Article

VMware Antrea is now Generally Available on OpenShift

August 3, 2023
Containers Operators
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Vivien Wang
Engineering Partner Manager
OpenShift

The VMware Antrea Operator, a network cluster operator for deploying Antrea as the default cluster network in Red Hat OpenShift, is now certified and available as a container network interface (CNI) plug-in and can be deployed on OpenShift 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, and 4.12.

The container network interface (CNI) badge represents a distinct classification in the Red Hat OpenShift certification ecosystem and is reserved for networking solutions that integrate with OpenShift via a CNI plug-in.

To qualify for this badge, the CNI plug-in must be deployed and managed through an operator. Partners are required to complete the relevant operator certification and successfully pass a series of end-to-end tests. Once approved, the operator is published in the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog and can be utilized by customers and partners.

Overview of Antrea

The Antrea operator is responsible for deploying and managing the Antrea CNI plugin in an OpenShift cluster. The Antrea operator leverages a dedicated Custom Resource Definition (CRD) called AntreaInstall to store configuration parameters specific to both the antrea-controller and antrea-agent. By continuously monitoring the AntreaInstall CR, the operator automatically applies any relevant configuration changes and efficiently restarts the affected pods, ensuring smooth updates to the Antrea components.

Antrea features

  • Antrea seamlessly integrates into OpenShift clusters through the Antrea operator, enabling the dynamic application of configuration changes to all operand components. Additionally, it maintains continuous monitoring of the OpenShift network CRD, accurately detecting alterations in available pod and service networking CIDRs.
  • The Antrea operator offers a simplified configuration process by centralizing all configuration parameters for each Antrea component into a single location. This streamlined approach ensures that configurations are efficiently propagated to their respective components without any complications.
  • Constant monitoring of components is a key feature of the Antrea operator. The cluster operator CR provides timely reports on the status of pods across deployments and daemonsets, promptly identifying and reporting any configuration errors that might hinder the correct implementation of changes on operands.

How to deploy VMware Antrea on OpenShift

The Antrea operator should be deployed in the early phases of cluster deployment for OpenShift 4 cluster. Its primary role is to monitor the cluster network configuration CR (network.config.openshift.io/v1). By doing so, it can keep the container network CIDRs and service network CIDRs used by Antrea up to date and properly configured.

Step 1: Generate the install-config.yaml using the openshift-install command:

$ openshift-install --dir=MY_CLUSTER create install-config

Step 2: Update the install-config.yaml and make sure to change the networkType to "antrea" (case insensitive). Set container network CIDRs (clusterNetwork) and service network CIDRs (serviceNetwork).

Step 3: Create manifest files:

$ openshift-install --dir=MY_CLUSTER create manifests

Step 4: Copy operator YAML files from deploy/ to MY_CLUSTER/manifests. Modify operator.antrea.vmware.com_v1_antreainstall_cr.yaml to configure Antrea and set the desired image version.

Step 5: Generate ignition configuration files:

$ openshift-install --dir=MY_CLUSTER create ignition-configs.

Include the bootstrap ignition file in the terraform tfvars. Proceed with installing Openshift 4 cluster on vSphere using terraform.

Step 6: Initiate cluster bootstrap and wait for the process to complete.

Configuring your cluster network

Initially, the cluster network configuration is defined in the install-config.yaml file. To update the clusterNetwork and serviceNetwork settings, users can apply changes through the network.config.openshift.io CRD in manifests/cluster-network-02-config.yml.

Here is a sample configuration:

apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
kind: Network
metadata:
  name: cluster
spec:
  networkType: antrea
  clusterNetwork:
  - cidr: 10.10.0.0/14
  serviceNetwork:
  - 172.30.0.0/16

Learn more

For more information on the available installation processes and how to prepare a cluster installation for users, please consult the Selecting a cluster installation method and preparing it for users section in the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform documentation. These instructions provide comprehensive guidance on choosing the appropriate installation method and preparing the cluster environment for users.

If you wish to leverage the OperatorHub for installation, the following links provide detailed information:

To learn more about Certified OpenShift CNI Plug-ins and the third-party CNI plug-ins that have been certified by Red Hat for use with the OpenShift Container Platform, please refer to this document.

Learn more about Antrea:

Last updated: September 19, 2023

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