rhdh-install-ocp

name	rhdh-install-ocp
metadata	{"author":"rhoai3-coding-demo","version":"1.0.0","platform-family":"rhdh","platform-baseline":"repo","ocp-baseline":"repo","skill-group":"Developer Hub"}
description	Use when installing Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 on OpenShift Container Platform using the Operator or Helm chart, including prerequisites, namespace setup, custom configuration provisioning, Backstage CR authoring, and verification. Do NOT use for air-gapped/disconnected installations (use rhdh-install-airgapped), configuration beyond initial deployment, or plugin development.

RHDH Install on OpenShift Container Platform

Use this skill to install Red Hat Developer Hub 1.10 on a connected OpenShift Container Platform cluster using either the Operator or the Helm chart.

Source Grounding

Read references/source-capture.md before using product behavior. Official Red Hat documentation is product authority. This skill covers Operator installation via OperatorHub, Helm chart deployment via console or CLI, custom configuration provisioning (config maps, secrets, dynamic plugins), Backstage CR authoring, and deployment verification.

Installation Methods

RHDH 1.10 supports two installation methods on OpenShift:

1. Red Hat Developer Hub Operator — OLM-managed, automatic subscription updates, installed via OperatorHub.
2. Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart — manual install via web console or Helm CLI from charts.openshift.io.

Prerequisites (Operator)

• OpenShift Container Platform 4.18 to 4.21
• Administrator access to the web console
• Appropriate roles and permissions to create applications
• System meets minimum sizing requirements

Prerequisites (Helm chart)

• OpenShift Container Platform with admin role configured
• Project created in OpenShift
• Helm CLI installed (for CLI method)
• System meets minimum sizing requirements

Operator Installation

• Update channels: fast or fast-1.10 (z-stream only)
• Installation mode: All namespaces on the cluster (required)
• Installed namespace: rhdh-operator (recommended for security)
• Verification: Ecosystem > Installed Operators shows Succeeded

Custom Configuration Provisioning

Before creating the Backstage CR, provision:

1. Secrets — oc create secret generic my-rhdh-secrets --from-file=secrets.txt
2. App config — oc create configmap my-rhdh-app-config --from-file=app-config.yaml
3. Dynamic plugins — oc create configmap dynamic-plugins-rhdh --from-file=dynamic-plugins.yaml

Critical: Set baseUrl in app-config.yaml to match the external URL of the instance in both app.baseUrl and backend.baseUrl.

Backstage CR

• apiVersion: rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha5
• kind: Backstage
• Key spec fields: spec.application.appConfig.configMaps, spec.application.dynamicPluginsConfigMapName, spec.application.extraEnvs.secrets, spec.application.route.enabled, spec.database.enableLocalDb

Apply with:

oc apply -f my-rhdh-custom-resource.yaml -n my-rhdh-project

Helm Chart Installation (CLI)

NAMESPACE=rhdh
oc new-project ${NAMESPACE} || oc project ${NAMESPACE}

helm upgrade redhat-developer-hub -i \
  https://github.com/openshift-helm-charts/charts/releases/download/redhat-redhat-developer-hub-1.10.1/redhat-developer-hub-1.10.1.tgz

PASSWORD=$(oc get secret redhat-developer-hub-postgresql -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d)
CLUSTER_ROUTER_BASE=$(oc get route console -n openshift-console -o=jsonpath='{.spec.host}' | sed 's/^[^.]*\.//')

helm upgrade redhat-developer-hub -i \
  "https://github.com/openshift-helm-charts/charts/releases/download/redhat-redhat-developer-hub-1.10.1/redhat-developer-hub-1.10.1.tgz" \
  --set global.clusterRouterBase="$CLUSTER_ROUTER_BASE" \
  --set global.postgresql.auth.password="$PASSWORD"

Verification

oc get backstage -n my-rhdh-project
oc get pods -n my-rhdh-project
oc get route -n my-rhdh-project
echo "https://redhat-developer-hub-${NAMESPACE}.${CLUSTER_ROUTER_BASE}"

Troubleshooting

Pod in CrashLoopBackOff with error Missing required config value at 'backend.database.client' indicates the configuration files are not accessible. Verify config maps are correctly mounted.

Workflow

1. Read references/official-doc-extraction.md for exact YAML patterns.
2. Choose installation method (Operator vs Helm).
3. Verify prerequisites and sizing.
4. For Operator: install via OperatorHub, provision config, create Backstage CR.
5. For Helm: create project, run helm upgrade -i, configure router base.
6. Validate with verification commands.

Related Skills

• rhdh-install-airgapped — Air-gapped/disconnected installation
• ocp-gitops-operator — GitOps-managed deployment patterns

References

• references/source-capture.md
• references/official-doc-extraction.md