Deploying the Platform UI by using the OpenShift console

Deploying the IBM Cloud Pak Platform UI allows you to deploy and manage instances from a central location. This task must be performed by a cluster administrator. For more information, see Roles and permissions.

This procedure describes how to deploy and configure the IBM Cloud Pak Platform UI using the OpenShift web console. To deploy using the CLI, see Deploying the Platform UI by using the CLI.

Troubleshooting: For a list of possible errors and solutions when performing the steps in this section, see Troubleshooting Platform UI deployment.

Prerequisites

  • You are on a supported version of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For more information, see Operating environment.

  • If you have an online cluster and have not already created a secret called ibm-entitlement-key in the namespace where the instance will be created, see Finding and applying your entitlement key by using the UI (online installation).

  • An OpenShift cluster administrator has created one or more storage classes that support ReadWriteMany (RWX) and allows read and write access to non-root users. Supported storage providers include ibmc-file-gold-gid, OpenShift Data Foundation (formerly OpenShift Container Storage), Spectrum, and Portworx. For additional details about storage support and configuration, see Storage considerations.
    Tip: For OpenShift Data Foundation in a production environment, the optimal minimum deployment is 4 storage nodes, with 3 Object Storage Daemons (OSDs) on each node. This provides much greater data resiliency in the event of any OSD failures.

To deploy the Platform UI with an RWO storage class, follow the procedures in Deploying the Platform UI with RWO storage.

Deploying with OpenShift web console guided documentation

  1. Log into the OpenShift web console with your OpenShift cluster admin credentials.

  2. In the navigation pane, click Home > Overview.

  3. In the Build with guided documentation section, click View all quick starts.

  4. In the Quick Starts panel, click the tile for Getting started with the Cloud Pak for Integration.

  5. In the panel that opens, follow the procedures to deploy the Platform UI.
    Tip: If you have followed all the procedures up to this point, you can skip the Prerequisites section.

Deploying with the OpenShift web console

Complete these tasks to create and get access to your instance of the Platform UI:

Creating the Platform UI instance

  1. Log into the OpenShift web console with your OpenShift cluster admin credentials.

  2. If you installed the operators in All namespaces on the cluster mode, use a project other than openshift-operators in which to deploy the instance.

    • If needed, create a new project for this purpose. Under Home > Projects, click Create Project, enter the name for your new project, and click Create.

  3. In the navigation panel, click Operators > Installed Operators.

  4. In the list on the Installed Operators panel, find and click IBM Cloud Pak for Integration.

  5. Click the Platform UI tab.

  6. Click Create PlatformNavigator. The Create PlatformNavigator panel opens.

  7. Change Project to your project (namespace) name. Click the drop-down arrow and select your project name from the list.

  8. Create the Platform UI with either the "Form view" or the "YAML view".

    Configuring in the Form view

    The Form view opens a form that lets you view or modify the resource configuration.

    1. In the Name field, enter a name for the new instance or use the default.

    2. Next to License, click the arrow to expand the license acceptance section.

    3. Set License Accept to true if you accept the Cloud Pak for Integration license agreement. For details, see Licensing.

    4. For License LI, leave the default version unless you change spec.version. For details about specific version licenses, see the "Table of license versions" section in Licensing

    5. Specify the Storage class. Click the arrow to expand the Storage pane, then click the arrow for Select Storage Class and select a file storage class a file storage class that supports ReadWriteMany (RWX) volumes and allows read and write access to non-root users. Supported storage providers include ibmc-file-gold-gid, OpenShift Data Foundation (formerly OpenShift Container Storage), Spectrum, and Portworx. For additional details about storage support and configuration, see Storage considerations.

      Note: If you don't see any options in the Storage Class list, you need to create one or more storage options. See the Requirements section for more information.

    6. Set any other configuration values as appropriate.

    7. Click Create. Your instance of the Cloud Pak is added to the list of instances in the current project (namespace).

    Configuring in the YAML view

    Update the values in the file:

    1. For metadata.namespace, select your project (namespace) name.

    2. For spec.license.accept, select true if you accept the Cloud Pak for Integration license. agreement. For details, see Licensing.

    3. For spec.license, keep the default value unless you change the value for spec.version. For details about specific version licenses, consult the "Table of license versions" section in Licensing.

    4. For spec.storage.class, specify a file storage class that supports ReadWriteMany (RWX) volumes and allows read and write access to non-root users. Supported storage providers include ibmc-file-gold-gid, OpenShift Data Foundation (formerly OpenShift Container Storage), Spectrum, and Portworx. For additional details about storage support and configuration, see Storage considerations.
      Tip: You can get a current list of available storage classes by clicking the Form View tab, then clicking the dropdown for Select Storage Class.

    5. Click Create. You are redirected to the Platform UI tab.

  9. To verify that the Platform UI is being created, click the name of the instance created in the list. At the end of the page in the Conditions section, the Type should be Pending. In up to 40 minutes, this value should change to Ready.

    Your instance of Cloud Pak for Integration is added to the list of instances in the current project (namespace).

    10. Tip: If you need advanced configuration options, see Using the Platform UI.

Logging in to the Platform UI

When the Platform UI status changes to Ready, log in to the Platform UI for the first time to create users and permissions.

  1. In the OpenShift web console, click the application menu icon, and under IBM Cloud Paks, click the Platform UI instance you want to access.

  2. If certificates have not been configured, you may need to accept the certificates to get to the login screen.

  3. At the login screen, click OpenShift authentication and log in with your OpenShift cluster admin credentials.

    If you are unable to log in with your OpenShift credentials, click IBM provided credentials (admin only) and:

  4. The Platform UI opens.

Getting the initial admin password

If you are unable to log in to Platform UI with OpenShift cluster admin credentials (for example, if you are installing in a cluster using Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA), complete these steps:

  1. Log in to the OpenShift web console with your OpenShift cluster admin credentials. Make sure the Administrator perspective is selected.

    Administrator perspective is selected in Red Hat OpenShift web console

  2. In the navigation panel, click to expand Workloads, then select Secrets.

  3. At the top of the Secrets pane, click the arrow to expand the Project list, and select ibm-common-services.

  4. To filter your options, enter platform-auth-idp-credentials in the search box, then click platform-auth-idp-credentials in the list.

  5. Scroll down to the Data pane and copy the value for admin_password.

    Copy the admin password from the data pane

    Save the password to use when logging in to Platform UI.

Next steps

After you complete other deployment tasks in the Platform UI, you can perform additional post-installation configuration such as:

After configuring the Platform UI, deploy IBM Cloud Pak for Integration capabilities. For more information, see Deploying instances of capabilities.