Creating the entitlement key secret or updating the global pull secret

Complete one of the following sets of steps to create a docker-registry secret to enable your deployment to pull operand images from the IBM® Entitled Registry. If you are installing a single instance of WebSphere Automation, create an entitlement key secret in that namespace; if you are installing multiple instances in different namespaces, update the global pull secret, or create a separate entitlement key secret in each instance namespace.

Before you begin

If you create your entitlement key at the namespace level, namespace admin access is required. If you add the key to the global pull secret, cluster admin access is required.
Note: An incorrectly configured entitlement key secret or global pull secret prevents successful installation. For more information, see Installation stalls due to incorrectly configured pull secret.
Important: Having access to an entitlement key implies that you have access to Passport Advantage®, where the software was purchased from.

You can have one central account (a functional ID) that can be associated with the entitlement key that you want to use for your installation. You also need to create an IBM ID to associate with your functional ID to use the Passport Advantage "Manage Access" tools so that you can grant your functional id download access to your Passport Advantage site. However, note that a primary contact, administrative contact or site technical contact cannot be a functional ID since they are accepting legal terms of responsibility for managing the site.

Creating an entitlement key secret at a namespace level

If you plan to install WebSphere Automation in an instance namespace, use one of the following options to create an entitlement key secret for the instance namespace.

Option 1: Creating the entitlement key secret with the Red Hat OpenShift console
  1. Obtain the entitlement key that is assigned to your IBMid. Log in to MyIBM Container Software Library with the IBMid and password details that are associated with the entitled software.
  2. In the Red Hat OpenShift console, ensure that you are in the project (or namespace) (for example, websphere-automation) in which you plan to install the WebSphere Automation instance. If you need to create this namespace, see the instructions for creating a namespace in Creating the WebSphere Automation instance.
  3. Click Workloads > Secrets > Create, then select Image pull secret.
  4. In the Secret name field, enter ibm-entitlement-key.
  5. In the Registry server address field, enter cp.icr.io.
  6. In the Username field, enter cp.
  7. In the Password field, enter the credential that you received from entitlement.
  8. In the Email field, enter a contact email address.
  9. Click Create to create the secret.
Option 2: Creating the entitlement key secret with the CLI
  1. Obtain the entitlement key that is assigned to your IBMid. Log in to MyIBM Container Software Library with the IBMid and password details that are associated with the entitled software.
  2. In the Entitlement keys section, select Copy key to copy the entitlement key to the clipboard.
  3. From the Red Hat OpenShift CLI, run the following command to create an image pull secret called ibm-entitlement-key.
    oc create secret docker-registry ibm-entitlement-key \
 --docker-username=cp\
 --docker-password=<entitlement-key> \
 --docker-server=cp.icr.io \
 --namespace=<namespace>
    Where:
    • <entitlement-key> is the entitlement key that you copied in step 2.
    • <namespace> is the namespace in which you plan to install the WebSphere Automation instance; for example, websphere-automation. If you need to create this namespace, see the instructions for creating a namespace in Creating the WebSphere Automation instance.

Updating the global pull secret

If you plan to install multiple instances of WebSphere Automation in different namespaces, update the global pull secret by using the following instructions.

  1. Get an entitlement key to the IBM Entitled Container Fulfillment Registry.
    1. Log in to MyIBM Container Software Library with the IBMid and password that are associated with the entitled software.
    2. In the Entitlement keys section, select Copy key to copy the entitlement key to the clipboard.
  2. Use the console to configure the global pull secret with entitled registry (cp.icr.io) credentials.
    1. In the console, click Workloads > Secrets and select the openshift-config namespace.
    2. Find the existing pull-secret secret.
    3. Click Action, then select Edit Secret.
    4. Click Add Credentials to add an entry for the entitled registry. Specify cp.icr.io as the registry server address, cp as the username, and the entitlement key that you obtained in the previous step as the password.
    5. Click Save.

What to do next

Proceed to Creating the WebSphere Automation instance.