Configuring a vSphere Cloud Provider during IBM Cloud Private installation

Configure a vSphere Cloud Provider during the installation of your IBM® Cloud Private cluster.

You can configure the vSphere cloud by updating the <installation_directory>/cluster/config.yaml file, or by using a custom configuration file that has the vSphere configuration parameters.

Before you begin, ensure that you adhere to the prerequisites. For more information, see Prerequisites and limitations.

Use the config.yaml file for vSphere Cloud Provider configuration

Add vSphere information to the config.yaml file.

  kubelet_nodename: hostname
  cloud_provider: vsphere
  vsphere_conf:
    user: "<vCenter username for vSphere Cloud Provider>"
    password: "<password for vCenter user>"
    server: <vCenter server IP or FQDN>
    port: [vCenter Server Port; default: 443]
    insecure_flag: [set to 1 if vCenter uses a self-signed certificate]
    datacenter: <datacenter name on which Node VMs are deployed>
    datastore: <default datastore to be used for provisioning volumes>
    working_dir: <vCenter VM folder path in which node VMs are located; Do not set the root folder as the working directory>

Following are the parameter descriptions:

• kubelet_nodename: Must be set to hostname.
• cloud_provider: Must be set to vsphere.
• user: User name for vCenter. All vCenter operations are performed by using this user's credentials.
• password: Password of the user who is specified in the user parameter.
• server: IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the vCenter server.
• port: Port number that is used to set up vCenter. Default value is 443.
• insecure_flag: Set to 1 if vCenter uses a self-signed certificate.
• datacenter: Name of the data center on which the Node VMs are deployed.
• datastore: Name of the data store that is used to place the PersistentVolumes that are created by using a storage class. Specify just the name even if the data store is located in a folder or is a member of a data store cluster. The data store name is case-sensitive.
• working_dir: Folder name or path where the node VMs are in vCenter. The folder name or path is case-sensitive.
  Note: Do not set the root folder as the working_dir:. If you set the working directory as working_dir: ., IBM Cloud Private installation might fail.
  • If the node VMs are in a folder under the root folder, format to set the path is working_dir: Folder1_name.
  • If the node VMs are in nested folders under the root folder, format to set the path is working_dir: Folder1_name/Folder2_name.

Use a custom configuration file for vSphere Cloud Provider configuration

You can use a custom configuration file that has vSphere configuration parameters. You must name this custom file as vsphere.conf and must place it in the <installation_directory>/cluster/misc/cloud_provider/ folder.

If the cloud_provider folder does not exist, create it in the <installation_directory>/cluster/misc/ path and then place the custom file in the folder.

Do not add the vsphere_conf: section in the config.yaml file. Instead, add the following configuration in the config.yaml file:

kubelet_nodename: hostname
cloud_provider: vsphere

For more information about creating a custom configuration file, see vSphere cloud config file for Kubernetes version 1.9.x and above .

For sample configuration files, see Deployment scenarios.

What to do next

Continue with IBM Cloud Private installation.