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Chapter 2. Post-installation machine configuration tasks

There are times when you need to make changes to the operating systems running on OpenShift Container Platform nodes. This can include changing settings for network time service, adding kernel arguments, or configuring journaling in a specific way.

Aside from a few specialized features, most changes to operating systems on OpenShift Container Platform nodes can be done by creating what are referred to as MachineConfig objects that are managed by the Machine Config Operator.

Tasks in this section describe how to use features of the Machine Config Operator to configure operating system features on OpenShift Container Platform nodes.

2.1. Understanding the Machine Config Operator

2.1.1. Machine Config Operator

Purpose

The Machine Config Operator manages and applies configuration and updates of the base operating system and container runtime, including everything between the kernel and kubelet.

There are four components:

  • machine-config-server: Provides Ignition configuration to new machines joining the cluster.
  • machine-config-controller: Coordinates the upgrade of machines to the desired configurations defined by a MachineConfig object. Options are provided to control the upgrade for sets of machines individually.
  • machine-config-daemon: Applies new machine configuration during update. Validates and verifies the state of the machine to the requested machine configuration.
  • machine-config: Provides a complete source of machine configuration at installation, first start up, and updates for a machine.
Project

openshift-machine-config-operator

2.1.2. Machine config overview

The Machine Config Operator (MCO) manages updates to systemd, CRI-O and Kubelet, the kernel, Network Manager and other system features. It also offers a MachineConfig CRD that can write configuration files onto the host (see machine-config-operator). Understanding what MCO does and how it interacts with other components is critical to making advanced, system-level changes to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster. Here are some things you should know about MCO, machine configs, and how they are used:

  • A machine config can make a specific change to a file or service on the operating system of each system representing a pool of OpenShift Container Platform nodes.
  • MCO applies changes to operating systems in pools of machines. All OpenShift Container Platform clusters start with worker and control plane node (also known as the master node) pools. By adding more role labels, you can configure custom pools of nodes. For example, you can set up a custom pool of worker nodes that includes particular hardware features needed by an application. However, examples in this section focus on changes to the default pool types.
  • Some machine configuration must be in place before OpenShift Container Platform is installed to disk. In most cases, this can be accomplished by creating a machine config that is injected directly into the OpenShift Container Platform installer process, instead of running as a post-installation machine config. In other cases, you might need to do bare metal installation where you pass kernel arguments at OpenShift Container Platform installer startup, to do such things as setting per-node individual IP addresses or advanced disk partitioning.
  • MCO manages items that are set in machine configs. Manual changes you do to your systems will not be overwritten by MCO, unless MCO is explicitly told to manage a conflicting file. In other words, MCO only makes specific updates you request, it does not claim control over the whole node.
  • Manual changes to nodes are strongly discouraged. If you need to decommission a node and start a new one, those direct changes would be lost.
  • MCO is only supported for writing to files in /etc and /var directories, although there are symbolic links to some directories that can be writeable by being symbolically linked to one of those areas. The /opt and /usr/local directories are examples.
  • Ignition is the configuration format used in MachineConfigs. See the Ignition Configuration Specification v3.1.0 for details.
  • Although Ignition config settings can be delivered directly at OpenShift Container Platform installation time, and are formatted in the same way that MCO delivers Ignition configs, MCO has no way of seeing what those original Ignition configs are. Therefore, you should wrap Ignition config settings into a machine config before deploying them.
  • When a file managed by MCO changes outside of MCO, the Machine Config Daemon (MCD) sets the node as degraded. It will not overwrite the offending file, however, and should continue to operate in a degraded state.
  • A key reason for using a machine config is that it will be applied when you spin up new nodes for a pool in your OpenShift Container Platform cluster. The machine-api-operator provisions a new machine and MCO configures it.

MCO uses Ignition as the configuration format. OpenShift Container Platform 4.6 moved from Ignition config specification version 2 to version 3.

2.1.2.1. What can you change with machine configs?

The kinds of components that MCO can change include:

  • config: Create Ignition config objects (see the Ignition configuration specification) to do things like modify files, systemd services, and other features on OpenShift Container Platform machines, including:

    • Configuration files: Create or overwrite files in the /var or /etc directory.
    • systemd units: Create and set the status of a systemd service or add to an existing systemd service by dropping in additional settings.
    • users and groups: Change ssh keys in the passwd section post-installation.
  • kernelArguments: Add arguments to the kernel command line when OpenShift Container Platform nodes boot.
  • kernelType: Optionally identify a non-standard kernel to use instead of the standard kernel. Use realtime to use the RT kernel (for RAN). This is only supported on select platforms.
  • fips: Enable FIPS mode. FIPS should be set at installation-time setting and not a post-installation procedure.
Important

The use of FIPS Validated / Modules in Process cryptographic libraries is only supported on OpenShift Container Platform deployments on the x86_64 architecture.

  • extensions: Extend RHCOS features by adding selected pre-packaged software. For this feature (new in OpenShift Container Platform 4.6), available extensions include usbguard and kernel modules.
  • Custom resources (for ContainerRuntime and Kubelet): Outside of machine configs, MCO manages two special custom resources for modifying CRI-O container runtime settings (ContainerRuntime CR) and the Kubelet service (Kubelet CR).

The MCO is not the only Operator that can change operating system components on OpenShift Container Platform nodes. Other Operators can modify operating system-level features as well. One example is the Node Tuning Operator, which allows you to do node-level tuning through Tuned daemon profiles.

Tasks for the MCO configuration that can be done post-installation are included in the following procedures. See descriptions of RHCOS bare metal installation for system configuration tasks that must be done during or before OpenShift Container Platform installation.

2.1.2.2. Project

See the openshift-machine-config-operator GitHub site for details.

2.1.3. Checking machine config pool status

To see the status of the Machine Config Operator, its sub-components, and the resources it manages, use the following oc commands:

Procedure

  1. To see the number of MCO-managed nodes available on your cluster for each pool, type: 

    $ oc get machineconfigpool
NAME      CONFIG                  UPDATED  UPDATING   DEGRADED  MACHINECOUNT  READYMACHINECOUNT  UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT  AGE
master    rendered-master-dd…     True     False      False     3             3                  3                                0                     4h42m
worker    rendered-worker-fde…    True     False      False     3             3                  3                                0                     4h42m

    In the previous output, there are three master and three worker nodes. All machines are updated and none are currently updating. Because all nodes are Updated and Ready and none are Degraded, you can tell that there are no issues.

  2. To see each existing machineconfig, type: 

    $ oc get machineconfigs
NAME                             GENERATEDBYCONTROLLER          IGNITIONVERSION  AGE
00-master                        2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52...   3.1.0            5h18m
00-worker                        2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52...   3.1.0            5h18m
01-master-container-runtime      2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52...   3.1.0            5h18m
01-master-kubelet                2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52…     3.1.0            5h18m
...
rendered-master-dde...           2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52...   3.1.0            5h18m
rendered-worker-fde...           2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52...   3.1.0            5h18m

    Note that the machineconfigs listed as rendered are not meant to be changed or deleted. Expect them to be hidden at some point in the future.

  3. Check the status of worker (or change to master) to see the status of that pool of nodes: 

    $ oc describe mcp worker
...
  Degraded Machine Count:     0
  Machine Count:              3
  Observed Generation:        2
  Ready Machine Count:        3
  Unavailable Machine Count:  0
  Updated Machine Count:      3
Events:                       <none>

  4. You can view the contents of a particular machine config (in this case, 01-master-kubelet). The trimmed output from the following oc describe command shows that this machineconfig contains both configuration files (cloud.conf and kubelet.conf) and a systemd service (Kubernetes Kubelet): 

    $ oc describe machineconfigs 01-master-kubelet
Name:         01-master-kubelet
...
Spec:
  Config:
    Ignition:
      Version:  3.1.0
    Storage:
      Files:
        Contents:
          Source:   data:,
        Mode:       420
        Overwrite:  true
        Path:       /etc/kubernetes/cloud.conf
        Contents:
          Source:   data:,kind%3A%20KubeletConfiguration%0AapiVersion%3A%20kubelet.config.k8s.io%2Fv1beta1%0Aauthentication%3A%0A%20%20x509%3A%0A%20%20%20%20clientCAFile%3A%20%2Fetc%2Fkubernetes%2Fkubelet-ca.crt%0A%20%20anonymous...
        Mode:       420
        Overwrite:  true
        Path:       /etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf
    Systemd:
      Units:
        Contents:  [Unit]
Description=Kubernetes Kubelet
Wants=rpc-statd.service network-online.target crio.service
After=network-online.target crio.service

ExecStart=/usr/bin/hyperkube \
    kubelet \
      --config=/etc/kubernetes/kubelet.conf \ ...

If something goes wrong with a machine config that you apply, you can always back out that change. For example, if you had run oc create -f ./myconfig.yaml to apply a machine config, you could remove that machine config by typing: 

$ oc delete -f ./myconfig.yaml

If that was the only problem, the nodes in the affected pool should return to a non-degraded state. This actually causes the rendered configuration to roll back to its previously rendered state.

If you add your own machine configs to your cluster, you can use the commands shown in the previous example to check their status and the related status of the pool to which they are applied.

2.2. Using MachineConfig objects to configure nodes

You can use the tasks in this section to create MachineConfig objects that modify files, systemd unit files, and other operating system features running on OpenShift Container Platform nodes. For more ideas on working with machine configs, see content related to updating SSH authorized keys, verifying image signatures, enabling SCTP, and configuring iSCSI initiatornames for OpenShift Container Platform.

OpenShift Container Platform version 4.6 supports Ignition specification version 3.1. All new machine configs you create going forward should be based on Ignition specification version 3.1. If you are upgrading your OpenShift Container Platform cluster, any existing Ignition specification version 2.x machine configs will be translated automatically to specification version 3.1.

Tip

Use the following "Configuring chrony time service" procedure as a model for how to go about adding other configuration files to OpenShift Container Platform nodes.

2.2.1. Configuring chrony time service

You can set the time server and related settings used by the chrony time service (chronyd) by modifying the contents of the chrony.conf file and passing those contents to your nodes as a machine config.

Procedure

  1. Create the contents of the chrony.conf file and encode it as base64. For example: 

    $ cat << EOF | base64
    pool 0.rhel.pool.ntp.org iburst 1
    driftfile /var/lib/chrony/drift
    makestep 1.0 3
    rtcsync
    logdir /var/log/chrony
EOF
    1
    Specify any valid, reachable time source, such as the one provided by your DHCP server. Alternately, you can specify any of the following NTP servers: 1.rhel.pool.ntp.org, 2.rhel.pool.ntp.org, or 3.rhel.pool.ntp.org.

    Example output

    ICAgIHNlcnZlciBjbG9jay5yZWRoYXQuY29tIGlidXJzdAogICAgZHJpZnRmaWxlIC92YXIvbGli
L2Nocm9ueS9kcmlmdAogICAgbWFrZXN0ZXAgMS4wIDMKICAgIHJ0Y3N5bmMKICAgIGxvZ2RpciAv
dmFyL2xvZy9jaHJvbnkK

  2. Create the MachineConfig object file, replacing the base64 string with the one you just created. This example adds the file to master nodes. You can change it to worker or make an additional MachineConfig for the worker role. Create MachineConfig files for each type of machine that your cluster uses: 

    $ cat << EOF > ./99-masters-chrony-configuration.yaml
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: master
  name: 99-masters-chrony-configuration
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      config: {}
      security:
        tls: {}
      timeouts: {}
      version: 3.1.0
    networkd: {}
    passwd: {}
    storage:
      files:
      - contents:
          source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,ICAgIHNlcnZlciBjbG9jay5yZWRoYXQuY29tIGlidXJzdAogICAgZHJpZnRmaWxlIC92YXIvbGliL2Nocm9ueS9kcmlmdAogICAgbWFrZXN0ZXAgMS4wIDMKICAgIHJ0Y3N5bmMKICAgIGxvZ2RpciAvdmFyL2xvZy9jaHJvbnkK
        mode: 420 1
        overwrite: true
        path: /etc/chrony.conf
  osImageURL: ""
EOF
    1
    Specify an octal value mode for the mode field in the machine config file. After creating the file and applying the changes, the mode is converted to a decimal value. You can check the YAML file with the command oc get mc <mc-name> -o yaml.
  3. Make a backup copy of the configuration files.

  4. Apply the configurations in one of two ways:

    • If the cluster is not up yet, after you generate manifest files, add this file to the <installation_directory>/openshift directory, and then continue to create the cluster.

    • If the cluster is already running, apply the file: 

      $ oc apply -f ./99-masters-chrony-configuration.yaml

2.2.2. Adding kernel arguments to nodes

In some special cases, you might want to add kernel arguments to a set of nodes in your cluster. This should only be done with caution and clear understanding of the implications of the arguments you set.

Warning

Improper use of kernel arguments can result in your systems becoming unbootable.

Examples of kernel arguments you could set include:

  • enforcing=0: Configures Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) to run in permissive mode. In permissive mode, the system acts as if SELinux is enforcing the loaded security policy, including labeling objects and emitting access denial entries in the logs, but it does not actually deny any operations. While not supported for production systems, permissive mode can be helpful for debugging.
  • nosmt: Disables symmetric multithreading (SMT) in the kernel. Multithreading allows multiple logical threads for each CPU. You could consider nosmt in multi-tenant environments to reduce risks from potential cross-thread attacks. By disabling SMT, you essentially choose security over performance.

See Kernel.org kernel parameters for a list and descriptions of kernel arguments.

In the following procedure, you create a MachineConfig object that identifies:

  • A set of machines to which you want to add the kernel argument. In this case, machines with a worker role.
  • Kernel arguments that are appended to the end of the existing kernel arguments.
  • A label that indicates where in the list of machine configs the change is applied.

Prerequisites

  • Have administrative privilege to a working OpenShift Container Platform cluster.

Procedure

  1. List existing MachineConfig objects for your OpenShift Container Platform cluster to determine how to label your machine config: 

    $ oc get MachineConfig

    Example output

     NAME                                               GENERATEDBYCONTROLLER                      IGNITIONVERSION   AGE
 00-master                                          5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 00-worker                                          5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-master-container-runtime                        5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-master-kubelet                                  5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-worker-container-runtime                        5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-worker-kubelet                                  5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 99-master-generated-registries                     5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 99-master-ssh                                                                                 3.1.0             77m
 99-worker-generated-registries                     5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 99-worker-ssh                                                                                 3.1.0             77m
 rendered-master-0f314bb55448c47e6776e16e608c5912   5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             42m
 rendered-master-c7761e6162e6c9538b0cdd7eef567d38   5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m

  2. Create a MachineConfig object file that identifies the kernel argument (for example, 05-worker-kernelarg-selinuxpermissive.yaml) 

    apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker1
  name: 05-worker-kernelarg-selinuxpermissive2
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      version: 3.1.0
  kernelArguments:
    - enforcing=03
    1
    Applies the new kernel argument only to worker nodes.
    2
    Named to identify where it fits among the machine configs (05) and what it does (adds a kernel argument to configure SELinux permissive mode).
    3
    Identifies the exact kernel argument as enforcing=0.

  3. Create the new machine config: 

    $ oc create -f 05-worker-kernelarg-selinuxpermissive.yaml

  4. Check the machine configs to see that the new one was added: 

    $ oc get MachineConfig

    Example output

     NAME                                               GENERATEDBYCONTROLLER                      IGNITIONVERSION   AGE
 00-master                                          5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 00-worker                                          5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-master-container-runtime                        5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-master-kubelet                                  5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-worker-container-runtime                        5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 01-worker-kubelet                                  5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m

 05-worker-kernelarg-selinuxpermissive                                                         3.1.0             105s

 99-master-generated-registries                     5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 99-master-ssh                                                                                 3.1.0             77m
 99-worker-generated-registries                     5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m
 99-worker-ssh                                                                                 3.1.0             77m
 rendered-master-0f314bb55448c47e6776e16e608c5912   5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             42m
 rendered-master-c7761e6162e6c9538b0cdd7eef567d38   5ce9351ceb24e721e28cd82de3a44fc7cc27137c   3.1.0             65m

  5. Check the nodes: 

    $ oc get nodes

    Example output

    NAME                           STATUS                     ROLES    AGE   VERSION
ip-10-0-136-161.ec2.internal   Ready                      worker   28m   v1.19.0
ip-10-0-136-243.ec2.internal   Ready                      master   34m   v1.19.0
ip-10-0-141-105.ec2.internal   Ready,SchedulingDisabled   worker   28m   v1.19.0
ip-10-0-142-249.ec2.internal   Ready                      master   34m   v1.19.0
ip-10-0-153-11.ec2.internal    Ready                      worker   28m   v1.19.0
ip-10-0-153-150.ec2.internal   Ready                      master   34m   v1.19.0

    You can see that scheduling on each worker node is disabled as the change is being applied.

  6. Check that the kernel argument worked by going to one of the worker nodes and listing the kernel command line arguments (in /proc/cmdline on the host): 

    $ oc debug node/ip-10-0-141-105.ec2.internal

    Example output

    Starting pod/ip-10-0-141-105ec2internal-debug ...
To use host binaries, run `chroot /host`

sh-4.2# cat /host/proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=/ostree/rhcos-... console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8
rootflags=defaults,prjquota rw root=UUID=fd0... ostree=/ostree/boot.0/rhcos/16...
coreos.oem.id=qemu coreos.oem.id=ec2 ignition.platform.id=ec2 enforcing=0

sh-4.2# exit

    You should see the enforcing=0 argument added to the other kernel arguments.

2.2.3. Adding a real-time kernel to nodes

Some OpenShift Container Platform workloads require a high degree of determinism.While Linux is not a real-time operating system, the Linux real-time kernel includes a preemptive scheduler that provides the operating system with real-time characteristics.

If your OpenShift Container Platform workloads require these real-time characteristics, you can switch your machines to the Linux real-time kernel. For OpenShift Container Platform, 4.6 you can make this switch using a MachineConfig object. Although making the change is as simple as changing a machine config kernelType setting to realtime, there are a few other considerations before making the change:

  • Currently, real-time kernel is supported only on worker nodes, and only for radio access network (RAN) use.
  • The following procedure is fully supported with bare metal installations that use systems that are certified for Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time 8.
  • Real-time support in OpenShift Container Platform is limited to specific subscriptions.
  • The following procedure is also supported for use with Google Cloud Platform.

Prerequisites

  • Have a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster (version 4.4 or later).
  • Log in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

Procedure

  1. Create a machine config for the real-time kernel: Create a YAML file (for example, 99-worker-realtime.yaml) that contains a MachineConfig object for the realtime kernel type. This example tells the cluster to use a real-time kernel for all worker nodes: 

    $ cat << EOF > 99-worker-realtime.yaml
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: "worker"
  name: 99-worker-realtime
spec:
  kernelType: realtime
EOF

  2. Add the machine config to the cluster. Type the following to add the machine config to the cluster: 

    $ oc create -f 99-worker-realtime.yaml

  3. Check the real-time kernel: Once each impacted node reboots, log in to the cluster and run the following commands to make sure that the real-time kernel has replaced the regular kernel for the set of nodes you configured: 

    $ oc get nodes

    Example output

    NAME                                        STATUS  ROLES    AGE   VERSION
ip-10-0-143-147.us-east-2.compute.internal  Ready   worker   103m  v1.19.0
ip-10-0-146-92.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready   worker   101m  v1.19.0
ip-10-0-169-2.us-east-2.compute.internal    Ready   worker   102m  v1.19.0

    $ oc debug node/ip-10-0-143-147.us-east-2.compute.internal

    Example output

    Starting pod/ip-10-0-143-147us-east-2computeinternal-debug ...
To use host binaries, run `chroot /host`

sh-4.4# uname -a
Linux <worker_node> 4.18.0-147.3.1.rt24.96.el8_1.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT RT
        Wed Nov 27 18:29:55 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

    The kernel name contains rt and text “PREEMPT RT” indicates that this is a real-time kernel.

  4. To go back to the regular kernel, delete the MachineConfig object: 

    $ oc delete -f 99-worker-realtime.yaml

2.2.4. Configuring journald settings

If you need to configure settings for the journald service on OpenShift Container Platform nodes, you can do that by modifying the appropriate configuration file and passing the file to the appropriate pool of nodes as a machine config.

This procedure describes how to modify journald rate limiting settings in the /etc/systemd/journald.conf file and apply them to worker nodes. See the journald.conf man page for information on how to use that file.

Prerequisites

  • Have a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster (version 4.4 or later).
  • Log in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

Procedure

  1. Create the contents of the /etc/systemd/journald.conf file and encode it as base64. For example: 

    $ cat > /tmp/jrnl.conf <<EOF
# Disable rate limiting
RateLimitInterval=1s
RateLimitBurst=10000
Storage=volatile
Compress=no
MaxRetentionSec=30s
EOF

  2. Convert the temporary journal.conf file to base64 and save it into a variable (jrnl_cnf): 

    $ export jrnl_cnf=$( cat /tmp/jrnl.conf | base64 -w0 )
$ echo $jrnl_cnf
IyBEaXNhYmxlIHJhdGUgbGltaXRpbmcKUmF0ZUxpbWl0SW50ZXJ2YWw9MXMKUmF0ZUxpbWl0QnVyc3Q9MTAwMDAKU3RvcmFnZT12b2xhdGlsZQpDb21wcmVzcz1ubwpNYXhSZXRlbnRpb25TZWM9MzBzCg==

  3. Create the machine config, including the encoded contents of journald.conf (jrnl_cnf variable): 

    $ cat > /tmp/40-worker-custom-journald.yaml <<EOF
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker
  name: 40-worker-custom-journald
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      config: {}
      security:
        tls: {}
      timeouts: {}
      version: 3.1.0
    networkd: {}
    passwd: {}
    storage:
      files:
      - contents:
          source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,${jrnl_cnf}
          verification: {}
        filesystem: root
        mode: 420
        path: /etc/systemd/journald.conf
    systemd: {}
  osImageURL: ""
EOF

  4. Apply the machine config to the pool: 

    $ oc apply -f /tmp/40-worker-custom-journald.yaml

  5. Check that the new machine config is applied and that the nodes are not in a degraded state. It might take a few minutes. The worker pool will show the updates in progress, as each node successfully has the new machine config applied: 

    $ oc get machineconfigpool
NAME   CONFIG             UPDATED UPDATING DEGRADED MACHINECOUNT READYMACHINECOUNT UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT AGE
master rendered-master-35 True    False    False    3            3                 3                   0                    34m
worker rendered-worker-d8 False   True     False    3            1                 1                   0                    34m

  6. To check that the change was applied, you can log in to a worker node: 

    $ oc get node | grep worker
ip-10-0-0-1.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    worker   39m   v0.0.0-master+$Format:%h$
$ oc debug node/ip-10-0-0-1.us-east-2.compute.internal
Starting pod/ip-10-0-141-142us-east-2computeinternal-debug ...
...
sh-4.2# chroot /host
sh-4.4# cat /etc/systemd/journald.conf
# Disable rate limiting
RateLimitInterval=1s
RateLimitBurst=10000
Storage=volatile
Compress=no
MaxRetentionSec=30s
sh-4.4# exit

2.2.5. Configuring container image registry settings

Settings that define the registries that OpenShift Container Platform uses to get container images are held in the /etc/containers/registries.conf file by default. In that file, you can set registries to not require authentication (insecure), point to mirrored registries, or set which registries are searched for unqualified container image requests.

Rather than change registries.conf directly, you can drop configuration files into the /etc/containers/registries.conf.d directory that are then automatically appended to the system’s existing registries.conf settings.

This procedure describes how to create a registries.d file (/etc/containers/registries/99-worker-unqualified-search-registries.conf) that adds quay.io as an unqualified search registry (one that OpenShift Container Platform can search when it tries to pull an image name that does not include the registry name). It includes base64-encoded content that you can examine as follows: 

$ echo dW5xdWFsaWZpZWQtc2VhcmNoLXJlZ2lzdHJpZXMgPSBbJ3JlZ2lzdHJ5LmFjY2Vzcy5yZWRoYXQuY29tJywgJ2RvY2tlci5pbycsICdxdWF5LmlvJ10K | base64 -d
unqualified-search-registries = ['registry.access.redhat.com', 'docker.io', 'quay.io']

See the containers-registries.conf man page for the format for the registries.conf and registries.d directory files.

Prerequisites

  • Have a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster (version 4.4 or later).
  • Log in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

Procedure

  1. Create a YAML file (myregistry.yaml) to hold the contents of the /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/99-worker-unqualified-search-registries.conf file, including the encoded base64 contents for that file. For example: 

    $ cat > /tmp/myregistry.yaml <<EOF
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker
  name: 99-worker-unqualified-search-registries
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      version: 3.1.0
    storage:
      files:
      - contents:
          source: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,dW5xdWFsaWZpZWQtc2VhcmNoLXJlZ2lzdHJpZXMgPSBbJ3JlZ2lzdHJ5LmFjY2Vzcy5yZWRoYXQuY29tJywgJ2RvY2tlci5pbycsICdxdWF5LmlvJ10K
        filesystem: root
        mode: 0644
        path: /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/99-worker-unqualified-search-registries.conf
EOF

  2. Apply the machine config to the pool: 

    $ oc apply -f /tmp/myregistry.yaml

  3. Check that the new machine config has been applied and that the nodes are not in a degraded state. It might take a few minutes. The worker pool will show the updates in progress, as each machine successfully has the new machine config applied: 

    $ oc get machineconfigpool

    Example output

    NAME   CONFIG             UPDATED UPDATING DEGRADED MACHINECOUNT READYMACHINECOUNT UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT AGE
master rendered-master-35 True    False    False    3            3                 3                   0                    34m
worker rendered-worker-d8 False   True     False    3            1                 1                   0                    34m

  4. To check that the change was applied, you can log in to a worker node: 

    $ oc get node | grep worker

    Example output

    ip-10-0-0-1.us-east-2.compute.internal   Ready    worker   39m   v0.0.0-master+$Format:%h$

    $ oc debug node/ip-10-0-0-1.us-east-2.compute.internal

    Example output

    Starting pod/ip-10-0-141-142us-east-2computeinternal-debug ...
...

    sh-4.2# chroot /host
sh-4.4# cat /etc/containers/registries.conf.d/99-worker-unqualified-search-registries.conf
unqualified-search-registries = ['registry.access.redhat.com', 'docker.io', 'quay.io']
sh-4.4# exit

2.2.6. Adding extensions to RHCOS

RHCOS is a minimal container-oriented RHEL operating system, designed to provide a common set of capabilities to OpenShift Container Platform clusters across all platforms. While adding software packages to RHCOS systems is generally discouraged, the MCO provides an extensions feature you can use to add a minimal set of features to RHCOS nodes.

Currently, the following extension is available:

  • usbguard: Adding the usbguard extension protects RHCOS systems from attacks from intrusive USB devices. See USBGuard for details.

The following procedure describes how to use a machine config to add one or more extensions to your RHCOS nodes.

Prerequisites

  • Have a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster (version 4.6 or later).
  • Log in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

Procedure

  1. Create a machine config for extensions: Create a YAML file (for example, 80-extensions.yaml) that contains a MachineConfig extensions object. This example tells the cluster to add the usbguard extension. 

    $ cat << EOF > 80-extensions.yaml
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfig
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker
  name: 80-worker-extensions
spec:
  config:
    ignition:
      version: 3.1.0
  extensions:
    - usbguard
EOF

  2. Add the machine config to the cluster. Type the following to add the machine config to the cluster: 

    $ oc create -f 80-extensions.yaml

    This sets all worker nodes to have rpm packages for usbguard installed.

  3. Check that the extensions were applied: 

    $ oc get machineconfig 80-worker-extensions

    Example output

    NAME                 GENERATEDBYCONTROLLER IGNITIONVERSION AGE
80-worker-extensions                       3.1.0           57s

  4. Check that the new machine config is now applied and that the nodes are not in a degraded state. It may take a few minutes. The worker pool will show the updates in progress, as each machine successfully has the new machine config applied: 

    $ oc get machineconfigpool

    Example output

    NAME   CONFIG             UPDATED UPDATING DEGRADED MACHINECOUNT READYMACHINECOUNT UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT AGE
master rendered-master-35 True    False    False    3            3                 3                   0                    34m
worker rendered-worker-d8 False   True     False    3            1                 1                   0                    34m

  5. Check the extensions. To check that the extension was applied, run: 

    $ oc get node | grep worker

    Example output

    NAME                                        STATUS  ROLES    AGE   VERSION
ip-10-0-169-2.us-east-2.compute.internal    Ready   worker   102m  v1.18.3

    $ oc debug node/ip-10-0-169-2.us-east-2.compute.internal

    Example output

    ...
To use host binaries, run `chroot /host`
sh-4.4# chroot /host
sh-4.4# rpm -q usbguard
usbguard-0.7.4-4.el8.x86_64.rpm

2.2.7. Loading custom firmware blobs in the machine config manifest

Because the default location for firmware blobs in /usr/lib is read-only, you can locate a custom firmware blob by updating the search path. This enables you to load local firmware blobs in the machine config manifest when the blobs are not managed by RHCOS.

Procedure

  1. Create a Butane config file, 98-worker-firmware-blob.bu, that updates the search path so that it is root-owned and writable to local storage. The following example places the custom blob file from your local workstation onto nodes under /var/lib/firmware.

    Note

    See "Creating machine configs with Butane" for information about Butane.

    Butane config file for custom firmware blob

    variant: openshift
version: 4.9.0
metadata:
  labels:
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/role: worker
  name: 98-worker-firmware-blob
storage:
  files:
  - path: /var/lib/firmware/<package_name> 1
    contents:
      local: <package_name> 2
    mode: 0644 3
openshift:
  kernel_arguments:
    - 'firmware_class.path=/var/lib/firmware' 4

    1
    Sets the path on the node where the firmware package is copied to.
    2
    Specifies a file with contents that are read from a local file directory on the system running Butane. The path of the local file is relative to a files-dir directory, which must be specified by using the --files-dir option with Butane in the following step.
    3
    Sets the permissions for the file on the RHCOS node. It is recommended to set 0644 permissions.
    4
    The firmware_class.path parameter customizes the kernel search path of where to look for the custom firmware blob that was copied from your local workstation onto the root file system of the node. This example uses /var/lib/firmware as the customized path.

  2. Run Butane to generate a MachineConfig object file that uses a copy of the firmware blob on your local workstation named 98-worker-firmware-blob.yaml. The firmware blob contains the configuration to be delivered to the nodes. The following example uses the --files-dir option to specify the directory on your workstation where the local file or files are located: 

    $ butane 98-worker-firmware-blob.bu -o 98-worker-firmware-blob.yaml --files-dir <directory_including_package_name>

  3. Apply the configurations to the nodes in one of two ways:

    • If the cluster is not running yet, after you generate manifest files, add the MachineConfig object file to the <installation_directory>/openshift directory, and then continue to create the cluster.

    • If the cluster is already running, apply the file: 

      $ oc apply -f 98-worker-firmware-blob.yaml

      A MachineConfig object YAML file is created for you to finish configuring your machines.

  4. Save the Butane config in case you need to update the MachineConfig object in the future.

2.3. Configuring MCO-related custom resources

Besides managing MachineConfig objects, the MCO manages two custom resources (CRs): KubeletConfig and ContainerRuntimeConfig. Those CRs let you change node-level settings impacting how the Kubelet and CRI-O container runtime services behave.

2.3.1. Creating a KubeletConfig CRD to edit kubelet parameters

The kubelet configuration is currently serialized as an Ignition configuration, so it can be directly edited. However, there is also a new kubelet-config-controller added to the Machine Config Controller (MCC). This allows you to create a KubeletConfig custom resource (CR) to edit the kubelet parameters.

Note

As the fields in the kubeletConfig object are passed directly to the kubelet from upstream Kubernetes, the kubelet validates those values directly. Invalid values in the kubeletConfig object might cause cluster nodes to become unavailable. For valid values, see the Kubernetes documentation.

Procedure

  1. View the available machine configuration objects that you can select: 

    $ oc get machineconfig

    By default, the two kubelet-related configs are 01-master-kubelet and 01-worker-kubelet.

  2. To check the current value of max pods per node, run: 

    # oc describe node <node-ip> | grep Allocatable -A6

    Look for value: pods: <value>.

    For example: 

    # oc describe node ip-172-31-128-158.us-east-2.compute.internal | grep Allocatable -A6

    Example output

    Allocatable:
 attachable-volumes-aws-ebs:  25
 cpu:                         3500m
 hugepages-1Gi:               0
 hugepages-2Mi:               0
 memory:                      15341844Ki
 pods:                        250

  3. To set the max pods per node on the worker nodes, create a custom resource file that contains the kubelet configuration. For example, change-maxPods-cr.yaml: 

    apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: KubeletConfig
metadata:
  name: set-max-pods
spec:
  machineConfigPoolSelector:
    matchLabels:
      custom-kubelet: large-pods
  kubeletConfig:
    maxPods: 500

    The rate at which the kubelet talks to the API server depends on queries per second (QPS) and burst values. The default values, 50 for kubeAPIQPS and 100 for kubeAPIBurst, are good enough if there are limited pods running on each node. Updating the kubelet QPS and burst rates is recommended if there are enough CPU and memory resources on the node: 

    apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: KubeletConfig
metadata:
  name: set-max-pods
spec:
  machineConfigPoolSelector:
    matchLabels:
      custom-kubelet: large-pods
  kubeletConfig:
    maxPods: <pod_count>
    kubeAPIBurst: <burst_rate>
    kubeAPIQPS: <QPS>

    1. Update the machine config pool for workers with the label: 

      $ oc label machineconfigpool worker custom-kubelet=large-pods

    2. Create the KubeletConfig object: 

      $ oc create -f change-maxPods-cr.yaml

    3. Verify that the KubeletConfig object is created: 

      $ oc get kubeletconfig

      This should return set-max-pods.

      Depending on the number of worker nodes in the cluster, wait for the worker nodes to be rebooted one by one. For a cluster with 3 worker nodes, this could take about 10 to 15 minutes.

  4. Check for maxPods changing for the worker nodes: 

    $ oc describe node

    1. Verify the change by running: 

      $ oc get kubeletconfigs set-max-pods -o yaml

      This should show a status of True and type:Success

Procedure

By default, only one machine is allowed to be unavailable when applying the kubelet-related configuration to the available worker nodes. For a large cluster, it can take a long time for the configuration change to be reflected. At any time, you can adjust the number of machines that are updating to speed up the process.

  1. Edit the worker machine config pool: 

    $ oc edit machineconfigpool worker

  2. Set maxUnavailable to the desired value. 

    spec:
  maxUnavailable: <node_count>
    Important

    When setting the value, consider the number of worker nodes that can be unavailable without affecting the applications running on the cluster.

2.3.2. Creating a ContainerRuntimeConfig CR to edit CRI-O parameters

The ContainerRuntimeConfig custom resource definition (CRD) provides a structured way of changing settings associated with the OpenShift Container Platform CRI-O runtime. Using a ContainerRuntimeConfig custom resource (CR), you select the configuration values you want and the MCO handles rebuilding the crio.conf and storage.conf configuration files.

You can modify the following settings by using a ContainerRuntimeConfig CR:

  • PIDs limit: The pidsLimit parameter sets the CRI-O pids_limit parameter, which is maximum number of processes allowed in a container. The default is 1024 (pids_limit = 1024).
  • Log level: The logLevel parameter sets the CRI-O log_level parameter, which is the level of verbosity for log messages. The default is info (log_level = info). Other options include fatal, panic, error, warn, debug, and trace.
  • Overlay size: The overlaySize parameter sets the CRI-O Overlay storage driver size parameter, which is the maximum size of a container image.
  • Maximum log size: The logSizeMax parameter sets the CRI-O log_size_max parameter, which is the maximum size allowed for the container log file. The default is unlimited (log_size_max = -1). If set to a positive number, it must be at least 8192 to not be smaller than the ConMon read buffer. ConMon is a program that monitors communications between a container manager (such as Podman or CRI-O) and the OCI runtime (such as runc or crun) for a single container.

The following procedure describes how to change CRI-O settings using the ContainerRuntimeConfig CR.

Procedure

  1. To raise the pidsLimit to 2048, set the logLevel to debug, and set the overlaySize to 8 GB, create a CR file (for example, overlay-size.yaml) that contains that setting: 

    $ cat << EOF > /tmp/overlay-size.yaml
apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: ContainerRuntimeConfig
metadata:
 name: overlay-size
spec:
 machineConfigPoolSelector:
   matchLabels:
     custom-crio: overlay-size
 containerRuntimeConfig:
   pidsLimit: 2048
   logLevel: debug
   overlaySize: 8G
EOF

  2. To apply the ContainerRuntimeConfig object settings, run: 

    $ oc create -f /tmp/overlay-size.yaml

  3. To verify that the YAML file applied the settings, run the following command: 

    $ oc get ContainerRuntimeConfig
NAME           AGE
overlay-size   3m19s

  4. To edit a pool of machines, such as worker, run the following command to open a machine config pool: 

    $ oc edit machineconfigpool worker

  5. Check that a new containerruntime object has appeared under the machineconfigs: 

    $ oc get machineconfigs | grep containerrun
99-worker-generated-containerruntime   2c9371fbb673b97a6fe8b1c52691999ed3a1bfc2  3.1.0  31s

  6. Monitor the machine config pool as the changes are rolled into the machines until all are shown as ready: 

    $ oc get mcp worker

    Example output

    NAME    CONFIG               UPDATED  UPDATING  DEGRADED  MACHINECOUNT  READYMACHINECOUNT  UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT  DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT  AGE
worker  rendered-worker-169  False    True      False     3             1                  1                    0                     9h

  7. Open an oc debug session to a worker node and run chroot /host.

  8. Verify the changes by running: 

    $ crio config | egrep 'log_level|pids_limit'

    Example output

    pids_limit = 2048
log_level = "debug"

    $ head -n 7 /etc/containers/storage.conf

    Example output

    [storage]
  driver = "overlay"
  runroot = "/var/run/containers/storage"
  graphroot = "/var/lib/containers/storage"
  [storage.options]
    additionalimagestores = []
    size = "8G"

2.3.3. Setting the default maximum container root partition size for Overlay with CRI-O

The root partition of each container shows all of the available disk space of the underlying host. Follow this guidance to set a maximum partition size for the root disk of all containers.

To configure the maximum Overlay size, as well as other CRI-O options like the log level and PID limit, you can create the following ContainerRuntimeConfig custom resource definition (CRD): 

apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: ContainerRuntimeConfig
metadata:
 name: overlay-size
spec:
 machineConfigPoolSelector:
   matchLabels:
     custom-crio: overlay-size
 containerRuntimeConfig:
   pidsLimit: 2048
   logLevel: debug
   overlaySize: 8G

Procedure

  1. Create the configuration object: 

    $ oc apply -f overlaysize.yml

  2. To apply the new CRI-O configuration to your worker nodes, edit the worker machine config pool: 

    $ oc edit machineconfigpool worker

  3. Add the custom-crio label based on the matchLabels name you set in the ContainerRuntimeConfig CRD: 

    apiVersion: machineconfiguration.openshift.io/v1
kind: MachineConfigPool
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: "2020-07-09T15:46:34Z"
  generation: 3
  labels:
    custom-crio: overlay-size
    machineconfiguration.openshift.io/mco-built-in: ""

  4. Save the changes, then view the machine configs: 

    $ oc get machineconfigs

    New 99-worker-generated-containerruntime and rendered-worker-xyz objects are created:

    Example output

    99-worker-generated-containerruntime  4173030d89fbf4a7a0976d1665491a4d9a6e54f1   2.2.0             7m42s
rendered-worker-xyz                   4173030d89fbf4a7a0976d1665491a4d9a6e54f1   2.2.0             7m36s

  5. After those objects are created, monitor the machine config pool for the changes to be applied: 

    $ oc get mcp worker

    The worker nodes show UPDATING as True, as well as the number of machines, the number updated, and other details:

    Example output

    NAME   CONFIG              UPDATED   UPDATING   DEGRADED  MACHINECOUNT  READYMACHINECOUNT  UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT   DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT   AGE
worker rendered-worker-xyz False True False     3             2                   2                    0                      20h

    When complete, the worker nodes transition back to UPDATING as False, and the UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT number matches the MACHINECOUNT:

    Example output

    NAME   CONFIG              UPDATED   UPDATING   DEGRADED  MACHINECOUNT  READYMACHINECOUNT  UPDATEDMACHINECOUNT   DEGRADEDMACHINECOUNT   AGE
worker   rendered-worker-xyz   True      False      False      3         3            3             0           20h

    Looking at a worker machine, you see that the new 8 GB max size configuration is applied to all of the workers:

    Example output

    head -n 7 /etc/containers/storage.conf
[storage]
  driver = "overlay"
  runroot = "/var/run/containers/storage"
  graphroot = "/var/lib/containers/storage"
  [storage.options]
    additionalimagestores = []
    size = "8G"

    Looking inside a container, you see that the root partition is now 8 GB:

    Example output

    ~ $ df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
overlay                   8.0G      8.0K      8.0G   0% /