Storage Options

Alletra Storage MP

HPE CSI Driver Architecture

A diagramatic representation of the HPE CSI driver architecture is illustrated in the figure 16.

Figure 16: CSI Driver Architecture

The OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 cluster comprises the master and worker nodes (physical and virtual) with CoreOS deployed as the operating system. The iSCSI interface configured on the host nodes establishes the connection with the HPE Alletra array to the cluster. Upon successful deployment of HPE CSI Driver, the CSI controller, CSI Driver, and 3PAR CSP and Nimble CSP gets deployed which communicates with the HPE Alletra array via REST APIs. The associated features on Storage Class such as CSI Provisioner, CSI Attacher, and others are configured on the Storage Class.

Deploying HPE CSI Driver for HPE Alletra storage on RHOCP 4.16

This section describes how to deploy HPE CSI Driver for HPE Alletra storage on an existing RHOCP 4.16.

Prerequisites:

Before configuring the HPE CSI Driver, the following prerequisites must be met:

RHOCP 4.16 must be successfully deployed, and console should be accessible.
iSCSI interface must be configured on the HPE Alletra Storage array.
Additional iSCSI network interfaces must be configured on physical worker nodes.()
Deploy scc.yaml file to enable Security Context Constraints (SCC).

Configuring iSCSI interface on worker nodes

The RHOCP 4.16 cluster comprises the master and physical worker nodes with RHEL 9.4 deployed as the operating system. The iSCSI interface is configured on the host nodes to establish the connection with the HPE Alletra array to the cluster. Apart from the host nodes, additional iSCSI interface needs to be configured on all the worker (physical and virtual) nodes for establishing the connection between the RHOCP cluster and HPE Alletra arrays.

To configure iSCSI interface on physical RHEL worker nodes:

Configure iSCSI A connection as a storage interface and iSCSI B connection as an additional storage for redundancy

For example, the iSCSI_A and iSCSI_B interface connection is configured on worker1 node, as shown in Figure 17.

FIGURE 17 iSCSI_A and iSCSI_B interface connection

Creating namespace

To create a namespace, in this case, hpe-csi:

Open Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Console on a supported web browser.
Click Administration → Namespaces on the left pane.
Click Create Namespaces.
On the Create Namespace dialog box, enter hpe-csi.
Click Create.

Deploying Security Context Constraints (SCC)

The HPE CSI Driver needs to run in the privileged mode to get access to the host ports, host network, and to mount the host path volume. Before deploying HPE CSI Driver operator on RHOCP cluster, deploy SCC to allow HPE CSI Driver to run with these privileges.

Prerequisites:

Ensure that you can access the scc.yaml file from the following GitHub link:

https://scod.hpedev.io/partners/redhat_openshift/examples/scc/hpe-csi-scc.yaml

To deploy SCC:

On the installer VM, download scc.yaml file from the GitHub link using the following command:

$ curl -sL https://scod.hpedev.io/partners/redhat_openshift/examples/scc/hpe-csi-scc.yaml > hpe-csi-scc.yaml

Edit relevant parameters such as project name or namespace in the hpe-csi-scc.yaml file.
Change my-hpe-csi-operator to the name of the project (in this case, hpe-csi) where the CSI Operator is being deployed using the following command:

$ oc new-project hpe-csi --display-name="HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes"

$ sed -i'' -e 's/my-hpe-csi-driver-operator/hpe-csi/g' hpe-csi-scc.yaml

Save the file.

The following figure illustrates the parameter that needs to be edited (project name) where the HPE CSI Driver operator is deployed:

FIGURE 18: Editing hpe-cs-scc.yaml file

Deploy SCC using the following command and check the output:

$ oc create -f hpe-csi-scc.yaml

The following output is displayed:

securitycontextconstraints.security.openshift.io/hpe-csi-scc created

Installing and configuring HPE CSI Driver

NOTE

HPE CSI Driver version 2.4.2 is used for deploying HPE Alletra Storage on the RHOCP 4.16.

Prerequisites:

Before installing the HPE CSI Driver from the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Console:

Create a namespace for HPE CSI Driver
Deploy SCC for the created namespace

Installing HPE CSI Driver Operator using Red Hat OperatorHub

To install HPE CSI Driver Operator from the Red Hat OperatorHub:

Log in to the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Console.
Navigate to Operators → OperatorHub.
Search for HPE CSI Driver Operator from the list of operators and click HPE CSI Driver Operator.
On the HPE CSI Operator for Kubernetes page, click Install.

FIGURE 19: HPE CSI Driver Operator search

On the Create Operator Subscription page, select the appropriate options:
1. Select "A specific namespace on the cluster" in the Installation Mode option.
2. Select the appropriate namespace (in this case, hpe-csi) in the Installed Namespace option.
3. Select "stable" in the Update Channel option.
4. Select "Automatic" in the Approval Strategy option.
FIGURE 20: Create Operator Subscription
1. Click Install.
The Installed Operators page is displayed with the status of the operator.

FIGURE 21: Installed Operators

Creating HPE CSI Driver

The HPE CSI Driver is a multi-vendor and multi-backend driver where each implementation has a Container Storage Provider (CSP). The HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes uses CSP to perform data management operations on storage resources such as searching for a logical unit number (lun) and so on. The HPE CSI Driver allows any vendor or project to develop its own CSP using the CSP specification. It enables the third parties to integrate their storage solution into Kubernetes and takes care of all the intricacies.

To create the HPE CSI Driver:

Log in to the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Console.
Navigate to  Operators → Installed Operators on the left pane to view the installed operators.
On the Installed Operators page, select HPECSIDriver from the Project drop-down list to switch to the hpe-csi project.
On the hpe-csi project, select HPECSIDriver tab.
Click Create HPECSIDriver.
Click Create.

FIGURE 22: HPE CSI Driver creation

Verifying HPECSIDriver configuration

After the HPECSIDriver is deployed, the deployment pods such as hpe-csi-controller, hpe-csi-driver, primera3par-csp, and Nimble-csp are displayed on the Pods page.

FIGURE 23: Deployment pods for HPECSIDriver

NOTE

The Nimble Storage CSP also supports HPE Alletra 6000.

To verify the HPE CSI node information:

On the installer VM, check HPENodeInfo and network status of worker nodes with the following commands.

$ oc get HPENodeInfo

$ oc get HPENodeInfo/<workernode fqdn> -o yaml

The following output is displayed:

FIGURE 24: HPENodeInfo on the cluster

Creating HPE Alletra StorageClass

After HPE CSI Driver is deployed, two additional objects, Secret and StorageClass, must be created to initiate the provisioning of persistent storage.

Creating Alletra Secret

To create a new Secret via CLI that will be used with HPE Alletra:

Add the name, Namespace, backend username, backend password and the backend IP address in the Alletra-secret.yaml file and save it to be used by the CSP.

The following details are provided in the Alletra-secret.yaml file:

apiVersion: v1

kind: Secret

metadata:

  name: alletra-secret

  namespace: hpe-csi

stringData:

  serviceName: alletra-csp-svc

  servicePort: "8080"

  backend: alletramgmtip      # update alletramgmt ip

  username: admin

  password: admin

Create the Alletra-secret.yaml file with the following command:

$ oc create -f Alletra-secret.yaml

The following output displays the status of the alletra-secret with the "hpe-csi" namespace.

FIGURE 25: HPE Alletra Secret status

Creating StorageClass with HPE Alletra Secret

This section describes how to create a new StorageClass using the existing Alletra-secret and the necessary StorageClass parameters.

To create a new StorageClass using the Alletra-secret:

Edit the following parameters in the Alletra-storageclass.yaml file:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1

kind: StorageClass

metadata:

  annotations:

    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"

  name: Alletra-storageclass

provisioner: csi.hpe.com

parameters:

  csi.storage.k8s.io/fstype: xfs

  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-name: alletra-secret

  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-expand-secret-namespace: hpe-csi

  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-name: alletra-secret

  csi.storage.k8s.io/controller-publish-secret-namespace: hpe-csi

  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-name: alletra-secret

  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-publish-secret-namespace: hpe-csi

  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-name: alletra-secret

  csi.storage.k8s.io/node-stage-secret-namespace: hpe-csi

  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-name: alletra-secret

  csi.storage.k8s.io/provisioner-secret-namespace: hpe-csi

  description: "Volume created by the HPE CSI Driver for Kubernetes"

reclaimPolicy: Delete

allowVolumeExpansion: true

Create the Alletra-storageclass.yml file with the following command:

$ oc create -f Alletra-storageclass.yml

Verify the name of the storage class (in this case, Alletra-storageclass).

FIGURE 26: HPE Alletra StorageClass status

Deploying Internal Openshift Data Foundation

This section covers deploying OpenShift Data Foundation 4.16 on existing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 worker nodes.

The OpenShift Data Foundation operator installation will be using Local Storage operator which will use file system storage of 10GB for monitoring purpose and block storage of 500GB/2TB for OSD (Object Storage Daemon) volumes. These OSD are useful for configuring any application on top of OCP cluster using ODF configuration.

Figure 27. Logical storage Layout in Solution

The below operators are required to create ODF cluster and deployed through automation fashion.

Local Storage Operator
OpenShift Data Foundation Operator

Flow Diagram

Figure 28. Deploying OpenShift Container Storage Solution Flow Diagram

Configuration requirements

The below table shows about all required worker node configuration.

Server Role	CPU	RAM	HardDisk1	HardDisk2	HardDisk3
Worker	16	64	120 GB	10 GB	500 GB/2 TB

Pre-requisites

Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 cluster console is required with the login credentials.
Availability of any local storage from any storage (i.e Nimble,Alletra,Local Storage) in OpenShift Container Platform.
ODF installation on OCP 4.16 cluster requires a minimum of 3 worker nodes but ODF should have exact 3 worker nodes which use two more hard disks with 10GB for mon POD (3 in total using always a PVC) + 500GB (or more than 500GB) volume (a PVC using the default "thin" storage class) for the OSD volumes. It also requires 16 CPUs and 64GB RAM for each node and worker node hard disk configuration as shown in above figure.

Scripts for deploying ODF cluster

NOTE

BASE_DIR - is a base directory path for all automated scripts directories are in place and path is /opt/hpe-solutions-openshift/DL-LTI-Openshift/

This section provides details on the scripts developed to automate the installation of ODF operator on the OCP cluster. The scripts used to deploy ODF can be found in the installer VM at $BASE_DIR/odf_installation.

install_odf_operator.py - main python script which installs Local Storage operator, OpenShift Container Storage operators, creates file system & block storage and also creates SCs, PVs, PVCs.
config.py - This python script is used to convert user input values into program variables for usage by the install_odf_operator.py script.
userinput.json - The userinput.json file needs to be modified as per user configuration and requirements for installing and scaling ODF cluster.
create_local_storage_operator.yaml -- Creates Local Storage operator's Namespace, installs Local Storage operator.
auto_discover_devices.yaml -– Creates the LocalVolumeDiscovery resource using this file.
localvolumeset.yaml -– Creates the LocalVolumeSets
odf_operator.yaml -- This playbook creates OpenShift Container Storage Namespace and OpenShift Data Foundation Operator.
storagecluster.yaml -– This playbook creates storage classes, PVCs (Persistent Volume Claim), pods to bring up the ODF cluster.

Installing OpenShift Container Storage on OpenShift Container Platform

Update the userinput.json file is found at $BASE_DIR/odf_installation with the following setup configuration details:

OPENSHIFT_DOMAIN: "<OpenShift Server sub domain fqdn (api.domain.base_domain)>",

OPENSHIFT_PORT: "<OpenShift Server port number (OpenShift Container Platform runs on port 6443 by default)>",

LOCAL_STORAGE_VERSION": "<OCP_cluster_version>",

OPENSHIFT_CONTAINER_STORAGE_VERSION": "",

OPENSHIFT_CLIENT_PATH: "<Provide oc absolute path ending with / OR leave empty in case oc is available under /usr/local/bin>",

"OPENSHIFT_CONTAINER_PLATFORM_WORKER_NODES": <Provide OCP worker nodes fqdn list ["sworker1.fqdn", "sworker2.fqdn","sworker3.fqdn"]>,

"OPENSHIFT_USERNAME": "",

"OPENSHIFT_PASSWORD": "",

"DISK_NUMBER": ""

Execute the following command to deploy ODF cluster.

> cd $BASE_DIR/odf_installation

> python -W ignore install_odf_operator.py

The output of the above command as shown below:

> python -W ignore install_odf_operator.py

Enter key for encrypted variables:

Logging into your OpenShift Cluster

Successfully logged into the OpenShift Cluster

Waiting for 1 minutes to 'Local Storage' operator to be available on OCP web console..!!

'Local Storage' operator is created..!!

Waiting for 2 minutes to OCS operator to be available on OCP web console..!!

'OpenShift Container Storage' operator is created..!!

INFO:

1) Run the below command to list all PODs and PVCs of OCS cluster.

  'oc get pod,pvc -n openshift-storage'

2) Wait for 'pod/ocs-operator-xxxx' pod to be up and running.

3) Log into OCP web GUI and check Persistant Stoarge in dashboard.

$

Validation of the OpenShift Data Foundation cluster

The required operators will be created after the execution of the script and they will be reflected in the OpenShift console. This section outlines the steps to verify the operators created through script and are reflected in the GUI:

Login to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as the user with administrative privileges.
Navigate to Operators -> Project (local-storage) -> Installed Operators select your project name.
The Openshift data foundation operator will be available in the OpenShift web console as shown in below Figure.
Figure 29. Deploying local storage operator
Navigate to Operators -> Installed Operators select your project name openshift-storage for OpenShift Container Storage operator.
The OpenShift Container Storage operator will be available on the OpenShift Container Platform web console as shown in below Figure.
Figure 30. Deployed OpenShift Data Foundation operator

SCs of OpenShift Data Foundation operator on CLI as shown in below.

> oc get sc

NAME                          PROVISIONER                             RECLAIMPOLICY   VOLUMEBINDINGMODE      ALLOWVOLUMEEXPANSION   AGE
local-sc                      kubernetes.io/no-provisioner            Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  45h
localblock-sc                 kubernetes.io/no-provisioner            Delete          WaitForFirstConsumer   false                  45h
odf-storagecluster-ceph-rbd   openshift-storage.rbd.csi.ceph.com      Delete          Immediate              false                  45h
odf-storagecluster-cephfs     openshift-storage.cephfs.csi.ceph.com   Delete          Immediate              false                  45h
openshift-storage.noobaa.io   openshift-storage.noobaa.io/obc         Delete          Immediate              false                  45h

PVs of OpenShift Data Foundation operator on CLI as shown in below.

> oc get pv

NAME                                       CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   RECLAIM POLICY   STATUS   CLAIM                                       STORAGECLASS                  REASON   AGE
local-pv-2febb788                          500Gi      RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/odf-deviceset-1-0-lhtvh   localblock-sc                          45h
local-pv-5f19c0e5                          10Gi       RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/rook-ceph-mon-b           local-sc                               45h
local-pv-b73b1cd5                          500Gi      RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/odf-deviceset-2-0-jmmck   localblock-sc                          45h
local-pv-b8ba8c38                          10Gi       RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/rook-ceph-mon-a           local-sc                               45h
local-pv-c3a372f6                          10Gi       RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/rook-ceph-mon-c           local-sc                               45h
local-pv-e5e3d596                          500Gi      RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/odf-deviceset-0-0-5jxg7   localblock-sc                          45h
pvc-8f3e3d8b-6be7-4ba8-8968-69cbc866c89f   50Gi       RWO            Delete           Bound    openshift-storage/db-noobaa-db-0            ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd            45h
 $

PVCs of OpenShift Data Foundation operator on CLI as shown in below.

> oc get pvc -n openshift-storage

NAME                      STATUS   VOLUME                                     CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS                  AGE
db-noobaa-db-0            Bound    pvc-8f3e3d8b-6be7-4ba8-8968-69cbc866c89f   50Gi       RWO            odf-storagecluster-ceph-rbd   45h
odf-deviceset-0-0-5jxg7   Bound    local-pv-e5e3d596                          500Gi      RWO            localblock-sc                 45h
odf-deviceset-1-0-lhtvh   Bound    local-pv-2febb788                          500Gi      RWO            localblock-sc                 45h
odf-deviceset-2-0-jmmck   Bound    local-pv-b73b1cd5                          500Gi      RWO            localblock-sc                 45h
rook-ceph-mon-a           Bound    local-pv-b8ba8c38                          10Gi       RWO            local-sc                      45h
rook-ceph-mon-b           Bound    local-pv-5f19c0e5                          10Gi       RWO            local-sc                      45h
rook-ceph-mon-c           Bound    local-pv-c3a372f6                          10Gi       RWO            local-sc                      45h
 $

PODs of OpenShift Data Foundation operator on CLI as shown in below.

> oc get pod -n openshift-storage

NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE

csi-cephfsplugin-6xpsk 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-cephfsplugin-7khm6 3/3 Running 0 17m

csi-cephfsplugin-bb48n 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-cephfsplugin-cfzx6 3/3 Running 0 15m

csi-cephfsplugin-provisioner-79587c64f9-2dpm6 5/5 Running 0 45h

csi-cephfsplugin-provisioner-79587c64f9-hf46x 5/5 Running 0 45h

csi-cephfsplugin-w6p6v 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-2z686 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-6tv5m 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-jgf5z 3/3 Running 0 17m

csi-rbdplugin-provisioner-5f495c4566-76rqm 5/5 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-provisioner-5f495c4566-pzvww 5/5 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-v7lfx 3/3 Running 0 45h

csi-rbdplugin-ztdjs 3/3 Running 0 15m

noobaa-core-0 1/1 Running 0 45h

noobaa-db-0 1/1 Running 0 45h

noobaa-endpoint-6458fc874f-vpznd 1/1 Running 0 45h

noobaa-operator-7f4495fc6-lmk9k 1/1 Running 0 45h

odf-operator-5d664769f-59v8j 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-crashcollector-sworker1.socp.twentynet.local-84dddddb 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-crashcollector-sworker2.socp.twentynet.local-8b5qzzsz 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-crashcollector-sworker3.socp.twentynet.local-699n9kzp 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-drain-canary-sworker1.socp.twentynet.local-85bffzm66m 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-drain-canary-sworker2.socp.twentynet.local-66bcfjjfkr 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-drain-canary-sworker3.socp.twentynet.local-5f6b57c9nt 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mds-ocs-storagecluster-cephfilesystem-a-67fbb67dkb4kz 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mds-ocs-storagecluster-cephfilesystem-b-db66df7dtqkmx 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mgr-a-6f5f7b58dc-fjvjc 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mon-a-76cc49c944-5pcgf 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mon-b-b9449cdd7-s6mct 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-mon-c-59d854cd8-gn6sd 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-operator-775cd6cd66-sdfph 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-0-7644557bfb-9l7ns 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-1-7694c74948-lc9sf 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-2-794547558-wjcpz 1/1 Running 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-prepare-ocs-deviceset-0-0-5jxg7-t89zh 0/1 Completed 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-prepare-ocs-deviceset-1-0-lhtvh-f2znl 0/1 Completed 0 45h

rook-ceph-osd-prepare-ocs-deviceset-2-0-jmmck-wsrb2 0/1 Completed 0 45h

rook-ceph-rgw-ocs-storagecluster-cephobjectstore-a-67b7865qx276 1/1 Running 0 45h

$

Storage capacity of ODF cluster with 3 worker nodes (3x500Gi) on OCP web cluster as shown below figure.
Figure 31. Storage capacities of workers

Validating ODF with deploying WordPress application

This section covers the steps to validate the OpenShift Data Foundation deployment (ODF) by deploying 2-tier application along with MySQL database.

Prerequisites

OCP 4.16 cluster must be installed.
ODF to claim persistent volume (PV).

Deploying External Openshift Data Foundation

This section covers deploying External OpenShift Data Foundation 4.16 on existing Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 platform.

Lite touch Installation of external ODF(CEPH) cluster using Ansible playbook

Installer Machine Prerequisite:

RHEL 9.4 Installer machine the following configurations(we can utilise the same installer machine used for RHOCP cluster deployment).

At least 500 GB disk space (especially in the "/" partition), 4 CPU cores and 16GB RAM.
RHEL 9.4 Installer machine should be subscribed with valid Redhat credentials.
Sync time with NTP server.
SSH Key pair should be there on the installer machine, if not kindly generate a new SSH key pair using the below command.

 ssh-keygen

Use the following commands to create and activate a Python3 virtual environment for deploying this solution.

  'python3 -m venv \<virtual_environment_name\>  Example:virtual_environment_name=ocp
  source \<virtual_environment_name\>/bin/activate'

Execute the following commands in the Ansible Engine to download the repositories.

  'mkdir /opt
   cd /opt
   yum install -y git
   git clone <https://github.com/HewlettPackard/hpe-solutions-openshift.git>>'

Setup the installer machine to configure the nginx, development tools and other python packages required for LTI installation. Navigate to the directory, /opt/hpe-solutions-openshift/DL-LTI-Openshift/external-ceph_deployment and run the below command.

 'sh setup.sh'

As part of setup.sh script it will create nginx service, so user must download and copy Rhel DVD ISO to /usr/share/nginx/html/
Minimum Storage requirement for external odf cluster servers
Servers Host OS disk Storage Pool disk
Server 1 2 x 1.6 TB 8 x 1.6 TB
Server 2 2 x 1.6 TB 8 x 1.6 TB
Server 3 2 x 1.6 TB 8 x 1.6 TB
Host OS disk – raid1 for redundancy

Servers	Host OS disk	Storage Pool disk
Server 1	2 x 1.6 TB	8 x 1.6 TB
Server 2	2 x 1.6 TB	8 x 1.6 TB
Server 3	2 x 1.6 TB	8 x 1.6 TB

For Creating and deleting of logical drives refer to the Readme of the Openshift platform installation

Playbook Execution:- To delete all the existing logical drives in the server in case if any and to create new logical drives named 'RHEL Boot Volume' in respective ILO servers run the site.yml playbook inside create_delete_logicaldrives directory with the below mentioned command

# ansible-playbook site.yml --ask-vault-pass

*Note: If you do not have proxy or VLAN based setup leave these variables empty as shown below

        servers:
          Host_VlanID:
          SquidProxy_IP:
          SquidProxy_Port:

        squid_proxy_IP:
        corporate_proxy:
        squid_port:

Input files

We can provide the input variables in below method

Input.yaml: Manually editing input file

Go to the directory $BASE_DIR(/opt/hpe-solutions-openshift/DL-LTI-Openshift/external-ceph_deployment), here we will have input.yaml and hosts files.

A preconfigured Ansible vault file (input.yaml) is provided as a part of this solution, which consists of sensitive information to support the host and virtual machine deployment.

cd $BASE_DIR

Run the following commands on the installer VM to edit the vault to match the installation environment.

ansible-vault edit input.yaml

NOTE

The default password for the Ansible vault file is changeme

Sample input_sample.yml can be found in the $BASE_DIR along with description of each input variable.

A sample input.yaml file is as follows with a few filled parameters.


     '- Server_serial_number: 2M20510XXX
          ILO_Address: 172.28.*.*
          ILO_Username: admin
          ILO_Password: *****
          Hostname: ceph01.XX.XX                #ex. ceph01.isv.local
          Host_Username: root
          Host_Password: ******
          HWADDR1: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX             #mac address for server physical interface1
          HWADDR2: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX             #mac address for server physical interface2
          Host_OS_disk: sda
          Host_VlanID: 230                         #solution VLAN ID ex. 230
          Host_IP: 172.28.*.*
          Host_Netmask: 255.*.*.*
          Host_Prefix: XX                          #ex. 8,24,32
          Host_Gateway: 172.28.*.*
          Host_DNS: 172.28.*.*
          Host_Domain: XX.XX                       #ex. isv.local
          SquidProxy_IP:               #provide Squid proxy, ex. proxy.houston.hpecorp.net
          SquidProxy_Port:

Note

The First Machine details provided in the server section of input file will be considered for Manager/admin node in the ceph Cluster.

    config:
      HTTP_server_base_url: http://172.28.*.*/  #Installer IP address
      HTTP_file_path: /usr/share/nginx/html/
      OS_type: rhel
      OS_image_name: rhel-9.4-x86_64-dvd.iso
      base_kickstart_filepath: '/opt/hpe-solutions-openshift/DL-LTI-Openshift/external-ceph_deployment/playbooks/roles/rhel9_os_deployment/tasks/ks_rhel9.cfg'
      dashboard_user: xxx                      # provide the ceph user who needs admin access
      dashboard_password: xxxxxxxxxxx          # provide the temporary password that needs to be setup for user
      client_user: xxxx                        # provide the user who needs access with read only permission to dashboard.
      client_pwd: xxxxxxxxxxx                  # provide the password for user who needs access with read only permission to dashboard.
      ceph_adminuser: xxxxxxxxx                # provide the ceph user who will deploy the cluster
      ceph_adminuser_password: xxxxxxx         # provide the password for the user who willdeploy the cluster.
      rbd_pool_name: xxxxxx                    # provide the block name which will be created in cluster
      rgw_pool_name: xxxx                      # provde the gateway name which will be created inside the cluster
      ceph_fs:
      - fs_pool_name: xxxxxx               # provide the ceph file system name which will be created in cluster
        number_of_daemons: x               # provide the number of daemons which has to be created for mds
        hosts:
        -  xxxx.xxxxxx.xxxx                # provide the fqdn name of the nodes where mds damons has to run. If number of daemons are provide 3 fqdn details of the nodes in cluster.
        -  xxxx.xxxxxx.xxxx
        -  xxxx.xxxxxx.xxxx

The installation user should review hosts file (located on the installer VM at $BASE_DIR/hosts) and ensure that the information within the file accurately reflects the information in their environment.

Use an editor such as vi or nano to edit the inventory file.

vi $BASE_DIR/hosts

   [all]
   installer.isv.local
   ceph01.isv.local
   ceph02.isv.local
   ceph03.isv.local

   [OSD]
   ceph01.isv.local
   ceph02.isv.local
   ceph03.isv.local

   [admin]
   ceph01.isv.local

In the above sample file: ,Installer is the Asnbile machine, ceph01 is the ceph adminstration machine and ceph01,ceph02,ceph03 are the machines with Object storage daemon disk machines.

Playbook execution

External OpenShift Data Foundation(CEPH) cluster can be deployed by running site.yml or by running individual playbooks. Each playbook description can be found further in this document.
Run the below command to execute the Lite Touch Installation.

'ansible-playbook -i hosts site.yml --ask-vault-pass'

In case if user want to deploy through individual playbooks. Sequence of playbooks to be followed are:

 '- import_playbook: playbooks/rhel9_os_deployment.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/ssh.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/subscriptions.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/ntp.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/user_req.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/deploy_cephadm.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/registry.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/preflight.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/bootstrap.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/add_hosts.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/add_osd.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/client_user.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/copy_script.yaml
  - import_playbook: playbooks/rbd.yaml              # execute this playbook for rbd storage
  - import_playbook: playbooks/fs.yaml               # execute this playbook for cephfs
  - import_playbook: playbooks/rgw.yaml'             # execute this playbook for rgw

we should excute the last three playbooks as per the customer requirement.

Playbook description

site.yaml

This playbook contains the script to deploy external Openshift Data Foundation(ODF) platform starting from the OS_deployment until cluster up.

rhel9_os_deployment.yaml

This playbook contains the scripts to deploy rhel9.4 OS on baremetal servers.

ssh.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create and copy the ssh public key from installer machine to other nodes in the cluster.

subscriptions.yaml

This playbook contains the script to RHEL subscription and enables the required repositories required for the building the ceph cluster.

ntp.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create NTP setup on head nodes to make sure time synchronization.

user_req.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create a user on all nodes and copy the required ssh keys to the newly created user.

deploy_cephadm.yaml

This playbook contains the script to deploy the cephadm packages to the administration node.

registry.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create the registry on the installer node.

preflight.yaml

This playbook contains the script to call the Redhat provided playbooks to execute the some more prerequites required for the environment.

bootstrap.yaml

This playbook contains the script to bootstrap the ceph cluster.

add_hosts.yaml

This playbook contains the script to add the servers to the ODF cluster.

add_osd.yaml

This playbook contains the script to add the OSD disks.

client_user.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create a user with read only access to the cluster.

copy_script.yaml

This playbook contains the script to copy scrpits to administration node

rbd.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create rados block device in cluster.

fs.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create ceph fs.

rgw.yaml

This playbook contains the script to create Ceph Object Gateway.

Integration of external ODF with OpenShift Container Platform

Prerequisites:

OpenShift Data Foundation operator is deployed in the Openshift container platform and dashboard is available.

Steps for integration:

Click Operators --> Installed Operators to view all the installed operators.
Ensure that the Project selected is openshift-storage.
Click OpenShift Data Foundation and then click Create StorageSystem.
Select Connect an external storage platform from the available options.
Select Red Hat Ceph Storage for Storage platform and click Next
Click on the Download Script link to download the python script for extracting Ceph cluster details.
Execute the python script by providing the ceph cluster details.
In the below example we are executing the script to extract the details from a ceph cluster for rbd data pool "odf-rbd"

  python3 ceph-external-cluster-details-exporter.py --rbd-data-pool-name odf-rbd

Upload the output in the Openshift container platform container dashboard and click Next.
After sucessful importing of the ceph details, required storage class are created.

For validation deploy the wordpress application as demonstrate above.

Validating Persistent storage

Validating Persistent Storage (ODF) by deploying WordPress application

This section covers the steps to validate the OpenShift Data Foundation deployment (ODF) by deploying 2-tier application along with MySQL database.

Prerequisites

OCP 4.16 cluster must be installed.
ODF to claim persistent volume (PV).

NOTE

BASE_DIR - is a base directory path for all automated scripts directories are in place and path is /opt/hpe-solutions-openshift/DL-LTI-Openshift

Login to the installer machine as a non-root user.
From within the repository, navigate to the WordPress script folder
```
> cd $BASE_DIR/odf_installation/wordpress
```
Run below script to deploy Wordpress application along with MySQL
```
> ./deploy_wordpress.sh
```

The deploy_wordpress.sh scripts does the following activities.

Creates project
Sets default storage class
Deploys Wordpress and MySQL app
Create routes

Below is the output of the scripts

> ./deploy_wordpress.sh

Output of the command follows:

Already on project "wordpress" on server "https://api.socp.twentynet.local:6443".

You can add applications to this project with the 'new-app' command.
For example, try:

oc new-app ruby~https://github.com/sclorg/ruby-ex.git

to build a new example application in Ruby. Or use kubectl to deploy a simple Kubernetes application:

kubectl create deployment hello-node --image=gcr.io/hello-minikube-zero-install/hello-node

Already on project "wordpress" on server "https://api.socp.twentynet.local:6443".

clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/system:openshift:scc:anyuid
added: "default"error: --overwrite is false but found the following declared annotation(s):
'storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class' already has a value (true)

service/wordpress-http created

service/wordpress-mysql created

persistentvolumeclaim/mysql-pv-claim created

persistentvolumeclaim/wp-pv-claim created

secret/mysql-pass created

deployment.apps/wordpress-mysql created

deployment.apps/wordpress created

route.route.openshift.io/wordpress-http created

URL to access application

wordpress-http-wordpress.apps.socp.twentynet.local

$

Verifying the WordPress deployment

Execute the following command to verify the persistent volume associated with WordPress application and MySQL database.

> oc get pods,pvc,route -n wordpress

NAME                                  READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/wordpress-6f69797b8f-hqpss        1/1     Running   0          5m52s
pod/wordpress-mysql-8f4b599b5-cd2s2   1/1     Running   0          5m52s

NAME                                   STATUS   VOLUME                                     CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS                  AGE
persistentvolumeclaim/mysql-pv-claim   Bound    pvc-ccf2a578-9ba3-4577-8115-7c80ac200a9c   5Gi        RWO            ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd   5m50s
persistentvolumeclaim/wp-pv-claim      Bound    pvc-3acec0a0-943d-4138-bda9-5b57f8c35c5d   5Gi        RWO            ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd   5m50s

NAME                                      HOST/PORT                                              PATH   SERVICES         PORT     TERMINATION   WILDCARD
route.route.openshift.io/wordpress-http   wordpress-http-wordpress.apps.socp.twentynet.local          wordpress-http   80-tcp                 None
$

Access the route url in browser to access the WordPress application as shown below.
Figure 32. Sample application (WordPress)