Upgrading Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform

Upgrade your Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform when the version is no longer supported by Business Automation Insights.

Before you begin

Before you start the upgrade of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, make sure that you take a backup so that you can recover from any upgrade issues. For more information, see Backing up your environments.

The Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.18 is the minimum version for Business Automation Insights 26.0.0. If the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version is 4.18.xx, the xx is the security or bug fix part of the version. It is recommended to apply the latest security or bug fixes for a specific Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version.

About this task

When you need to upgrade your OpenShift Container Platform, make sure that you refer to the steps that are needed for the cluster that contains Business Automation Insights.

Note: The previous Red Hat OpenShift upgrade process transitions through all the Red Hat OpenShift versions. For example, if you needed to upgrade Red Hat OpenShift from 4.16 to 4.18, then you need to upgrade to each Red Hat OpenShift version step by step (4.16 -> 4.17 -> 4.18). However, Red Hat now supports an Extended Update Support (EUS) upgrade from 4.16 -> 4.18, see Red Hat OpenShift EUS Overview External link opens a new window or tab .

Each upgrade can take a few hours, so plan for the entire upgrade. The expectation is that if you upgrade to an intermediate version (odd versions), and you complete the upgrade within a reasonable time frame. Ideally, the cluster does not run on an intermediate version indefinitely.

The Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Update Graph External link opens a new window or tab Update Path tile to access the tool, and you do need Red Hat customer account credentials to use it.

Procedure

  1. Go to IBM Business Automation Insights Detailed system requirements External link opens a new window or tab page and select your Business Automation Insights version. Click the Containers tab on this report to see the supported minor OpenShift Container Platform releases for the given Business Automation Insights version. It also includes any Business Automation Insights interim fix requirements for a specific OpenShift Container Platform version.
    Note:  If your current OpenShift Container Platform version is too old for your Business Automation Insights version, then upgrade your OpenShift Container Platform before you upgrade Business Automation Insights. If your Business Automation Insights installation is too old for the OpenShift Container Platform version, then upgrade Business Automation Insights.
  2. Various Postgres deployments have a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB) with minimum available set to 1. If the replica size is also set to 1, then it can prevent nodes from restarting automatically. If a node restart is blocked, it can prevent the completion of the OpenShift Container Platform upgrade or other cluster configuration tasks.

    To mitigate the problem, scale down the Postgres operator or delete the pods that are stuck.

    • Postgres deployments that have a PodDisruptionBudget (PDB).
      1. Scale down the postgresql-operator deployment to replica 0.
      2. Delete the PDB objects from the CP4BA namespace with minimum available set to 1. The PDB objects must be related to deployments owned by the cluster CR objects.
      3. Complete the OpenShift Container Platform upgrade.
      4. Scale the postgresql-operator operator back up to replica 1 after the upgrade.
    • When the nodes attempt to restart during the upgrade or configuration task, delete the pods from the Business Automation Insights namespace that are stuck. The pods must be related to deployments owned by the cluster CR objects.