Updating a cluster that includes the Special Resource Operator

When updating a cluster that includes the Special Resource Operator (SRO), it is important to consider whether the new kernel module version is compatible with the kernel modules currently loaded by the SRO. You can run a preflight check to confirm if the SRO will be able to upgrade the kernel modules.

Custom resource and verification status information

The preflight check provides information on the status of the custom resource (CR) and the status of the verification.

Possible CR statuses

The possible CR statuses are as follows:

True

The Special Resource Operator (SRO) CR will upgrade without kernel compatibility issues.

False

There is an issue with kernel compatibility for the CR. The Status Reason field provides additional information on this.

Error

The status check was not completed due to an internal error. The Status Reason field provides additional information on debugging this.

Unknown

The check has not yet verified the status of the CR. This might be because the process has not yet reached the specific CR or not enough time has elapsed for the check to complete.

Possible verification statuses

The possible verification statuses are as follows:

True

The image exists and is compatible, or the image does not exist but there is a BuildConfig resource in place.

False

The image does not exist and there is no BuildConfig resource in place, or an image exists but it is not compatible with the new kernel version.

If the verification status is False, you can take one of the following steps:

  • Create a prebuilt image with the correct name and check the status field again.

  • Change the CR to include a BuildConfig reosurce.

Running a preflight check for the Special Resource Operator

You can use the following example procedure to check the compatibility of a kernel module version before updating a cluster that includes the Special Resource Operator (SRO).

Prerequisites

  • You have a running OKD cluster.

  • You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift CLI as a user with cluster-admin privileges.

  • You installed the SRO.

Procedure

  1. Create the following preflight validation custom resource definition (CRD) and save the YAML as prevalidation.yaml.

    1. apiVersion: sro.openshift.io/v1beta1
    2. kind: PreflightValidation
    3. metadata:
    4.  name: preflight
    5.  namespace: preflight
    6. spec:
    7.  updateImage: quay.io/openshift-release-dev/ocp-release@sha256:f7f252c39b64601c8ac3de737a584ba4f6016b1f4b17801d726ca2fd15492878 (1)
    1Specify the name of the update image here.

  2. Start the validation check by running the following command:

    1. $ oc apply -f prevalidation.yaml

Verification

  • Check the status of the custom resource (CR) by running the following command:

    1. $ oc describe preflightvalidations.sro.openshift.io/v1beta1 preflight

    Example output

    The following is an example output in which simple-oot is a SpecialResource CR that is deployed on the cluster.

    1. Status:
    2.   Cr Statuses:
    3.     Last Transition Time:  2022-08-02T08:48:45Z
    4.     Name:                  simple-oot
    5.     Status Reason:         Verification successful, all driver-containers for the next kernel version are present
    6.     Verification Stage:    Image
    7.     Verification Status:   True
    8. Events:                    <none>

    The preflight check continues to run until all CRs are verified. You can repeat the preceding command to check the status. After all CRs are verified, you should delete the preflight CR.

Additional resources