
Managing multiple OpenShift clusters can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and strategies, it's definitely achievable.
OpenShift Multi-Cluster Management provides a unified view of all clusters, allowing you to manage them from a single location.
This means you can easily monitor, troubleshoot, and scale your clusters without having to log in to each individual cluster.
With a centralized management approach, you can simplify your cluster management workflow and reduce the administrative burden.
OpenShift Multi-Cluster Management Handbook
The OpenShift Multi-Cluster Management Handbook is a comprehensive resource for IT professionals looking to manage multiple OpenShift clusters from a single pane. This book is designed for a wide range of IT professionals, including IT architects, sysadmins, SREs, and DevOps engineers.
The handbook covers topics such as OpenShift clusters' architecture, deployment, troubleshooting, networking, security, and tools to manage multiple clusters. With just basic knowledge of containerization and Kubernetes, you're ready to get started.

To manage multiple clusters, you'll need to understand the capabilities of the multicluster engine on OpenShift Container Platform. This includes features like hosted control planes, Hive, klusterlet agent, Infrastructure Operator, and Open cluster management.
Here's a breakdown of the multicluster engine's capabilities:
- Hosted control planes, which is a feature based on the HyperShift project.
- Hive, which provisions self-managed OpenShift Container Platform clusters.
- Klusterlet agent, which registers managed clusters to the hub.
- Infrastructure Operator, which manages the deployment of Assisted Service to orchestrate on-premise bare metal and vSphere installations.
- Open cluster management, which provides resources to manage Kubernetes clusters.
The multicluster engine is included with your OpenShift Container Platform support subscription and is delivered separately from the core payload. To start using it, you'll need to deploy an OpenShift Container Platform cluster and then install the operator.
Book Details
The "Book Details" section is where you'll find the essential information about the Openshift Multi-Cluster Management Handbook.
This book is designed to help you manage multiple OpenShift clusters, with a focus on scalability and high availability.
The book covers the latest features of OpenShift 4, including its multi-cluster capabilities.
You'll learn how to use the OpenShift console to manage multiple clusters, and how to use the Cluster Set API to create and manage cluster sets.

The book also covers the use of the Cluster Set API to create and manage cluster sets, and how to use the Cluster Set API to create and manage cluster sets.
This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to manage multiple OpenShift clusters, from beginners to experienced administrators.
By following the steps outlined in this book, you'll be able to create and manage multiple OpenShift clusters with ease.
Architecting and Operating OpenShift: Infrastructure and Operations Teams
As an infrastructure and operations team, you play a crucial role in designing and architecting resilient OpenShift clusters. This involves gaining a keen understanding of how hundreds of projects can be managed efficiently.
To increase profitability, you should focus on implementing DevOps practices that elevate work culture and exceed productivity goals.
A well-designed OpenShift cluster can help you achieve these goals by providing a scalable and reliable environment for your applications.
By following DevOps practices, you can automate testing, deployment, and monitoring of your applications, reducing the time and effort required to get them up and running.
This, in turn, allows you to focus on more strategic tasks and improve the overall efficiency of your operations team.
To get started, you'll need to design and architect your OpenShift cluster with scalability and reliability in mind.
Multicluster Management

Multicluster Management is a powerful feature that enables you to manage multiple OpenShift clusters from a single hub. This is made possible by the multicluster engine, which is included with your OpenShift Container Platform support subscription.
The multicluster engine provides several key capabilities, including hosted control planes, Hive, klusterlet agent, Infrastructure Operator, and Open cluster management. These features allow you to operate OpenShift Container Platform clusters in a hyperscale manner, provision self-managed clusters, and manage Kubernetes clusters.
To get started with multicluster management, you'll need to deploy the OpenShift Container Platform cluster and then install the operator. This will give you access to the multicluster engine's features and capabilities.
Multicluster Management on OpenShift
OpenShift Container Platform offers a multicluster engine that provides capabilities such as hosted control planes, Hive, klusterlet agent, Infrastructure Operator, and open cluster management.
You can enable multicluster engine on OpenShift Container Platform to gain these capabilities, which are delivered separately from the core payload and included with your OpenShift Container Platform support subscription.

The multicluster engine is an integral part of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management and is enabled by default.
To use multicluster engine, you deploy the OpenShift Container Platform cluster and then install the operator.
Some of the features you can expect from multicluster engine include:
- Hosted control planes, which allows you to operate OpenShift Container Platform clusters in a hyperscale manner
- Hive, which provisions self-managed OpenShift Container Platform clusters to the hub and completes the initial configurations for those clusters
- Klusterlet agent, which registers managed clusters to the hub
- Infrastructure Operator, which manages the deployment of the Assisted Service to orchestrate on-premise bare metal and vSphere installations of OpenShift Container Platform
- Open cluster management, which provides resources to manage Kubernetes clusters
Machine Pools
Machine Pools are a crucial aspect of Multicluster Management, and understanding how to work with them is essential for effective cluster management.
You can create new machine pools if there's enough available quota, or edit an existing one. This flexibility is a game-changer for cluster owners who need to scale up or down quickly.
Selecting the > Edit option opens the "Edit machine pool" dialog, where you can change the node count per availability zone. This allows for more precise control over your cluster's resources.
You can also edit node labels and taints within this dialog, which is useful for applying specific configurations to your nodes. This level of customization is a major advantage of machine pools.
Finally, the Edit cluster autoscaling button lets you specify your autoscaling strategy, ensuring that your cluster always has the right amount of resources to meet demand.
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management is a powerful tool for managing clusters. It offers capabilities beyond what OpenShift Container Platform with multicluster engine can provide.
If you need more control over your clusters, consider using Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. Its multicluster engine is an integral part of the platform and is enabled by default.
This means you can rely on the multicluster engine to manage your clusters without needing to configure it separately.
Access and Control
To manage access and control in OpenShift, you need to be the cluster owner or have the correct permissions to grant roles on the cluster.
As the cluster owner, you can set up an identity provider on the Access control tab. This allows you to manage user access and permissions within the cluster.
You can grant roles to other users by selecting the Grant role button, entering their Red Hat account login, and confirming the action. This will give the selected user the "Cluster Editor" access.
To ensure secure access, remember that only authorized users should be granted roles on the cluster.
Accessing Red Hat Manager

Accessing Red Hat Manager is a straightforward process. You'll need an account that's part of an OpenShift organization to get started.
To access OpenShift Cluster Manager, you'll need to log in with your configured OpenShift account. This is a must-have for any cluster-related tasks.
You'll know you have the necessary credentials if you've already set up your OpenShift account. If you're creating a cluster, make sure your organization has specified quota to avoid any issues.
Access Control
To control access to your cluster, you need to be the cluster owner or have the correct permissions. This is a crucial step in ensuring that only authorized users can make changes to your cluster.
The Access control tab is where you can set up an identity provider, grant elevated permissions, and grant roles to other users. To do this, select the Grant role button.
You must enter the Red Hat account login for the user that you wish to grant a role on the cluster. This ensures that only valid users can access the cluster.
To grant a role, select the Grant role button on the dialog box. Once you do this, the dialog box will close, and the selected user will show the "Cluster Editor" access.
You can grant roles to multiple users by following these steps.
System Management

System Management is a crucial aspect of OpenShift multi-cluster management. It involves managing multiple clusters from a central location, ensuring they are running smoothly and efficiently.
OpenShift provides a built-in tool called Cluster Manager, which allows administrators to manage multiple clusters from a single interface. This tool provides a centralized view of all clusters, making it easier to monitor and manage them.
The Cluster Manager allows administrators to view cluster information, such as the number of nodes, pods, and services, as well as monitor cluster performance and resource utilization. This information helps administrators identify potential issues before they become major problems.
Administrators can also use the Cluster Manager to manage cluster settings, such as network policies and storage configurations. This ensures that all clusters are configured consistently, making it easier to manage and maintain them.
By using the Cluster Manager, administrators can reduce the complexity of managing multiple clusters and improve overall efficiency. This is especially important in large-scale environments where managing multiple clusters can be a daunting task.
Removed
When managing multiple clusters in OpenShift, you might need to remove certain features or settings. Removed features in OpenShift include cluster tabs, which can be accessed by selecting an active, installed cluster.
Cluster tabs that are no longer available include Overview, Access control, Add-ons, Cluster history, Networking, Machine pools, Support, and Settings.
You can't remove these tabs individually, but you can uninstall the cluster to remove all associated features and settings.
Overview and History

The Overview tab in OpenShift provides a wealth of information about your cluster, including the Cluster ID, which is a unique identifier that can be used to issue commands from the command line.
The Cluster ID is a crucial piece of information that you'll need to reference often when working with your cluster.
The Overview tab also shows the Domain prefix, which is the prefix used throughout the cluster, and the default value is the cluster's name.
You can find the OpenShift version, Region, and Availability zone information on the Overview tab as well.
The Overview tab is a great place to start when you need to understand the configuration and status of your cluster.
Here's a breakdown of the key information you'll find on the Overview tab:
The Cluster history tab provides a detailed record of every change to the cluster from creation onward, allowing you to specify date ranges and use filters to search based on notification description, severity, type, and role.
You can download your cluster history as a JSON or CSV file for further analysis.
Support

The Support tab is a crucial part of OpenShift multi-cluster management. You can add notification contacts for individuals that should receive cluster notifications.
To do this, you provide a username or email address that must relate to a user account in the Red Hat organization where the cluster is deployed. This ensures that notifications are sent to the right people.
You can open a support case from this tab to request technical support for your cluster. This is a great option if you need help troubleshooting an issue or want guidance on how to use a specific feature.
Sources
- https://github.com/PacktPublishing/OpenShift-Multi-Cluster-Management-Handbook
- https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/openshift-multi-cluster-management/9781803235288/
- https://nlb.overdrive.com/media/9319858
- https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.12/architecture/mce-overview-ocp.html
- https://docs.openshift.com/rosa/ocm/ocm-overview.html
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