1. Documentation
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Preparing to install on VMC

Prerequisites

Choosing a method to install OKD on VMC

You can install OKD on VMC by using installer-provisioned or user-provisioned infrastructure. The default installation type uses installer-provisioned infrastructure, 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 VMC 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 VMC

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

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

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

  • Installing a cluster on VMC with network customizations: You can install OKD on installer-provisioned VMC 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 VMC in a restricted network: You can install a cluster on VMC 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 VMC

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

VMware vSphere infrastructure requirements

You must install the OKD cluster on a VMware vSphere version 6 or 7 instance that meets the requirements for the components that you use.

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

VM hardware version

13 or later

vSphere ESXi hosts

6.5 or later

vCenter host

6.5 or later

Installing a cluster on VMware vSphere version 6.7U2 or earlier and virtual hardware version 13 is now deprecated. These versions are still fully supported, but support will be removed in a future version of OKD. Hardware version 15 is now the default for vSphere virtual machines in OKD. To update the hardware version for your vSphere nodes, see the "Updating hardware on nodes running in vSphere" article.
Table 2. Minimum supported vSphere version for VMware components
Component Minimum supported versions Description

Hypervisor

vSphere 6.5 and later with HW version 13

This version is the minimum version that Fedora CoreOS (FCOS) supports. See the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 supported hypervisors list.

Storage with in-tree drivers

vSphere 6.5 and later

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

If you use a vSphere version 6.5 instance, consider upgrading to 6.7U3 or 7.0 before you install OKD.

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.

Uninstalling an installer-provisioned infrastructure installation of OKD on VMC