Setting up a client workstation to install IBM Software Hub

To install IBM Software Hub, you must have a client workstation that can connect to the Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform cluster.

Who needs to complete this task?
All administrators Any user who is involved in installing IBM Software Hub must have access to a client workstation.
When do you need to complete this task?
Repeat as needed You must have at least one client workstation. You can repeat the tasks in this section as many times as needed to set up multiple client workstations.

Before you begin

Before you install any software on the client workstation, ensure that the workstation meets the requirements in:

Internet connection requirements
Some installation and upgrade tasks require a connection to the internet. If your cluster is in a restricted network, you can either:
  • Move the workstation behind the firewall after you complete the tasks that require an internet connection.
  • Prepare a client workstation that can connect to the internet and a client workstation that can connect to the cluster and transfer any files from the internet-connected workstation to the cluster-connected workstation.
When the workstation is connected to the internet, the workstation must be able to access the following sites:
Site name Host name Description
GitHub https://www.github.com/IBM The CASE packages and the IBM Software Hub command-line interface are hosted on GitHub.

If your company does not permit access toGitHub, contact IBM Support for help obtaining the IBM Software Hub command-line interface.

You can use the --from_oci option to pull CASE packages from the IBM Cloud Pak Open Container Initiative (OCI) registry.
IBM Entitled Registry
  • icr.io
  • cp.icr.io
  • dd0.icr.io
  • dd2.icr.io
  • dd4.icr.io
  • dd6.icr.io
If you're located in China, you must also allow access to the following hosts:
  • dd1-icr.ibm-zh.com
  • dd3-icr.ibm-zh.com
  • dd5-icr.ibm-zh.com
  • dd7-icr.ibm-zh.com
 The images for the IBM Software Hub software are hosted on the IBM Entitled Registry.

You can pull the images directly from the IBM Entitled Registry or you can mirror the images to a private container registry.

To validate that you can connect to the IBM Entitled Registry, run the following command:

curl -v https://icr.io
The command returns a message similar to: 
* Connected to icr.io (169.60.98.86) port 443 (#0)

The IP address might be different.
Red Hat container image registry registry.redhat.io The images for Red Hat software are hosted on the Red Hat container image registry.

You can pull the images directly from the Red Hat container image registry or you can mirror the images to a private container registry.

To validate that you can connect to the Red Hat container image registry, run the following command:

curl -v https://registry.redhat.io
The command returns a message similar to: 
* Connected to registry.redhat.io (54.88.115.139) port 443

The IP address might be different.
Operating system requirements
The client workstation must be running a supported operating system:
Operating system x86-64 ppc64le s390x Notes
Linux® ✓ ✓ ✓ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 or later is required.
Mac OS ✓     Mac workstations with M3 and M4 chips are not supported. These chips support only ARM64 architecture.
Windows ✓     To run on Windows, you must install Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Container runtime requirements

The workstation must have a supported container runtime.

Operating system Docker Podman Notes
Linux ✓ ✓  
Mac OS ✓ ✓  
Windows ✓ ✓
Set up the container runtime inside Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Procedure

To install or upgrade IBM Software Hub, you must have the following command-line interfaces on the client workstation: