Enhancements

This section outlines new features and enhancements introduced in the Container Cloud release 2.26.0. For the list of enhancements delivered with the Cluster releases introduced by Container Cloud 2.26.0, see 17.1.0 and 16.1.0.

Pre-update inspection of pinned product artifacts in a ‘Cluster’ object

To ensure that Container Cloud clusters remain consistently updated with the latest security fixes and product improvements, the Admission Controller has been enhanced. Now, it actively prevents the utilization of pinned custom artifacts for Container Cloud components. Specifically, it blocks a management or managed cluster release update, or any cluster configuration update, for example, adding public keys or proxy, if a Cluster object contains any custom Container Cloud artifacts with global or image-related values overwritten in the helm-releases section, until these values are removed.

Normally, the Container Cloud clusters do not contain pinned artifacts, which eliminates the need for any pre-update actions in most deployments. However, if the update of your cluster is blocked with the invalid HelmReleases configuration error, refer to Update notes: Pre-update actions for details.

Note

In rare cases, if the image-related or global values should be changed, you can use the ClusterRelease or KaaSRelease objects instead. But make sure to update these values manually after every major and patch update.

Note

The pre-update inspection applies only to images delivered by Container Cloud that are overwritten. Any custom images unrelated to the product components are not verified and do not block cluster update.

Disablement of worker machines on managed clusters

TechPreview

Implemented the machine disabling API that allows you to seamlessly remove a worker machine from the LCM control of a managed cluster. This action isolates the affected node without impacting other machines in the cluster, effectively eliminating it from the Kubernetes cluster. This functionality proves invaluable in scenarios where a malfunctioning machine impedes cluster updates.

Day-2 management API for bare metal clusters

TechPreview

Added initial Technology Preview support for the HostOSConfiguration and HostOSConfigurationModules custom resources in the bare metal provider. These resources introduce configuration modules that allow managing the operating system of a bare metal host granularly without rebuilding the node from scratch. Such approach prevents workload evacuation and significantly reduces configuration time.

Configuration modules manage various settings of the operating system using Ansible playbooks, adhering to specific schemas and metadata requirements. For description of module format, schemas, and rules, contact Mirantis support.

Warning

For security reasons and to ensure safe and reliable cluster operability, contact Mirantis support to start using these custom resources.

Strict filtering for devices on bare metal clusters

Implemented the strict byID filtering for targeting system disks using specific device options: byPath, serialNumber, and wwn. These options offer a more reliable alternative to the unpredictable byName naming format.

Mirantis recommends adopting these new device naming options when adding new nodes and redeploying existing ones to ensure a predictable and stable device naming schema.

Dynamic IP allocation for faster host provisioning

Introduced a mechanism in the Container Cloud dnsmasq server to dynamically allocate IP addresses for baremetal hosts during provisioning. This new mechanism replaces sequential IP allocation that includes the ping check with dynamic IP allocation without the ping check. Such behavior significantly increases the amount of baremetal servers that you can provision in parallel, which allows you to streamline the process of setting up a large managed cluster.

Support for Kubernetes auditing and profiling on management clusters

Added support for the Kubernetes auditing and profiling enablement and configuration on management clusters. The auditing option is enabled by default. You can configure both options using Cluster object of the management cluster.

Note

For managed clusters, you can also configure Kubernetes auditing along with profiling using the Cluster object of a managed cluster.

Cleanup of LVM thin pool volumes during cluster provisioning

Implemented automatic cleanup of LVM thin pool volumes during the provisioning stage to prevent issues with logical volume detection before removal, which could cause node cleanup failure during cluster redeployment.

Wiping a device or partition before a bare metal cluster deployment

Implemented the capability to erase existing data from hardware devices to be used for a bare metal management or managed cluster deployment. Using the new wipeDevice structure, you can either erase an existing partition or remove all existing partitions from a physical device. For these purposes, use the eraseMetadata or eraseDevice option that configures cleanup behavior during configuration of a custom bare metal host profile.

Note

The wipeDevice option replaces the deprecated wipe option that will be removed in one of the following releases. For backward compatibility, any existing wipe: true option is automatically converted to the following structure:

wipeDevice:
  eraseMetadata:
    enabled: True

Policy Controller for validating pod image signatures

Technology Preview

Introduced initial Technology Preview support for the Policy Controller that validates signatures of pod images. The Policy Controller verifies that images used by the Container Cloud and Mirantis OpenStack for Kubernetes controllers are signed by a trusted authority. The Policy Controller inspects defined image policies that list Docker registries and authorities for signature validation.

Configuring trusted certificates for Keycloak

Added support for configuring Keycloak truststore using the Container Cloud web UI to allow for a proper validation of client self-signed certificates. The truststore is used to ensure secured connection to identity brokers, LDAP identity providers, and others.

Health monitoring of cluster LCM operations

Added the LCM Operation condition to monitor health of all LCM operations on a cluster and its machines that is useful during cluster update. You can monitor the status of LCM operations using the the Container Cloud web UI in the status hover menus of a cluster and machine.

Container Cloud web UI improvements for bare metal

Reorganized the Container Cloud web UI to optimize the baremetal-based managed cluster deployment and management:

  • Moved the L2 Templates and Subnets tabs from the Clusters menu to the separate Networks tab on the left sidebar.

  • Improved the Create Subnet menu by adding configuration for different subnet types.

  • Reorganized the Baremetal tab in the left sidebar that now contains Hosts, Hosts Profiles, and Credentials tabs.

  • Implemented the ability to add bare metal host profiles using the web UI.

  • Moved description of a baremetal host to Host info located in a baremetal host kebab menu on the Hosts page of the Baremetal tab.

  • Moved description of baremetal host credentials to Credential info located in a credential kebab menu on the Credentials page of the Baremetal tab.

Documentation enhancements

On top of continuous improvements delivered to the existing Container Cloud guides, added the documentation on how to export logs from OpenSearch dashboards to CSV.