Adding the IBM operator catalog

The IBM Operator Catalog is an index of operators available to automate deployment and maintenance of IBM Software products into Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform clusters. Operators within this catalog have been built following Kubernetes best practices and IBM standards to provide a consistent integrated set of capabilities. The catalog can be added to any Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.6 and newer cluster by application of the CatalogSource resource.

On Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform clusters that run Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.8 and earlier, the catalog tag in the CatalogSource is set to latest to obtain the most recent version of the catalog. On Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform clusters running Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.9 and greater, the olm.catalogImageTemplate annotation is used to switch the catalog tag from latest to a different tag based on the Kubernetes version used by the cluster. Setting the annotation causes the catalog to automatically switch to a catalog that is compatible with the cluster whenever the cluster is updated to a new Kubernetes version. For example for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.9, the tag updates to v1.22 instead of latest. On Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform clusters that run Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.9 and earlier, the olm.catalogImageTemplate annotation has no effect.

Notes:

In February, 2023, the IBM Operator Catalog will be changing from the deprecated SQLITE format to the file-based Catalog format. This change is largely transparent and will not affect CatalogSources installed on OpenShift Container Platform. Customers using the opm command-line utility with deprecated subcommands and flags that require the SQLITE format will fail, such as opm index prune. For more information about working with custom, file-based catalogs, see the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform version 4.11 documentation.
While both CLI and Helm chart enablement are possible, Helm chart enablement facilitates the process. Helm chart enablement manages the catalog source. If there are changes to it, like the addition of annotations to support catalog switching in OCP 4.9, they are applied when the chart is upgraded to the latest version. When you use a CLI enablement, you must watch for changes to the catalog source definition as published in the documentation.

Command line enablement

The catalog can be added by applying the following YAML file to the OpenShift cluster. Create this file and name it catalog_source.yaml.

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: CatalogSource
metadata:
  name: ibm-operator-catalog
  namespace: openshift-marketplace
spec:
  displayName: IBM Operator Catalog
  publisher: IBM
  sourceType: grpc
  image: icr.io/cpopen/ibm-operator-catalog:latest
  updateStrategy:
    registryPoll:
      interval: 45m

Apply the YAML file by using the command:

oc apply -f catalog_source.yaml -n openshift-marketplace

Verify the command line installation:

oc get CatalogSources ibm-operator-catalog -n openshift-marketplace

You receive this output on error:

Error from server (NotFound): catalogsources.operators.coreos.com "ibm-operator-catalog" not found

You receive this output on success:

NAME                   DISPLAY                 TYPE   PUBLISHER      AGE
ibm-operator-catalog   IBM Operator Catalog    grpc   IBM            28s

Helm Chart enablement

A Helm Chart is also available in the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Developer catalog to install the operator catalog to the OpenShift cluster. To install the catalog by using a Helm Chart, complete the following steps:

Log in to your OpenShift Container Platform UI instance.
Select the Developer view.
Go to the +Add section of the Developer view and select From Catalog.
Select the project (namespace) for the Helm release to be installed.
Select Type of Helm Charts and enter search criteria of operator.
Click the Ibm Operator Catalog tile.
Click Install Helm Chart.
Enter true to accept the license.
Click Install.