Preparing to install on vSphere

Preparing to install on vSphere

Prerequisites

You reviewed details about the OKD installation and update processes.
You read the documentation on selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users.
If you use a firewall and plan to use Telemetry, you configured the firewall to allow the sites required by your cluster.
You reviewed your VMware platform licenses. Red Hat does not place any restrictions on your VMware licenses, but some VMware infrastructure components require licensing.

Choosing a method to install OKD on vSphere

You can install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned or user-provisioned infrastructure. The default installation type uses installer-provisioned infrastructure, where the installation program provisions the underlying infrastructure for the cluster. You can also install OKD on infrastructure that you provide. If you do not use infrastructure that the installation program provisions, you must manage and maintain the cluster resources yourself.

See the Installation process for more information about installer-provisioned and user-provisioned installation processes.

The steps for performing a user-provisioned infrastructure installation are provided as an example only. Installing a cluster with infrastructure you provide requires knowledge of the vSphere platform and the installation process of OKD. Use the user-provisioned infrastructure installation instructions as a guide; you are free to create the required resources through other methods.

Installer-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere

Installer-provisioned infrastructure allows the installation program to pre-configure and automate the provisioning of resources required by OKD.

Installing a cluster on vSphere: You can install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned infrastructure installation with no customization.
Installing a cluster on vSphere with customizations: You can install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned infrastructure installation with the default customization options.
Installing a cluster on vSphere with network customizations: You can install OKD on installer-provisioned vSphere infrastructure, with network customizations. You can customize your OKD network configuration during installation, so that your cluster can coexist with your existing IP address allocations and adhere to your network requirements.
Installing a cluster on vSphere in a restricted network: You can install a cluster on VMware vSphere infrastructure in a restricted network by creating an internal mirror of the installation release content. You can use this method to deploy OKD on an internal network that is not visible to the internet.

User-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere

User-provisioned infrastructure requires the user to provision all resources required by OKD.

Installing a cluster on vSphere with user-provisioned infrastructure: You can install OKD on VMware vSphere infrastructure that you provision.
Installing a cluster on vSphere with network customizations with user-provisioned infrastructure: You can install OKD on VMware vSphere infrastructure that you provision with customized network configuration options.
Installing a cluster on vSphere in a restricted network with user-provisioned infrastructure: OKD can be installed on VMware vSphere infrastructure that you provision in a restricted network.

VMware vSphere infrastructure requirements

You must install the OKD cluster on a VMware vSphere version 7 instance that meets the requirements for the components that you use.

Table 1. Version requirements for vSphere virtual environments
Virtual environment product	Required version
VMware virtual hardware	15 or later
vSphere ESXi hosts	7.0.2 or later
vCenter host	7.0.2 or later

Installing a cluster on VMware vSphere versions 7.0.0 and 7.0.1 is deprecated. These versions are still fully supported, but all vSphere 6.x versions are no longer supported. Version 4.12 of OKD requires VMware virtual hardware version 15 or later. To update the hardware version for your vSphere virtual machines, see the “Updating hardware on nodes running in vSphere” article in the Updating clusters section.

Table 2. Minimum supported vSphere version for VMware components
Component	Minimum supported versions	Description
Hypervisor	vSphere 7.0.2 and later with virtual hardware version 15	This version is the minimum version that Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) supports. See the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 supported hypervisors list.
Storage with in-tree drivers	vSphere 7.0.2 and later	This plugin creates vSphere storage by using the in-tree storage drivers for vSphere included in OKD.
Optional: Networking (NSX-T)	vSphere 7.0.2 and later	vSphere 7.0.2 is required for OKD. VMware’s NSX Container Plugin (NCP) is certified with OKD 4.6 and NSX-T 3.x+.

You must ensure that the time on your ESXi hosts is synchronized before you install OKD. See Edit Time Configuration for a Host in the VMware documentation.

VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator requirements

To install the CSI Driver Operator, the following requirements must be met:

VMware vSphere version 7.0.2 or later
vCenter 7.0.2 or later
Virtual machines of hardware version 15 or later
No third-party CSI driver already installed in the cluster

If a third-party CSI driver is present in the cluster, OKD does not overwrite it. The presence of a third-party CSI driver prevents OKD from upgrading to OKD 4.13 or later.

Additional resources

To remove a third-party CSI driver, see Removing a third-party vSphere CSI Driver.

Uninstalling an installer-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere

Uninstalling a cluster on vSphere that uses installer-provisioned infrastructure: You can remove a cluster that you deployed on VMware vSphere infrastructure that used installer-provisioned infrastructure.