Installing the operators by using the Red Hat OpenShift console
Install the IBM Cloud Pak® for Integration operators by using the OpenShift web console. Installing the operators is a prerequisite for deploying instances later in the installation process.
A cluster administrator must install Cloud Pak for Integration. For more information, see OpenShift Roles and permissions.
Operators extend a Kubernetes cluster by adding and managing more resource types in the Kubernetes API and enabling the installation and management of software by using standard Kubernetes tools. For more information, see Operator reference.
Before you begin
Review Operator reference before you install the operators.
- If you are installing on OpenShift 4.12 on s390x (IBM Z®) or ppc64le (IBM® POWER®) hardware, install the IBM Cert Manager operator by adding the catalog source as explained in the "Adding specific catalog sources for each operator" section of Adding catalog sources to a cluster.
- If you are installing on OpenShift 4.12 on other hardware, or on OpenShift 4.14 on any hardware, install the cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift by following the instructions in Installing the cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift.
Procedure
Log in to the OpenShift web console with your OpenShift cluster administrator credentials.
Make sure that the Administrator perspective is selected.
Click Operators > OperatorHub.
On the OperatorHub page that opens, use the search filter to locate the tile for the operator you plan to install, for example, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, and click the tile:
On the operator information page that opens, click Install.
In the Install Operator page that opens:
Select the operator channel. The Instana agent doesn't have an operator channel, so if you are installing the Instana agent, skip this substep. For more information about available operators and operator channel versions, see Operator and instance versions for this release.
Select the option to install either in all namespaces in the cluster or in a specific namespace. The Instana agent can be installed only in all namespaces. For more information, see Guidelines for installing operators.
If you select the option to install the operator in a specific namespace, create a new project for this purpose. Under Home > Projects, click Create Project, enter the name for your new project, and click Create.
For the approval strategy, do not select Manual, because it doesn't allow users to control which updates to apply, and it can block upgrade. The default strategy is Automatic. For more information, see Restricting automatic updates with an approval strategy.
Click Install. The operator installs.
Confirm installation. To confirm the operator is installed:
Make sure that you're logged in to the OpenShift web console.
In the navigation panel, click Operators > Installed Operators.
From the Project list, select the namespace in which the operator was installed. If you installed the operator by using the All namespaces on the cluster installation mode, the operator pod is located in the openshift-operators project.
Locate your operator in the table and examine the
status
column. When the operator is ready, the status changes toSucceeded
.
You can now install other Cloud Pak for Integration operators.
Restricting automatic updates with an approval strategy
Controlling updates by using dedicated and declarative catalog sources is the only way to ensure that the cluster never upgrades. To use this method, follow the procedure in the "Adding specific catalog sources for each operator" section of Adding catalog sources to a cluster.
However, if you know you will always want automatic upgrades of operators, and you do not require declarative installs, you can use the IBM Operator catalog for installations.
There are two approval strategies, Automatic and Manual.
Do not use the Manual strategy, because users cannot control what upgrades to apply; this strategy forces all possible upgrades to be done at the same time. It can also block an upgrade. If your use case requires that you control what upgrades to apply, follow the procedure for "Adding specific catalog sources for each operator" as already described.
The Automatic strategy is the default strategy. As new operator versions are made available on the subscription channel (only if the catalog source is updated), they are installed automatically, but only on fix packs. Minor version changes always require user input to change subscription channels.
Operators available to install
The following table lists each operator that you can install and the instance types that it supports. You can install any combination of operators, and any dependencies are pulled in automatically.
Installing the IBM Cloud Pak for Integration operator enables deployment of the Platform UI, which facilitates the deployment and management of the other instances.
Operator name | Instances |
---|---|
IBM Cloud Pak for Integration | Platform UI, Integration assembly, Declarative API, and Declarative API Product |
IBM Automation foundation assets | Automation assets |
IBM API Connect | API management, API Manager, API Analytics, API Portal, and API Gateway |
IBM App Connect | Integration dashboard, Integration design, and Integration runtime |
IBM Aspera HSTS | High speed transfer server |
IBM DataPower Gateway | Enterprise gateway |
IBM Event Streams | Kafka cluster |
IBM Event Endpoint Management | Event Endpoint Manager, and Event Gateway |
IBM MQ | Queue manager |
IBM Instana Agent | IBM Instana |
IBM Cloud Pak foundational services | Cloud Pak foundational services |
IBM Cert Manager | Certificate management (OpenShift 4.12 on s390x or ppc64le hardware) |
cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift | Certificate management (OpenShift 4.12 on any hardware except s390x or ppc64le, or OpenShift 4.14 on any hardware) |
IBM Licensing | IBM License Service |
What's next?
Follow one of these topics, depending on how you are installing Cloud Pak for Integration:
For online environments, see Finding and applying your entitlement key by using the UI (online installation).
For air-gapped environments, see Deploying the Platform UI.