Generating a seed image for the image-based upgrade with the Lifecycle Agent

Use the Lifecycle Agent to generate the seed image with the SeedGenerator custom resource (CR).

Seed image configuration

The seed image targets a set of single-node OpenShift clusters with the same hardware and similar configuration. This means that the seed image must have all of the components and configuration that the seed cluster shares with the target clusters. Therefore, the seed image generated from the seed cluster cannot contain any cluster-specific configuration.

The following table lists the components, resources, and configurations that you must and must not include in your seed image:

Seed image configuration

Cluster configuration	Include in seed image
Performance profile	Yes
`MachineConfig` resources for the target cluster	Yes
IP version configuration, either IPv4, IPv6, or dual-stack networking	Yes
Set of Day 2 Operators, including the Lifecycle Agent and the OADP Operator	Yes
Disconnected registry configuration ^[2]	Yes
Valid proxy configuration ^[3]	Yes
FIPS configuration	Yes
Dedicated partition on the primary disk for container storage that matches the size of the target clusters	Yes
Local volumes `StorageClass` used in `LocalVolume` for LSO `LocalVolume` for LSO `LVMCluster` CR for LVMS	No
OADP `DataProtectionApplication` CR	No

If the seed cluster is installed in a disconnected environment, the target clusters must also be installed in a disconnected environment.
The proxy configuration must be either enabled or disabled in both the seed and target clusters. However, the proxy servers configured on the clusters does not have to match.

Seed image configuration using the RAN DU profile

The following table lists the components, resources, and configurations that you must and must not include in the seed image when using the RAN DU profile:

Seed image configuration with RAN DU profile

Resource	Include in seed image
All extra manifests that are applied as part of Day 0 installation	Yes
All Day 2 Operator subscriptions	Yes
`DisableOLMPprof.yaml`	Yes
`TunedPerformancePatch.yaml`	Yes
`PerformanceProfile.yaml`	Yes
`SriovOperatorConfig.yaml`	Yes
`DisableSnoNetworkDiag.yaml`	Yes
`StorageClass.yaml`	No, if it is used in `StorageLV.yaml`
`StorageLV.yaml`	No
`StorageLVMCluster.yaml`	No
`SriovFecClusterConfig.yaml`	No
`SriovVrbClusterConfig.yaml`	No

Seed image configuration with RAN DU profile for extra manifests

Resource	Apply as extra manifest
`ClusterLogForwarder.yaml`	Yes Note The DU profile includes the Cluster Logging Operator, but the profile does not configure or apply any Cluster Logging Operator CRs. To enable log forwarding, include the `ClusterLogForwarder.yaml` CR as an extra manifest. The extra manifest is applied to the target single-node OpenShift cluster during the image-based upgrade process.
`ReduceMonitoringFootprint.yaml`	Yes
`PtpOperatorConfigForEvent.yaml`	Yes
`DefaultCatsrc.yaml`	Yes
`PtpConfig.yaml`	If the interfaces of the target cluster are common with the seed cluster, you can include them in the seed image. Otherwise, apply it as extra manifests.
`SriovNetwork.yaml` `SriovNetworkNodePolicy.yaml`	If the configuration, including namespaces, is exactly the same on both the seed and target cluster, you can include them in the seed image. Otherwise, apply them as extra manifests.

Generating a seed image with the Lifecycle Agent

Use the Lifecycle Agent to generate a seed image from a managed cluster. The Operator checks for required system configurations, performs any necessary system cleanup before generating the seed image, and launches the image generation. The seed image generation includes the following tasks:

Stopping cluster Operators
Preparing the seed image configuration
Generating and pushing the seed image to the image repository specified in the SeedGenerator CR
Restoring cluster Operators
Expiring seed cluster certificates
Generating new certificates for the seed cluster
Restoring and updating the SeedGenerator CR on the seed cluster

Prerequisites

RHACM and multicluster engine for Kubernetes Operator are not installed on the seed cluster.
You have configured a shared container directory on the seed cluster.
You have installed the minimum version of the OADP Operator and the Lifecycle Agent on the seed cluster.
Ensure that persistent volumes are not configured on the seed cluster.
Ensure that the LocalVolume CR does not exist on the seed cluster if the Local Storage Operator is used.
Ensure that the LVMCluster CR does not exist on the seed cluster if LVM Storage is used.
Ensure that the DataProtectionApplication CR does not exist on the seed cluster if OADP is used.

Procedure

Detach the managed cluster from the hub to delete any RHACM-specific resources from the seed cluster that must not be in the seed image:
1. Manually detach the seed cluster by running the following command:
```
$ oc delete managedcluster sno-worker-example
```
  1. Wait until the managed cluster is removed. After the cluster is removed, create the proper SeedGenerator CR. The Lifecycle Agent cleans up the RHACM artifacts.
2. If you are using GitOps ZTP, detach your cluster by removing the seed cluster’s ClusterInstance CR from the kustomization.yaml.
  1. If you have a kustomization.yaml file that references multiple ClusterInstance CRs, remove your seed cluster’s ClusterInstance CR from the kustomization.yaml:
    apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: Kustomization resources: #- clusterinstance-seed-sno1.yaml - clusterinstance-target-sno2.yaml - clusterinstance-target-sno3.yaml
  2. If you have a kustomization.yaml that references one ClusterInstance CR, remove your seed cluster’s ClusterInstance CR from the kustomization.yaml and add the resources: [] line:
    apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1 kind: Kustomization resources: []
  3. Commit the kustomization.yaml changes in your Git repository and push the changes to your repository. The ArgoCD pipeline detects the changes and removes the managed cluster.
Create the Secret object so that you can push the seed image to your registry.
1. Create the authentication file by running the following commands:
```
$ MY_USER=myuserid
```
```
$ AUTHFILE=/tmp/my-auth.json
```
```
$ podman login --authfile ${AUTHFILE} -u ${MY_USER} quay.io/${MY_USER}
```
```
$ base64 -w 0 ${AUTHFILE} ; echo
```
2. Copy the output into the seedAuth field in the Secret YAML file named seedgen in the openshift-lifecycle-agent namespace:
```
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: <secret_name>
  namespace: openshift-lifecycle-agent
type: Opaque
data:
  seedAuth: <encoded_authfile>
```
  where:
  
  <secret_name>
  
  Specifies the name of the Secret resource. The value must be seedgen.
  
  <encoded_authfile>
  
  Specifies a base64-encoded authfile for write-access to the registry for pushing the generated seed images.
3. Apply the Secret by running the following command:
```
$ oc apply -f secretseedgenerator.yaml
```
Create the SeedGenerator CR:
```
apiVersion: lca.openshift.io/v1
kind: SeedGenerator
metadata:
  name: <seedgenerator_name>
spec:
  seedImage: <seed_container_image>
```
where:

<seedgenerator_name>

Specifies the name of the SeedGenerator CR. The value must be seedimage.

<seed_container_image>

Specifies the container image URL, for example, quay.io/example/seed-container-image:<tag>. It is recommended to use the <seed_cluster_name>:<ocp_version> format.
Generate the seed image by running the following command:
```
$ oc apply -f seedgenerator.yaml
```
warning
The cluster reboots and loses API capabilities while the Lifecycle Agent generates the seed image. Applying the SeedGenerator CR stops the kubelet and the CRI-O operations, then it starts the image generation.

Verification

After the cluster recovers and it is available, you can check the status of the SeedGenerator CR by running the following command:
```
$ oc get seedgenerator -o yaml
```
The following example shows the output when the seed image generation is complete:
```
status:
  conditions:
  - lastTransitionTime: "2024-02-13T21:24:26Z"
    message: Seed Generation completed
    observedGeneration: 1
    reason: Completed
    status: "False"
    type: SeedGenInProgress
  - lastTransitionTime: "2024-02-13T21:24:26Z"
    message: Seed Generation completed
    observedGeneration: 1
    reason: Completed
    status: "True"
    type: SeedGenCompleted
  observedGeneration: 1
```
The SeedGenCompleted type indicates that the seed image generation is complete.

warning
After the seed image generation completes, do not use the seed cluster. Do not continue to run oc commands against the seed cluster or use it to manage managed clusters.
If you access the seed cluster after generating the seed image, you can meet TLS certificate validation errors because the seed cluster certificates expire during seed image generation. If you need to generate another seed image, provision a new seed cluster.

Additional resources

Seed image configuration​

Seed image configuration using the RAN DU profile​

Generating a seed image with the Lifecycle Agent​

Seed image configuration

Seed image configuration using the RAN DU profile

Generating a seed image with the Lifecycle Agent