Chapter 2. Installation guide for 3scale on OpenShift

2.1. Introduction

This guide walks you through steps to deploy Red Hat 3scale API Management - On-premises 2.6 on OpenShift.

The 3scale solution for on-premises deployment is composed of:

  • Two API gateways: embedded APIcast
  • One 3scale Admin Portal and Developer Portal with persistent storage

There are two ways to deploy a 3scale solution:

Note

Whether deploying 3scale using the operator or templates, you must first Section 2.4.2, “Configuring registry authentication in OpenShift”.

2.1.1. Prerequisites

  • You must configure 3scale servers for UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

2.2. System requirements

This section lists the requirements for the 3scale - OpenShift template.

2.2.1. Environment requirements

3scale requires an environment specified in supported configurations.

Persistent volumes:

  • 3 RWO (ReadWriteOnce) persistent volumes for Redis and MySQL persistence
  • 1 RWX (ReadWriteMany) persistent volume for CMS and System-app Assets

The RWX persistent volume must be configured to be group writable. For a list of persistent volume types that support the required access modes, see the OpenShift documentation .

2.2.2. Hardware requirements

Hardware requirements depend on your usage needs. Red Hat recommends that you test and configure your environment to meet your specific requirements. Following are the recommendations when configuring your environment for 3scale on OpenShift:

  • Compute optimized nodes for deployments on cloud environments (AWS c4.2xlarge or Azure Standard_F8).
  • Very large installations may require a separate node (AWS M4 series or Azure Av2 series) for Redis if memory requirements exceed your current node’s available RAM.
  • Separate nodes between routing and compute tasks.
  • Dedicated computing nodes for 3scale specific tasks.
  • Set the PUMA_WORKERS variable of the backend listener to the number of cores in your compute node.

2.3. Configuring nodes and entitlements

Before you can deploy 3scale on OpenShift, you must configure your nodes and the entitlements required for your environment to fetch images from the Red Hat Container Registry.

Perform the following steps to configure the entitlements:

  1. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) on each of your nodes.
  2. Register your nodes with Red Hat using the Red Hat Subscription Manager (RHSM), via the interface or the command line.
  3. Attach your nodes to your 3scale subscription using RHSM.
  4. Install OpenShift on your nodes, complying with the following requirements:

  5. Install the OpenShift command line interface.
  6. Enable access to the rhel-7-server-3scale-amp-2.6-rpms repository using the subscription manager:

    sudo subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-3scale-amp-2.6-rpms
  7. Install the 3scale template called 3scale-amp-template. This will be saved at /opt/amp/templates.

    sudo yum install 3scale-amp-template

2.4. Deploying 3scale on OpenShift using a template

This section describes how to deploy 3scale on OpenShift using a template.

2.4.1. Prerequisites

Follow these procedures to install 3scale on OpenShift using a .yml template:

2.4.2. Configuring registry authentication in OpenShift

You must configure registry authentication to the Red Hat container registry before you can use Red Hat 3scale API Management OpenShift image stream. Follow the instruction below to configure the registration to container registry.

  1. Log in to the OpenShift server as an administrator, as follows:

    oc login -u system:admin
  2. Log in to the OpenShift project where you will be installing the image streams. Red Hat recommends that you use the openshift project for the 3scale OpenShift image streams.

    Note: It will have a prefix that is a fixed, random string.

    oc project your-openshift-project
  3. Create a docker-registry secret using the credentials you created in Section 2.4.3, “Creating registry service accounts”.

    Note
    • Replace your-registry-service-account-username with the username created in the format, 12345678|username.
    • Replace your-registry-service-account-password with the password string below the username, under the Token Information tab.
    • Create a docker-registry secret for every new namespace where the image streams reside and which use registry.redhat.io.
    $ oc create secret docker-registry threescale-registry-auth \
      --docker-server=registry.redhat.io \
      --docker-username="your-registry-service-account-username" \
      --docker-password="your-registry-service-account-password"

2.4.3. Creating registry service accounts

To use container images from registry.redhat.io in a shared environment with 3scale 2.6 deployed on OpenShift, you must use a Registry Service Account instead of an individual user’s Customer Portal credentials.

Note

It is a requirement for 3scale 2.6 that you follow the steps outlined below before deploying either on OpenShift using a template or via the operator, as both options use registry authentication.

  1. Navigate to the Registry Service Accounts page and log in.
  2. Click New Service Account.
  3. Fill in the form on the Create a New Registry Service Account page.

    1. Add a name for the service account.

      Note: You will see a fixed-length, randomly generated number string before the form field.

  4. Enter a Description.
  5. Click Create.
  6. Navigate back to your Service Accounts.
  7. Click the Service Account you created.
  8. Make a note of the username, including the prefix string, for example 12345678|username, and your password.

    1. This username and password will be used to log in to registry.redhat.io.
Note

There are tabs available on the Token Information page that show you how to use the authentication token. For example, the Token Information tab shows the username in the format 12345678|username and the password string below it.

2.4.4. Modifying registry service accounts

Service accounts can be modified or deleted. This can done from the Registry Service Account page using the pop-up menu to the right of each authentication token in the table.

Warning

The regeneration or removal of service accounts will impact systems that are using the token to authenticate and retrieve content from registry.redhat.io.

A description for each function is as follows:

  • Regenerate token: Allows an authorized user to reset the password associated with the Service Account.

    Note: The username for the Service Account cannot be changed.

  • Update Description: Allows an authorized user to update the description for the Service Account.
  • Delete Account: Allows an authorized user to remove the Service Account.

For more information see:

2.4.5. Importing the 3scale template

Note
  • Wildcard routes have been removed in 3scale 2.6.

    • This functionality is handled by Zync in the background.
  • When API providers are created, updated, or deleted, routes automatically reflect those changes.

Perform the following steps to import the 3scale template into your OpenShift cluster:

  1. From a terminal session log in to OpenShift as the cluster administrator:

    oc login
  2. Select your project, or create a new project:

    oc project <project_name>
    oc new-project <project_name>
  3. Enter the oc new-app command:

    1. Specify the --file option with the path to the amp.yml file you downloaded as part of Section 2.3, “Configuring nodes and entitlements”.
    2. Specify the --param option with the WILDCARD_DOMAIN parameter set to the domain of your OpenShift cluster:

      oc new-app --file /opt/amp/templates/amp.yml --param WILDCARD_DOMAIN=<WILDCARD_DOMAIN>

      The terminal shows the master and tenant URLs and credentials for your newly created 3scale Admin Portal. This output should include the following information:

      • master admin username
      • master password
      • master token information
      • tenant username
      • tenant password
      • tenant token information
  4. Log in to https://user-admin.3scale-project.example.com as admin/xXxXyz123.

    * With parameters:
    
     * ADMIN_PASSWORD=xXxXyz123 # generated
     * ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
     * TENANT_NAME=user
    
     * MASTER_NAME=master
     * MASTER_USER=master
     * MASTER_PASSWORD=xXxXyz123 # generated
    
    --> Success
    Access your application via route 'user-admin.3scale-project.example.com'
    Access your application via route 'master-admin.3scale-project.example.com'
    Access your application via route 'backend-user.3scale-project.example.com'
    Access your application via route 'user.3scale-project.example.com'
    Access your application via route 'api-user-apicast-staging.3scale-project.example.com'
    Access your application via route 'api-user-apicast-production.3scale-project.example.com'
  5. Make a note of these details for future reference.

    Note

    Wait for 3scale to fully deploy on OpenShift for your login and credentials to work.

2.4.6. Getting the Admin Portal URL

When you deploy 3scale using the template, a default tenant is created, with a fixed URL: 3scale-admin.${wildcardDomain}

The dashboard shows the new portal URL of the tenant. As an example, if the <wildCardDomain> is 3scale-project.example.com, the Admin Portal URL is: https://3scale-admin.3scale-project.example.com.

The wildcardDomain is the <wildCardDomain> parameter you provided during installation. Open this unique URL in a browser using the this command:

xdg-open https://3scale-admin.3scale-project.example.com

Optionally, you can create new tenants on the MASTER portal URL: master.${wildcardDomain}

2.4.7. Configuring SMTP Variables (Optional)

OpenShift uses email to send notifications and invite new users. If you intend to use these features, you must provide your own SMTP server and configure SMTP variables in the SMTP config map.

Perform the following steps to configure the SMTP variables in the SMTP config map:

  1. If you are not already logged in, log in to OpenShift:

    oc login
    1. Configure variables for the SMTP config map. Use the oc patch command, specify the configmap and smtp objects, followed by the -p option and write the following new values in JSON for the following variables:

      VariableDescription

      address

      Allows you to specify a remote mail server as a relay

      username

      Specify your mail server username

      password

      Specify your mail server password

      domain

      Specify a HELO domain

      port

      Specify the port on which the mail server is listening for new connections

      authentication

      Specify the authentication type of your mail server. Allowed values: plain ( sends the password in the clear), login (send password Base64 encoded), or cram_md5 (exchange information and a cryptographic Message Digest 5 algorithm to hash important information)

      openssl.verify.mode

      Specify how OpenSSL checks certificates when using TLS. Allowed values: none, peer, client_once, or fail_if_no_peer_cert.

      Example

      oc patch configmap smtp -p '{"data":{"address":"<your_address>"}}'
      oc patch configmap smtp -p '{"data":{"username":"<your_username>"}}'
      oc patch configmap smtp -p '{"data":{"password":"<your_password>"}}'
  2. After you have set the configmap variables, redeploy the system-app and system-sidekiq pods:

    oc rollout latest dc/system-app
    oc rollout latest dc/system-sidekiq

2.5. 3scale template parameters

Template parameters configure environment variables of the 3scale (amp.yml) template during and after deployment.

NameDescriptionDefault ValueRequired?

APP_LABEL

Used for object app labels

3scale-api-management

yes

ZYNC_DATABASE_PASSWORD

Password for the PostgreSQL connection user. Generated randomly if not provided.

N/A

yes

ZYNC_SECRET_KEY_BASE

Secret key base for Zync. Generated randomly if not provided.

N/A

yes

ZYNC_AUTHENTICATION_TOKEN

Authentication token for Zync. Generated randomly if not provided.

N/A

yes

AMP_RELEASE

3scale release tag.

2.6.0

yes

ADMIN_PASSWORD

A randomly generated 3scale administrator account password.

N/A

yes

ADMIN_USERNAME

3scale administrator account username.

admin

yes

APICAST_ACCESS_TOKEN

Read Only Access Token that APIcast will use to download its configuration.

N/A

yes

ADMIN_ACCESS_TOKEN

Admin Access Token with all scopes and write permissions for API access.

N/A

no

WILDCARD_DOMAIN

Root domain for the wildcard routes. For example, a root domain example.com will generate 3scale-admin.example.com.

N/A

yes

TENANT_NAME

Tenant name under the root that Admin Portal will be available with -admin suffix.

3scale

yes

MYSQL_USER

Username for MySQL user that will be used for accessing the database.

mysql

yes

MYSQL_PASSWORD

Password for the MySQL user.

N/A

yes

MYSQL_DATABASE

Name of the MySQL database accessed.

system

yes

MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD

Password for Root user.

N/A

yes

SYSTEM_BACKEND_USERNAME

Internal 3scale API username for internal 3scale api auth.

3scale_api_user

yes

SYSTEM_BACKEND_PASSWORD

Internal 3scale API password for internal 3scale api auth.

N/A

yes

REDIS_IMAGE

Redis image to use

registry.redhat.io/rhscl/redis-32-rhel7:3.2

yes

MYSQL_IMAGE

Mysql image to use

registry.redhat.io/rhscl/mysql-57-rhel7:5.7

yes

MEMCACHED_IMAGE

Memcached image to use

registry.redhat.io/3scale-amp20/memcached:1.4.15

yes

POSTGRESQL_IMAGE

Postgresql image to use

registry.redhat.io/rhscl/postgresql-10-rhel7

yes

AMP_SYSTEM_IMAGE

3scale System image to use

registry.redhat.io/3scale-amp26/system

yes

AMP_BACKEND_IMAGE

3scale Backend image to use

registry.redhat.io/3scale-amp26/backend

yes

AMP_APICAST_IMAGE

3scale APIcast image to use

registry.redhat.io/3scale-amp26/apicast-gateway

yes

AMP_ZYNC_IMAGE

3scale Zync image to use

registry.redhat.io/3scale-amp26/zync

yes

SYSTEM_BACKEND_SHARED_SECRET

Shared secret to import events from backend to system.

N/A

yes

SYSTEM_APP_SECRET_KEY_BASE

System application secret key base

N/A

yes

APICAST_MANAGEMENT_API

Scope of the APIcast Management API. Can be disabled, status or debug. At least status required for health checks.

status

no

APICAST_OPENSSL_VERIFY

Turn on/off the OpenSSL peer verification when downloading the configuration. Can be set to true/false.

false

no

APICAST_RESPONSE_CODES

Enable logging response codes in APIcast.

true

no

APICAST_REGISTRY_URL

A URL which resolves to the location of APIcast policies

http://apicast-staging:8090/policies

yes

MASTER_USER

Master administrator account username

master

yes

MASTER_NAME

The subdomain value for the master Admin Portal, will be appended with the -master suffix

master

yes

MASTER_PASSWORD

A randomly generated master administrator password

N/A

yes

MASTER_ACCESS_TOKEN

A token with master level permissions for API calls

N/A

yes

IMAGESTREAM_TAG_IMPORT_INSECURE

Set to true if the server may bypass certificate verification or connect directly over HTTP during image import.

false

yes

2.6. Using APIcast with 3scale on OpenShift

APIcast is available with API Manager for 3scale Hosted, and in on-premises installations in OpenShift Container Platform. The configuration procedures are different for both. This section explains how to deploy APIcast with API Manager on OpenShift.

2.6.1. Deploying APIcast templates on an existing OpenShift cluster containing 3scale

3scale OpenShift templates contain two embedded APIcast by default. If you require more API gateways, or require separate APIcast deployments, you can deploy additional APIcast templates on your OpenShift cluster.

Perform the following steps to deploy additional API gateways on your OpenShift cluster:

  1. Create an access token with the following configurations:

    • Scoped to Account Management API
    • Having read-only access
  2. Log in to your APIcast cluster:

    oc login
  3. Create a secret that allows APIcast to communicate with 3scale. Specify new-basicauth, apicast-configuration-url-secret, and the --password parameter with the access token, tenant name, and wildcard domain of your 3scale deployment:

    oc secret new-basicauth apicast-configuration-url-secret --password=https://<APICAST_ACCESS_TOKEN>@<TENANT_NAME>-admin.<WILDCARD_DOMAIN>
    Note

    TENANT_NAME is the name under the root that the Admin Portal will be available with. The default value for TENANT_NAME is 3scale. If you used a custom value in your 3scale deployment, you must use that value here.

  4. Import the APIcast template using the oc new-app command, specifying the --file option with the apicast.yml file:

    oc new-app --file /opt/amp/templates/apicast.yml
    Note

    First install the APIcast template as described in Section 2.3, “Configuring nodes and entitlements”.

2.6.2. Connecting APIcast from a different OpenShift cluster

If you deploy APIcast on a different OpenShift cluster, outside your 3scale cluster, you must connect through the public route:

  1. Create an access token with the following configurations:

    • Scoped to Account Management API
    • Having read-only access
  2. Log in to your APIcast cluster:

    oc login
  3. Create a secret that allows APIcast to communicate with 3scale. Specify new-basicauth, apicast-configuration-url-secret, and the --password parameter with the access token, tenant name, and wildcard domain of your 3scale deployment:

    oc secret new-basicauth apicast-configuration-url-secret --password=https://<APICAST_ACCESS_TOKEN>@<TENANT_NAME>-admin.<WILDCARD_DOMAIN>
    Note

    TENANT_NAME is the name under the root that the Admin Portal will be available with. The default value for TENANT_NAME is 3scale. If you used a custom value in your 3scale deployment, you must use that value.

  4. Deploy APIcast on a different OpenShift cluster using the oc new-app command. Specify the --file option and the to path to your apicast.yml file:

    oc new-app --file /path/to/file/apicast.yml

2.6.3. Changing the default behavior for embedded APIcast

In external APIcast deployments, you can modify default behavior by changing the template parameters in the APIcast OpenShift template.

In embedded APIcast deployments, 3scale and APIcast are deployed from a single template. You must modify environment variables after deployment if you wish to change the default behavior for the embedded APIcast deployments.

2.6.4. Connecting multiple APIcast deployments on a single OpenShift cluster over internal service routes

If you deploy multiple APIcast gateways into the same OpenShift cluster, you can configure them to connect using internal routes through the backend listener service instead of the default external route configuration.

You must have an OpenShift SDN plugin installed to connect over internal service routes. How you connect depends on which SDN you have installed:

ovs-subnet

If you are using the ovs-subnet OpenShift Software-Defined Networking (SDN) plugin, perform the following steps to connect over internal routes:

  1. If not already logged in, log in to your OpenShift cluster:

    oc login
  2. Enter the following command to display the backend-listener route URL:

    oc get route backend
  3. Enter the oc new-app command with the path to apicast.yml:

    oc new-app -f apicast.yml

ovs-multitenant

If you are using the ovs-multitenant OpenShift SDN plugin, perform the following steps to connect over internal routes:

  1. If not already logged in, log in to your OpenShift cluster:

    oc login
  2. As admin, specify the oadm command with the pod-network and join-projects options to set up communication between both projects:

    oadm pod-network join-projects --to=<3SCALE_PROJECT> <APICAST_PROJECT>
  3. Enter the following command to display the backend-listener route URL:

    oc get route backend
  4. Enter the oc new-app command with the path to apicast.yml:

    oc new-app -f apicast.yml

More information

For information on OpenShift SDN and project network isolation, see Openshift SDN.

2.6.5. Connecting APIcast on other deployments

If you deploy APIcast on Docker, you can connect APIcast to 3scale deployed on OpenShift by setting the THREESCALE_PORTAL_ENDPOINT parameter to the URL and access token of your 3scale Admin Portal deployed on OpenShift. You do not need to set the BACKEND_ENDPOINT_OVERRIDE parameter in this case.

For more details, see Chapter 5, APIcast on the Docker containerized environment.

2.7. Deploying 3scale using the operator

This section will take you through installing and deploying the 3scale solution via the 3scale operator, using the APIManager custom resource.

Note
  • Wildcard routes have been removed in 3scale 2.6.

    • This functionality is handled by Zync in the background.
  • When API providers are created, updated, or deleted, routes automatically reflect those changes.

2.7.1. Prerequisites

2.7.2. Deploying the APIManager custom resource

Deploying the APIManager custom resource will make the operator begin processing and will deploy a 3scale solution from it.

Procedure

  1. Click Catalog > Installed Operators.

    1. From the list of Installed Operators, click 3scale Operator.
  2. Click the API Manager tab.
  3. Click Create APIManager.
  4. Clear the sample content and add the following YAML definitions to the editor, then click Create.

    Note

    The wildcardDomain parameter can be any desired name you wish to give that resolves to an IP address, which is a valid DNS domain. Be sure to remove the placeholder marks for your parameters: < >.

    apiVersion: apps.3scale.net/v1alpha1
    kind: APIManager
    metadata:
      name: example-apimanager
    spec:
      wildcardDomain: <wildcardDomain>
      resourceRequirementsEnabled: true
    Note

    For more information about the APIManager fields, refer to the Reference documentation.

2.7.3. Getting the APIManager administrator credentials

To log in to 3scale after the operator-based deployment, you need the administrator credentials. To get these credentials, perform the steps below:

  1. Run these commands:

    oc get secret system-seed -o json | jq -r .data.ADMIN_USERNAME | base64 -d
    oc get secret system-seed -o json | jq -r .data.ADMIN_PASSWORD | base64 -d
  2. Login as the APIManager administrator to verify these credentials are working.

2.7.4. Getting the Admin Portal URL

When you deploy 3scale using the operator, a default tenant is created, with a fixed URL: 3scale-admin.${wildcardDomain}

The dashboard shows the new portal URL of the tenant. As an example, if the <wildCardDomain> is 3scale-project.example.com, the Admin Portal URL is: https://3scale-admin.3scale-project.example.com.

The wildcardDomain is the <wildCardDomain> parameter you provided during installation. Open this unique URL in a browser using the this command:

xdg-open https://3scale-admin.3scale-project.example.com

Optionally, you can create new tenants on the MASTER portal URL: master.${wildcardDomain}

2.8. Troubleshooting

This section contains a list of common installation issues and provides guidance for their resolution.

2.8.1. Previous deployment leaving dirty persistent volume claims

Problem

A previous deployment attempt leaves a dirty Persistent Volume Claim (PVC) causing the MySQL container to fail to start.

Cause

Deleting a project in OpenShift does not clean the PVCs associated with it.

Solution

  1. Find the PVC containing the erroneous MySQL data with the oc get pvc command:

    # oc get pvc
    NAME                    STATUS    VOLUME    CAPACITY   ACCESSMODES   AGE
    backend-redis-storage   Bound     vol003    100Gi      RWO,RWX       4d
    mysql-storage           Bound     vol006    100Gi      RWO,RWX       4d
    system-redis-storage    Bound     vol008    100Gi      RWO,RWX       4d
    system-storage          Bound     vol004    100Gi      RWO,RWX       4d
  2. Stop the deployment of the system-mysql pod by clicking cancel deployment in the OpenShift UI.
  3. Delete everything under the MySQL path to clean the volume.
  4. Start a new system-mysql deployment.

2.8.2. Incorrectly pulling from the Docker registry

Problem

The following error occurs during installation:

svc/system-redis - 1EX.AMP.LE.IP:6379
  dc/system-redis deploys docker.io/rhscl/redis-32-rhel7:3.2-5.3
    deployment #1 failed 13 minutes ago: config change

Cause

OpenShift searches for and pulls container images by issuing the docker command. This command refers to the docker.io Docker registry instead of the registry.redhat.io Red Hat container registry.

This occurs when the system contains an unexpected version of the Docker containerized environment.

Solution

Use the appropriate version of the Docker containerized environment.

2.8.3. Permission issues for MySQL

Problem

The system-msql pod crashes and does not deploy causing other systems dependant on it to fail deployment. The pod log displays the following error:

[ERROR] Cannot start server : on unix socket: Permission denied
[ERROR] Do you already have another mysqld server running on socket: /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock ?
[ERROR] Aborting

Cause

The MySQL process is started with inappropriate user permissions.

Solution

  1. The directories used for the persistent volumes MUST have the write permissions for the root group. Having rw permissions for the root user is not enough as the MySQL service runs as a different user in the root group. Execute the following command as the root user:

    chmod -R g+w /path/for/pvs
  2. Execute the following command to prevent SElinux from blocking access:

    chcon -Rt svirt_sandbox_file_t /path/for/pvs

2.8.4. Unable to upload logo or images

Problem

Unable to upload a logo - system-app logs display the following error:

Errno::EACCES (Permission denied @ dir_s_mkdir - /opt/system/public//system/provider-name/2

Cause

Persistent volumes are not writable by OpenShift.

Solution

Ensure your persistent volume is writable by OpenShift. It should be owned by root group and be group writable.

2.8.5. Test calls do not work on OpenShift

Problem

Test calls do not work after creation of a new service and routes on OpenShift. Direct calls via curl also fail, stating: service not available.

Cause

3scale requires HTTPS routes by default, and OpenShift routes are not secured.

Solution

Ensure the secure route checkbox is clicked in your OpenShift router settings.

2.8.6. APIcast on a different project from 3scale

Problem

APIcast deploy fails (pod does not turn blue). The following error appears in the logs:

update acceptor rejected apicast-3: pods for deployment "apicast-3" took longer than 600 seconds to become ready

The following error appears in the pod:

Error synching pod, skipping: failed to "StartContainer" for "apicast" with RunContainerError: "GenerateRunContainerOptions: secrets \"apicast-configuration-url-secret\" not found"

Cause

The secret was not properly set up.

Solution

When creating a secret with APIcast v3, specify apicast-configuration-url-secret:

oc secret new-basicauth apicast-configuration-url-secret  --password=https://<ACCESS_TOKEN>@<TENANT_NAME>-admin.<WILDCARD_DOMAIN>