Chapter 19. External DNS Operator

19.1. External DNS Operator in OpenShift Container Platform

The External DNS Operator deploys and manages ExternalDNS to provide the name resolution for services and routes from the external DNS provider to OpenShift Container Platform.

19.1.1. External DNS Operator

The External DNS Operator implements the External DNS API from the olm.openshift.io API group. The External DNS Operator updates services, routes, and external DNS providers.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the yq CLI tool.

Procedure

You can deploy the External DNS Operator on demand from the OperatorHub. Deploying the External DNS Operator creates a Subscription object.

  1. Check the name of an install plan by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator get sub external-dns-operator -o yaml | yq '.status.installplan.name'

    Example output

    install-zcvlr

  2. Check if the status of an install plan is Complete by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator get ip <install_plan_name> -o yaml | yq '.status.phase'

    Example output

    Complete

  3. View the status of the external-dns-operator deployment by running the following command:

    $ oc get -n external-dns-operator deployment/external-dns-operator

    Example output

    NAME                    READY     UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
    external-dns-operator   1/1       1            1           23h

19.1.2. External DNS Operator logs

You can view External DNS Operator logs by using the oc logs command.

Procedure

  1. View the logs of the External DNS Operator by running the following command:

    $ oc logs -n external-dns-operator deployment/external-dns-operator -c external-dns-operator

19.1.2.1. External DNS Operator domain name limitations

The External DNS Operator uses the TXT registry which adds the prefix for TXT records. This reduces the maximum length of the domain name for TXT records. A DNS record cannot be present without a corresponding TXT record, so the domain name of the DNS record must follow the same limit as the TXT records. For example, a DNS record of <domain_name_from_source> results in a TXT record of external-dns-<record_type>-<domain_name_from_source>.

The domain name of the DNS records generated by the External DNS Operator has the following limitations:

Record typeNumber of characters

CNAME

44

Wildcard CNAME records on AzureDNS

42

A

48

Wildcard A records on AzureDNS

46

The following error appears in the External DNS Operator logs if the generated domain name exceeds any of the domain name limitations:

time="2022-09-02T08:53:57Z" level=error msg="Failure in zone test.example.io. [Id: /hostedzone/Z06988883Q0H0RL6UMXXX]"
time="2022-09-02T08:53:57Z" level=error msg="InvalidChangeBatch: [FATAL problem: DomainLabelTooLong (Domain label is too long) encountered with 'external-dns-a-hello-openshift-aaaaaaaaaa-bbbbbbbbbb-ccccccc']\n\tstatus code: 400, request id: e54dfd5a-06c6-47b0-bcb9-a4f7c3a4e0c6"

19.2. Installing External DNS Operator on cloud providers

You can install the External DNS Operator on cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP.

19.2.1. Installing the External DNS Operator

You can install the External DNS Operator by using the OpenShift Container Platform OperatorHub.

Procedure

  1. Click OperatorsOperatorHub in the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  2. Click External DNS Operator. You can use the Filter by keyword text box or the filter list to search for External DNS Operator from the list of Operators.
  3. Select the external-dns-operator namespace.
  4. On the External DNS Operator page, click Install.
  5. On the Install Operator page, ensure that you selected the following options:

    1. Update the channel as stable-v1.
    2. Installation mode as A specific name on the cluster.
    3. Installed namespace as external-dns-operator. If namespace external-dns-operator does not exist, it gets created during the Operator installation.
    4. Select Approval Strategy as Automatic or Manual. Approval Strategy is set to Automatic by default.
    5. Click Install.

If you select Automatic updates, the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) automatically upgrades the running instance of your Operator without any intervention.

If you select Manual updates, the OLM creates an update request. As a cluster administrator, you must then manually approve that update request to have the Operator updated to the new version.

Verification

Verify that the External DNS Operator shows the Status as Succeeded on the Installed Operators dashboard.

19.3. External DNS Operator configuration parameters

The External DNS Operator includes the following configuration parameters.

19.3.1. External DNS Operator configuration parameters

The External DNS Operator includes the following configuration parameters:

ParameterDescription

spec

Enables the type of a cloud provider.

spec:
  provider:
    type: AWS 1
    aws:
      credentials:
        name: aws-access-key 2
1
Defines available options such as AWS, GCP, Azure, and Infoblox.
2
Defines a secret name for your cloud provider.

zones

Enables you to specify DNS zones by their domains. If you do not specify zones, the ExternalDNS resource discovers all of the zones present in your cloud provider account.

zones:
- "myzoneid" 1
1
Specifies the name of DNS zones.

domains

Enables you to specify AWS zones by their domains. If you do not specify domains, the ExternalDNS resource discovers all of the zones present in your cloud provider account.

domains:
- filterType: Include 1
  matchType: Exact 2
  name: "myzonedomain1.com" 3
- filterType: Include
  matchType: Pattern 4
  pattern: ".*\\.otherzonedomain\\.com" 5
1
Ensures that the ExternalDNS resource includes the domain name.
2
Instructs ExtrnalDNS that the domain matching has to be exact as opposed to regular expression match.
3
Defines the name of the domain.
4
Sets the regex-domain-filter flag in the ExternalDNS resource. You can limit possible domains by using a Regex filter.
5
Defines the regex pattern to be used by the ExternalDNS resource to filter the domains of the target zones.

source

Enables you to specify the source for the DNS records, Service or Route.

source: 1
  type: Service 2
  service:
    serviceType:3
      - LoadBalancer
      - ClusterIP
  labelFilter: 4
    matchLabels:
      external-dns.mydomain.org/publish: "yes"
  hostnameAnnotation: "Allow" 5
  fqdnTemplate:
  - "{{.Name}}.myzonedomain.com" 6
1
Defines the settings for the source of DNS records.
2
The ExternalDNS resource uses the Service type as the source for creating DNS records.
3
Sets the service-type-filter flag in the ExternalDNS resource. The serviceType contains the following fields:
  • default: LoadBalancer
  • expected: ClusterIP
  • NodePort
  • LoadBalancer
  • ExternalName
4
Ensures that the controller considers only those resources which matches with label filter.
5
The default value for hostnameAnnotation is Ignore which instructs ExternalDNS to generate DNS records using the templates specified in the field fqdnTemplates. When the value is Allow the DNS records get generated based on the value specified in the external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname annotation.
6
The External DNS Operator uses a string to generate DNS names from sources that don’t define a hostname, or to add a hostname suffix when paired with the fake source.
source:
  type: OpenShiftRoute 1
  openshiftRouteOptions:
    routerName: default 2
    labelFilter:
      matchLabels:
        external-dns.mydomain.org/publish: "yes"
1
Creates DNS records.
2
If the source type is OpenShiftRoute, then you can pass the Ingress Controller name. The ExternalDNS resource uses the canonical name of the Ingress Controller as the target for CNAME records.

19.4. Creating DNS records on AWS

You can create DNS records on AWS and AWS GovCloud by using External DNS Operator.

19.4.1. Creating DNS records on an public hosted zone for AWS by using Red Hat External DNS Operator

You can create DNS records on a public hosted zone for AWS by using the Red Hat External DNS Operator. You can use the same instructions to create DNS records on a hosted zone for AWS GovCloud.

Procedure

  1. Check the user. The user must have access to the kube-system namespace. If you don’t have the credentials, as you can fetch the credentials from the kube-system namespace to use the cloud provider client:

    $ oc whoami

    Example output

    system:admin

  2. Fetch the values from aws-creds secret present in kube-system namespace.

    $ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$(oc get secrets aws-creds -n kube-system  --template={{.data.aws_access_key_id}} | base64 -d)
    $ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$(oc get secrets aws-creds -n kube-system  --template={{.data.aws_secret_access_key}} | base64 -d)
  3. Get the routes to check the domain:

    $ oc get routes --all-namespaces | grep console

    Example output

    openshift-console          console             console-openshift-console.apps.testextdnsoperator.apacshift.support                       console             https   reencrypt/Redirect     None
    openshift-console          downloads           downloads-openshift-console.apps.testextdnsoperator.apacshift.support                     downloads           http    edge/Redirect          None

  4. Get the list of dns zones to find the one which corresponds to the previously found route’s domain:

    $ aws route53 list-hosted-zones | grep testextdnsoperator.apacshift.support

    Example output

    HOSTEDZONES	terraform	/hostedzone/Z02355203TNN1XXXX1J6O	testextdnsoperator.apacshift.support.	5

  5. Create ExternalDNS resource for route source:

    $ cat <<EOF | oc create -f -
    apiVersion: externaldns.olm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: ExternalDNS
    metadata:
      name: sample-aws 1
    spec:
      domains:
      - filterType: Include   2
        matchType: Exact   3
        name: testextdnsoperator.apacshift.support 4
      provider:
        type: AWS 5
      source:  6
        type: OpenShiftRoute 7
        openshiftRouteOptions:
          routerName: default 8
    EOF
    1
    Defines the name of external DNS resource.
    2
    By default all hosted zones are selected as potential targets. You can include a hosted zone that you need.
    3
    The matching of the target zone’s domain has to be exact (as opposed to regular expression match).
    4
    Specify the exact domain of the zone you want to update. The hostname of the routes must be subdomains of the specified domain.
    5
    Defines the AWS Route53 DNS provider.
    6
    Defines options for the source of DNS records.
    7
    Defines OpenShift route resource as the source for the DNS records which gets created in the previously specified DNS provider.
    8
    If the source is OpenShiftRoute, then you can pass the OpenShift Ingress Controller name. External DNS Operator selects the canonical hostname of that router as the target while creating CNAME record.
  6. Check the records created for OCP routes using the following command:

    $ aws route53 list-resource-record-sets --hosted-zone-id Z02355203TNN1XXXX1J6O --query "ResourceRecordSets[?Type == 'CNAME']" | grep console

19.5. Creating DNS records on Azure

You can create DNS records on Azure by using the External DNS Operator.

19.5.1. Creating DNS records on an Azure public DNS zone

You can create DNS records on a public DNS zone for Azure by using the External DNS Operator.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.
  • The admin user must have access to the kube-system namespace.

Procedure

  1. Fetch the credentials from the kube-system namespace to use the cloud provider client by running the following command:

    $ CLIENT_ID=$(oc get secrets azure-credentials  -n kube-system  --template={{.data.azure_client_id}} | base64 -d)
    $ CLIENT_SECRET=$(oc get secrets azure-credentials  -n kube-system  --template={{.data.azure_client_secret}} | base64 -d)
    $ RESOURCE_GROUP=$(oc get secrets azure-credentials  -n kube-system  --template={{.data.azure_resourcegroup}} | base64 -d)
    $ SUBSCRIPTION_ID=$(oc get secrets azure-credentials  -n kube-system  --template={{.data.azure_subscription_id}} | base64 -d)
    $ TENANT_ID=$(oc get secrets azure-credentials  -n kube-system  --template={{.data.azure_tenant_id}} | base64 -d)
  2. Log in to Azure by running the following command:

    $ az login --service-principal -u "${CLIENT_ID}" -p "${CLIENT_SECRET}" --tenant "${TENANT_ID}"
  3. Get a list of routes by running the following command:

    $ oc get routes --all-namespaces | grep console

    Example output

    openshift-console          console             console-openshift-console.apps.test.azure.example.com                       console             https   reencrypt/Redirect     None
    openshift-console          downloads           downloads-openshift-console.apps.test.azure.example.com                     downloads           http    edge/Redirect          None

  4. Get a list of DNS zones by running the following command:

    $ az network dns zone list --resource-group "${RESOURCE_GROUP}"
  5. Create a YAML file, for example, external-dns-sample-azure.yaml, that defines the ExternalDNS object:

    Example external-dns-sample-azure.yaml file

    apiVersion: externaldns.olm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: ExternalDNS
    metadata:
      name: sample-azure 1
    spec:
      zones:
      - "/subscriptions/1234567890/resourceGroups/test-azure-xxxxx-rg/providers/Microsoft.Network/dnszones/test.azure.example.com" 2
      provider:
        type: Azure 3
      source:
        openshiftRouteOptions: 4
          routerName: default 5
        type: OpenShiftRoute 6

    1
    Specifies the External DNS name.
    2
    Defines the zone ID.
    3
    Defines the provider type.
    4
    You can define options for the source of DNS records.
    5
    If the source type is OpenShiftRoute, you can pass the OpenShift Ingress Controller name. External DNS selects the canonical hostname of that router as the target while creating CNAME record.
    6
    Defines the route resource as the source for the Azure DNS records.
  6. Check the DNS records created for OpenShift Container Platform routes by running the following command:

    $ az network dns record-set list -g "${RESOURCE_GROUP}"  -z test.azure.example.com | grep console
    Note

    To create records on private hosted zones on private Azure DNS, you need to specify the private zone under the zones field which populates the provider type to azure-private-dns in the ExternalDNS container arguments.

19.6. Creating DNS records on GCP

You can create DNS records on GCP by using the External DNS Operator.

19.6.1. Creating DNS records on a public managed zone for GCP

You can create DNS records on a public managed zone for GCP by using the External DNS Operator.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. Copy the gcp-credentials secret in the encoded-gcloud.json file by running the following command:

    $ oc get secret gcp-credentials -n kube-system --template='{{$v := index .data "service_account.json"}}{{$v}}' | base64 -d - > decoded-gcloud.json
  2. Export your Google credentials by running the following command:

    $ export GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS=decoded-gcloud.json
  3. Activate your account by using the following command:

    $ gcloud auth activate-service-account  <client_email as per decoded-gcloud.json> --key-file=decoded-gcloud.json
  4. Set your project by running the following command:

    $ gcloud config set project <project_id as per decoded-gcloud.json>
  5. Get a list of routes by running the following command:

    $ oc get routes --all-namespaces | grep console

    Example output

    openshift-console          console             console-openshift-console.apps.test.gcp.example.com                       console             https   reencrypt/Redirect     None
    openshift-console          downloads           downloads-openshift-console.apps.test.gcp.example.com                     downloads           http    edge/Redirect          None

  6. Get a list of managed zones by running the following command:

    $ gcloud dns managed-zones list | grep test.gcp.example.com

    Example output

    qe-cvs4g-private-zone test.gcp.example.com

  7. Create a YAML file, for example, external-dns-sample-gcp.yaml, that defines the ExternalDNS object:

    Example external-dns-sample-gcp.yaml file

    apiVersion: externaldns.olm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: ExternalDNS
    metadata:
      name: sample-gcp 1
    spec:
      domains:
        - filterType: Include 2
          matchType: Exact 3
          name: test.gcp.example.com 4
      provider:
        type: GCP 5
      source:
        openshiftRouteOptions: 6
          routerName: default 7
        type: OpenShiftRoute 8

    1
    Specifies the External DNS name.
    2
    By default, all hosted zones are selected as potential targets. You can include your hosted zone.
    3
    The domain of the target must match the string defined by the name key.
    4
    Specify the exact domain of the zone you want to update. The hostname of the routes must be subdomains of the specified domain.
    5
    Defines the provider type.
    6
    You can define options for the source of DNS records.
    7
    If the source type is OpenShiftRoute, you can pass the OpenShift Ingress Controller name. External DNS selects the canonical hostname of that router as the target while creating CNAME record.
    8
    Defines the route resource as the source for GCP DNS records.
  8. Check the DNS records created for OpenShift Container Platform routes by running the following command:

    $ gcloud dns record-sets list --zone=qe-cvs4g-private-zone | grep console

19.7. Creating DNS records on Infoblox

You can create DNS records on Infoblox by using the External DNS Operator.

19.7.1. Creating DNS records on a public DNS zone on Infoblox

You can create DNS records on a public DNS zone on Infoblox by using the External DNS Operator.

Prerequisites

  • You have access to the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have access to the Infoblox UI.

Procedure

  1. Create a secret object with Infoblox credentials by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator create secret generic infoblox-credentials --from-literal=EXTERNAL_DNS_INFOBLOX_WAPI_USERNAME=<infoblox_username> --from-literal=EXTERNAL_DNS_INFOBLOX_WAPI_PASSWORD=<infoblox_password>
  2. Get a list of routes by running the following command:

    $ oc get routes --all-namespaces | grep console

    Example Output

    openshift-console          console             console-openshift-console.apps.test.example.com                       console             https   reencrypt/Redirect     None
    openshift-console          downloads           downloads-openshift-console.apps.test.example.com                     downloads           http    edge/Redirect          None

  3. Create a YAML file, for example, external-dns-sample-infoblox.yaml, that defines the ExternalDNS object:

    Example external-dns-sample-infoblox.yaml file

    apiVersion: externaldns.olm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: ExternalDNS
    metadata:
      name: sample-infoblox 1
    spec:
      provider:
        type: Infoblox 2
        infoblox:
          credentials:
            name: infoblox-credentials
          gridHost: ${INFOBLOX_GRID_PUBLIC_IP}
          wapiPort: 443
          wapiVersion: "2.3.1"
      domains:
      - filterType: Include
        matchType: Exact
        name: test.example.com
      source:
        type: OpenShiftRoute 3
        openshiftRouteOptions:
          routerName: default 4

    1
    Specifies the External DNS name.
    2
    Defines the provider type.
    3
    You can define options for the source of DNS records.
    4
    If the source type is OpenShiftRoute, you can pass the OpenShift Ingress Controller name. External DNS selects the canonical hostname of that router as the target while creating CNAME record.
  4. Create the ExternalDNS resource on Infoblox by running the following command:

    $ oc create -f external-dns-sample-infoblox.yaml
  5. From the Infoblox UI, check the DNS records created for console routes:

    1. Click Data ManagementDNSZones.
    2. Select the zone name.

19.8. Configuring the cluster-wide proxy on the External DNS Operator

After configuring the cluster-wide proxy, the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) triggers automatic updates to all of the deployed Operators with the new contents of the HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY environment variables.

19.8.1. Trusting the certificate authority of the cluster-wide proxy

You can configure the External DNS Operator to trust the certificate authority of the cluster-wide proxy.

Procedure

  1. Create the config map to contain the CA bundle in the external-dns-operator namespace by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator create configmap trusted-ca
  2. To inject the trusted CA bundle into the config map, add the config.openshift.io/inject-trusted-cabundle=true label to the config map by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator label cm trusted-ca config.openshift.io/inject-trusted-cabundle=true
  3. Update the subscription of the External DNS Operator by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator patch subscription external-dns-operator --type='json' -p='[{"op": "add", "path": "/spec/config", "value":{"env":[{"name":"TRUSTED_CA_CONFIGMAP_NAME","value":"trusted-ca"}]}}]'

Verification

  • After the deployment of the External DNS Operator is completed, verify that the trusted CA environment variable is added to the external-dns-operator deployment by running the following command:

    $ oc -n external-dns-operator exec deploy/external-dns-operator -c external-dns-operator -- printenv TRUSTED_CA_CONFIGMAP_NAME

    Example output

    trusted-ca