Mirroring OKD images

You must mirror container images onto a mirror registry before you can update a cluster in a disconnected environment. You can also use this procedure in connected environments to ensure your clusters run only approved container images that have satisfied your organizational controls for external content.

The following steps outline the high-level workflow on how to mirror images to a mirror registry:

1. Install the OpenShift CLI (oc) on all devices being used to retrieve and push release images.

2. Download the registry pull secret and add it to your cluster.

3. If you use the oc-mirror OpenShift CLI (oc) plugin:

   1. Install the oc-mirror plugin on all devices being used to retrieve and push release images.

   2. Create an image set configuration file for the plugin to use when determining which release images to mirror. You can edit this configuration file later to change which release images that the plugin mirrors.

   3. Mirror your targeted release images directly to a mirror registry, or to removable media and then to a mirror registry.

   4. Configure your cluster to use the resources generated by the oc-mirror plugin.

   5. Repeat these steps as needed to update your mirror registry.

4. If you use the oc adm release mirror command:

   1. Set environment variables that correspond to your environment and the release images you want to mirror.

   2. Mirror your targeted release images directly to a mirror registry, or to removable media and then to a mirror registry.

   3. Repeat these steps as needed to update your mirror registry.

Compared to using the oc adm release mirror command, the oc-mirror plugin has the following advantages:

• It can mirror content other than container images.

• After mirroring images for the first time, it is easier to update images in the registry.

• The oc-mirror plugin provides an automated way to mirror the release payload from Quay, and also builds the latest graph data image for the OpenShift Update Service running in the disconnected environment.

Prerequisites

• You must have a container image registry that supports Docker v2-2 in the location that will host the OKD cluster, such as Red Hat Quay.

  If you use Red Hat Quay, you must use version 3.6 or later with the oc-mirror plugin. If you have an entitlement to Red Hat Quay, see the documentation on deploying Red Hat Quay for proof-of-concept purposes or by using the Quay Operator. If you need additional assistance selecting and installing a registry, contact your sales representative or Red Hat Support.

  If you do not have an existing solution for a container image registry, the mirror registry for Red Hat OpenShift is included in OKD subscriptions. The mirror registry for Red Hat OpenShift is a small-scale container registry that you can use to mirror OKD container images in disconnected installations and updates.

Preparing your mirror host

Before you perform the mirror procedure, you must prepare the host to retrieve content and push it to the remote location.

Installing the OpenShift CLI by downloading the binary

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) to interact with OKD from a command-line interface. You can install oc on Linux, Windows, or macOS.

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Linux by using the following procedure.

Procedure

1. Navigate to https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/oc/latest/ and choose the folder for your operating system and architecture.

2. Download oc.tar.gz.

3. Unpack the archive:

   $ tar xvf <file>

4. Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, execute the following command:

   $ echo $PATH

Verification

• After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

  $ oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on Windows by using the following procedure.

Procedure

1. Navigate to https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/oc/latest/ and choose the folder for your operating system and architecture.

2. Download oc.zip.

3. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program.

4. Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, open the command prompt and execute the following command:

   C:\> path

Verification

• After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

  C:\> oc <command>

Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS

You can install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary on macOS by using the following procedure.

Procedure

1. Navigate to https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/oc/latest/ and choose the folder for your operating system and architecture.

2. Download oc.tar.gz.

3. Unpack and unzip the archive.

4. Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH.

   To check your PATH, open a terminal and execute the following command:

   $ echo $PATH

Verification

• After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command:

  $ oc <command>

Additional resources

• Installing and using CLI plugins

Configuring credentials that allow images to be mirrored

Create a container image registry credentials file that allows mirroring images from Red Hat to your mirror.

Prerequisites

• You configured a mirror registry to use in your disconnected environment.

• You identified an image repository location on your mirror registry to mirror images into.

• You provisioned a mirror registry account that allows images to be uploaded to that image repository.

Procedure

Complete the following steps on the installation host:

1. Generate the base64-encoded user name and password or token for your mirror registry:

   $ echo -n '<user_name>:<password>' | base64 -w0 (1)
   BGVtbYk3ZHAtqXs=

   1	For <user_name> and <password>, specify the user name and password that you configured for your registry.

2. Create a .json file and add a section that describes your registry to it:

   {
     "auths": {
       "<mirror_registry>": { (1)
         "auth": "<credentials>", (2)
         "email": "you@example.com"
       }
     }
   }

   1	For <mirror_registry>, specify the registry domain name, and optionally the port, that your mirror registry uses to serve content. For example, registry.example.com or registry.example.com:8443
   2	For <credentials>, specify the base64-encoded user name and password for the mirror registry.

Mirroring resources using the oc-mirror plugin

You can use the oc-mirror OpenShift CLI (oc) plugin to mirror images to a mirror registry in your fully or partially disconnected environments. You must run oc-mirror from a system with internet connectivity to download the required images from the official Red Hat registries.

About the oc-mirror plugin

You can use the oc-mirror OpenShift CLI (oc) plugin to mirror all required OKD content and other images to your mirror registry by using a single tool. It provides the following features:

• Provides a centralized method to mirror OKD releases, Operators, helm charts, and other images.

• Maintains update paths for OKD and Operators.

• Uses a declarative image set configuration file to include only the OKD releases, Operators, and images that your cluster needs.

• Performs incremental mirroring, which reduces the size of future image sets.

• Prunes images from the target mirror registry that were excluded from the image set configuration since the previous execution.

• Optionally generates supporting artifacts for OpenShift Update Service (OSUS) usage.

When using the oc-mirror plugin, you specify which content to mirror in an image set configuration file. In this YAML file, you can fine-tune the configuration to only include the OKD releases and Operators that your cluster needs. This reduces the amount of data that you need to download and transfer. The oc-mirror plugin can also mirror arbitrary helm charts and additional container images to assist users in seamlessly synchronizing their workloads onto mirror registries.

The first time you run the oc-mirror plugin, it populates your mirror registry with the required content to perform your disconnected cluster installation or update. In order for your disconnected cluster to continue receiving updates, you must keep your mirror registry updated. To update your mirror registry, you run the oc-mirror plugin using the same configuration as the first time you ran it. The oc-mirror plugin references the metadata from the storage backend and only downloads what has been released since the last time you ran the tool. This provides update paths for OKD and Operators and performs dependency resolution as required.

oc-mirror compatibility and support

The oc-mirror plugin supports mirroring OKD payload images and Operator catalogs for OKD versions 4.10 and later.

Use the latest available version of the oc-mirror plugin regardless of which versions of OKD you need to mirror.

About the mirror registry

You can mirror the images that are required for OKD installation and subsequent product updates to a container mirror registry that supports Docker v2-2, such as Red Hat Quay. If you do not have access to a large-scale container registry, you can use the mirror registry for Red Hat OpenShift, which is a small-scale container registry included with OKD subscriptions.

Regardless of your chosen registry, the procedure to mirror content from Red Hat hosted sites on the internet to an isolated image registry is the same. After you mirror the content, you configure each cluster to retrieve this content from your mirror registry.

If choosing a container registry that is not the mirror registry for Red Hat OpenShift, it must be reachable by every machine in the clusters that you provision. If the registry is unreachable, installation, updating, or normal operations such as workload relocation might fail. For that reason, you must run mirror registries in a highly available way, and the mirror registries must at least match the production availability of your OKD clusters.

When you populate your mirror registry with OKD images, you can follow two scenarios. If you have a host that can access both the internet and your mirror registry, but not your cluster nodes, you can directly mirror the content from that machine. This process is referred to as connected mirroring. If you have no such host, you must mirror the images to a file system and then bring that host or removable media into your restricted environment. This process is referred to as disconnected mirroring.

For mirrored registries, to view the source of pulled images, you must review the Trying to access log entry in the CRI-O logs. Other methods to view the image pull source, such as using the crictl images command on a node, show the non-mirrored image name, even though the image is pulled from the mirrored location.

Additional resources

• For information about viewing the CRI-O logs to view the image source, see Viewing the image pull source.

Installing the oc-mirror OpenShift CLI plugin

To use the oc-mirror OpenShift CLI plugin to mirror registry images, you must install the plugin. If you are mirroring image sets in a fully disconnected environment, ensure that you install the oc-mirror plugin on the host with internet access and the host in the disconnected environment with access to the mirror registry.

Prerequisites

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

1. Download the oc-mirror CLI plugin.

   1. Navigate to the Downloads page of the OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console.

   2. Under the OpenShift disconnected installation tools section, click Download for OpenShift Client (oc) mirror plugin and save the file.

2. Extract the archive:

   $ tar xvzf oc-mirror.tar.gz

3. If necessary, update the plugin file to be executable:

   $ chmod +x oc-mirror

   Do not rename the oc-mirror file.

4. Install the oc-mirror CLI plugin by placing the file in your PATH, for example, /usr/local/bin:

   $ sudo mv oc-mirror /usr/local/bin/.

Verification

• Run oc mirror help to verify that the plugin was successfully installed:

  $ oc mirror help

Creating the image set configuration

Before you can use the oc-mirror plugin to mirror image sets, you must create an image set configuration file. This image set configuration file defines which OKD releases, Operators, and other images to mirror, along with other configuration settings for the oc-mirror plugin.

You must specify a storage backend in the image set configuration file. This storage backend can be a local directory or a registry that supports Docker v2-2. The oc-mirror plugin stores metadata in this storage backend during image set creation.

Prerequisites

• You have created a container image registry credentials file. For instructions, see Configuring credentials that allow images to be mirrored.

Procedure

1. Use the oc mirror init command to create a template for the image set configuration and save it to a file called imageset-config.yaml:

   $ oc mirror init --registry example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata > imageset-config.yaml (1)

   1	Replace example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata with the location of your registry for the storage backend.

2. Edit the file and adjust the settings as necessary:

   kind: ImageSetConfiguration
   apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
   archiveSize: 4                                                      (1)
   storageConfig:                                                      (2)
     registry:
       imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata                 (3)
       skipTLS: false
   mirror:
     platform:
       channels:
       - name: stable-4                                             (4)
         type: ocp
       graph: true                                                     (5)
     operators:
     - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4  (6)
       packages:
       - name: serverless-operator                                     (7)
         channels:
         - name: stable                                                (8)
     additionalImages:
     - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi9/ubi:latest                        (9)
     helm: {}

   1	Add archiveSize to set the maximum size, in GiB, of each file within the image set.
   2	Set the back-end location to save the image set metadata to. This location can be a registry or local directory. It is required to specify storageConfig values.
   3	Set the registry URL for the storage backend.
   4	Set the channel to retrieve the OKD images from.
   5	Add graph: true to build and push the graph-data image to the mirror registry. The graph-data image is required to create OpenShift Update Service (OSUS). The graph: true field also generates the UpdateService custom resource manifest. The oc command-line interface (CLI) can use the UpdateService custom resource manifest to create OSUS. For more information, see About the OpenShift Update Service.
   6	Set the Operator catalog to retrieve the OKD images from.
   7	Specify only certain Operator packages to include in the image set. Remove this field to retrieve all packages in the catalog.
   8	Specify only certain channels of the Operator packages to include in the image set. You must always include the default channel for the Operator package even if you do not use the bundles in that channel. You can find the default channel by running the following command: oc mirror list operators —catalog=<catalog_name> —package=<package_name>.
   9	Specify any additional images to include in image set.

   The graph: true field also mirrors the ubi-micro image along with other mirrored images.

   See Image set configuration parameters for the full list of parameters and Image set configuration examples for various mirroring use cases.

3. Save the updated file.

   This image set configuration file is required by the oc mirror command when mirroring content.

Additional resources

• Image set configuration parameters

• Image set configuration examples

• About the OpenShift Update Service

Mirroring an image set to a mirror registry

You can use the oc-mirror CLI plugin to mirror images to a mirror registry in a partially disconnected environment or in a fully disconnected environment.

The following procedures assume that you already have your mirror registry set up.

Mirroring an image set in a partially disconnected environment

In a partially disconnected environment, you can mirror an image set directly to the target mirror registry.

Mirroring from mirror to mirror

You can use the oc-mirror plugin to mirror an image set directly to a target mirror registry that is accessible during image set creation.

You are required to specify a storage backend in the image set configuration file. This storage backend can be a local directory or a Docker v2 registry. The oc-mirror plugin stores metadata in this storage backend during image set creation.

Prerequisites

• You have access to the internet to obtain the necessary container images.

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

• You have installed the oc-mirror CLI plugin.

• You have created the image set configuration file.

Procedure

• Run the oc mirror command to mirror the images from the specified image set configuration to a specified registry:

  $ oc mirror --config=./imageset-config.yaml \(1)
    docker://registry.example:5000             (2)

  1	Pass in the image set configuration file that was created. This procedure assumes that it is named imageset-config.yaml.
  2	Specify the registry to mirror the image set file to. The registry must start with docker://. If you specify a top-level namespace for the mirror registry, you must also use this same namespace on subsequent executions.

Verification

1. Navigate into the oc-mirror-workspace/ directory that was generated.

2. Navigate into the results directory, for example, results-1639608409/.

3. Verify that YAML files are present for the ImageContentSourcePolicy and CatalogSource resources.

+

Next steps

• Configure your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror.

Troubleshooting

• Unable to retrieve source image.

Mirroring an image set in a fully disconnected environment

To mirror an image set in a fully disconnected environment, you must first mirror the image set to disk, then mirror the image set file on disk to a mirror.

Mirroring from mirror to disk

You can use the oc-mirror plugin to generate an image set and save the contents to disk. The generated image set can then be transferred to the disconnected environment and mirrored to the target registry.

You are required to specify a storage backend in the image set configuration file. This storage backend can be a local directory or a docker v2 registry. The oc-mirror plugin stores metadata in this storage backend during image set creation.

Prerequisites

• You have access to the internet to obtain the necessary container images.

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

• You have installed the oc-mirror CLI plugin.

• You have created the image set configuration file.

Procedure

• Run the oc mirror command to mirror the images from the specified image set configuration to disk:

  $ oc mirror --config=./imageset-config.yaml \(1)
    file://<path_to_output_directory>          (2)

  1	Pass in the image set configuration file that was created. This procedure assumes that it is named imageset-config.yaml.
  2	Specify the target directory where you want to output the image set file. The target directory path must start with file://.

Verification

1. Navigate to your output directory:

   $ cd <path_to_output_directory>

2. Verify that an image set .tar file was created:

   $ ls

   Example output

   mirror_seq1_000000.tar

Next steps

• Transfer the image set .tar file to the disconnected environment.

Troubleshooting

• Unable to retrieve source image.

Mirroring from disk to mirror

You can use the oc-mirror plugin to mirror the contents of a generated image set to the target mirror registry.

Prerequisites

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc) in the disconnected environment.

• You have installed the oc-mirror CLI plugin in the disconnected environment.

• You have generated the image set file by using the oc mirror command.

• You have transferred the image set file to the disconnected environment.

Procedure

• Run the oc mirror command to process the image set file on disk and mirror the contents to a target mirror registry:

  $ oc mirror --from=./mirror_seq1_000000.tar \(1)
    docker://registry.example:5000             (2)

  1	Pass in the image set .tar file to mirror, named mirror_seq1_000000.tar in this example. If an archiveSize value was specified in the image set configuration file, the image set might be broken up into multiple .tar files. In this situation, you can pass in a directory that contains the image set .tar files.
  2	Specify the registry to mirror the image set file to. The registry must start with docker://. If you specify a top-level namespace for the mirror registry, you must also use this same namespace on subsequent executions.

  This command updates the mirror registry with the image set and generates the ImageContentSourcePolicy and CatalogSource resources.

Verification

1. Navigate into the oc-mirror-workspace/ directory that was generated.

2. Navigate into the results directory, for example, results-1639608409/.

3. Verify that YAML files are present for the ImageContentSourcePolicy and CatalogSource resources.

Next steps

• Configure your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror.

Troubleshooting

• Unable to retrieve source image.

Configuring your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror

After you have mirrored your image set to the mirror registry, you must apply the generated ImageContentSourcePolicy, CatalogSource, and release image signature resources into the cluster.

The ImageContentSourcePolicy resource associates the mirror registry with the source registry and redirects image pull requests from the online registries to the mirror registry. The CatalogSource resource is used by Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) to retrieve information about the available Operators in the mirror registry. The release image signatures are used to verify the mirrored release images.

Prerequisites

• You have mirrored the image set to the registry mirror in the disconnected environment.

• You have access to the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

1. Log in to the OpenShift CLI as a user with the cluster-admin role.

2. Apply the YAML files from the results directory to the cluster by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f ./oc-mirror-workspace/results-1639608409/

3. If you mirrored release images, apply the release image signatures to the cluster by running the following command:

   $ oc apply -f ./oc-mirror-workspace/results-1639608409/release-signatures/

   If you are mirroring Operators instead of clusters, you do not need to run $ oc apply -f ./oc-mirror-workspace/results-1639608409/release-signatures/. Running that command will return an error, as there are no release image signatures to apply.

Verification

1. Verify that the ImageContentSourcePolicy resources were successfully installed by running the following command:

   $ oc get imagecontentsourcepolicy --all-namespaces

2. Verify that the CatalogSource resources were successfully installed by running the following command:

   $ oc get catalogsource --all-namespaces

Keeping your mirror registry content updated

After you populate your target mirror registry with the initial image set, you must update it regularly so that it has the latest content. If possible, you can set up a cron job to update the mirror registry on a regular basis.

Update your image set configuration to add or remove OKD and Operator releases as necessary. Removed images are pruned from the mirror registry.

About updating your mirror registry content

When you run the oc-mirror plugin again, it generates an image set that only contains new and updated images since the previous execution. Because it only pulls in the differences since the previous image set was created, the generated image set is often smaller and faster to process than the initial image set.

Adding new and updated images

Depending on the settings in your image set configuration, future executions of oc-mirror can mirror additional new and updated images. Review the settings in your image set configuration to ensure that you are retrieving new versions as necessary. For example, you can set the minimum and maximum versions of Operators to mirror if you want to restrict to specific versions. Alternatively, you can set the minimum version as a starting point to mirror, but keep the version range open so you keep receiving new Operator versions on future executions of oc-mirror. Omitting any minimum or maximum version gives you the full version history of an Operator in a channel. Omitting explicitly named channels gives you all releases in all channels of the specified Operator. Omitting any named Operator gives you the entire catalog of all Operators and all their versions ever released.

All these constraints and conditions are evaluated against the publicly released content by Red Hat on every invocation of oc-mirror. This way, it automatically picks up new releases and entirely new Operators. Constraints can be specified by only listing a desired set of Operators, which will not automatically add other newly released Operators into the mirror set. You can also specify a particular release channel, which limits mirroring to just this channel and not any new channels that have been added. This is important for Operator products, such as Red Hat Quay, that use different release channels for their minor releases. Lastly, you can specify a maximum version of a particular Operator, which causes the tool to only mirror the specified version range so that you do not automatically get any newer releases past the maximum version mirrored. In all these cases, you must update the image set configuration file to broaden the scope of the mirroring of Operators to get other Operators, new channels, and newer versions of Operators to be available in your target registry.

It is recommended to align constraints like channel specification or version ranges with the release strategy that a particular Operator has chosen. For example, when the Operator uses a stable channel, you should restrict mirroring to that channel and potentially a minimum version to find the right balance between download volume and getting stable updates regularly. If the Operator chooses a release version channel scheme, for example stable-3.7, you should mirror all releases in that channel. This allows you to keep receiving patch versions of the Operator, for example 3.7.1. You can also regularly adjust the image set configuration to add channels for new product releases, for example stable-3.8.

Pruning images

Images are pruned automatically from the target mirror registry if they are no longer included in the latest image set that was generated and mirrored. This allows you to easily manage and clean up unneeded content and reclaim storage resources.

If there are OKD releases or Operator versions that you no longer need, you can modify your image set configuration to exclude them, and they will be pruned from the mirror registry upon mirroring. This can be done by adjusting a minimum or maximum version range setting per Operator in the image set configuration file or by deleting the Operator from the list of Operators to mirror from the catalog. You can also remove entire Operator catalogs or entire OKD releases from the configuration file.

To disable automatic pruning of images from the target mirror registry, pass the --skip-pruning flag to the oc mirror command.

Updating your mirror registry content

After you publish the initial image set to the mirror registry, you can use the oc-mirror plugin to keep your disconnected clusters updated.

Depending on your image set configuration, oc-mirror automatically detects newer releases of OKD and your selected Operators that have been released after you completed the inital mirror. It is recommended to run oc-mirror at regular intervals, for example in a nightly cron job, to receive product and security updates on a timely basis.

Prerequisites

• You have used the oc-mirror plugin to mirror the initial image set to your mirror registry.

• You have access to the storage backend that was used for the initial execution of the oc-mirror plugin.

  You must use the same storage backend as the initial execution of oc-mirror for the same mirror registry. Do not delete or modify the metadata image that is generated by the oc-mirror plugin.

Procedure

1. If necessary, update your image set configuration file to pick up new OKD and Operator versions. See Image set configuration examples for example mirroring use cases.

2. Follow the same steps that you used to mirror your initial image set to the mirror registry. For instructions, see Mirroring an image set in a partially disconnected environment or Mirroring an image set in a fully disconnected environment.

   You must provide the same storage backend so that only a differential image set is created and mirrored. If you specified a top-level namespace for the mirror registry during the initial image set creation, then you must use this same namespace every time you run the oc-mirror plugin for the same mirror registry.

3. Configure your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror.

Additional resources

• Image set configuration examples

• Mirroring an image set in a partially disconnected environment

• Mirroring an image set in a fully disconnected environment

• Configuring your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror

Performing a dry run

You can use oc-mirror to perform a dry run, without actually mirroring any images. This allows you to review the list of images that would be mirrored, as well as any images that would be pruned from the mirror registry. It also allows you to catch any errors with your image set configuration early or use the generated list of images with other tools to carry out the mirroring operation.

Prerequisites

• You have access to the internet to obtain the necessary container images.

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

• You have installed the oc-mirror CLI plugin.

• You have created the image set configuration file.

Procedure

1. Run the oc mirror command with the --dry-run flag to perform a dry run:

   $ oc mirror --config=./imageset-config.yaml \(1)
     docker://registry.example:5000            \(2)
     --dry-run                                  (3)

   1	Pass in the image set configuration file that was created. This procedure assumes that it is named imageset-config.yaml.
   2	Specify the mirror registry. Nothing is mirrored to this registry as long as you use the —dry-run flag.
   3	Use the —dry-run flag to generate the dry run artifacts and not an actual image set file.

   Example output

   Checking push permissions for registry.example:5000
   Creating directory: oc-mirror-workspace/src/publish
   Creating directory: oc-mirror-workspace/src/v2
   Creating directory: oc-mirror-workspace/src/charts
   Creating directory: oc-mirror-workspace/src/release-signatures
   No metadata detected, creating new workspace
   wrote mirroring manifests to oc-mirror-workspace/operators.1658342351/manifests-redhat-operator-index
   ...
   info: Planning completed in 31.48s
   info: Dry run complete
   Writing image mapping to oc-mirror-workspace/mapping.txt

2. Navigate into the workspace directory that was generated:

   $ cd oc-mirror-workspace/

3. Review the mapping.txt file that was generated.

   This file contains a list of all images that would be mirrored.

4. Review the pruning-plan.json file that was generated.

   This file contains a list of all images that would be pruned from the mirror registry when the image set is published.

   The pruning-plan.json file is only generated if your oc-mirror command points to your mirror registry and there are images to be pruned.

Including local OCI Operator catalogs

While mirroring OKD releases, Operator catalogs, and additional images from a registry to a partially disconnected cluster, you can include Operator catalog images from a local file-based catalog on disk. The local catalog must be in the Open Container Initiative (OCI) format.

The local catalog and its contents are mirrored to your target mirror registry based on the filtering information in the image set configuration file.

One example use case for using the OCI feature is if you have a CI/CD system building an OCI catalog to a location on disk, and you want to mirror that OCI catalog along with an OKD release to your mirror registry.

Prerequisites

• You have access to the internet to obtain the necessary container images.

• You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

• You have installed the oc-mirror CLI plugin.

Procedure

1. Create the image set configuration file and adjust the settings as necessary.

   The following example image set configuration mirrors an OCI catalog on disk along with an OKD release and a UBI image from registry.redhat.io.

   kind: ImageSetConfiguration
   apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
   storageConfig:
     local:
       path: /home/user/metadata                                                (1)
   mirror:
     platform:
       channels:
       - name: stable-4                                                      (2)
         type: ocp
       graph: false
     operators:
     - catalog: oci:///home/user/oc-mirror/my-oci-catalog                       (3)
       targetCatalog: my-namespace/redhat-operator-index                        (4)
       packages:
       - name: aws-load-balancer-operator
     - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4           (5)
       packages:
       - name: rhacs-operator
     additionalImages:
     - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi9/ubi:latest                                 (6)

   1	Set the back-end location to save the image set metadata to. This location can be a registry or local directory. It is required to specify storageConfig values.
   2	Optionally, include an OKD release to mirror from registry.redhat.io.
   3	Specify the absolute path to the location of the OCI catalog on disk. The path must start with oci:// when using the OCI feature.
   4	Optionally, specify an alternative namespace and name to mirror the catalog as.
   5	Optionally, specify additional Operator catalogs to pull from a registry.
   6	Optionally, specify additional images to pull from a registry.

2. Run the oc mirror command to mirror the OCI catalog to a target mirror registry:

   $ oc mirror --config=./imageset-config.yaml \ (1)
     docker://registry.example:5000              (2)

   1	Pass in the image set configuration file. This procedure assumes that it is named imageset-config.yaml.
   2	Specify the registry to mirror the content to. The registry must start with docker://. If you specify a top-level namespace for the mirror registry, you must also use this same namespace on subsequent executions.

   Optionally, you can specify other flags to adjust the behavior of the OCI feature:

   --oci-insecure-signature-policy

   Do not push signatures to the target mirror registry.

   --oci-registries-config

   Specify the path to a TOML-formatted registries.conf file. You can use this to mirror from a different registry, such as a pre-production location for testing, without having to change the image set configuration file. This flag only affects local OCI catalogs, not any other mirrored content.

   Example registries.conf file

   [[registry]]
    location = "registry.redhat.io:5000"
    insecure = false
    blocked = false
    mirror-by-digest-only = true
    prefix = ""
    [[registry.mirror]]
       location = "preprod-registry.example.com"
       insecure = false

Next steps

• Configure your cluster to use the resources generated by oc-mirror.

Additional resources

• File-based catalogs

Image set configuration parameters

The oc-mirror plugin requires an image set configuration file that defines what images to mirror. The following table lists the available parameters for the ImageSetConfiguration resource.

additionalImages:
  - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi8/ubi:latest

local:
  - name: podinfo
    path: /test/podinfo-5.0.0.tar.gz

repositories:
  - name: podinfo
    url: https://example.github.io/podinfo
    charts:
      - name: podinfo
        version: 5.0.0

operators:
  - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
    packages:
      - name: elasticsearch-operator
        minVersion: ‘2.4.0’

operators:
  - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
    packages:
      - name: elasticsearch-operator
        minVersion: ‘5.2.3-31’

architectures:
  - amd64
  - arm64
  - multi
  - ppc64le
  - s390x

channels:
  - name: stable-4.10
  - name: stable-4

Image set configuration examples

The following ImageSetConfiguration file examples show the configuration for various mirroring use cases.

Use case: Including the shortest OKD update path

The following ImageSetConfiguration file uses a local storage backend and includes all OKD versions along the shortest update path from the minimum version of 4.11.37 to the maximum version of 4.12.15.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  local:
    path: /home/user/metadata
mirror:
  platform:
    channels:
      - name: stable-4.12
        minVersion: 4.11.37
        maxVersion: 4.12.15
        shortestPath: true

Use case: Including all versions of OKD from a minimum to the latest version for multi-architecture releases

The following ImageSetConfiguration file uses a registry storage backend and includes all OKD versions starting at a minimum version of 4.13.4 to the latest version in the channel. On every invocation of oc-mirror with this image set configuration, the latest release of the stable-4.13 channel is evaluated, so running oc-mirror at regular intervals ensures that you automatically receive the latest releases of OKD images.

By setting the value of platform.architectures to multi, you can ensure that the mirroring is supported for multi-architecture releases.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
  platform:
    architectures:
      - "multi"
    channels:
      - name: stable-4.13
        minVersion: 4.13.4
        maxVersion: 4.13.6

Use case: Including Operator versions from a minimum to the latest

The following ImageSetConfiguration file uses a local storage backend and includes only the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes Operator, versions starting at 4.0.1 and later in the stable channel.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  local:
    path: /home/user/metadata
mirror:
  operators:
    - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
      packages:
        - name: rhacs-operator
          channels:
          - name: stable
            minVersion: 4.0.1

Use case: Including the Nutanix CSI Operator

The following ImageSetConfiguration file uses a local storage backend and includes the Nutanix CSI Operator, the OpenShift Update Service (OSUS) graph image, and an additional Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI).

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

kind: ImageSetConfiguration
apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: mylocalregistry/ocp-mirror/openshift4
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
  platform:
    channels:
    - name: stable-4.11
      type: ocp
    graph: true
  operators:
  - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/certified-operator-index:v4
    packages:
    - name: nutanixcsioperator
      channels:
      - name: stable
  additionalImages:
  - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi9/ubi:latest

Use case: Including the default Operator channel

The following ImageSetConfiguration file includes the stable-5.7 and stable channels for the OpenShift Elasticsearch Operator. Even if only the packages from the stable-5.7 channel are needed, the stable channel must also be included in the ImageSetConfiguration file, because it is the default channel for the Operator. You must always include the default channel for the Operator package even if you do not use the bundles in that channel.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
  operators:
  - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
    packages:
    - name: elasticsearch-operator
      channels:
      - name: stable-5.7
      - name: stable

Use case: Including an entire catalog (all versions)

The following ImageSetConfiguration file sets the mirror.operators.full field to true to include all versions for an entire Operator catalog.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
  operators:
    - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
      full: true

Use case: Including an entire catalog (channel heads only)

The following ImageSetConfiguration file includes the channel heads for an entire Operator catalog.

By default, for each Operator in the catalog, oc-mirror includes the latest Operator version (channel head) from the default channel. If you want to mirror all Operator versions, and not just the channel heads, you must set the mirror.operators.full field to true.

This example also uses the targetCatalog field to specify an alternative namespace and name to mirror the catalog as.

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
  operators:
  - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
    targetCatalog: my-namespace/my-operator-catalog

Use case: Including arbitrary images and helm charts

The following ImageSetConfiguration file uses a registry storage backend and includes helm charts and an additional Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI).

Example ImageSetConfiguration file

apiVersion: mirror.openshift.io/v1alpha2
kind: ImageSetConfiguration
archiveSize: 4
storageConfig:
  registry:
    imageURL: example.com/mirror/oc-mirror-metadata
    skipTLS: false
mirror:
 platform:
   architectures:
     - "s390x"
   channels:
     - name: stable-4
 operators:
   - catalog: registry.redhat.io/redhat/redhat-operator-index:v4
 helm:
   repositories:
     - name: redhat-helm-charts
       url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-developer/redhat-helm-charts/master
       charts:
         - name: ibm-mongodb-enterprise-helm
           version: 0.2.0
 additionalImages:
   - name: registry.redhat.io/ubi9/ubi:latest

Command reference for oc-mirror

The following tables describe the oc mirror subcommands and flags:

Mirroring images using the oc adm release mirror command

Prerequisites

• You configured a mirror registry to use in your disconnected environment and can access the certificate and credentials that you configured.

• You have created a pull secret for your mirror repository.

• If you use self-signed certificates, you have specified a Subject Alternative Name in the certificates.

Procedure

1. Use the Red Hat OKD Update Graph visualizer and update planner to plan an update from one version to another. The OpenShift Update Graph provides channel graphs and a way to confirm that there is an update path between your current and intended cluster versions.

2. Set the required environment variables:

   1. Export the release version:

      $ export OCP_RELEASE=<release_version>

      For <release_version>, specify the tag that corresponds to the version of OKD to which you want to update, such as 4.5.4.

   2. Export the local registry name and host port:

      $ LOCAL_REGISTRY='<local_registry_host_name>:<local_registry_host_port>'

      For <local_registry_host_name>, specify the registry domain name for your mirror repository, and for <local_registry_host_port>, specify the port that it serves content on.

   3. Export the local repository name:

      $ LOCAL_REPOSITORY='<local_repository_name>'

      For <local_repository_name>, specify the name of the repository to create in your registry, such as ocp4/openshift4.

   4. If you are using the OpenShift Update Service, export an additional local repository name to contain the release images:

      $ LOCAL_RELEASE_IMAGES_REPOSITORY='<local_release_images_repository_name>'

      For <local_release_images_repository_name>, specify the name of the repository to create in your registry, such as ocp4/openshift4-release-images.

   5. Export the name of the repository to mirror:

      $ PRODUCT_REPO='openshift-release-dev'

      For a production release, you must specify openshift-release-dev.

   6. Export the path to your registry pull secret:

      $ LOCAL_SECRET_JSON='<path_to_pull_secret>'

      For <path_to_pull_secret>, specify the absolute path to and file name of the pull secret for your mirror registry that you created.

      If your cluster uses an ImageContentSourcePolicy object to configure repository mirroring, you can use only global pull secrets for mirrored registries. You cannot add a pull secret to a project.

   7. Export the release mirror:

      $ RELEASE_NAME="ocp-release"

      For a production release, you must specify ocp-release.

   8. Export the type of architecture for your cluster:

      $ ARCHITECTURE=<cluster_architecture> (1)

      1	Specify the architecture of the cluster, such as x86_64, aarch64, s390x, or ppc64le.

   9. Export the path to the directory to host the mirrored images:

      $ REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH=<path> (1)

      1	Specify the full path, including the initial forward slash (/) character.

3. Review the images and configuration manifests to mirror:

   $ oc adm release mirror -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} --to-dir=${REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH}/mirror quay.io/${PRODUCT_REPO}/${RELEASE_NAME}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE} --dry-run

4. Mirror the version images to the mirror registry.

   • If your mirror host does not have internet access, take the following actions:

     1. Connect the removable media to a system that is connected to the internet.

     2. Mirror the images and configuration manifests to a directory on the removable media:

        $ oc adm release mirror -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} --to-dir=${REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH}/mirror quay.io/${PRODUCT_REPO}/${RELEASE_NAME}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE}

        This command also generates and saves the mirrored release image signature config map onto the removable media.

     3. Take the media to the disconnected environment and upload the images to the local container registry.

        $ oc image mirror  -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} --from-dir=${REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH}/mirror "file://openshift/release:${OCP_RELEASE}*" ${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_REPOSITORY} (1)

        1	For REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH, you must use the same path that you specified when you mirrored the images.

     4. Use oc command-line interface (CLI) to log in to the cluster that you are updating.

     5. Apply the mirrored release image signature config map to the connected cluster:

        $ oc apply -f ${REMOVABLE_MEDIA_PATH}/mirror/config/<image_signature_file> (1)

        1	For <image_signature_file>, specify the path and name of the file, for example, signature-sha256-81154f5c03294534.yaml.

     6. If you are using the OpenShift Update Service, mirror the release image to a separate repository:

        $ oc image mirror -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} ${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_REPOSITORY}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE} ${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_RELEASE_IMAGES_REPOSITORY}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE}

   • If the local container registry and the cluster are connected to the mirror host, take the following actions:

     1. Directly push the release images to the local registry and apply the config map to the cluster by using following command:

        $ oc adm release mirror -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} --from=quay.io/${PRODUCT_REPO}/${RELEASE_NAME}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE} \
          --to=${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_REPOSITORY} --apply-release-image-signature

        If you include the —apply-release-image-signature option, do not create the config map for image signature verification.

     2. If you are using the OpenShift Update Service, mirror the release image to a separate repository:

        $ oc image mirror -a ${LOCAL_SECRET_JSON} ${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_REPOSITORY}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE} ${LOCAL_REGISTRY}/${LOCAL_RELEASE_IMAGES_REPOSITORY}:${OCP_RELEASE}-${ARCHITECTURE}