Upgrading the MetalLB

Upgrading the MetalLB

If you are currently running version 4.10 or an earlier version of the MetalLB Operator, please note that automatic updates to any version later than 4.10 do not work. Upgrading to a newer version from any version of the MetalLB Operator that is 4.11 or later is successful. For example, upgrading from version 4.12 to version 4.13 will occur smoothly.

A summary of the upgrade procedure for the MetalLB Operator from 4.10 and earlier is as follows:

Delete the installed MetalLB Operator version for example 4.10. Ensure that the namespace and the metallb custom resource are not removed.
Using the CLI, install the MetalLB Operator 4 in the same namespace where the previous version of the MetalLB Operator was installed.

This procedure does not apply to automatic z-stream updates of the MetalLB Operator, which follow the standard straightforward method.

For detailed steps to upgrade the MetalLB Operator from 4.10 and earlier, see the guidance that follows. As a cluster administrator, start the upgrade process by deleting the MetalLB Operator by using the OpenShift CLI (oc) or the web console.

Deleting the MetalLB Operator from a cluster using the web console

Cluster administrators can delete installed Operators from a selected namespace by using the web console.

Prerequisites

Access to an OKD cluster web console using an account with cluster-admin permissions.

Procedure

Navigate to the Operators → Installed Operators page.
Search for the MetalLB Operator. Then, click on it.
On the right side of the Operator Details page, select Uninstall Operator from the Actions drop-down menu.

An Uninstall Operator? dialog box is displayed.

Select Uninstall to remove the Operator, Operator deployments, and pods. Following this action, the Operator stops running and no longer receives updates.

This action does not remove resources managed by the Operator, including custom resource definitions (CRDs) and custom resources (CRs). Dashboards and navigation items enabled by the web console and off-cluster resources that continue to run might need manual clean up. To remove these after uninstalling the Operator, you might need to manually delete the Operator CRDs.

Deleting MetalLB Operator from a cluster using the CLI

Cluster administrators can delete installed Operators from a selected namespace by using the CLI.

Prerequisites

Access to an OKD cluster using an account with cluster-admin permissions.
oc command installed on workstation.

Procedure

Check the current version of the subscribed MetalLB Operator in the currentCSV field:

$ oc get subscription metallb-operator -n metallb-system -o yaml | grep currentCSV

Example output

  currentCSV: metallb-operator.4.10.0-202207051316

Delete the subscription:

$ oc delete subscription metallb-operator -n metallb-system

Example output

subscription.operators.coreos.com "metallb-operator" deleted

Delete the CSV for the Operator in the target namespace using the currentCSV value from the previous step:

$ oc delete clusterserviceversion metallb-operator.4.10.0-202207051316 -n metallb-system

Example output

clusterserviceversion.operators.coreos.com "metallb-operator.4.10.0-202207051316" deleted

Editing the MetalLB Operator Operator group

When upgrading from any MetalLB Operator version up to and including 4.10 to 4.11 and later, remove spec.targetNamespaces from the Operator group custom resource (CR). You must remove the spec regardless of whether you used the web console or the CLI to delete the MetalLB Operator.

The MetalLB Operator version 4.11 or later only supports the AllNamespaces install mode, whereas 4.10 or earlier versions support OwnNamespace or SingleNamespace modes.

Prerequisites

You have access to an OKD cluster with cluster-admin permissions.
You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

List the Operator groups in the metallb-system namespace by running the following command:
```
$ oc get operatorgroup -n metallb-system
```
Example output
```
NAME                   AGE
metallb-system-7jc66   85m
```

Verify that the spec.targetNamespaces is present in the Operator group CR associated with the metallb-system namespace by running the following command:

$ oc get operatorgroup metallb-system-7jc66 -n metallb-system -o yaml

Example output

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  annotations:
    olm.providedAPIs: ""
  creationTimestamp: "2023-10-25T09:42:49Z"
  generateName: metallb-system-
  generation: 1
  name: metallb-system-7jc66
  namespace: metallb-system
  resourceVersion: "25027"
  uid: f5f644a0-eef8-4e31-a306-e2bbcfaffab3
spec:
  targetNamespaces:
  - metallb-system
  upgradeStrategy: Default
status:
  lastUpdated: "2023-10-25T09:42:49Z"
  namespaces:
  - metallb-system

Edit the Operator group and remove the targetNamespaces and metallb-system present under the spec section by running the following command:
```
$ oc edit n metallb-system
```
Example output
```
operatorgroup.operators.coreos.com/metallb-system-7jc66 edited
```

Verify the spec.targetNamespaces is removed from the Operator group custom resource associated with the metallb-system namespace by running the following command:

$ oc get operatorgroup metallb-system-7jc66 -n metallb-system -o yaml

Example output

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
kind: OperatorGroup
metadata:
  annotations:
    olm.providedAPIs: ""
  creationTimestamp: "2023-10-25T09:42:49Z"
  generateName: metallb-system-
  generation: 2
  name: metallb-system-7jc66
  namespace: metallb-system
  resourceVersion: "61658"
  uid: f5f644a0-eef8-4e31-a306-e2bbcfaffab3
spec:
  upgradeStrategy: Default
status:
  lastUpdated: "2023-10-25T14:31:30Z"
  namespaces:
  - ""