Installation and update

About OKD installation

The OKD installation program offers four methods for deploying a cluster which are detailed in the following list:

• Interactive: You can deploy a cluster with the web-based Assisted Installer. This is an ideal approach for clusters with networks connected to the internet. The Assisted Installer is the easiest way to install OKD, it provides smart defaults, and it performs pre-flight validations before installing the cluster. It also provides a RESTful API for automation and advanced configuration scenarios.

• Local Agent-based: You can deploy a cluster locally with the Agent-based Installer for disconnected environments or restricted networks. It provides many of the benefits of the Assisted Installer, but you must download and configure the Agent-based Installer first. Configuration is done with a command-line interface. This approach is ideal for disconnected environments.

• Automated: You can deploy a cluster on installer-provisioned infrastructure. The installation program uses each cluster host’s baseboard management controller (BMC) for provisioning. You can deploy clusters in connected or disconnected environments.

• Full control: You can deploy a cluster on infrastructure that you prepare and maintain, which provides maximum customizability. You can deploy clusters in connected or disconnected environments.

Each method deploys a cluster with the following characteristics:

• Highly available infrastructure with no single points of failure, which is available by default.

• Administrators can control what updates are applied and when.

About the installation program

You can use the installation program to deploy each type of cluster. The installation program generates the main assets, such as Ignition config files for the bootstrap, control plane, and compute machines. You can start an OKD cluster with these three machine configurations, provided you correctly configured the infrastructure.

The OKD installation program uses a set of targets and dependencies to manage cluster installations. The installation program has a set of targets that it must achieve, and each target has a set of dependencies. Because each target is only concerned with its own dependencies, the installation program can act to achieve multiple targets in parallel with the ultimate target being a running cluster. The installation program recognizes and uses existing components instead of running commands to create them again because the program meets the dependencies.

Figure 1. OKD installation targets and dependencies

About Fedora CoreOS (FCOS)

Post-installation, each cluster machine uses Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) as the operating system. FCOS is the immutable container host version of Fedora and features a Fedora kernel with SELinux enabled by default. FCOS includes the kubelet, which is the Kubernetes node agent, and the CRI-O container runtime, which is optimized for Kubernetes.

Every control plane machine in an OKD 4 cluster must use FCOS, which includes a critical first-boot provisioning tool called Ignition. This tool enables the cluster to configure the machines. Operating system updates are delivered as a bootable container image, using OSTree as a backend, that is deployed across the cluster by the Machine Config Operator. Actual operating system changes are made in-place on each machine as an atomic operation by using rpm-ostree. Together, these technologies enable OKD to manage the operating system like it manages any other application on the cluster, by in-place upgrades that keep the entire platform up to date. These in-place updates can reduce the burden on operations teams.

If you use FCOS as the operating system for all cluster machines, the cluster manages all aspects of its components and machines, including the operating system. Because of this, only the installation program and the Machine Config Operator can change machines. The installation program uses Ignition config files to set the exact state of each machine, and the Machine Config Operator completes more changes to the machines, such as the application of new certificates or keys, after installation.

Supported platforms for OKD clusters

In OKD 4, you can install a cluster that uses installer-provisioned infrastructure on the following platforms:

• Alibaba Cloud

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)

• Bare metal

• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

• IBM Cloud®

• Microsoft Azure

• Microsoft Azure Stack Hub

• Nutanix

• OpenStack

  • The latest OKD release supports both the latest OpenStack long-life release and intermediate release. For complete OpenStack release compatibility, see the OKD on OpenStack support matrix.

• VMware vSphere

For these clusters, all machines, including the computer that you run the installation process on, must have direct internet access to pull images for platform containers and provide telemetry data to Red Hat.

In OKD 4, you can install a cluster that uses user-provisioned infrastructure on the following platforms:

• AWS

• Azure

• Azure Stack Hub

• Bare metal

• GCP

• IBM Power®

• IBM Z® or IBM® LinuxONE

• OpenStack

  • The latest OKD release supports both the latest OpenStack long-life release and intermediate release. For complete OpenStack release compatibility, see the OKD on OpenStack support matrix.

• VMware Cloud on AWS

• VMware vSphere

Depending on the supported cases for the platform, you can perform installations on user-provisioned infrastructure, so that you can run machines with full internet access, place your cluster behind a proxy, or perform a disconnected installation.

In a disconnected installation, you can download the images that are required to install a cluster, place them in a mirror registry, and use that data to install your cluster. While you require internet access to pull images for platform containers, with a disconnected installation on vSphere or bare metal infrastructure, your cluster machines do not require direct internet access.

The OpenShift Container Platform 4.x Tested Integrations page contains details about integration testing for different platforms.

Installation process

Except for the Assisted Installer, when you install an OKD cluster, you must download the installation program from

https://github.com/openshift/okd/releases.

In OKD 4, the installation program is a Go binary file that performs a series of file transformations on a set of assets. The way you interact with the installation program differs depending on your installation type. Consider the following installation use cases:

• To deploy a cluster with the Assisted Installer, you must configure the cluster settings by using the Assisted Installer. There is no installation program to download and configure. After you finish setting the cluster configuration, you download a discovery ISO and then boot cluster machines with that image. You can install clusters with the Assisted Installer on Nutanix, vSphere, and bare metal with full integration, and other platforms without integration. If you install on bare metal, you must provide all of the cluster infrastructure and resources, including the networking, load balancing, storage, and individual cluster machines.

• To deploy clusters with the Agent-based Installer, you can download the Agent-based Installer first. You can then configure the cluster and generate a discovery image. You boot cluster machines with the discovery image, which installs an agent that communicates with the installation program and handles the provisioning for you instead of you interacting with the installation program or setting up a provisioner machine yourself. You must provide all of the cluster infrastructure and resources, including the networking, load balancing, storage, and individual cluster machines. This approach is ideal for disconnected environments.

• For clusters with installer-provisioned infrastructure, you delegate the infrastructure bootstrapping and provisioning to the installation program instead of doing it yourself. The installation program creates all of the networking, machines, and operating systems that are required to support the cluster, except if you install on bare metal. If you install on bare metal, you must provide all of the cluster infrastructure and resources, including the bootstrap machine, networking, load balancing, storage, and individual cluster machines.

• If you provision and manage the infrastructure for your cluster, you must provide all of the cluster infrastructure and resources, including the bootstrap machine, networking, load balancing, storage, and individual cluster machines.

For the installation program, the program uses three sets of files during installation: an installation configuration file that is named install-config.yaml, Kubernetes manifests, and Ignition config files for your machine types.

The installation configuration file is transformed into Kubernetes manifests, and then the manifests are wrapped into Ignition config files. The installation program uses these Ignition config files to create the cluster.

The installation configuration files are all pruned when you run the installation program, so be sure to back up all the configuration files that you want to use again.

The installation process with the Assisted Installer

Installation with the Assisted Installer involves creating a cluster configuration interactively by using the web-based user interface or the RESTful API. The Assisted Installer user interface prompts you for required values and provides reasonable default values for the remaining parameters, unless you change them in the user interface or with the API. The Assisted Installer generates a discovery image, which you download and use to boot the cluster machines. The image installs FCOS and an agent, and the agent handles the provisioning for you. You can install OKD with the Assisted Installer and full integration on Nutanix, vSphere, and bare metal. Additionally, you can install OKD with the Assisted Installer on other platforms without integration.

OKD manages all aspects of the cluster, including the operating system itself. Each machine boots with a configuration that references resources hosted in the cluster that it joins. This configuration allows the cluster to manage itself as updates are applied.

If possible, use the Assisted Installer feature to avoid having to download and configure the Agent-based Installer.

The installation process with Agent-based infrastructure

Agent-based installation is similar to using the Assisted Installer, except that you must initially download and install the Agent-based Installer. An Agent-based installation is useful when you want the convenience of the Assisted Installer, but you need to install a cluster in a disconnected environment.

If possible, use the Agent-based installation feature to avoid having to create a provisioner machine with a bootstrap VM, and then provision and maintain the cluster infrastructure.

The installation process with installer-provisioned infrastructure

The default installation type uses installer-provisioned infrastructure. By default, the installation program acts as an installation wizard, prompting you for values that it cannot determine on its own and providing reasonable default values for the remaining parameters. You can also customize the installation process to support advanced infrastructure scenarios. The installation program provisions the underlying infrastructure for the cluster.

You can install either a standard cluster or a customized cluster. With a standard cluster, you provide minimum details that are required to install the cluster. With a customized cluster, you can specify more details about the platform, such as the number of machines that the control plane uses, the type of virtual machine that the cluster deploys, or the CIDR range for the Kubernetes service network.

If possible, use this feature to avoid having to provision and maintain the cluster infrastructure. In all other environments, you use the installation program to generate the assets that you require to provision your cluster infrastructure.

With installer-provisioned infrastructure clusters, OKD manages all aspects of the cluster, including the operating system itself. Each machine boots with a configuration that references resources hosted in the cluster that it joins. This configuration allows the cluster to manage itself as updates are applied.

The installation process with user-provisioned infrastructure

You can also install OKD on infrastructure that you provide. You use the installation program to generate the assets that you require to provision the cluster infrastructure, create the cluster infrastructure, and then deploy the cluster to the infrastructure that you provided.

If you do not use infrastructure that the installation program provisioned, you must manage and maintain the cluster resources yourself. The following list details some of these self-managed resources:

• The underlying infrastructure for the control plane and compute machines that make up the cluster

• Load balancers

• Cluster networking, including the DNS records and required subnets

• Storage for the cluster infrastructure and applications

If your cluster uses user-provisioned infrastructure, you have the option of adding Fedora compute machines to your cluster.

Installation process details

When a cluster is provisioned, each machine in the cluster requires information about the cluster. OKD uses a temporary bootstrap machine during initial configuration to provide the required information to the permanent control plane. The temporary bootstrap machine boots by using an Ignition config file that describes how to create the cluster. The bootstrap machine creates the control plane machines that make up the control plane. The control plane machines then create the compute machines, which are also known as worker machines. The following figure illustrates this process:

Figure 2. Creating the bootstrap, control plane, and compute machines

After the cluster machines initialize, the bootstrap machine is destroyed. All clusters use the bootstrap process to initialize the cluster, but if you provision the infrastructure for your cluster, you must complete many of the steps manually.

Bootstrapping a cluster involves the following steps:

1. The bootstrap machine boots and starts hosting the remote resources required for the control plane machines to boot. If you provision the infrastructure, this step requires manual intervention.

2. The bootstrap machine starts a single-node etcd cluster and a temporary Kubernetes control plane.

3. The control plane machines fetch the remote resources from the bootstrap machine and finish booting. If you provision the infrastructure, this step requires manual intervention.

4. The temporary control plane schedules the production control plane to the production control plane machines.

5. The Cluster Version Operator (CVO) comes online and installs the etcd Operator. The etcd Operator scales up etcd on all control plane nodes.

6. The temporary control plane shuts down and passes control to the production control plane.

7. The bootstrap machine injects OKD components into the production control plane.

8. The installation program shuts down the bootstrap machine. If you provision the infrastructure, this step requires manual intervention.

9. The control plane sets up the compute nodes.

10. The control plane installs additional services in the form of a set of Operators.

The result of this bootstrapping process is a running OKD cluster. The cluster then downloads and configures remaining components needed for the day-to-day operations, including the creation of compute machines in supported environments.

Installation scope

The scope of the OKD installation program is intentionally narrow. It is designed for simplicity and ensured success. You can complete many more configuration tasks after installation completes.

Additional resources

• See Available cluster customizations for details about OKD configuration resources.

About the OpenShift Update Service

The OpenShift Update Service (OSUS) provides update recommendations to OKD, including Fedora CoreOS (FCOS). It provides a graph, or diagram, that contains the vertices of component Operators and the edges that connect them. The edges in the graph show which versions you can safely update to. The vertices are update payloads that specify the intended state of the managed cluster components.

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

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

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

During the update process, the Machine Config Operator (MCO) applies the new configuration to your cluster machines. The MCO cordons the number of nodes specified by the maxUnavailable field on the machine configuration pool and marks them unavailable. By default, this value is set to 1. The MCO updates the affected nodes alphabetically by zone, based on the topology.kubernetes.io/zone label. If a zone has more than one node, the oldest nodes are updated first. For nodes that do not use zones, such as in bare metal deployments, the nodes are updated by age, with the oldest nodes updated first. The MCO updates the number of nodes as specified by the maxUnavailable field on the machine configuration pool at a time. The MCO then applies the new configuration and reboots the machine.

If you use Fedora machines as workers, the MCO does not update the kubelet because you must update the OpenShift API on the machines first.

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

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

Support policy for unmanaged Operators

The management state of an Operator determines whether an Operator is actively managing the resources for its related component in the cluster as designed. If an Operator is set to an unmanaged state, it does not respond to changes in configuration nor does it receive updates.

While this can be helpful in non-production clusters or during debugging, Operators in an unmanaged state are unsupported and the cluster administrator assumes full control of the individual component configurations and upgrades.

An Operator can be set to an unmanaged state using the following methods:

• Individual Operator configuration

  Individual Operators have a managementState parameter in their configuration. This can be accessed in different ways, depending on the Operator. For example, the Red Hat OpenShift Logging Operator accomplishes this by modifying a custom resource (CR) that it manages, while the Cluster Samples Operator uses a cluster-wide configuration resource.

  Changing the managementState parameter to Unmanaged means that the Operator is not actively managing its resources and will take no action related to the related component. Some Operators might not support this management state as it might damage the cluster and require manual recovery.

  Changing individual Operators to the Unmanaged state renders that particular component and functionality unsupported. Reported issues must be reproduced in Managed state for support to proceed.

• Cluster Version Operator (CVO) overrides

  The spec.overrides parameter can be added to the CVO’s configuration to allow administrators to provide a list of overrides to the CVO’s behavior for a component. Setting the spec.overrides[].unmanaged parameter to true for a component blocks cluster upgrades and alerts the administrator after a CVO override has been set:

  Disabling ownership via cluster version overrides prevents upgrades. Please remove overrides before continuing.

  Setting a CVO override puts the entire cluster in an unsupported state. Reported issues must be reproduced after removing any overrides for support to proceed.

Next steps

• Selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users