Installing Watson Discovery

A project administrator can install Watson Discovery on IBM Cloud Pak® for Data.

What permissions do you need to complete this task?
The permissions that you need depend on which tasks you must complete:
  • To install the Watson Discovery operators, you must have the appropriate permissions to create operators and you must be an administrator of the project where the Cloud Pak for Data operators are installed. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} environment variable.
  • To install Watson Discovery, you must be an administrator of the project where you will install Watson Discovery. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} environment variable.
When do you need to complete this task?
If you didn't install Watson Discovery when you installed the platform, you can complete this task to add Watson Discovery to your environment.

If you want to install all of the Cloud Pak for Data components at the same time, follow the process in Installing the platform and services instead.

Important: All of the Cloud Pak for Data components in a deployment must be installed at the same release.

Information you need to complete this task

Review the following information before you install Watson Discovery:

Environment variables
The commands in this task use environment variables so that you can run the commands exactly as written.
  • If you don't have the script that defines the environment variables, see Setting up installation environment variables.
  • To use the environment variables from the script, you must source the environment variables before you run the commands in this task, for example:
    source ./cpd_vars.sh
Security context constraint requirements
Watson Discovery uses the restricted security context constraint (SCC).
Installation location
Watson Discovery must be installed in the same project (namespace) as the Cloud Pak for Data control plane. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} environment variable.
Storage requirements
You must tell Watson Discovery what storage to use. The following storage classes are recommended. However, if you don't use these storage classes on your cluster, ensure that you specify a storage class with an equivalent definition.
Storage Notes Storage classes
OpenShift® Data Foundation When you install the service, specify file storage and block storage.
  • File storage: ocs-storagecluster-cephfs
  • Block storage: ocs-storagecluster-ceph-rbd
IBM® Storage Fusion When you install the service, specify the same storage class for both file storage and block storage.
  • File storage: ibm-spectrum-scale-sc
  • Block storage: ibm-spectrum-scale-sc
IBM Storage Scale Container Native When you install the service, specify the same storage class for both file storage and block storage.
  • File storage: ibm-spectrum-scale-sc
  • Block storage: ibm-spectrum-scale-sc
Portworx When you install the service, the --storage_vendor=portworx option ensures that the service uses the correct storage classes.
  • File storage: portworx-rwx-gp3-sc
  • Block storage: portworx-db-gp2-sc
NFS Not supported. Not applicable.
Amazon Elastic storage When you install the service, specify file storage and block storage.

File storage is provided by Amazon Elastic File System. Block storage is provided by Amazon Elastic Block Store.
  • File storage: efs-nfs-client
  • Block storage: gp2-csi or gp3-csi
IBM Cloud storage When you install the service, specify file storage and block storage.

File storage is provided by IBM Cloud File Storage. Block storage is provided by IBM Cloud Block Storage.
  • File storage: ibmc-file-gold-gid or ibm-file-custom-gold-gid
  • Block storage: ibmc-block-gold
NetApp Trident When you install the service, specify the same storage class for both file storage and block storage.
  • File storage: ontap-nas
  • Block storage: ontap-nas
Restriction: This service does not support the backup and restore methods provided by the underlying storage. For example, if you use IBM Storage Fusion for storage, the service cannot use IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus for backups. For information on backing up this service, see Backing up and restoring data.

Before you begin

This task assumes that the following prerequisites are met:

Prerequisite Where to find more information
The cluster meets the minimum requirements for installing Watson Discovery. If this task is not complete, see System requirements.
The workstation from which you will run the installation is set up as a client workstation and includes the following command-line interfaces:
  • Cloud Pak for Data CLI: cpd-cli
  • OpenShift CLI: oc
 If this task is not complete, see Setting up a client workstation.
The Cloud Pak for Data control plane is installed. If this task is not complete, see Installing the platform and services.
For environments that use a private container registry, such as air-gapped environments, the Watson Discovery software images are mirrored to the private container registry. If this task is not complete, see Mirroring images to a private container registry.
The node settings are adjusted for Watson Discovery. If this task is not complete, see Changing required node settings.

Procedure

Complete the following tasks to install Watson Discovery:

  1. Logging in to the cluster
  2. Installing the operator
  3. Specifying configuration options
  4. Installing the service
  5. Validating the installation
  6. What to do next

Logging in to the cluster

To run cpd-cli manage commands, you must log in to the cluster.

To log in to the cluster:

  1. Run the cpd-cli manage login-to-ocp command to log in to the cluster as a user with sufficient permissions to complete this task. For example:
    cpd-cli manage login-to-ocp \
--username=${OCP_USERNAME} \
--password=${OCP_PASSWORD} \
--server=${OCP_URL}
    Tip: The login-to-ocp command takes the same input as the oc login command. Run oc login --help for details.

Installing the operator

The Watson Discovery operator simplifies the process of managing the Watson Discovery service on Red Hat® OpenShift Container Platform.

To install Watson Discovery, you must install the Watson Discovery operator and create the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) objects, such as the catalog source and subscription, for the operator.

Who needs to complete this task?
You must be a cluster administrator (or a user with the appropriate permissions to install operators) to create the OLM objects.
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task if the Watson Discovery operator and other OLM artifacts have not been created for the current release.

If you complete this task and the OLM artifacts already exist on the cluster, the cpd-cli detects that you already have the OLM objects for the components at the specified release, the cpd-cli does not attempt to create the OLM objects again.

To install the operator:

  1. Create the OLM objects for Watson Discovery:
    cpd-cli manage apply-olm \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_operator_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} \
--components=watson_discovery
    • If the command succeeds, it returns [SUCCESS]... The apply-olm command ran successfully.
    • If the command fails, it returns [ERROR] and includes information about the cause of the failure.

What to do next: Install the Watson Discovery service.

Specifying configuration options

There are two deployment types: starter and production. Production is the default. If you want to use your Discovery service instance for demonstration or trial purposes only, you can customize the installation to create a starter deployment. A starter deployment has fewer resources and less computing power than the production deployment that is created by default. A production deployment has at least two replicas of each pod to support production-scale workloads. The development deployment type was renamed to starter; the two types are equivalent.
Note: You cannot change the deployment type value later, but you can scale the sizes of the microservices individually later. For more information, see Scaling Watson Discovery.
To configure the installation to create a starter deployment, complete the following steps:
  1. Create a file called install-options.yml in the work directory.

    The file path for the Cloud Pak for Data command-line interface work directory is cpd-cli-workspace/olm-utils-workspace/work.

  2. Add the following setting to the file:
    discovery_deployment_type: Starter
    Tip: You can use the same file to provide input for multiple components. Each setting name is prefixed with the component name.
When you install Watson Discovery, include the --param-file=/tmp/work/install-options.yml option in the command.

Installing the service

After the Watson Discovery operator is installed, you can install Watson Discovery.

Who needs to complete this task?
You must be an administrator of the project where you will install Watson Discovery.
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task if you want to add Watson Discovery to your environment.

To install the service:

  1. Create the custom resource for Watson Discovery.

    The command that you run depends on the storage on your cluster:

    Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation storage

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    IBM Storage Fusion storage

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    Remember: When you use IBM Storage Fusion storage, both ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} and ${STG_CLASS_FILE} point to the same storage class, typically ibm-spectrum-scale-sc.
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    IBM Storage Scale Container Native storage

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    Remember: When you use IBM Storage Scale Container Native storage, both ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} and ${STG_CLASS_FILE} point to the same storage class, typically ibm-spectrum-scale-sc.
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    Portworx storage 
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--storage_vendor=portworx \
--license_acceptance=true
    AWS with EFS and EBS storage

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    IBM Cloud with IBM Cloud File Storage and IBM Cloud Block Storage

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    NetApp Trident

    Run the following command to create the custom resource.

    Remember: When you use NetApp Trident storage, both ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} and ${STG_CLASS_FILE} point to the same storage class.
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    Remember: To specify advanced installation options for Watson Discovery add the following line before the --license_acceptance entry:
    --param-file=/tmp/work/install-options.yml \
  • When you use IBM Cloud Block Storage, you must also specify IBM Cloud File Storage because some components of Discovery use file storage instead of block storage. Set ${STG_CLASS_FILE} to ibmc-file-gold-gid or ibm-file-custom-gold-gid and ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} to ibmc-block-gold.
  • When you use Amazon Elastic Block Store, you must also specify Amazon Elastic File Store because some components of Discovery use file storage instead of block storage. Set ${STG_CLASS_FILE} to efs-nfs-client and ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} to gp2-csi or gp3-csi.

Validating the installation

Watson Discovery is installed when the apply-cr command returns [SUCCESS]... The apply-cr command ran successfully.

However, you can optionally run the cpd-cli manage get-cr-status command if you want to confirm that the custom resource status is Completed:

cpd-cli manage get-cr-status \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--components=watson_discovery

If you encounter any problems with the installation, check Limitations and known issues in Watson Discovery for a documented workaround.

What to do next

Watson Discovery is ready to be set up. See Post-installation setup for Watson Discovery for next steps.