6.4. Creating a provider connection for bare metal

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

You need a provider connection to use Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console to deploy and manage a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster in a bare metal environment.

注意

The options for bare metal in the console are for technology preview only, and are hidden by feature flags by default. See the instructions for enabling the feature flags in the Prerequisites section.

6.4.1. Prerequisites

You need the following prerequisites before creating a provider connection:

  • A Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes hub cluster that is deployed. When managing bare metal clusters, you must have the hub cluster installed on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.5, or later.
  • Internet access for your Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes hub cluster so it can create the Kubernetes cluster on your bare metal server
  • Your bare metal server login credentials, which include the libvirt URI, SSH Private Key, and a list of SSH known hosts; see Generating an SSH private key and adding it to the agent
  • Account permissions that allow installing clusters on the bare metal infrastructure

  • 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.

6.4.2. Creating a provider connection by using the console

To create a provider connection from the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes console, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu, navigate to Automate infrastructure > Clusters.

  2. On the Clusters page, select the Provider connections tab.

    Existing provider connections are displayed.

  3. Select Add connection.
  4. Select Bare metal as your provider.
  5. Add a name for your provider connection.

  6. Select a namespace for your provider connection from the list.

    Tip: Create a namespace specifically to host your provider connections, both for convenience and added security.

  7. You can optionally add a Base DNS domain for your provider connection. If you add the base DNS domain to the provider connection, it is automatically populated in the correct field when you create a cluster with this provider connection.
  8. Add your libvirt URI. See Connection URIs for more information.
  9. Enter your Red Hat OpenShift Pull Secret. You can download your pull secret from Pull secret.
  10. Add your SSH Private Key and your SSH Public Key so you can access the cluster. You can use an existing key, or use a key generation program to create a new one. See Generating an SSH private key and adding it to the agent for more information about how to generate a key.
  11. Add a list of your SSH known hosts.

  12. For disconnected installations only: Complete the fields in the Configuration for disconnected installation subsection with the required information:

    • Image Registry Mirror: This optional value contains the disconnected registry path. The path contains the hostname, port, and repository path to all of the installation images for disconnected installations. Example: repository.com:5000/openshift/ocp-release.
    • Bootstrap OS Image: This value contains the URL to the image to use for the bootstrap machine.
    • Cluster OS Image: This value contains the URL to the image to use for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform cluster machines.
    • Additional Trust Bundle: This value provides the contents of the certificate file that is required to access the mirror registry.
  13. Click Create. When you create the provider connection, it is added to the list of provider connections.

You can create a cluster that uses this provider connection by completing the steps in Creating a cluster on bare metal.

6.4.3. Deleting your provider connection

When you are no longer managing a cluster that is using a provider connection, delete the provider connection to protect the information in the provider connection.

  1. From the navigation menu, navigate to Automate infrastructure > Clusters.
  2. Select Provider connections.
  3. Select the options menu beside the provider connection that you want to delete.
  4. Select Delete connection.