Network requirements

Before you install IBM® Software Hub, review the network requirements, which include the minimum required network speed and internet access.

Network speed

At a minimum, your network must support a throughput rate of 350 MBps (megabytes per second) between cluster nodes.

Internet access for installation

IBM Software Hub can be installed on a cluster that runs in a restricted network, such as an air-gapped or disconnected network. However, some installation and upgrade tasks require a connection to the internet. These tasks are completed from a client workstation.

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.

Internet access at runtime

Depending on your environment, IBM Software Hub might need internet access to:
  • Backup your installation to S3 storage that is outside of your cluster network
  • Connect to a data source or application that is outside of your cluster network
  • Install packages for notebooks

You can either allow your cluster to access the internet for these specific scenarios, or you can set up a proxy server.

Proxy servers

If you use HTTP proxy to manage inbound traffic to and outbound traffic from your Red Hat OpenShift® Container Platform cluster, you can use the cpd-cli to apply the same HTTP proxy settings to an instance of IBM Software Hub. For more information, see Applying cluster HTTP proxy settings to IBM Software Hub.

Your proxy server allow list should include entries for the appropriate locations based on your specific needs. For example, your allow list might include:
  • S3 storage backup location outside of your cluster network
  • Data sources outside of your cluster network
  • Applications outside of your cluster network
  • Package download sites, such as:
    • pypi.org
    • pypi.python.org
    • pythonhosted.org
    • files.pythonhosted.org

If you pull IBM Software Hub images from the IBM Entitled Registry, your allow list must also include the following locations:

  • 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