Bootstrap a management cluster

After you complete the prerequisite steps described in Prerequisites, proceed with bootstrapping your VMware vSphere-based Mirantis Container Cloud management cluster.

To bootstrap a vSphere-based management cluster:

  1. Log in to the bootstrap node running Ubuntu 20.04 that is configured as described in Prerequisites.

  2. Prepare the bootstrap script:

    1. Download and run the Container Cloud bootstrap script:

      sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wget
wget https://binary.mirantis.com/releases/get_container_cloud.sh
chmod 0755 get_container_cloud.sh
./get_container_cloud.sh

    2. Change the directory to the kaas-bootstrap folder created by the script.

  3. Obtain your license file that will be required during the bootstrap:

    1. Select from the following options:

      • Open the email from support@mirantis.com with the subject Mirantis Container Cloud License File or Mirantis OpenStack License File

      • In the Mirantis CloudCare Portal, open the Account or Cloud page

    2. Download the License File and save it as mirantis.lic under the kaas-bootstrap directory on the bootstrap node.

    3. Verify that mirantis.lic contains the previously downloaded Container Cloud license by decoding the license JWT token, for example, using jwt.io.

      Example of a valid decoded Container Cloud license data with the mandatory license field:

      {
    "exp": 1652304773,
    "iat": 1636669973,
    "sub": "demo",
    "license": {
        "dev": false,
        "limits": {
            "clusters": 10,
            "workers_per_cluster": 10
        },
        "openstack": null
    }
}

      Warning

      The MKE license does not apply to mirantis.lic. For details about MKE license, see MKE documentation.

  4. Prepare deployment templates:

    1. Modify templates/vsphere/vsphere-config.yaml.template:

      Note

      Contact your vSphere administrator to provide you with the values for the below parameters.

      vSphere configuration data

      Parameter

      Description

      SET_VSPHERE_SERVER

      IP address or FQDN of the vCenter Server.

      SET_VSPHERE_SERVER_PORT

      Port of the vCenter Server. For example, port: "8443". Leave empty to use "443" by default.

      SET_VSPHERE_DATACENTER

      vSphere data center name.

      SET_VSPHERE_SERVER_INSECURE

      Flag that controls validation of the vSphere Server certificate. Must be true or false.

      SET_VSPHERE_CAPI_PROVIDER_USERNAME

      vSphere Cluster API provider user name that you added when preparing the deployment user setup and permissions.

      SET_VSPHERE_CAPI_PROVIDER_PASSWORD

      vSphere Cluster API provider user password.

      SET_VSPHERE_CLOUD_PROVIDER_USERNAME

      vSphere Cloud Provider deployment user name that you added when preparing the deployment user setup and permissions.

      SET_VSPHERE_CLOUD_PROVIDER_PASSWORD

      vSphere Cloud Provider deployment user password.

    2. Modify templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template:

      vSphere cluster network parameters

      1. Modify the following required network parameters:

        Required parameters

        Parameter

        Description

        SET_LB_HOST

        IP address from the provided vSphere network for Kubernetes API load balancer (Keepalived VIP).

        SET_VSPHERE_DATASTORE

        Name of the vSphere datastore. You can use different datastores for vSphere Cluster API and vSphere Cloud Provider.

        SET_VSPHERE_MACHINES_FOLDER

        Path to a folder where the cluster machines metadata will be stored.

        SET_VSPHERE_NETWORK_PATH

        Path to a network for cluster machines.

        SET_VSPHERE_RESOURCE_POOL_PATH

        Path to a resource pool in which VMs will be created.

        Note

        To obtain the LB_HOST parameter for the selected vSphere network, contact your vSphere administrator who provides you with the IP ranges dedicated to your environment.

        Modify other parameters if required. For example, add the corresponding values for cidrBlocks in the spec::clusterNetwork::services section.

      2. For either DHCP or non-DHCP vSphere network:

        1. Determine the vSphere network parameters as described in VMware vSphere network objects and IPAM recommendations.

        2. Provide the following additional parameters for a proper network setup on machines using embedded IP address management (IPAM) in templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template:

          Note

          To obtain IPAM parameters for the selected vSphere network, contact your vSphere administrator who provides you with IP ranges dedicated to your environment only.

          vSphere configuration data

          Parameter

          Description

          ipamEnabled

          Enables IPAM. Recommended value is true for either DHCP or non-DHCP networks.

          SET_VSPHERE_NETWORK_CIDR

          CIDR of the provided vSphere network. For example, 10.20.0.0/16.

          SET_VSPHERE_NETWORK_GATEWAY

          Gateway of the provided vSphere network.

          SET_VSPHERE_CIDR_INCLUDE_RANGES

          IP range for the cluster machines. Specify the range of the provided CIDR. For example, 10.20.0.100-10.20.0.200. If the DHCP network is used, this range must not intersect with the DHCP range of the network.

          SET_VSPHERE_CIDR_EXCLUDE_RANGES

          Optional. IP ranges to be excluded from being assigned to the cluster machines. The MetalLB range and SET_LB_HOST should not intersect with the addresses for IPAM. For example, 10.20.0.150-10.20.0.170.

          SET_VSPHERE_NETWORK_NAMESERVERS

          List of nameservers for the provided vSphere network.

    3. Configure MetalLB parameters:

      1. Open the required configuration file for editing:

        Open templates/vsphere/metallbconfig.yaml.template. For a detailed MetalLBConfig object description, see API Reference: MetalLBConfig resource.

        Open templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template.

      2. Add SET_VSPHERE_METALLB_RANGE that is the MetalLB range of IP addresses to assign to load balancers for Kubernetes Services.

        Note

        To obtain the VSPHERE_METALLB_RANGE parameter for the selected vSphere network, contact your vSphere administrator who provides you with the IP ranges dedicated to your environment.

    4. For RHEL deployments, fill out templates/vsphere/rhellicenses.yaml.template.

      RHEL license configuration

      Use one of the following set of parameters for RHEL machines subscription:

      • The user name and password of your RedHat Customer Portal account associated with your RHEL license for Virtual Datacenters.

        Optionally, provide the subscription allocation pools to use for the RHEL subscription activation. If not needed, remove the poolIDs field for subscription-manager to automatically select the licenses for machines.

        For example:

        spec:
  username: <username>
  password:
    value: <password>
  poolIDs:
  - <pool1>
  - <pool2>

      • The activation key and organization ID associated with your RedHat account with RHEL license for Virtual Datacenters. The activation key can be created by the organization administrator on the RedHat Customer Portal.

        If you use the RedHat Satellite server for management of your RHEL infrastructure, you can provide a pre-generated activation key from that server. In this case:

        • Provide the URL to the RedHat Satellite RPM for installation of the CA certificate that belongs to that server.

        • Configure squid-proxy on the management or regional cluster to allow access to your Satellite server. For details, see Configure squid-proxy.

        For example:

        spec:
  activationKey:
    value: <activation key>
  orgID: "<organization ID>"
  rpmUrl: <rpm url>

        Caution

        For RHEL 8.7, verify mirrors configuration for your activation key. For more details, see RHEL 8 mirrors configuration.

      Warning

      Provide only one set of parameters. Mixing the parameters from different activation methods will cause deployment failure.

    5. For CentOS deployments, in templates/vsphere/rhellicenses.yaml.template, remove all lines under items:.

  5. Available since Container Cloud 2.24.0. Optional. Technology Preview. Enable custom host names for cluster machines. When enabled, any machine host name in a particular region matches the related Machine object name. For example, instead of the default kaas-node-<UID>, a machine host name will be master-0. The custom naming format is more convenient and easier to operate with.

    To enable the feature on the management and its future managed clusters:

    1. In templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template, find the spec.providerSpec.value.kaas.regional section of the required region.

    2. In this section, find the required provider name under helmReleases.

    3. Under values.config, add customHostnamesEnabled: true.

      For example, for the bare metal provider in region-one:

      regional:
 - helmReleases:
   - name: baremetal-provider
     values:
       config:
         allInOneAllowed: false
         customHostnamesEnabled: true
         internalLoadBalancers: false
   provider: baremetal-provider

    Add the following environment variable:

    export CUSTOM_HOSTNAMES=true

  6. In bootstrap.env, add the KAAS_VSPHERE_ENABLED=true environment variable that enables the vSphere provider deployment in Container Cloud.

  7. Configure NTP server.

    Before Container Cloud 2.23.0, optional if servers from the Ubuntu NTP pool (*.ubuntu.pool.ntp.org) are accessible from the node where the management cluster is being provisioned. Otherwise, configure the regional NTP server parameters as described below.

    Since Container Cloud 2.23.0, optionally disable NTP that is enabled by default. This option disables the management of chrony configuration by Container Cloud to use your own system for chrony management. Otherwise, configure the regional NTP server parameters as described below.

    NTP configuration

    Configure the regional NTP server parameters to be applied to all machines of regional and managed clusters in the specified region.

    In templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template, add the ntp:servers section with the list of required server names:

    spec:
  ...
  providerSpec:
    value:
      kaas:
      ...
      ntpEnabled: true
        regional:
          - helmReleases:
            - name: <providerName>-provider
              values:
                config:
                  lcm:
                    ...
                    ntp:
                      servers:
                      - 0.pool.ntp.org
                      ...
            provider: <providerName>
            ...

    To disable NTP:

    spec:
  ...
  providerSpec:
    value:
      ...
      ntpEnabled: false
      ...

  8. Prepare the VM template as described in Prepare the virtual machine template.

  9. In templates/vsphere/machines.yaml.template, define the following parameters:

    • rhelLicense

      RHEL license name defined in rhellicenses.yaml.template, defaults to kaas-mgmt-rhel-license. Remove or comment out this parameter for CentOS and Ubuntu deployments.

    • diskGiB

      Disk size in GiB for machines that must match the disk size of the VM template. You can leave this parameter commented to use the disk size of the VM template. The minimum requirement is 120 GiB.

    • template

      Path to the VM template prepared in the previous step.

    Sample template:

    spec:
  providerSpec:
    value:
      apiVersion: vsphere.cluster.k8s.io/v1alpha1
      kind: VsphereMachineProviderSpec
      rhelLicense: <rhelLicenseName>
      numCPUs: 8
      memoryMiB: 32768
      # diskGiB: 120
      template: <vSphereVMTemplatePath>

    Also, modify other parameters if required.

  10. If you require all Internet access to go through a proxy server, in bootstrap.env, add the following environment variables to bootstrap the management and regional cluster using proxy:

    • HTTP_PROXY

    • HTTPS_PROXY

    • NO_PROXY

    • PROXY_CA_CERTIFICATE_PATH

    Example snippet:

    export HTTP_PROXY=http://proxy.example.com:3128
export HTTPS_PROXY=http://user:pass@proxy.example.com:3128
export NO_PROXY=172.18.10.0,registry.internal.lan
export PROXY_CA_CERTIFICATE_PATH="/home/ubuntu/.mitmproxy/mitmproxy-ca-cert.cer"

    The following formats of variables are accepted:

    Proxy configuration data

    Variable

    Format
    HTTP_PROXY
    HTTPS_PROXY

    • http://proxy.example.com:port - for anonymous access.

    • http://user:password@proxy.example.com:port - for restricted access.

    NO_PROXY

    Comma-separated list of IP addresses or domain names. Mandatory to add host[:port] of the vCenter server.

    PROXY_CA_CERTIFICATE_PATH

    Optional. Absolute path to the proxy CA certificate for man-in-the-middle (MITM) proxies. Must be placed on the bootstrap node to be trusted. For details, see Install a CA certificate for a MITM proxy on a bootstrap node.

    Warning

    If you require Internet access to go through a MITM proxy, ensure that the proxy has streaming enabled as described in Enable streaming for MITM.

    Note

    For MOSK-based deployments, the parameter is generally available since MOSK 22.4.

    For implementation details, see Proxy and cache support.

    Caution

    In MITM proxy deployments, use the internal Red Hat Satellite server to register RHEL machines so that a VM can access this server directly without a MITM proxy.

    For the list of Mirantis resources and IP addresses to be accessible from the Container Cloud clusters, see Requirements for a VMware vSphere-based cluster.

  11. Available since Container Cloud 2.24.0 and 2.24.2 for MOSK 23.2. Optional. Technology Preview. Enable the Linux Audit daemon auditd to monitor activity of cluster processes and prevent potential malicious activity.

    Configuration for auditd

    In templates/vsphere/cluster.yaml.template, add the auditd parameters:

    spec:
  providerSpec:
    value:
      audit:
        auditd:
          enabled: <bool>
          enabledAtBoot: <bool>
          backlogLimit: <int>
          maxLogFile: <int>
          maxLogFileAction: <string>
          maxLogFileKeep: <int>
          mayHaltSystem: <bool>
          presetRules: <string>
          customRules: <string>
          customRulesX32: <text>
          customRulesX64: <text>

    Configuration parameters for auditd:

    enabled

    Boolean, default - false. Enables the auditd role to install the auditd packages and configure rules. CIS rules: 4.1.1.1, 4.1.1.2.

    enabledAtBoot

    Boolean, default - false. Configures grub to audit processes that can be audited even if they start up prior to auditd startup. CIS rule: 4.1.1.3.

    backlogLimit

    Integer, default - none. Configures the backlog to hold records. If during boot audit=1 is configured, the backlog holds 64 records. If more than 64 records are created during boot, auditd records will be lost with a potential malicious activity being undetected. CIS rule: 4.1.1.4.

    maxLogFile

    Integer, default - none. Configures the maximum size of the audit log file. Once the log reaches the maximum size, it is rotated and a new log file is created. CIS rule: 4.1.2.1.

    maxLogFileAction

    String, default - none. Defines handling of the audit log file reaching the maximum file size. Allowed values:

    • keep_logs - rotate logs but never delete them

    • rotate - add a cron job to compress rotated log files and keep maximum 5 compressed files.

    • compress - compress log files and keep them under the /var/log/auditd/ directory. Requires auditd_max_log_file_keep to be enabled.

    CIS rule: 4.1.2.2.

    maxLogFileKeep

    Integer, default - 5. Defines the number of compressed log files to keep under the /var/log/auditd/ directory. Requires auditd_max_log_file_action=compress. CIS rules - none.

    mayHaltSystem

    Boolean, default - false. Halts the system when the audit logs are full. Applies the following configuration:

    • space_left_action = email

    • action_mail_acct = root

    • admin_space_left_action = halt

    CIS rule: 4.1.2.3.

    customRules

    String, default - none. Base64-encoded content of the 60-custom.rules file for any architecture. CIS rules - none.

    customRulesX32

    String, default - none. Base64-encoded content of the 60-custom.rules file for the i386 architecture. CIS rules - none.

    customRulesX64

    String, default - none. Base64-encoded content of the 60-custom.rules file for the x86_64 architecture. CIS rules - none.

    presetRules

    String, default - none. Comma-separated list of the following built-in preset rules:

    • access

    • actions

    • delete

    • docker

    • identity

    • immutable

    • logins

    • mac-policy

    • modules

    • mounts

    • perm-mod

    • privileged

    • scope

    • session

    • system-locale

    • time-change

    You can use two keywords for these rules:

    • none - disables all built-in rules.

    • all - enables all built-in rules. With this key, you can add the ! prefix to a rule name to exclude some rules. You can use the ! prefix for rules only if you add the all keyword as the first rule. Place a rule with the ! prefix only after the all keyword.

    Example configurations:

    • presetRules: none - disable all preset rules

    • presetRules: docker - enable only the docker rules

    • presetRules: access,actions,logins - enable only the access, actions, and logins rules

    • presetRules: all - enable all preset rules

    • presetRules: all,!immutable,!sessions - enable all preset rules except immutable and sessions


    CIS controls
    4.1.3 (time-change)
    4.1.4 (identity)
    4.1.5 (system-locale)
    4.1.6 (mac-policy)
    4.1.7 (logins)
    4.1.8 (session)
    4.1.9 (perm-mod)
    4.1.10 (access)
    4.1.11 (privileged)
    4.1.12 (mounts)
    4.1.13 (delete)
    4.1.14 (scope)
    4.1.15 (actions)
    4.1.16 (modules)
    4.1.17 (immutable)
    Docker CIS controls
    1.1.4
    1.1.8
    1.1.10
    1.1.12
    1.1.13
    1.1.15
    1.1.16
    1.1.17
    1.1.18
    1.2.3
    1.2.4
    1.2.5
    1.2.6
    1.2.7
    1.2.10
    1.2.11

    See also

    Operations Guide: Troubleshooting - The auditd events cause ‘backlog limit exceeded’ messages

  12. Optional. Configure external identity provider for IAM.

  13. Optional. Enable infinite timeout for all bootstrap stages by exporting the following environment variable or adding it to bootstrap.env:

    export KAAS_BOOTSTRAP_INFINITE_TIMEOUT=true

    Infinite timeout prevents the bootstrap failure due to timeout. This option is useful in the following cases:

    • The network speed is slow for artifacts downloading

    • An infrastructure configuration does not allow booting fast

    • A bare-metal node inspecting presupposes more than two HDDSATA disks to attach to a machine

  14. Optional. Available since Container Cloud 2.23.0. Customize the cluster and region name by exporting the following environment variables or adding them to bootstrap.env:

    export REGION=<customRegionName>
export CLUSTER_NAME=<customClusterName>

    By default, the system uses region-one for the region name and kaas-mgmt for the management cluster name.

  15. Run the bootstrap script:

    ./bootstrap.sh all

    • In case of deployment issues, refer to Troubleshooting and inspect logs.

    • If the script fails for an unknown reason:

      1. Run the cleanup script:

        ./bootstrap.sh cleanup

      2. Rerun the bootstrap script.

  16. When the bootstrap is complete, collect and save the following management cluster details in a secure location:

    • The kubeconfig file located in the same directory as the bootstrap script. This file contains the admin credentials for the management cluster.

    • The private ssh_key for access to the management cluster nodes that is located in the same directory as the bootstrap script.

      Note

      If the initial version of your Container Cloud management cluster was earlier than 2.6.0, ssh_key is named openstack_tmp and is located at ~/.ssh/.

    • The URL for the Container Cloud web UI.

      To create users with permissions required for accessing the Container Cloud web UI, see Create initial users after a management cluster bootstrap.

    • The StackLight endpoints. For details, see Access StackLight web UIs.

    • The Keycloak URL that the system outputs when the bootstrap completes. The admin password for Keycloak is located in kaas-bootstrap/passwords.yml along with other IAM passwords.

    Note

    The Container Cloud web UI and StackLight endpoints are available through Transport Layer Security (TLS) and communicate with Keycloak to authenticate users. Keycloak is exposed using HTTPS and self-signed TLS certificates that are not trusted by web browsers.

    To use your own TLS certificates for Keycloak, refer to Configure TLS certificates for cluster applications.

    Note

    When the bootstrap is complete, the bootstrap cluster resources are freed up.

  17. Verify that network addresses used on your clusters do not overlap with the following default MKE network addresses for Swarm and MCR:

    • 10.0.0.0/16 is used for Swarm networks. IP addresses from this network are virtual.

    • 10.99.0.0/16 is used for MCR networks. IP addresses from this network are allocated on hosts.

    Verification of Swarm and MCR network addresses

    To verify Swarm and MCR network addresses, run on any master node:

    docker info

    Example of system response:

    Server:
 ...
 Swarm:
  ...
  Default Address Pool: 10.0.0.0/16
  SubnetSize: 24
  ...
 Default Address Pools:
   Base: 10.99.0.0/16, Size: 20
 ...

    Not all of Swarm and MCR addresses are usually in use. One Swarm Ingress network is created by default and occupies the 10.0.0.0/24 address block. Also, three MCR networks are created by default and occupy three address blocks: 10.99.0.0/20, 10.99.16.0/20, 10.99.32.0/20.

    To verify the actual networks state and addresses in use, run:

    docker network ls
docker network inspect <networkName>

Now, you can proceed with operating your management cluster using the Container Cloud web UI and deploying managed clusters as described in Create and operate a VMware vSphere-based managed cluster.

See also