Installing a private cluster on IBM Cloud¶

In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.22, you can install a private cluster into an existing Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) on IBM Cloud(R). The installation program provisions the rest of the required infrastructure, which you can further customize.

Prerequisites for installing a cluster on IBM Cloud(R)¶

Before installing an OpenShift Container Platform cluster on IBM Cloud(R) by using installer-provisioned infrastructure, ensure that you have configured your IBM Cloud(R) account, firewall, and the ccoctl utility.

You reviewed details about the OpenShift Container Platform installation and update processes.
You read the documentation on selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users.
You configured an IBM Cloud(R) account to host the cluster.
If you use a firewall, you configured it to allow the sites that your cluster requires access to.
You configured the ccoctl utility before you installed the cluster.

Additional resources

Private clusters¶

You can deploy a private OpenShift Container Platform cluster that does not expose external endpoints. Private clusters are accessible from only an internal network and are not visible to the internet.

By default, OpenShift Container Platform is provisioned to use publicly-accessible DNS and endpoints. A private cluster sets the DNS, Ingress Controller, and API server to private when you deploy your cluster. This means that the cluster resources are only accessible from your internal network and are not visible to the internet.

Warning

If the cluster has any public subnets, load balancer services created by administrators might be publicly accessible. To ensure cluster security, verify that these services are explicitly annotated as private.

To deploy a private cluster, you must:

Use existing networking that meets your requirements. Your cluster resources might be shared between other clusters on the network.
Create a DNS zone using IBM Cloud(R) DNS Services and specify it as the base domain of the cluster. For more information, see "Using IBM Cloud(R) DNS Services to configure DNS resolution".
Deploy from a machine that has access to: ** The API services for the cloud to which you provision. ** The hosts on the network that you provision. ** The internet to obtain installation media.

Private clusters in IBM Cloud¶

To create a private cluster on IBM Cloud(R), you must provide an existing private VPC and subnets. The installation program must also resolve the DNS records that the cluster requires, and configures the Ingress Operator and API server for only internal traffic.

The cluster still requires access to internet to access the IBM Cloud(R) APIs.

The following items are not required or created when you install a private cluster:

Public subnets
Public network load balancers, which support public ingress
A public DNS zone that matches the baseDomain for the cluster

The installation program does use the baseDomain that you specify to create a private DNS zone and the required records for the cluster. The cluster is configured so that the Operators do not create public records for the cluster and all cluster machines are placed in the private subnets that you specify.

Limitations¶

Private clusters on IBM Cloud(R) are subject only to the limitations associated with the existing VPC that was used for cluster deployment.

About using a custom VPC¶

You can deploy OpenShift Container Platform into the subnets of an existing IBM(R) Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to avoid account limit constraints or comply with your company’s infrastructure guidelines.

Because the installation program cannot know what other components are in your existing subnets, it cannot choose subnet CIDRs and so forth. You must configure networking for the subnets to which you will install the cluster.

Requirements for using your VPC¶

You must correctly configure the existing VPC and its subnets before you install the cluster. The installation program does not create the following components:

NAT gateways
Subnets
Route tables
VPC network

The installation program cannot:

Subdivide network ranges for the cluster to use
Set route tables for the subnets
Set VPC options like DHCP

Note

The installation program requires that you use the cloud-provided DNS server. Using a custom DNS server is not supported and causes the installation to fail.

VPC validation¶

The VPC and all of the subnets must be in an existing resource group. The cluster is deployed to the existing VPC.

As part of the installation, specify the following in the install-config.yaml file:

The name of the existing resource group that contains the VPC and subnets (networkResourceGroupName)
The name of the existing VPC (vpcName)
The subnets that were created for control plane machines and compute machines (controlPlaneSubnets and computeSubnets)

Note

Additional installer-provisioned cluster resources are deployed to a separate resource group (resourceGroupName). You can specify this resource group before installing the cluster. If undefined, a new resource group is created for the cluster.

To ensure that the subnets that you provide are suitable, the installation program confirms the following:

All of the subnets that you specify exist.
For each availability zone in the region, you specify:
- One subnet for control plane machines.
- One subnet for compute machines.
The machine CIDR that you specified contains the subnets for the compute machines and control plane machines.

Note

Subnet IDs are not supported.

Isolation between clusters¶

If you deploy OpenShift Container Platform to an existing network, the isolation of cluster services is reduced in the following ways:

You can install multiple OpenShift Container Platform clusters in the same VPC.
ICMP ingress is allowed to the entire network.
TCP port 22 ingress (SSH) is allowed to the entire network.
Control plane TCP 6443 ingress (Kubernetes API) is allowed to the entire network.
Control plane TCP 22623 ingress (MCS) is allowed to the entire network.

Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform¶

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.22, you require access to the internet to install your cluster.

You must have internet access to perform the following actions:

Access Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console to download the installation program and perform subscription management. If the cluster has internet access and you do not disable Telemetry, that service automatically entitles your cluster.
Access Quay.io to obtain the packages that are required to install your cluster.
Obtain the packages that are required to perform cluster updates.

Warning

If your cluster cannot have direct internet access, you can perform a restricted network installation on some types of infrastructure that you provision. During that process, you download the required content and use it to populate a mirror registry with the installation packages. With some installation types, the environment that you install your cluster in will not require internet access. Before you update the cluster, you update the content of the mirror registry.

Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access¶

During an OpenShift Container Platform installation, you can provide an SSH public key to the installation program. The key is passed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) nodes through their Ignition config files and is used to authenticate SSH access to the nodes. The key is added to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys list for the core user on each node, which enables password-less authentication.

The key is added to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys list for the core user on each node, which enables password-less authentication. After the key is passed to the nodes, you can use the key pair to SSH in to the RHCOS nodes as the user core. To access the nodes through SSH, the private key identity must be managed by SSH for your local user.

If you want to SSH in to your cluster nodes to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, you must provide the SSH public key during the installation process. The ./openshift-install gather command also requires the SSH public key to be in place on the cluster nodes.

Warning

Do not skip this procedure in production environments, where disaster recovery and debugging is required.

Note

You must use a local key, not one that you configured with platform-specific approaches.

Procedure

If you do not have an existing SSH key pair on your local machine to use for authentication onto your cluster nodes, create one. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:
```
$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name>
```
Specifies the path and file name, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519, of the new SSH key. If you have an existing key pair, ensure your public key is in the your ~/.ssh directory.

Note

If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures, do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm.
View the public SSH key:
```
$ cat <path>/<file_name>.pub
```
For example, run the following to view the ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub public key:
```
$ cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
```
Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command.

Note

On some distributions, default SSH private key identities such as ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_dsa are managed automatically.
1. If the ssh-agent process is not already running for your local user, start it as a background task:
```
$ eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
```
  Example output
```
Agent pid 31874
```
  Note
  
  If your cluster is in FIPS mode, only use FIPS-compliant algorithms to generate the SSH key. The key must be either RSA or ECDSA.
Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent:
```
$ ssh-add <path>/<file_name>
```
Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.
Example output
```
Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>)
```

Next steps

When you install OpenShift Container Platform, provide the SSH public key to the installation program.

Obtaining the installation program¶

Before you install OpenShift Container Platform, download the installation file on a bastion host on your cloud network or a machine that has access to the network through a VPN. This ensures that installation assets exist for deployment in your environment.

For more information about private cluster installation requirements, see "Private clusters".

Prerequisites

You have a machine that runs Linux, for example Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, with 500 MB of local disk space.

Procedure

Go to the Cluster Type page on the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account.

Tip

You can also download the binaries for a specific OpenShift Container Platform release.
Select your infrastructure provider from the Run it yourself section of the page.
Select your host operating system and architecture from the dropdown menus under OpenShift Installer and click Download Installer.
Place the downloaded file in the directory where you want to store the installation configuration files.
Warning
- The installation program creates several files on the computer that you use to install your cluster. You must keep the installation program and the files that the installation program creates after you finish installing the cluster. Both of the files are required to delete the cluster.
- Deleting the files created by the installation program does not remove your cluster, even if the cluster failed during installation. To remove your cluster, complete the OpenShift Container Platform uninstallation procedures for your specific cloud provider.
Extract the installation program. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command:
```
$ tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz
```
Download your installation pull secret from Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager. This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the services that are provided by the included authorities, including Quay.io, which serves the container images for OpenShift Container Platform components.

Tip

Alternatively, you can retrieve the installation program from the Red Hat Customer Portal, where you can specify a version of the installation program to download. However, you must have an active subscription to access this page.

Exporting the API key¶

You must set the API key you created as a global variable; the installation program ingests the variable during startup to set the API key.

Prerequisites

You have created either a user API key or service ID API key for your IBM Cloud(R) account.

Procedure

Export your API key for your account as a global variable:
```
$ export IC_API_KEY=<api_key>
```
Warning

You must set the variable name exactly as specified; the installation program expects the variable name to be present during startup.

Manually creating the installation configuration file¶

Installing the cluster requires that you manually create the installation configuration file.

Prerequisites

You have an SSH public key on your local machine for use with the installation program. You can use the key for SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes for debugging and disaster recovery.
You have obtained the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.

Procedure

Create an installation directory to store your required installation assets in:
```
$ mkdir <installation_directory>
```
Warning

You must create a directory. Some installation assets, such as bootstrap X.509 certificates have short expiration intervals, so you must not reuse an installation directory. If you want to reuse individual files from another cluster installation, you can copy them into your directory. However, the file names for the installation assets might change between releases. Use caution when copying installation files from an earlier OpenShift Container Platform version.
Customize the provided sample install-config.yaml file template and save the file in the <installation_directory>.

Note

You must name this configuration file install-config.yaml.
Back up the install-config.yaml file so that you can use it to install many clusters.

Warning

Back up the install-config.yaml file now, because the installation process consumes the file in the next step.

Additional resources

Installation configuration parameters for IBM Cloud(R)

Minimum resource requirements for cluster installation¶

To ensure that your OpenShift Container Platform cluster runs as expected, each cluster machine must meet minimum CPU, memory, and storage requirements.

Minimum resource requirements

Machine	Operating system	vCPU	Virtual RAM	Storage	Input/Output Per Second (IOPS)
Bootstrap	RHCOS	4	16 GB	100 GB	300
Control plane	RHCOS	4	16 GB	100 GB	300
Compute	RHCOS	2	8 GB	100 GB	300

Note

In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.22, RHCOS uses RHEL version 9.8, which updates the micro-architecture requirements. Each architecture requires the following minimum instruction set architectures (ISA):

x86-64 architecture requires x86-64-v2 ISA
ARM64 architecture requires ARMv8.0-A ISA
ppc64le architecture requires IBM(R) Power9 ISA
s390x architecture requires IBM(R) z14 ISA

For more information, see Architectures in the RHEL documentation.

If an instance type for your platform meets the minimum requirements for cluster machines, it is supported to use in OpenShift Container Platform.

Additional resources

Optimizing storage

Tested instance types for IBM Cloud¶

Use these tested IBM Cloud(R) instance types to ensure compatibility when selecting machine types for your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

See the following machine series:

bx2-8x32
bx2d-4x16
bx3d-4x20
bx3dc-8x40
cx2-8x16
cx2d-4x8
cx3d-8x20
cx3dc-4x10
gx2-8x64x1v100
gx3-16x80x1l4
gx3d-160x1792x8h100
mx2-8x64
mx2d-4x32
mx3d-4x40
ox2-8x64
ux2d-2x56
vx2d-4x56

Sample customized install-config.yaml file for IBM Cloud¶

You can customize the install-config.yaml file to specify more details about your OpenShift Container Platform cluster’s platform or change the values of the required parameters.

Warning

This sample YAML file is for reference only. You must obtain your install-config.yaml file by using the installation program and then change it.

apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: example.com
controlPlane:
  hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: master
  platform:
    ibmcloud: {}
  replicas: 3
compute:
- hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: worker
  platform:
    ibmcloud: {}
  replicas: 3
metadata:
  name: test-cluster
networking:
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.128.0.0/14
    hostPrefix: 23
  machineNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.0.0.0/16
  networkType: OVNKubernetes
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16
platform:
  ibmcloud:
    region: eu-gb
    resourceGroupName: eu-gb-example-cluster-rg
    networkResourceGroupName: eu-gb-example-existing-network-rg
    vpcName: eu-gb-example-network-1
    controlPlaneSubnets:
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-cp-eu-gb-1
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-cp-eu-gb-2
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-cp-eu-gb-3
    computeSubnets:
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-compute-eu-gb-1
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-compute-eu-gb-2
      - eu-gb-example-network-1-compute-eu-gb-3
credentialsMode: Manual
publish: Internal
pullSecret: '{"auths": ...}'
fips: false
sshKey: ssh-ed25519 AAAA...

where:

baseDomain: Specifies the base domain of your cluster. This value is required.
metadata.name: Specifies the name of your cluster. This value is required.
platform.ibmcloud.region: Specifies the IBM Cloud(R) region to deploy the cluster to. This value is required.
pullSecret: Specifies your pull secret. This value is required.
compute: Specifies parameters where, if you do not supply values, the installation program uses the default value. The first line of the compute section must begin with a hyphen, -. Both sections currently define a single machine pool.
compute.hyperthreading: Specifies whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, also known as Hyper-Threading. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. You can disable it by setting the parameter value to Disabled. If you disable simultaneous multithreading in some cluster machines, you must disable it in all cluster machines.
controlPlane: Specifies parameters where, if you do not supply values, the installation program uses the default value. The controlPlane section is a single mapping, and its first line must not begin with a hyphen. Only one control plane pool is used.
controlPlane.hyperthreading: Specifies whether to enable or disable simultaneous multithreading, also known as Hyper-Threading. By default, simultaneous multithreading is enabled to increase the performance of your machines' cores. You can disable it by setting the parameter value to Disabled. If you disable simultaneous multithreading in some cluster machines, you must disable it in all cluster machines.

Warning

If you disable simultaneous multithreading, ensure that your capacity planning accounts for the dramatically decreased machine performance. Use larger machine types, such as n1-standard-8, for your machines if you disable simultaneous multithreading.
networking.clusterNetwork.cidr: Specifies the CIDR. The machine CIDR must contain the subnets for the compute machines and control plane machines.
networking.machineNetwork.cidr: Specifies the CIDR. The CIDR must contain the subnets defined in platform.ibmcloud.controlPlaneSubnets and platform.ibmcloud.computeSubnets.
networking.networkType: Specifies the cluster network plugin to install. The default value OVNKubernetes is the only supported value.
platform.ibmcloud.resourceGroupName: Specifies the name of an existing resource group. All installer-provisioned cluster resources are deployed to this resource group. If undefined, a new resource group is created for the cluster.
platform.ibmcloud.networkResourceGroupName: Specifies the name of the resource group that contains the existing virtual private cloud (VPC). The existing VPC and subnets must be in this resource group. The cluster is installed to this VPC.
platform.ibmcloud.vpcName: Specifies the name of an existing VPC.
platform.ibmcloud.controlPlaneSubnets: Specifies the name of the existing subnets to which to deploy the control plane machines. The subnets must belong to the VPC that you specified. Specify a subnet for each availability zone in the region.
platform.ibmcloud.computeSubnets: Specifies the name of the existing subnets to which to deploy the compute machines. The subnets must belong to the VPC that you specified. Specify a subnet for each availability zone in the region.
publish: Specifies how to publish the user-facing endpoints of your cluster. Set publish to Internal to deploy a private cluster. The default value is External.
fips: Specifies whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. By default, FIPS mode is not enabled. If FIPS mode is enabled, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) machines that OpenShift Container Platform runs on bypass the default Kubernetes cryptography suite and use the cryptography modules that are provided with RHCOS instead.

Warning

When running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) booted in FIPS mode, OpenShift Container Platform core components use the RHEL cryptographic libraries that have been submitted to NIST for FIPS 140-2/140-3 Validation on only the x86_64, ppc64le, and s390x architectures.
sshKey: Specifies the SSH key to use to access the machines in your cluster. This value is optional.

Note

For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses.

Configuring the cluster-wide proxy during installation¶

Production environments can deny direct access to the internet and instead have an HTTP or HTTPS proxy available. You can configure a new OpenShift Container Platform cluster to use a proxy by configuring the proxy settings in the install-config.yaml file.

Prerequisites

You have an existing install-config.yaml file.
You have reviewed the sites that your cluster requires access to and determined whether any of them need to bypass the proxy. By default, the proxy handles all cluster egress traffic, including calls to hosting cloud provider APIs. You added sites to the Proxy object’s spec.noProxy field to bypass the proxy if necessary.

Note

The Proxy object status.noProxy field includes the values of the networking.machineNetwork[].cidr, networking.clusterNetwork[].cidr, and networking.serviceNetwork[] fields from your installation configuration.

For installations on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP), the Proxy object status.noProxy field also includes the instance metadata endpoint (169.254.169.254).

Procedure

Edit your install-config.yaml file and add the proxy settings. For example:
```
apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: my.domain.com
proxy:
  httpProxy: http://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port>
  httpsProxy: https://<username>:<pswd>@<ip>:<port>
  noProxy: example.com
additionalTrustBundle: |
    -----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
    <MY_TRUSTED_CA_CERT>
    -----END CERTIFICATE-----
additionalTrustBundlePolicy: <policy_to_add_additionalTrustBundle>
# ...
```
where:

proxy.httpProxy

Specifies a proxy URL to use for creating HTTP connections outside the cluster. The URL scheme must be http.

proxy.httpsProxy

Specifies a proxy URL to use for creating HTTPS connections outside the cluster.

proxy.noProxy

Specifies a comma-separated list of destination domain names, IP addresses, or other network CIDRs to exclude from proxying. Preface a domain with . to match subdomains only. For example, .y.com matches x.y.com, but not y.com. Use * to bypass the proxy for all destinations.

additionalTrustBundle

If you specify this value, the installation program generates a config map named user-ca-bundle in the openshift-config namespace to hold the additional CA certificates. If you specify additionalTrustBundle and at least one proxy setting, the Proxy object references the user-ca-bundle config map in the trustedCA field. The Cluster Network Operator then creates a trusted-ca-bundle config map that merges the contents specified for the trustedCA parameter with the RHCOS trust bundle. You must set the additionalTrustBundle field unless an authority from the RHCOS trust bundle signs the proxy’s identity certificate.

additionalTrustBundlePolicy

Specifies the policy that determines the configuration of the Proxy object to reference the user-ca-bundle config map in the trustedCA field. The allowed values are Proxyonly and Always. Use Proxyonly to reference the user-ca-bundle config map only when you configure an http/https proxy. Use Always to always reference the user-ca-bundle config map. The default value is Proxyonly. Optional parameter.

Note

The installation program does not support the proxy readinessEndpoints field.
Note

If the installation program times out, restart and then complete the deployment by using the wait-for command of the installation program. For example:
```
$ ./openshift-install wait-for install-complete --log-level debug
```
Save the file and reference it when installing OpenShift Container Platform.

The installation program creates a cluster-wide proxy named cluster that uses the proxy settings in the install-config.yaml file. If you do not give proxy settings, the installation program still creates a cluster Proxy object, but it has a nil spec.

Note

Only the Proxy object named cluster is supported, and you cannot create additional proxies.

Manually creating IAM¶

To install OpenShift Container Platform, the Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) must operate in manual mode. While the installation program configures the CCO for manual mode, you must specify the identity and access management secrets for your cloud provider.

You can use the Cloud Credential Operator (CCO) utility (ccoctl) to create the required IBM Cloud(R) resources.

Prerequisites

You have configured the ccoctl binary.
You have an existing install-config.yaml file.

Procedure

Edit the install-config.yaml configuration file so that the file includes the credentialsMode parameter set to Manual.
Example install-config.yaml configuration file
```
apiVersion: v1
baseDomain: cluster1.example.com
credentialsMode: Manual
compute:
- architecture: amd64
  hyperthreading: Enabled
```
where:

credentialsMode

Specifies the CCO credentials mode. Set the value to Manual.
To generate the manifests, run the following command from the directory that includes the installation program:
```
$ ./openshift-install create manifests --dir <installation_directory>
```
From the directory that includes the installation program, set a $RELEASE_IMAGE variable with the release image from your installation file by running the following command:
```
$ RELEASE_IMAGE=$(./openshift-install version | awk '/release image/ {print $3}')
```

Extract the list of CredentialsRequest custom resources (CRs) from the OpenShift Container Platform release image by running the following command:

$ oc adm release extract \
  --from=$RELEASE_IMAGE \
  --credentials-requests \
  --included \
  --install-config=<path_to_directory_with_installation_configuration>/install-config.yaml \
  --to=<path_to_directory_for_credentials_requests>

where:

--included: Specifies that only the manifests that your specific cluster configuration requires are included.
--install-config: Specifies the location of the install-config.yaml file.
--to: Specifies the path to the directory where you want to store the CredentialsRequest objects. If the specified directory does not exist, this command creates it. This command creates a YAML file for each CredentialsRequest object.

Sample CredentialsRequest object

  apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
  kind: CredentialsRequest
  metadata:
    labels:
      controller-tools.k8s.io: "1.0"
    name: openshift-image-registry-ibmcos
    namespace: openshift-cloud-credential-operator
  spec:
    secretRef:
      name: installer-cloud-credentials
      namespace: openshift-image-registry
    providerSpec:
      apiVersion: cloudcredential.openshift.io/v1
      kind: IBMCloudProviderSpec
      policies:
      - attributes:
        - name: serviceName
          value: cloud-object-storage
        roles:
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::role:Viewer
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::role:Operator
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::role:Editor
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::serviceRole:Reader
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::serviceRole:Writer
      - attributes:
        - name: resourceType
          value: resource-group
        roles:
        - crn:v1:bluemix:public:iam::::role:Viewer

Create the service ID for each credential request, assign the policies defined, create an API key, and generate the secret:
```
$ ccoctl ibmcloud create-service-id \
  --credentials-requests-dir=<path_to_credential_requests_directory> \
  --name=<cluster_name> \
  --output-dir=<installation_directory> \
  --resource-group-name=<resource_group_name>
```
where:

<path_to_credential_requests_directory>

Specifies the directory that has the files for the CredentialsRequest objects.

<cluster_name>

Specifies the name of the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

<installation_directory>

Specifies the directory in which you want the ccoctl utility to create objects. By default, the utility creates objects in the directory in which you run the commands. This parameter is optional.

<resource_group_name>

Specifies the name of the resource group used for scoping the access policies. This parameter is optional.
Note

If you enabled Technology Preview features by using the TechPreviewNoUpgrade feature set for your cluster, you must include the --enable-tech-preview parameter in the configuration for the CredentialsRequest object.

If you provided a wrong resource group name, the installation fails during the bootstrap phase. To find the correct resource group name, run the following command:
```
$ grep resourceGroupName <installation_directory>/manifests/cluster-infrastructure-02-config.yml
```

Verification

Check that the appropriate secrets exist in the manifests directory of your cluster.

Deploying the cluster¶

To deploy your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, you initialize installation by running the openshift-install create cluster command from the directory that contains the installation program. The installation program provisions the required infrastructure and completes the cluster setup.

Warning

You can run the create cluster command of the installation program only once, during initial installation.

Prerequisites

You have configured an account with the cloud platform that hosts your cluster.
You have the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster.
You have verified that the cloud provider account on your host has the correct permissions to deploy the cluster. An account with incorrect permissions causes the installation process to fail with an error message that displays the missing permissions.

Procedure

In the directory that contains the installation program, initialize the cluster deployment by running the following command:

$ ./openshift-install create cluster --dir <installation_directory> \
    --log-level=info

where:

<installation_directory>: Specifies the location of your customized ./install-config.yaml file.
--log-level: Specifies the log level. To view different installation details, specify warn, debug, or error instead of info.

Verification

When the cluster deployment completes successfully:

The terminal displays directions for accessing your cluster, including a link to the web console and credentials for the kubeadmin user.
Credential information also outputs to <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log.

Warning

Do not delete the installation program or the files that the installation program creates. Both are required to delete the cluster.

The following example shows the expected output:
```
...
INFO Install complete!
INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig'
INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com
INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password"
INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s
```
Warning
- The Ignition config files that the installation program generates contain certificates that expire after 24 hours, which are then renewed at that time. If the cluster is shut down before renewing the certificates and the cluster is later restarted after the 24 hours have elapsed, the cluster automatically recovers the expired certificates. The exception is that you must manually approve the pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) to recover kubelet certificates. See the documentation for Recovering from expired control plane certificates for more information.
- It is recommended that you use Ignition config files within 12 hours after they are generated because the 24-hour certificate rotates from 16 to 22 hours after the cluster is installed. By using the Ignition config files within 12 hours, you can avoid installation failure if the certificate update runs during installation.

Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux¶

To manage your cluster and deploy applications from the command line on Linux, install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary. You can download the OpenShift CLI (oc) from the Red Customer Portal.

Warning

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform.

Download and install the new version of oc.

Procedure

Navigate to the Download OpenShift Container Platform page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the architecture from the Product Variant list.
Select the appropriate version from the Version list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.22 Linux Clients entry and save the file.
Unpack the archive:
```
$ tar xvf <file>
```
Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH.

To check your PATH, run 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¶

To manage your cluster and deploy applications from the command line on Windows, install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary. You can download the OpenShift CLI (oc) from the Red Customer Portal.

Warning

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform.

Download and install the new version of oc.

Procedure

Navigate to the Download OpenShift Container Platform page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the appropriate version from the Version list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.22 Windows Client entry and save the file.
Extract the archive with a ZIP program.
Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH variable.

To check your PATH variable, open the Command Prompt and run 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¶

To manage your cluster and deploy applications from the command line on macOS, install the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary. You can download the OpenShift CLI (oc) from the Red Customer Portal.

Warning

If you installed an earlier version of oc, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform.

Download and install the new version of oc.

Procedure

Navigate to the Download OpenShift Container Platform page on the Red Hat Customer Portal.
Select the architecture from the Product Variant list.
Select the appropriate version from the Version list.
Click Download Now next to the OpenShift v4.22 macOS Clients entry and save the file.

Note

For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.22 macOS arm64 Client entry.
Extract the archive.
Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH variable.

To check your PATH variable, open a terminal and run the following command:
```
$ echo $PATH
```

Verification

Verify your installation by using an oc command:
```
$ oc <command>
```

Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI¶

To log in to your cluster as the default system user, export the kubeconfig file. This configuration enables the CLI to authenticate and connect to the specific API server created during OpenShift Container Platform installation.

The kubeconfig file is specific to a cluster and OpenShift Container Platform generates it during installation.

Prerequisites

You deployed an OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
You installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

Export the kubeadmin credentials by running the following command:
```
$ export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig
```
where:

<installation_directory>

Specifies the path to the directory that stores the installation files.
Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration by running the following command:
```
$ oc whoami
```
Example output
```
system:admin
```

Next steps

"Customize your cluster"
"Remote health reporting"

Additional resources

Accessing the web console

Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform¶

To provide metrics about cluster health and the success of updates, the Telemetry service requires internet access. When connected, this service runs automatically by default and registers your cluster to OpenShift Cluster Manager.

After you confirm that your OpenShift Cluster Manager inventory is correct, either maintained automatically by Telemetry or manually by using OpenShift Cluster Manager,use subscription watch to track your OpenShift Container Platform subscriptions at the account or multi-cluster level. For more information about subscription watch, see "Data Gathered and Used by Red Hat’s subscription services" in the Additional resources section.

Additional resources