The System Charts repository contains all the catalog items required for features such as monitoring, logging, alerting and global DNS.

In an air gapped installation of Rancher, you will need to configure Rancher to use a local copy of the system charts. This section describes how to use local system charts using a CLI flag in Rancher v2.3.0, and using a Git mirror for Rancher versions before v2.3.0.

Using Local System Charts in Rancher v2.3.0

In Rancher v2.3.0, a local copy of system-charts has been packaged into the rancher/rancher container. To be able to use these features in an air gap install, you will need to run the Rancher install command with an extra environment variable, CATTLE_SYSTEM_CATALOG=bundled, which tells Rancher to use the local copy of the charts instead of attempting to fetch them from GitHub.

Example commands for a Rancher installation with a bundled system-charts are included in the air gap Docker installation instructions and the air gap Kubernetes installation instructions.

Setting Up System Charts for Rancher Before v2.3.0

A. Prepare System Charts

The System Charts repository contains all the catalog items required for features such as monitoring, logging, alerting and global DNS. To be able to use these features in an air gap install, you will need to mirror the system-charts repository to a location in your network that Rancher can reach and configure Rancher to use that repository.

Refer to the release notes in the system-charts repository to see which branch corresponds to your version of Rancher.

B. Configure System Charts

Rancher needs to be configured to use your Git mirror of the system-charts repository. You can configure the system charts repository either from the Rancher UI or from Rancher’s API view.

In the catalog management page in the Rancher UI, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Global view.

  2. Click Tools > Catalogs.

  3. The system chart is displayed under the name system-library. To edit the configuration of the system chart, click ⋮ > Edit.

  4. In the Catalog URL field, enter the location of the Git mirror of the system-charts repository.

  5. Click Save.

Result: Rancher is configured to download all the required catalog items from your system-charts repository.

  1. Log into Rancher.

  2. Open https://<your-rancher-server>/v3/catalogs/system-library in your browser.

    Open

  3. Click Edit on the upper right corner and update the value for url to the location of the Git mirror of the system-charts repository.

    Update

  4. Click Show Request

  5. Click Send Request

Result: Rancher is configured to download all the required catalog items from your system-charts repository.