How To Install OpenShift Container Platform On a Laptop or Desktop

In this lesson, you will learn the step-by-step guide of how to install OpenShift cluster locally on a laptop or desktop using the OpenShift Local.

Understanding The Subject Matter

In the previous lesson, we discussed the different methods of how to install OpenShift container platform and we agreed we will start with installing the single node OpenShift cluster due to resources, hence, in this lesson, we are going to install OpenShift cluster using the OpenShif Local.

Openshift Local, formerly called the CodeReady container (CRC), can be installed on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.

OpenShift local can only run with NetworkManager and on a hypervisor, just like the Kubernetes minikube, which runs only on a hypervisor.

To interact with OpenShift, we need an OpenShift client tool, one of which is the “OC” (OpenShift client). Incidentally, the OC is installed alongside the Openshift local.

The OpenShift local also needs a pull secrete to be able to get installed. One can easily open a Red hat developer account and use this link to get a pull secrete. It’s a very straight forward process. You can ask your questions below if you have any difficulty in getting your pull secrete.

Because I prefer to use Linux, being a Red Hat guy, I will be doing this installation on RHEL 9. This same installation can be done on the RHEL 8 and RHEL 7 systems. We already discussed the requirements for your hardware or VMs in the previous lesson. The requirements can also be seen in the diagram below.

Lets see the step by step guide of how to install OpenShift local on a Linux system.

ACTION TIME

Step By Step Guide Of How To Install OpenShift Local (CodeReady Container) On RHEL 9 / RHEL 8 /RHEL 7

***Preparing and installing the kvm hypervisor***

* For RHEL 9, you will have to install the KVM hypervisor

[root@snk ~]# dnf install qemu-kvm libvirt virt-install virt-viewer -y
Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Last metadata expiration check: 0:11:52 ago on Fri 15 Jul 2022 13:59:28.
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
.....................

*Start libvirtd

[root@sno ~]# systemctl start libvirtd

[root@sno ~]# systemctl status libvirtd
● libvirtd.service - Virtualization daemon
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/libvirtd.service; disabled; vendor>
     Active: active (running) since Fri 2022-07-15 14:13:00 WAT; 2s ago
TriggeredBy: ● libvirtd-ro.socket
..................................

*For RHEL 8, since the full installation comes with libvirt, you will have to also install the libvirt additional packages.

[root@sno ~]# dnf install @virt -y

Updating Subscription Management repositories.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - BaseOS (RPMs)          3.3 kB/s | 4.1 kB     00:01
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 for x86_64 - AppStream (RPMs)       747  B/s | 4.5 kB     00:06
Dependencies resolved.
..................................

* Restart libvirtd

[root@sno ~]# systemctl restart libvirtd

***Getting The Pull Secrete***

You can get the pull secrete using this link after you have created the Red Hat developer account.

***Installing OpenShift Local***

1. Download the latest version of OpenShift local/CRC

[root@sno ~]# wget https://developers.redhat.com/content-gateway/rest/mirror/pub/openshift-v4/clients/crc/latest/crc-linux-amd64.tar.xz

--2022-07-14 13:06:20--  https://developers.redhat.com/content-gateway/rest/mirror/pub/openshift-v4/clients/crc/latest/crc-linux-amd64.tar.xz
........................

2. Verify that the OpenShift local/CRC has been downloaded

[root@sno ~]# ls

anaconda-ks.cfg         Desktop    Downloads             Music     Public     Videos
crc-linux-amd64.tar.xz  Documents  initial-setup-ks.cfg  Pictures  Templates

3. Extract the downloaded file

[root@sno ~]# tar xvf crc-linux-amd64.tar.xz

crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64/
crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64/LICENSE
crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64/crc

4. Verify that the file has been extracted.

[root@sno ~]# ls

anaconda-ks.cfg         Desktop    initial-setup-ks.cfg  Public
crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64   Documents  Music                 Templates
crc-linux-amd64.tar.xz  Downloads  Pictures              Videos

*Make the file executable

[root@sno ~]# chmod +x crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64/crc

5. Since the extracted crc file is a binary file, we can easily install by copying or moving it to the /usr/local/bin directory

[root@sno ~]# cp crc-linux-2.5.1-amd64/crc /usr/local/bin

*you can verify the version of the CRC installed

[victor@sno ~]$ crc version

CRC version: 2.5.1+3d569b8
OpenShift version: 4.10.18
Podman version: 4.1.0

CRC should not run as root, hence, we need another user, preferably, a sudo user to run CRC. I already have a user with the name victor. I am going to make the user a sudo user and also add the user to the libvirt (hypervisor/kvm) group.

6. make the user, victor a sudo user and also add the user to the libvirt group

[root@sno ~]# usermod -aG libvirt victor

[root@sno ~]# usermod -aG wheel victor

[root@sno ~]# id victor

uid=1000(victor) gid=1000(victor) groups=1000(victor),10(wheel),981(libvirt)

7. logout and login as the user, victor or ssh into the server as the user, victor on the same terminal.

NB: its best not to switch user in this case (su – victor)

[root@sno ~]# ssh victor@localhost

The authenticity of host 'localhost (::1)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:1b+fFpvcXKQU4MQUnvcqKbUKfgpKUj4CmG/1FeNOlks.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added 'localhost' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
victor@localhost's password:

[victor@sno ~]$

8. Initiate the OpenShift local/CRC setup

This setup will download the CRC bundle (VM image for the OpenShift cluster that will run in the KVM hypervisor).

[victor@sno ~]$ crc setup

CRC is constantly improving and we would like to know more about usage (more details at https://developers.redhat.com/article/tool-data-collection)
............................
INFO Using bundle path /home/victor/.crc/cache/crc_libvirt_4.10.18_amd64.crcbundle
INFO Checking if running as non-root
...............................
INFO Getting bundle for the CRC executable
INFO Downloading crc_libvirt_4.10.18_amd64.crcbundle
3.13 GiB / 3.13 GiB [----------------------------------------------------] 100.00%
...............................
Your system is correctly setup for using CRC. Use 'crc start' to start the instance

9. Start OpenShift local/CRC

starting CRC will prompt you to impute the pull secrete.

[victor@sno ~]$ crc start

INFO Checking if running as non-root
INFO Checking if running inside WSL2
.............................
CRC requires a pull secret to download content from Red Hat.
You can copy it from the Pull Secret section of https://console.redhat.com/openshift/create/local.
? Please enter the pull secret
...............................
INFO Creating CRC VM for OpenShift 4.10.18...
INFO Generating new SSH key pair...
INFO Generating new password for the kubeadmin user
INFO Starting CRC VM for OpenShift 4.10.18...
..................................
INFO Adding crc-admin and crc-developer contexts to kubeconfig...
Started the OpenShift cluster.

The server is accessible via web console at:
  https://console-openshift-console.apps-crc.testing

Log in as administrator:
  Username: kubeadmin
  Password: W37tT-ziN3T-eE6VP-q6Yt9

Log in as user:
  Username: developer
  Password: developer

Use the 'oc' command line interface:
  $ eval $(crc oc-env)
  $ oc login -u developer https://api.crc.testing:6443

10. Verify the crc status

[victor@sno ~]$ crc status

CRC VM:          Running
OpenShift:       Running (v4.10.18)
Podman:
Disk Usage:      15.09GB of 32.74GB (Inside the CRC VM)
Cache Usage:     16.87GB
Cache Directory: /home/victor/.crc/cache

* if you try using the oc tool, it will not work because, you need to configure your shell just as the instruction was given in the last information in step 9 when we run the “crc start command”.

Let’s try it.

[victor@sno ~]$ oc

bash: oc: command not found...

11. set the oc path

[victor@sno ~]$ crc oc-env

export PATH="/home/victor/.crc/bin/oc:$PATH"
# Run this command to configure your shell:
# eval $(crc oc-env)

12. configure your shell to use oc

[victor@sno ~]$ eval $(crc oc-env)

*Now try the oc command again

[victor@sno ~]$ oc

OpenShift Client

This client helps you develop, build, deploy, and run your applications on any
OpenShift or Kubernetes cluster. It also includes the administrative
commands for managing a cluster under the 'adm' subcommand.

To familiarize yourself with OpenShift, login to your cluster and try creating a
sample application:

    oc login mycluster.mycompany.com
    oc new-project my-example
    oc new-app django-psql-example
    oc logs -f bc/django-psql-example
.............................

13. Login to the cluster as admin

[victor@sno ~]$ oc login -u kubeadmin -p W37tT-ziN3T-eE6VP-q6Yt9 https://api.crc.testing:6443

Login successful.

You have access to 64 projects, the list has been suppressed. You can list all projects with 'oc projects'

Using project "default".

14. We can test by getting some of the cluster information or services

*Test 1

[victor@sno ~]$ oc get all

NAME                 TYPE           CLUSTER-IP   EXTERNAL-IP                            PORT(S)   AGE
service/kubernetes   ClusterIP      10.217.4.1   <none>                                 443/TCP   23d
service/openshift    ExternalName   <none>       kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local   <none>    23d

*Test 2

[victor@sno ~]$ oc get nodes

NAME                 STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
crc-5nvrm-master-0   Ready    master,worker   23d   v1.23.5+3afdacb

15. Try logging in to the cluster as the user, developer too

[victor@sno ~]$ oc login -u developer https://api.crc.testing:6443

Logged into "https://api.crc.testing:6443" as "developer" using existing credentials.

You don't have any projects. You can try to create a new project, by running

    oc new-project <projectname>

Click Here To Watch Video On The Step By Step Guide Of How To Install OpenShift Cluster Locally

install OpenShift Locally

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