openshift-node-setup

name	openshift-node-setup
description	Use when you need to understand how the OKD nodes (VMs) are created, managed, and destroyed on the desktop-server libvirt host in the homelab.

Openshift Node Setup (Homelab)

This skill describes how the 3-node OKD cluster is provisioned and managed on the desktop-server libvirt host in the homelab. The installation uses the OpenShift Agent-Based Installer, meaning there is no separate bootstrap VM. Instead, master-0 acts as the rendezvous host and coordinates the installation.

Cluster Topology

The cluster consists of 3 Master VMs running on the desktop-server libvirt host.

• okd-master-0 (Rendezvous node)
  • IP: 192.168.1.22
  • MAC: 52:54:00:00:00:10
  • Memory: 30GB
• okd-master-1
  • IP: 192.168.1.23
  • MAC: 52:54:00:00:00:11
  • Memory: 30GB
• okd-master-2
  • IP: 192.168.1.24
  • MAC: 52:54:00:00:00:12
  • Memory: 30GB

Networking: VMs use macvtap bridged networking (direct mode), attached to the physical interface of the 192.168.1.0/24 network on the desktop-server host.

Node Management Workflow

Nodes are managed using Ansible playbooks wrapped by the okd/makefile.

1. Generating and Copying the ISO

All 3 nodes boot from a single generated Agent ISO (agent.x86_64.iso).

• Generate ISO: make build
• Copy ISO to desktop-server: make copy-iso
  • This runs the ansible/copy-iso.yml playbook to push the ISO to the server.
  • To clean up old ISOs: make delete-iso

2. Creating and Starting VMs

• Command: make create-vms
  • Executes ansible/create-vms.yml.
  • Creates qcow2 disk images (120GB default).
  • Defines and starts the VMs on the desktop-server using virt-install.
• Start stopped VMs: make start-vms
• Reboot non-bootstrap nodes: make reboot-non-bootstrap

3. Monitoring Installation

• Rendezvous logs (master-0): make watch-bootstrap
• Other node logs: make watch-master-1, make watch-master-2
• All nodes (tmux): make watch-all
• Wait for install completion: make wait-install

4. Destroying the Cluster

• Command: make destroy-vms
  • Executes ansible/destroy-vms.yml.
  • Force stops (virsh destroy), undefines (virsh undefine), and deletes the qcow2 disk images for all 3 master nodes on the desktop-server host.

Gotchas & Troubleshooting

• SSH Errors during watch: If make watch-bootstrap fails with SSH key errors after a rebuild, run make clean-known-hosts to clear the IPs from ~/.ssh/known_hosts.