and does not automatically detach it. When this occurs, the volume must be manually detached from node Y so that the volume can attach on node X, and then pod P1 can start.
  • Cloud provider or storage provider credentials were updated after the etcd snapshot was taken. This causes any CSI drivers or Operators that depend on those credentials to not work. You might have to manually update the credentials required by those drivers or Operators.
  • A device is removed or renamed from OpenShift Container Platform nodes after the etcd snapshot is taken. The Local Storage Operator creates symlinks for each PV that it manages from /dev/disk/by-id or /dev directories. This situation might cause the local PVs to refer to devices that no longer exist.

    To fix this problem, an administrator must:

    1. Manually remove the PVs with invalid devices.
    2. Remove symlinks from respective nodes.
    3. Delete LocalVolume or LocalVolumeSet objects. For more information, see "Deleting the Local Storage Operator resources".

You can restore kubelet certificates on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster by approving pending certificate signing requests (CSRs) after control plane certificates expire. Approved CSRs return nodes to a healthy state.

You can restore kubelet certificates by manually approving pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) and, on user-provisioned installations, kubelet serving CSRs. Approved CSRs return nodes to a healthy state after control plane certificates expire.

Prerequisites

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

Procedure

  1. Get the list of current CSRs by running the following command:

    $ oc get csr

    Example output

    NAME        AGE    SIGNERNAME                                    REQUESTOR                                                                   CONDITION
    csr-2s94x   8m3s   kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving                 system:node:<node_name>                                                     Pending
    csr-4bd6t   8m3s   kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving                 system:node:<node_name>                                                     Pending
    csr-4hl85   13m    kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet   system:serviceaccount:openshift-machine-config-operator:node-bootstrapper   Pending
    csr-zhhhp   3m8s   kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet   system:serviceaccount:openshift-machine-config-operator:node-bootstrapper   Pending
    ...

    In the example output, CSRs with a SIGNERNAME of kubernetes.io/kubelet-serving are kubelet serving CSRs. You see this CSR type on user-provisioned installations. CSRs with a SIGNERNAME of kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver-client-kubelet and a node-bootstrapper requestor are node-bootstrapper CSRs that you must approve to restore kubelet certificates.

  2. Review the details of a CSR to verify that it is valid by running the following command:

    $ oc describe csr <csr_name>

    <csr_name> is the name of a CSR from the list of current CSRs.

  3. Approve each valid node-bootstrapper CSR by running the following command:

    $ oc adm certificate approve <csr_name>
  4. For user-provisioned installations, approve each valid kubelet serving CSR by running the following command:

    $ oc adm certificate approve <csr_name>
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