Chapter 4. Enabling Windows container workloads Before adding Windows workloads to your cluster, you must install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO), which is available in the OpenShift Container Platform OperatorHub. The WMCO orchestrates the process of deploying and managing Windows workloads on a cluster. Note Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances. Prerequisites You have access to an OpenShift Container Platform cluster using an account with cluster-admin permissions. You have installed the OpenShift CLI ( oc ). You have installed your cluster using installer-provisioned infrastructure. Clusters installed with user-provisioned infrastructure are not supported for Windows container workloads. You have configured hybrid networking with OVN-Kubernetes for your cluster. This must be completed during the installation of your cluster. For more information, see Configuring hybrid networking . You are running an OpenShift Container Platform cluster version 4.6.8 or later. Note The WMCO is not supported in clusters that use a cluster-wide proxy because the WMCO is not able to route traffic through the proxy connection for the workloads. Additional resources For the comprehensive prerequisites for the Windows Machine Config Operator, see Understanding Windows container workloads . 4.1. Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator You can install the Windows Machine Config Operator using either the web console or OpenShift CLI ( oc ). 4.1.1. Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator using the web console You can use the OpenShift Container Platform web console to install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO). Note Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances. Procedure From the Administrator perspective in the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to the Operators OperatorHub page. Use the Filter by keyword box to search for Windows Machine Config Operator in the catalog. Click the Windows Machine Config Operator tile. Review the information about the Operator and click Install . On the Install Operator page: Select the stable channel as the Update Channel . The stable channel enables the latest stable release of the WMCO to be installed. The Installation Mode is preconfigured because the WMCO must be available in a single namespace only. Choose the Installed Namespace for the WMCO. The default Operator recommended namespace is openshift-windows-machine-config-operator . Click the Enable Operator recommended cluster monitoring on the Namespace checkbox to enable cluster monitoring for the WMCO. Select an Approval Strategy . The Automatic strategy allows Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) to automatically update the Operator when a new version is available. The Manual strategy requires a user with appropriate credentials to approve the Operator update. Click Install . The WMCO is now listed on the Installed Operators page. Note The WMCO is installed automatically into the namespace you defined, like openshift-windows-machine-config-operator . Verify that the Status shows Succeeded to confirm successful installation of the WMCO. 4.1.2. Installing the Windows Machine Config Operator using the CLI You can use the OpenShift CLI ( oc ) to install the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO). Note Dual NIC is not supported on WMCO-managed Windows instances. Procedure Create a namespace for the WMCO. Create a Namespace object YAML file for the WMCO. For example, wmco-namespace.yaml : apiVersion: v1 kind: Namespace metadata: name: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator 1 labels: openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true" 2 1 It is recommended to deploy the WMCO in the openshift-windows-machine-config-operator namespace. 2 This label is required for enabling cluster monitoring for the WMCO. Create the namespace: USD oc create -f <file-name>.yaml For example: USD oc create -f wmco-namespace.yaml Create the Operator group for the WMCO. Create an OperatorGroup object YAML file. For example, wmco-og.yaml : apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1 kind: OperatorGroup metadata: name: windows-machine-config-operator namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator spec: targetNamespaces: - openshift-windows-machine-config-operator Create the Operator group: USD oc create -f <file-name>.yaml For example: USD oc create -f wmco-og.yaml Subscribe the namespace to the WMCO. Create a Subscription object YAML file. For example, wmco-sub.yaml : apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1 kind: Subscription metadata: name: windows-machine-config-operator namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator spec: channel: "stable" 1 installPlanApproval: "Automatic" 2 name: "windows-machine-config-operator" source: "redhat-operators" 3 sourceNamespace: "openshift-marketplace" 4 1 Specify stable as the channel. 2 Set an approval strategy. You can set Automatic or Manual . 3 Specify the redhat-operators catalog source, which contains the windows-machine-config-operator package manifests. If your OpenShift Container Platform is installed on a restricted network, also known as a disconnected cluster, specify the name of the CatalogSource object you created when you configured the Operator LifeCycle Manager (OLM). 4 Namespace of the catalog source. Use openshift-marketplace for the default OperatorHub catalog sources. Create the subscription: USD oc create -f <file-name>.yaml For example: USD oc create -f wmco-sub.yaml The WMCO is now installed to the openshift-windows-machine-config-operator . Verify the WMCO installation: USD oc get csv -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator Example output NAME DISPLAY VERSION REPLACES PHASE windows-machine-config-operator.2.0.0 Windows Machine Config Operator 2.0.0 Succeeded 4.2. Configuring a secret for the Windows Machine Config Operator To run the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO), you must create a secret in the WMCO namespace containing a private key. This is required to allow the WMCO to communicate with the Windows virtual machine (VM). Prerequisites You installed the Windows Machine Config Operator (WMCO) using Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM). You created a PEM-encoded file containing an RSA key. Procedure Define the secret required to access the Windows VMs: USD oc create secret generic cloud-private-key --from-file=private-key.pem=USD{HOME}/.ssh/<key> \ -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator 1 1 You must create the private key in the WMCO namespace, like openshift-windows-machine-config-operator . It is recommended to use a different private key than the one used when installing the cluster. 4.3. Additional resources Generating an SSH private key and adding it to the agent Adding Operators to a cluster .

Commands:
apiVersion: v1 kind: Namespace metadata: name: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator 1 labels: openshift.io/cluster-monitoring: "true" 2
oc create -f <file-name>.yaml
oc create -f wmco-namespace.yaml
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1 kind: OperatorGroup metadata: name: windows-machine-config-operator namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator spec: targetNamespaces: - openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
oc create -f <file-name>.yaml
oc create -f wmco-og.yaml
apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1 kind: Subscription metadata: name: windows-machine-config-operator namespace: openshift-windows-machine-config-operator spec: channel: "stable" 1 installPlanApproval: "Automatic" 2 name: "windows-machine-config-operator" source: "redhat-operators" 3 sourceNamespace: "openshift-marketplace" 4
oc create -f <file-name>.yaml
oc create -f wmco-sub.yaml
oc get csv -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator
NAME DISPLAY VERSION REPLACES PHASE windows-machine-config-operator.2.0.0 Windows Machine Config Operator 2.0.0 Succeeded
oc create secret generic cloud-private-key --from-file=private-key.pem=USD{HOME}/.ssh/<key> -n openshift-windows-machine-config-operator 1