Installing the OpenShift Virtualization Operator

Before you begin

Before you install the OpenShift Virtualization Operator, complete the following steps:

1. Create a Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud cluster with the following requirements:

   • Bare metal worker nodes: Required for virtualization workloads
   • RHCOS operating system: Required (not RHEL)
   • OVN-Kubernetes CNI: Required for advanced networking features
   • OpenShift 4.20 or later: Required for full virtualization support
   • Outbound traffic protection: Must be disabled (can be set during cluster creation or disabled afterward)

   You can disable outbound traffic protection during cluster creation in the UI or CLI, or disable it after cluster creation using the command in step 3.

2. Set up storage for OpenShift Virtualization. Your cluster must have exactly one properly configured storage solution (either ODF or VPC File Storage).

3. If you didn't disable outbound traffic protection during cluster creation, disable it now.

   ibmcloud oc vpc outbound-traffic-protection disable -c <cluster-name>
   

   This step is only needed if outbound traffic protection was not disabled during cluster creation.

4. Enable the default catalog sources.

   ibmcloud ks cluster config --admin -c <cluster-name>
   oc patch operatorhub cluster --type json -p '[{"op": "add", "path": "/spec/disableAllDefaultSources", "value": false}]'
   

5. Verify the catalog sources are available.

   oc get catalogsource -n openshift-marketplace
   

6. Confirm the OpenShift Virtualization package is available.

   oc get packagemanifests -n openshift-marketplace | grep kubevirt
   

Installing the OpenShift Virtualization Operator from the console

1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console and navigate to your cluster.

2. Click OpenShift web console to open the OpenShift console.

3. In the OpenShift console, navigate to Ecosystem > OperatorHub (or Operators > OperatorHub in earlier versions).

4. Search for OpenShift Virtualization.

5. Click the OpenShift Virtualization tile and then click Install.

6. On the Install Operator page, configure the following settings:

   • Update channel: Select the appropriate channel for your OpenShift version
   • Installation mode: All namespaces on the cluster (default)
   • Installed Namespace: openshift-cnv (default)
   • Update approval: Automatic (recommended)

7. Click Install to begin the installation.

8. Wait for the operator installation to complete. The status changes to Succeeded when ready.

Installing the OpenShift Virtualization Operator from the CLI

1. Create a namespace for the OpenShift Virtualization Operator.

   oc create namespace openshift-cnv
   

2. Create an OperatorGroup.

   cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1
   kind: OperatorGroup
   metadata:
     name: kubevirt-hyperconverged-group
     namespace: openshift-cnv
   spec:
     targetNamespaces:
     - openshift-cnv
   EOF
   

3. Create a Subscription to install the operator.

   cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
   apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
   kind: Subscription
   metadata:
     name: hco-operatorhub
     namespace: openshift-cnv
   spec:
     source: redhat-operators
     sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
     name: kubevirt-hyperconverged
     startingCSV: kubevirt-hyperconverged-operator.v4.20.8
     channel: "stable"
   EOF
   

4. Verify the operator installation.

   oc get csv -n openshift-cnv
   

   Wait until the PHASE column shows Succeeded.

Creating the HyperConverged custom resource

After the operator is installed, create a HyperConverged custom resource to deploy the OpenShift Virtualization components.

cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
apiVersion: hco.kubevirt.io/v1beta1
kind: HyperConverged
metadata:
  name: kubevirt-hyperconverged
  namespace: openshift-cnv
spec:
EOF

Verifying the installation

1. Check the HyperConverged resource status.

   oc get hyperconverged -n openshift-cnv
   

   Wait until the PHASE column shows Deployed.

2. Verify that virtualization pods are running.

   oc get pods -n openshift-cnv
   

3. Check for the Virtualization menu in the OpenShift console.

   • Log in to the OpenShift console
   • Look for Virtualization in the main navigation menu

4. Verify storage profiles are created.

   oc get storageprofile
   

5. If using VPC File Storage, configure storage profiles as described in Setting up storage for OpenShift Virtualization.

Troubleshooting installation issues

Next steps

After installing OpenShift Virtualization:

• Create and manage virtual machines
• Configure virtual network interfaces (4.20 and later)
• Set up VM templates and images

For complete installation instructions, see Installing OpenShift Virtualization in the Red Hat documentation.