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Preparing to install on vSphere

Prerequisites

Choosing a method to install OKD on vSphere

You can install OKD with the Assisted Installer. This method requires no setup for the installer, and is ideal for connected environments like vSphere. Installing with the Assisted Installer also provides integration with vSphere, enabling autoscaling. See Installing an on-premise cluster using the Assisted Installer for additional details.

You can also install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned or user-provisioned infrastructure. Installer-provisioned infrastructure is ideal for installing in environments with air-gapped/restricted networks, where the installation program provisions the underlying infrastructure for the cluster. You can also install OKD on infrastructure that you provide. If you do not use infrastructure that the installation program provisions, you must manage and maintain the cluster resources yourself.

See the Installation process for more information about installer-provisioned and user-provisioned installation processes.

The steps for performing a user-provisioned infrastructure installation are provided as an example only. Installing a cluster with infrastructure you provide requires knowledge of the vSphere platform and the installation process of OKD. Use the user-provisioned infrastructure installation instructions as a guide; you are free to create the required resources through other methods.

Installer-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere

Installer-provisioned infrastructure allows the installation program to preconfigure and automate the provisioning of resources required by OKD.

  • Installing a cluster on vSphere: You can install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned infrastructure installation with no customization.

  • Installing a cluster on vSphere with customizations: You can install OKD on vSphere by using installer-provisioned infrastructure installation with the default customization options.

  • Installing a cluster on vSphere with network customizations: You can install OKD on installer-provisioned vSphere infrastructure, with network customizations. You can customize your OKD network configuration during installation, so that your cluster can coexist with your existing IP address allocations and adhere to your network requirements.

  • Installing a cluster on vSphere in a restricted network: You can install a cluster on VMware vSphere infrastructure in a restricted network by creating an internal mirror of the installation release content. You can use this method to deploy OKD on an internal network that is not visible to the internet.

User-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere

User-provisioned infrastructure requires the user to provision all resources required by OKD.

VMware vSphere infrastructure requirements

You must install an OKD cluster on one of the following versions of a VMware vSphere instance that meets the requirements for the components that you use:

  • Version 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later

  • Version 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

You can host the VMware vSphere infrastructure on-premise or on a VMware Cloud Verified provider that meets the requirements outlined in the following table:

Table 1. Version requirements for vSphere virtual environments
Virtual environment product Required version

VMware virtual hardware

15 or later

vSphere ESXi hosts

7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

vCenter host

7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

Installing a cluster on VMware vSphere versions 7.0 and 7.0 Update 1 is deprecated. These versions are still fully supported, but all vSphere 6.x versions are no longer supported. Version 4.12 of OKD requires VMware virtual hardware version 15 or later. To update the hardware version for your vSphere virtual machines, see the "Updating hardware on nodes running in vSphere" article in the Updating clusters section.
Table 2. Minimum supported vSphere version for VMware components
Component Minimum supported versions Description

Hypervisor

vSphere 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; vSphere 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later with virtual hardware version 15

This hypervisor version is the minimum version that Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) supports. For more information about supported hardware on the latest version of Fedora that is compatible with FCOS, see Hardware on the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Storage with in-tree drivers

vSphere 7.0 Update 2 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later

This plugin creates vSphere storage by using the in-tree storage drivers for vSphere included in OKD.

Optional: Networking (NSX-T)

vSphere 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; vSphere 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

For more information about the compatibility of NSX and OKD, see the Release Notes section of VMware’s NSX container plugin documentation.

You must ensure that the time on your ESXi hosts is synchronized before you install OKD. See Edit Time Configuration for a Host in the VMware documentation.

VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator requirements

To install the vSphere CSI Driver Operator, the following requirements must be met:

  • VMware vSphere version: 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

  • vCenter version: 7.0 Update 2 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 or later; 8.0 Update 1 or later, or VMware Cloud Foundation 5.0 or later

  • Virtual machines of hardware version 15 or later

  • No third-party vSphere CSI driver already installed in the cluster

If a third-party vSphere CSI driver is present in the cluster, OKD does not overwrite it. The presence of a third-party vSphere CSI driver prevents OKD from updating to OKD 4.13 or later.

The VMware vSphere CSI Driver Operator is supported only on clusters deployed with platform: vsphere in the installation manifest.
Additional resources

Configuring the vSphere connection settings

  • Updating the vSphere connection settings following an installation: For installations on vSphere using the Assisted Installer, you must manually update the vSphere connection settings to complete the installation. For installer-provisioned or user-provisioned infrastructure installations on vSphere, you can optionally validate or modify the vSphere connection settings at any time.

Uninstalling an installer-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on vSphere