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Creating a cluster on IBM Cloud

Overview

IBM Technology Zone is the one-stop shop to get access to technical environments and software for demos, prototyping, and deployment.

OpenShift on IBM Cloud

  1. Navigate to the IBM Technology Zone

    In your browser, navigate to the IBM Technology Zone to create your cluster.

    • You will need to sign-in with your IBM credentials if your browser has not authenticated.
    • You will need to read and accept Terms and conditions to proceed to the IBM Technology Zone.

  2. Reserve a cluster

    You can reserve a cluster immediately on IBM Cloud.

    Click on the Reserve now radio button.

    Info

    It takes between 30 and 60 minutes to provision a cluster. Moreover, once a cluster has been provisioned, by default, it will be deleted after 3 days -- unless you renew it. It can therefore be helpful to schedule the environment to be created later if you are not going to be using it for a while -- such as for a future demonstration or classroom session. Come back and explore the Schedule for later option another time.

  3. Complete reservation details - step 1

    You will be asked to complete your reservations details in two steps.

    Firstly, when you make a cluster reservation, you can supply a set of details that describe:

    • The cluster name
    • The purpose of the reservation from a pre-defined set
    • A description, which will appear when you set the purpose of your reservation to Practice/Self-Education.

    Complete the details as follows:

    • Type a helpful Name such as My cluster 1
    • Select Practice/Self-Education from the Purpose drop-down list
    • Type a helpful Purpose Description such as Education
    • Do not select Preferred Geography yet; we will do that in a moment
    • Add some helpful Notes such as Learn how to build a cloud native production reference deployment using a CloudPak and OpenShift on IBM Cloud

  4. Complete reservation details - step 2

    The second step in registration is to specify the physical details of the compute infrastructure for your cluster.

    When you make a cluster reservation, you can supply a set of details that describe:

    • The cluster's geographical location
    • The version of OpenShift Container Platform used by the cluster
    • The number of CPUs in the cluster and their memory size
    • The number of Kubernetes worker nodes in the cluster
    • The OCS storage size for the cluster
    • The End date and time for the cluster

    Complete the details as follows:

    • Select your Preferred Geography
    • Under End date and time, select a date and specify the time along with its time zone.
    • Select OpenShift Version as 4.10 from the drop-down list.
    • Select OCS Size as 2 TB from the drop-down list
    • Select Worker Node Count as 3 from the drop-down list.
    • Select Worker Node Flavor as 8x32 (8 vCPU x 32GB - 100GB Secondary Storage) from the drop-down list.
    • Select OCS Size as 500 GB from the drop-down list.

    Info

    By default, your cluster will be reserved for three days, after which time it will be deleted. This is more than enough time to complete this tutorial. If required, you can increase the cluster lifetime by configuring the End date and time. Don't do this unless you really need to do so; as you'll learn in the tutorial, the use of GitOps makes it quick and easy to provision a cluster when you need to do so.

  5. Create the cluster

    Check your reservation details and press Submit when you're ready to create the cluster:

    techzone-custom-roks-rsvp-submit

    Info

    The cluster provisioning process will take between 30 and 60 minutes to complete on IBM Cloud.

  6. Provisioning email

    As the provisioning process starts, you will receive an email to confirm that the provisioning process has started:

    techzone-custom-roks-rsvp-email1

  7. Checking the cluster provisioning status

    You can also view the status of your provisioning request on IBM Technology Zone.

    Click on My reservations to see:

    techzone-my-rsvp

    Note:

    • The Status field will be Ready when the cluster has been provisioned.
    • The creation and expiry date-time for your cluster.

    You can return to the reservation at any time to get the details of your cluster.

  8. Cluster provisioned email

    You will receive another email once your cluster is ready:

    techzone-custom-roks-rsvp-email2

    Success

    Your cluster is now provisioned and ready to use.

    Warning

    Note the expiry date-time.

    Note

    Be sure to read the IMPORTANT: clause at the end of the email. If your cluster has been provisioned to an IBM Cloud account you have not used before, and you have not accepted the invitation to that account, you will not be able to see your cluster when you click on the Cluster URL link in the following step. It is recommended to always click on the HERE link in the clause to see if you need to accept an invitation.

  9. Navigate to your cluster

    You can use the information in the notification email to access your cluster.

    Click on the Cluster URL link to login to IBM Cloud and locate your OpenShift cluster:

    techzone-custom-roks-cluster

    Note:

    • The Cluster ID that has been assigned by IBM Cloud.
    • The Zone matches your requested geography.
    • The OCP Version matches your requested version of OCP.
    • The Node status identifies the 3 worker nodes in the Normal state.

    Feel free to explore this web page.

  10. Receiving cluster deletion email and extending your cluster's lifetime

    When your cluster is within 3 days of deletion, you will receive a daily email:

    techzone-custom-roks-rsvp-submit

    Note:

    • You can extend your cluster if required.
    • This option may be limited to certain types of reservations.
    • The My reservations page allows you to manage your cluster reservation