Chapter 5. Creating and modifying bare metal assets

Important: The bare metal cluster function is a technology preview,and should not be used in production environments.

Bare metal assets are virtual or physical servers that are configured to run your cloud operations. Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes connects to a bare metal asset that your administrator creates, and can create clusters on it.

You must create a bare metal asset in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes to create a cluster on it. Use the following procedure to create a bare metal asset that can host a cluster that is managed by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes.

Note: The bare metal features are only provided as a technology preview. The bare metal options are hidden by feature flags, by default. To view the bare metal options, you must enable the feature flags by completing the instructions in the Prerequisites section.

5.1. Prerequisites

You need the following prerequisites before creating a bare metal asset:

  • A deployed Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes hub cluster on OpenShift Container Platform version 4.5, or later.
  • Access for your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes hub cluster to connect to the bare metal asset.

  • A configured bare metal asset, and log in credentials with the required permissions to log in and manage it. Note: Login credentials for your bare metal asset include the following items for the asset that are provided by your administrator:

    • user name
    • password
    • Baseboard Management Controller Address
    • boot NIC MAC address

  • Bare metal feature flags that are enabled to view the bare metal options. The bare metal options are hidden by feature flags by default. Complete the following steps to enable the feature flags:

    1. Start the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform command line interface.

    2. Set the featureFlags_baremetal setting to true for the console-header container by entering the following command: 

      oc patch deploy console-header -n <namespace> -p '{"spec":{"template":{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"console-header","env": [{"name": "featureFlags_baremetal","value":"true"}]}]}}}}'

      Replace <namespace> with your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management project namespace.

      After the update, your consoleui CRD should look like the following example: 

      spec:
  ...
  template:
    ...
    spec:
      ...
      containers:
      - env:                              # Search for env:
        - name: featureFlags_baremetal
          value: "true"
        ...

    3. Set the featureFlags_baremetal value to true for the hmc-ui container: 

      oc patch -n <namespace> $(oc get deploy -o name | grep consoleui) -p '{"spec":{"template":{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"hcm-ui","env": [{"name": "featureFlags_baremetal","value":"true"}]}]}}}}'

      Replace <namespace> with your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management project namespace.

      Your update should look like the following example: 

      spec:
  ...
  template:
    ...
    spec:
      ...
      containers:
      - env:                              # Search for env:
        - name: featureFlags_baremetal
          value: "true"
        ...

    4. Make sure the console-chart-...-consoleui... and console-header-... pods are running: 

      oc -n open-cluster-management get pods
    5. When the pods are running again, log out of the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console and log back in. The bare metal options are now included in the console.

5.2. Creating a bare metal asset with the console

To create a bare metal asset using the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu, navigate to Automate infrastructure > Bare metal assets.
  2. On the Bare metal assets page, Click Create bare metal asset.

  3. Enter a name for your asset that identifies it when you create a cluster.

    Tip: You can view the yaml content updates as you enter the information in the console by setting the YAML switch to ON.

  4. Enter the namespace where you want to create the bare metal asset.

    Note: The bare metal asset, managed bare metal cluster, and its related secret must be in the same namespace.

    Users who have access to this namespace can associate this asset to the cluster when creating a cluster.

  5. Enter the Baseboard Management Conroller address. This is the controller that enables communication with the host. The following protocols are supported:

  6. Enter the user name and password for the bare metal asset.
  7. Add the boot NIC MAC address for the bare metal asset. This is the MAC address of the host’s network-connected NIC that is used to provision the host on the bare metal asset.

You can continue with Creating a cluster on bare metal.

5.3. Modifying a bare metal asset

If you need to modify the settings for a bare metal asset, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console navigation, select: Automate infrastructure > Bare metal assets.
  2. Select the options menu for the asset that you want to modify in the table.
  3. Select Modify.

5.4. Removing a bare metal asset

When a bare metal asset is no longer used for any of the clusters, you can remove it from the list of available bare metal assets. Removing unused assets both simplifies your list of available assets, and prevents the accidental selection of that asset.

To remove a bare metal asset, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console navigation, select: Automate infrastructure > Bare metal assets.
  2. Select the options menu for the asset that you want to remove in the table.
  3. Select Delete.