Chapter 4. Installing a cluster quickly on GCP In OpenShift Container Platform version 4.12, you can install a cluster on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) that uses the default configuration options. 4.1. Prerequisites You reviewed details about the OpenShift Container Platform installation and update processes. You read the documentation on selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users . You configured a GCP project to host the cluster. If you use a firewall, you configured it to allow the sites that your cluster requires access to. If the cloud identity and access management (IAM) APIs are not accessible in your environment, or if you do not want to store an administrator-level credential secret in the kube-system namespace, you can manually create and maintain IAM credentials . 4.2. Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform In OpenShift Container Platform 4.12, you require access to the internet to install your cluster. You must have internet access to: Access OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console to download the installation program and perform subscription management. If the cluster has internet access and you do not disable Telemetry, that service automatically entitles your cluster. Access Quay.io to obtain the packages that are required to install your cluster. Obtain the packages that are required to perform cluster updates. Important If your cluster cannot have direct internet access, you can perform a restricted network installation on some types of infrastructure that you provision. During that process, you download the required content and use it to populate a mirror registry with the installation packages. With some installation types, the environment that you install your cluster in will not require internet access. Before you update the cluster, you update the content of the mirror registry. 4.3. Generating a key pair for cluster node SSH access During an OpenShift Container Platform installation, you can provide an SSH public key to the installation program. The key is passed to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) nodes through their Ignition config files and is used to authenticate SSH access to the nodes. The key is added to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys list for the core user on each node, which enables password-less authentication. After the key is passed to the nodes, you can use the key pair to SSH in to the RHCOS nodes as the user core . To access the nodes through SSH, the private key identity must be managed by SSH for your local user. If you want to SSH in to your cluster nodes to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, you must provide the SSH public key during the installation process. The ./openshift-install gather command also requires the SSH public key to be in place on the cluster nodes. Important Do not skip this procedure in production environments, where disaster recovery and debugging is required. Note You must use a local key, not one that you configured with platform-specific approaches such as AWS key pairs . Procedure If you do not have an existing SSH key pair on your local machine to use for authentication onto your cluster nodes, create one. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command: USD ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name> 1 1 Specify the path and file name, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 , of the new SSH key. If you have an existing key pair, ensure your public key is in the your ~/.ssh directory. Note If you plan to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster that uses FIPS validated or Modules In Process cryptographic libraries on the x86_64 , ppc64le , and s390x architectures. do not create a key that uses the ed25519 algorithm. Instead, create a key that uses the rsa or ecdsa algorithm. View the public SSH key: USD cat <path>/<file_name>.pub For example, run the following to view the ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub public key: USD cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub Add the SSH private key identity to the SSH agent for your local user, if it has not already been added. SSH agent management of the key is required for password-less SSH authentication onto your cluster nodes, or if you want to use the ./openshift-install gather command. Note On some distributions, default SSH private key identities such as ~/.ssh/id_rsa and ~/.ssh/id_dsa are managed automatically. If the ssh-agent process is not already running for your local user, start it as a background task: USD eval "USD(ssh-agent -s)" Example output Agent pid 31874 Note If your cluster is in FIPS mode, only use FIPS-compliant algorithms to generate the SSH key. The key must be either RSA or ECDSA. Add your SSH private key to the ssh-agent : USD ssh-add <path>/<file_name> 1 1 Specify the path and file name for your SSH private key, such as ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 Example output Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>) steps When you install OpenShift Container Platform, provide the SSH public key to the installation program. 4.4. Obtaining the installation program Before you install OpenShift Container Platform, download the installation file on the host you are using for installation. Prerequisites You have a computer that runs Linux or macOS, with 500 MB of local disk space. Procedure Access the Infrastructure Provider page on the OpenShift Cluster Manager site. If you have a Red Hat account, log in with your credentials. If you do not, create an account. Select your infrastructure provider. Navigate to the page for your installation type, download the installation program that corresponds with your host operating system and architecture, and place the file in the directory where you will store the installation configuration files. Important The installation program creates several files on the computer that you use to install your cluster. You must keep the installation program and the files that the installation program creates after you finish installing the cluster. Both files are required to delete the cluster. Important Deleting the files created by the installation program does not remove your cluster, even if the cluster failed during installation. To remove your cluster, complete the OpenShift Container Platform uninstallation procedures for your specific cloud provider. Extract the installation program. For example, on a computer that uses a Linux operating system, run the following command: USD tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz Download your installation pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager . This pull secret allows you to authenticate with the services that are provided by the included authorities, including Quay.io, which serves the container images for OpenShift Container Platform components. 4.5. Deploying the cluster You can install OpenShift Container Platform on a compatible cloud platform. Important You can run the create cluster command of the installation program only once, during initial installation. Prerequisites Configure an account with the cloud platform that hosts your cluster. Obtain the OpenShift Container Platform installation program and the pull secret for your cluster. Verify the cloud provider account on your host has the correct permissions to deploy the cluster. An account with incorrect permissions causes the installation process to fail with an error message that displays the missing permissions. Procedure Remove any existing GCP credentials that do not use the service account key for the GCP account that you configured for your cluster and that are stored in the following locations: The GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS , GOOGLE_CLOUD_KEYFILE_JSON , or GCLOUD_KEYFILE_JSON environment variables The ~/.gcp/osServiceAccount.json file The gcloud cli default credentials Change to the directory that contains the installation program and initialize the cluster deployment: USD ./openshift-install create cluster --dir <installation_directory> \ 1 --log-level=info 2 1 For <installation_directory> , specify the directory name to store the files that the installation program creates. 2 To view different installation details, specify warn , debug , or error instead of info . When specifying the directory: Verify that the directory has the execute permission. This permission is required to run Terraform binaries under the installation directory. Use an empty directory. Some installation assets, such as bootstrap X.509 certificates, have short expiration intervals, therefore you must not reuse an installation directory. If you want to reuse individual files from another cluster installation, you can copy them into your directory. However, the file names for the installation assets might change between releases. Use caution when copying installation files from an earlier OpenShift Container Platform version. Provide values at the prompts: Optional: Select an SSH key to use to access your cluster machines. Note For production OpenShift Container Platform clusters on which you want to perform installation debugging or disaster recovery, specify an SSH key that your ssh-agent process uses. Select gcp as the platform to target. If you have not configured the service account key for your GCP account on your host, you must obtain it from GCP and paste the contents of the file or enter the absolute path to the file. Select the project ID to provision the cluster in. The default value is specified by the service account that you configured. Select the region to deploy the cluster to. Select the base domain to deploy the cluster to. The base domain corresponds to the public DNS zone that you created for your cluster. Enter a descriptive name for your cluster. If you provide a name that is longer than 6 characters, only the first 6 characters will be used in the infrastructure ID that is generated from the cluster name. Paste the pull secret from the Red Hat OpenShift Cluster Manager . Note If the cloud provider account that you configured on your host does not have sufficient permissions to deploy the cluster, the installation process stops, and the missing permissions are displayed. Optional: You can reduce the number of permissions for the service account that you used to install the cluster. If you assigned the Owner role to your service account, you can remove that role and replace it with the Viewer role. If you included the Service Account Key Admin role, you can remove it. Verification When the cluster deployment completes successfully: The terminal displays directions for accessing your cluster, including a link to the web console and credentials for the kubeadmin user. Credential information also outputs to <installation_directory>/.openshift_install.log . Important Do not delete the installation program or the files that the installation program creates. Both are required to delete the cluster. Example output ... INFO Install complete! INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig' INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password" INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s Important The Ignition config files that the installation program generates contain certificates that expire after 24 hours, which are then renewed at that time. If the cluster is shut down before renewing the certificates and the cluster is later restarted after the 24 hours have elapsed, the cluster automatically recovers the expired certificates. The exception is that you must manually approve the pending node-bootstrapper certificate signing requests (CSRs) to recover kubelet certificates. See the documentation for Recovering from expired control plane certificates for more information. It is recommended that you use Ignition config files within 12 hours after they are generated because the 24-hour certificate rotates from 16 to 22 hours after the cluster is installed. By using the Ignition config files within 12 hours, you can avoid installation failure if the certificate update runs during installation. 4.6. Installing the OpenShift CLI by downloading the binary You can install the OpenShift CLI ( oc ) to interact with OpenShift Container Platform from a command-line interface. You can install oc on Linux, Windows, or macOS. Important If you installed an earlier version of oc , you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform 4.12. Download and install the new version of oc . Installing the OpenShift CLI on Linux You can install the OpenShift CLI ( oc ) binary on Linux by using the following procedure. Procedure Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal. Select the architecture from the Product Variant drop-down list. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list. Click Download Now to the OpenShift v4.12 Linux Client entry and save the file. Unpack the archive: USD tar xvf <file> Place the oc binary in a directory that is on your PATH . To check your PATH , execute the following command: USD echo USDPATH Verification After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command: USD oc <command> Installing the OpenShift CLI on Windows You can install the OpenShift CLI ( oc ) binary on Windows by using the following procedure. Procedure Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list. Click Download Now to the OpenShift v4.12 Windows Client entry and save the file. Unzip the archive with a ZIP program. Move the oc binary to a directory that is on your PATH . To check your PATH , open the command prompt and execute the following command: C:\> path Verification After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command: C:\> oc <command> Installing the OpenShift CLI on macOS You can install the OpenShift CLI ( oc ) binary on macOS by using the following procedure. Procedure Navigate to the OpenShift Container Platform downloads page on the Red Hat Customer Portal. Select the appropriate version from the Version drop-down list. Click Download Now to the OpenShift v4.12 macOS Client entry and save the file. Note For macOS arm64, choose the OpenShift v4.12 macOS arm64 Client entry. Unpack and unzip the archive. Move the oc binary to a directory on your PATH. To check your PATH , open a terminal and execute the following command: USD echo USDPATH Verification After you install the OpenShift CLI, it is available using the oc command: USD oc <command> 4.7. Logging in to the cluster by using the CLI You can log in to your cluster as a default system user by exporting the cluster kubeconfig file. The kubeconfig file contains information about the cluster that is used by the CLI to connect a client to the correct cluster and API server. The file is specific to a cluster and is created during OpenShift Container Platform installation. Prerequisites You deployed an OpenShift Container Platform cluster. You installed the oc CLI. Procedure Export the kubeadmin credentials: USD export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig 1 1 For <installation_directory> , specify the path to the directory that you stored the installation files in. Verify you can run oc commands successfully using the exported configuration: USD oc whoami Example output system:admin Additional resources See Accessing the web console for more details about accessing and understanding the OpenShift Container Platform web console. 4.8. Telemetry access for OpenShift Container Platform In OpenShift Container Platform 4.12, the Telemetry service, which runs by default to provide metrics about cluster health and the success of updates, requires internet access. If your cluster is connected to the internet, Telemetry runs automatically, and your cluster is registered to OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console . After you confirm that your OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console inventory is correct, either maintained automatically by Telemetry or manually by using OpenShift Cluster Manager, use subscription watch to track your OpenShift Container Platform subscriptions at the account or multi-cluster level. Additional resources See About remote health monitoring for more information about the Telemetry service 4.9. steps Customize your cluster . If necessary, you can opt out of remote health reporting .

Commands:
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f <path>/<file_name> 1
cat <path>/<file_name>.pub
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
eval "USD(ssh-agent -s)"
Agent pid 31874
ssh-add <path>/<file_name> 1
Identity added: /home/<you>/<path>/<file_name> (<computer_name>)
tar -xvf openshift-install-linux.tar.gz
./openshift-install create cluster --dir <installation_directory> \ 1 --log-level=info 2
INFO Install complete! INFO To access the cluster as the system:admin user when using 'oc', run 'export KUBECONFIG=/home/myuser/install_dir/auth/kubeconfig' INFO Access the OpenShift web-console here: https://console-openshift-console.apps.mycluster.example.com INFO Login to the console with user: "kubeadmin", and password: "password" INFO Time elapsed: 36m22s
tar xvf <file>
echo USDPATH
oc <command>
C:\> path
C:\> oc <command>
echo USDPATH
oc <command>
export KUBECONFIG=<installation_directory>/auth/kubeconfig 1
oc whoami
system:admin