Installing Che on the virtual Kubernetes cluster

Virtual clusters are fully working Kubernetes clusters that run on top of other Kubernetes clusters. Compared to fully separate "real" clusters, virtual clusters reuse worker nodes and networking of the host cluster. They have their own control plane and schedule all workloads into a single namespace of the host cluster. Similar to virtual machines, virtual clusters partition a single physical cluster into multiple separate ones.

vCluster offers a solution for deploying Che in scenarios where it normally would be impossible. This includes situations where the Kubernetes cluster version is incompatible with Che, or when the cloud service provider lacks support for external OIDC. Utilizing vClusters allows bypassing these constraints and enables Che to function as needed.

Prerequisites

helm: The package manager for Kubernetes. See: Installing Helm.
vcluster: The command line tool for managing virtual Kubernetes clusters. See Installing vCluster CLI.
kubectl: The Kubernetes command-line tool. See Installing kubectl.
kubelogin: The plugin for kubectl also known as kubectl oidc-login. See Installing kubelogin.
chectl: The command line tool for Eclipse Che. See: Installing the chectl management tool.
An active kubectl session with administrative permissions to the destination Kubernetes cluster.

Procedure

Define the cluster domain name.

DOMAIN_NAME=<KUBERNETES_CLUSTER_DOMAIN_NAME>

Install Ingress Controller. Check your Kubernetes provider documentation on how to install it.

Use the following command to install NGINX Ingress Controller on Azure Kubernetes Service cluster:

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
    --namespace ingress-nginx \
    --create-namespace \
    --set controller.service.annotations."service\.beta\.kubernetes\.io/azure-load-balancer-health-probe-request-path"=/healthz \
    --set controller.service.externalTrafficPolicy=Cluster

Install the cert-manager:

helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo update

helm install cert-manager jetstack/cert-manager \
  --wait \
  --create-namespace \
  --namespace cert-manager \
  --set installCRDs=true

Define the Keycloak host:

KEYCLOAK_HOST=keycloak.${DOMAIN_NAME}

If you use a registrar such as GoDaddy, you will need to add the following DNS record in your registrar and point it to the IP address of the ingress controller:

type: A
name: keycloak

Use the following command to figure out the external IP address of the NGINX Ingress Controller:

kubectl get services ingress-nginx-controller \
  --namespace ingress-nginx \
  --output jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}"

Use the following command to wait until Keycloak host is known:

until ping -c1 ${KEYCLOAK_HOST} >/dev/null 2>&1; do :; done

Install Keycloak with a self-signed certificate:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: keycloak
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
  name: keycloak-selfsigned
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  selfSigned: {}
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: keycloak-selfsigned
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  isCA: true
  commonName: keycloak-selfsigned-ca
  privateKey:
    algorithm: ECDSA
    size: 256
  issuerRef:
    name: keycloak-selfsigned
    kind: Issuer
    group: cert-manager.io
  secretName: ca.crt
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Issuer
metadata:
  name: keycloak
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  ca:
    secretName: ca.crt
---
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: Certificate
metadata:
  name: keycloak
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  isCA: false
  commonName: keycloak
  dnsNames:
    - ${KEYCLOAK_HOST}
  privateKey:
    algorithm: RSA
    encoding: PKCS1
    size: 4096
  issuerRef:
    kind: Issuer
    name: keycloak
    group: cert-manager.io
  secretName: keycloak.tls
  subject:
    organizations:
      - Local Eclipse Che
  usages:
    - server auth
    - digital signature
    - key encipherment
    - key agreement
    - data encipherment
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: keycloak
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  ports:
  - name: http
    port: 8080
    targetPort: 8080
  selector:
    app: keycloak
  type: ClusterIP
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: keycloak
  namespace: keycloak
  labels:
    app: keycloak
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: keycloak
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: keycloak
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: keycloak
        image: quay.io/keycloak/keycloak:24.0.2
        args: ["start-dev"]
        env:
        - name: KEYCLOAK_ADMIN
          value: "admin"
        - name: KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD
          value: "admin"
        - name: KC_PROXY
          value: "edge"
        ports:
        - name: http
          containerPort: 8080
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /realms/master
            port: 8080
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: keycloak
  namespace: keycloak
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-connect-timeout: '3600'
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-read-timeout: '3600'
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: 'true'
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
    - hosts:
        - ${KEYCLOAK_HOST}
      secretName: keycloak.tls
  rules:
  - host: ${KEYCLOAK_HOST}
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: keycloak
            port:
              number: 8080
EOF

Wait until the Keycloak pod is ready:

kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod -l app=keycloak -n keycloak --timeout=120s

Configure Keycloak to create che realm:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create realms \
        -s realm='che' \
        -s displayName='Eclipse Che' \
        -s enabled=true \
        -s registrationAllowed=false \
        -s resetPasswordAllowed=true"

Configure Keycloak to create che-public client:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=che-public \
        -s clientId=che-public \
        -s id=che-public \
        -s redirectUris='[\"*\"]' \
        -s webOrigins='[\"*\"]' \
        -s attributes='{\"post.logout.redirect.uris\": \"*\", \"oidc.ciba.grant.enabled\" : \"false\", \"oauth2.device.authorization.grant.enabled\" : \"false\", \"backchannel.logout.session.required\" : \"true\", \"backchannel.logout.revoke.offline.tokens\" : \"false\"}' \
        -s standardFlowEnabled=true \
        -s publicClient=true \
        -s frontchannelLogout=true \
        -s directAccessGrantsEnabled=true && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients/che-public/protocol-mappers/models \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=groups \
        -s protocol=openid-connect \
        -s protocolMapper=oidc-group-membership-mapper \
        -s consentRequired=false \
        -s config='{\"full.path\" : \"false\", \"introspection.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"userinfo.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"id.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"lightweight.claim\" : \"false\", \"access.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"claim.name\" : \"groups\"}'"

Configure Keycloak to create che user and the vcluster group:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create users \
        -r 'che' \
        -s enabled=true \
        -s username=che \
        -s email=\"che@che\" \
        -s emailVerified=true \
        -s firstName=\"Eclipse\" \
        -s lastName=\"Che\" && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh set-password \
        -r 'che' \
        --username che \
        --new-password che && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create groups \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=vcluster"

Configure Keycloak to add che user to vcluster group:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    USER_ID=\$(/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get users \
        -r 'che' \
        -q 'username=che' \
                |  sed -n 's|.*\"id\" : \"\(.*\)\",|\1|p') && \
    GROUP_ID=\$(/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get groups \
        -r 'che' \
        -q 'name=vcluster' \
                |  sed -n 's|.*\"id\" : \"\(.*\)\",|\1|p') && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh update users/\$USER_ID/groups/\$GROUP_ID \
        -r 'che'"

Configure Keycloak to create che-private client:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=che-private \
        -s clientId=che-private \
        -s id=che-private \
        -s redirectUris='[\"*\"]' \
        -s webOrigins='[\"*\"]' \
        -s attributes='{\"post.logout.redirect.uris\": \"*\", \"oidc.ciba.grant.enabled\" : \"false\", \"oauth2.device.authorization.grant.enabled\" : \"false\", \"backchannel.logout.session.required\" : \"true\", \"backchannel.logout.revoke.offline.tokens\" : \"false\"}' \
        -s standardFlowEnabled=true \
        -s publicClient=false \
        -s frontchannelLogout=true \
        -s serviceAccountsEnabled=true \
        -s directAccessGrantsEnabled=true && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients/che-private/protocol-mappers/models \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=groups \
        -s protocol=openid-connect \
        -s protocolMapper=oidc-group-membership-mapper \
        -s consentRequired=false \
        -s config='{\"full.path\" : \"false\", \"introspection.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"userinfo.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"id.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"lightweight.claim\" : \"false\", \"access.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"claim.name\" : \"groups\"}' && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients/che-private/protocol-mappers/models \
        -r 'che' \
        -s name=audience \
        -s protocol=openid-connect \
        -s protocolMapper=oidc-audience-mapper \
        -s config='{\"included.client.audience\" : \"che-public\", \"access.token.claim\" : \"true\", \"id.token.claim\" : \"true\"}'"

Print and save che-private client secret:

kubectl exec deploy/keycloak -n keycloak -- bash -c \
    "/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
        --server http://localhost:8080 \
        --realm master \
        --user admin  \
        --password admin && \
    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get clients/che-private/client-secret \
        -r che"

Prepare values for vCluster helm chart:

cat > /tmp/vcluster-values.yaml << EOF
api:
  image: registry.k8s.io/kube-apiserver:v1.27.1
  extraArgs:
    - --oidc-issuer-url=https://${KEYCLOAK_HOST}/realms/che
    - --oidc-client-id=che-public
    - --oidc-username-claim=email
    - --oidc-groups-claim=groups
    - --oidc-ca-file=/tmp/certificates/keycloak-ca.crt

init:
  manifestsTemplate: |-
    ---
    kind: ClusterRoleBinding
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    metadata:
      name: oidc-cluster-admin
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: ClusterRole
      name: cluster-admin
    subjects:
    - kind: Group
      name: vcluster
service:
  type: LoadBalancer
EOF

Install vCluster:

helm repo add loft-sh https://charts.loft.sh
helm repo update

helm install vcluster loft-sh/vcluster-k8s \
  --create-namespace \
  --namespace vcluster \
  --values /tmp/vcluster-values.yaml

Mount Keycloak CA certificate into the vcluster pod:

kubectl get secret ca.crt \
    --output "jsonpath={.data['ca\.crt']}" \
    --namespace keycloak \
      | base64 -d > /tmp/keycloak-ca.crt

kubectl create configmap keycloak-cert \
    --from-file=keycloak-ca.crt=/tmp/keycloak-ca.crt \
    --namespace vcluster

kubectl patch deployment vcluster -n vcluster --type json -p='[
  {
    "op": "add",
    "path": "/spec/template/spec/volumes/-",
    "value": {
      "name": "keycloak-cert",
      "configMap": {
        "name": "keycloak-cert"
      }
    }
  },
  {
    "op": "add",
    "path": "/spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/-",
    "value": {
      "name": "keycloak-cert",
      "mountPath": "/tmp/certificates"
    }
  }
]'

Wait until vc-vcluster secret is created:

timeout 120 bash -c 'while :; do kubectl get secret vc-vcluster -n vcluster && break || sleep 5; done'

Verify the vCluster cluster status:
```
vcluster list
```

Update kubeconfig file:

kubectl config set-credentials vcluster \
    --exec-api-version=client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1 \
    --exec-command=kubectl \
    --exec-arg=\
oidc-login,\
get-token,\
--oidc-issuer-url=https://${KEYCLOAK_HOST}/realms/che,\
--certificate-authority=/tmp/keycloak-ca.crt,\
--oidc-client-id=che-public,\
--oidc-extra-scope="email offline_access profile openid"

kubectl get secret vc-vcluster -n vcluster -o jsonpath="{.data.certificate-authority}" | base64 -d > /tmp/vcluster-ca.crt
kubectl config set-cluster vcluster \
    --server=https://$(kubectl get svc vcluster-lb \
                    --namespace vcluster \
                    --output jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}"):443 \
    --certificate-authority=/tmp/vcluster-ca.crt

kubectl config set-context vcluster \
    --cluster=vcluster \
    --user=vcluster

Use vcluster kubeconfig context:
```
kubectl config use-context vcluster
```
View the pods in the cluster. By running the following command, you will be redirected to the authenticate page:
```
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
```
Verification

All pods in the running state are displayed.

Install Ingress Controller on the virtual Kubernetes cluster.

Use the following command to install NGINX Ingress Controller on Azure Kubernetes Service cluster:

helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

helm upgrade --install ingress-nginx ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \
    --namespace ingress-nginx \
    --create-namespace \
    --set controller.service.annotations."service\.beta\.kubernetes\.io/azure-load-balancer-health-probe-request-path"=/healthz \
    --set controller.service.externalTrafficPolicy=Cluster

If you use a registrar such as GoDaddy, you will need to add the following two DNS records in your registrar and point them to the IP address of the ingress controller:

type: A
name: @ and *

Use the following command to figure out the external IP address of the NGINX Ingress Controller:

kubectl get services ingress-nginx-controller \
--namespace ingress-nginx \
--output jsonpath="{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}"

Use the following command to wait until Kubernetes host is known:

until ping -c1 ${DOMAIN_NAME} >/dev/null 2>&1; do :; done

Create CheCluster patch YAML file and replace CHE_PRIVATE_CLIENT_SECRET saved above:

cat > /tmp/che-patch.yaml << EOF
kind: CheCluster
apiVersion: org.eclipse.che/v2
spec:
  networking:
    ingressClassName: nginx
    auth:
      oAuthClientName: che-private
      oAuthSecret: CHE_PRIVATE_CLIENT_SECRET
      identityProviderURL: https://$KEYCLOAK_HOST/realms/che
      gateway:
        oAuthProxy:
          cookieExpireSeconds: 300
  components:
    cheServer:
      extraProperties:
        CHE_OIDC_USERNAME__CLAIM: email
EOF

Create eclipse-che namespace:
```
kubectl create namespace eclipse-che
```

Copy Keycloak CA certificate into the eclipse-che namespace:

kubectl create configmap keycloak-certs \
        --from-file=keycloak-ca.crt=/tmp/keycloak-ca.crt \
        --namespace eclipse-che

kubectl label configmap keycloak-certs \
        app.kubernetes.io/part-of=che.eclipse.org \
        app.kubernetes.io/component=ca-bundle \
        --namespace eclipse-che

Deploy Che:

chectl server:deploy \
        --platform k8s \
        --domain $DOMAIN_NAME \
        --che-operator-cr-patch-yaml /tmp/che-patch.yaml

Verification steps

Verify the Che instance status:
```
chectl server:status
```
Navigate to the Che cluster instance:
```
chectl dashboard:open
```
Log in to the Che instance with Username: che and Password: che.