Ability to install multiple version

[sakthi-vetrivel]

Today, ARO supports two OpenShift versions at any point in time, but only supports the creation of clusters using the latest supported OpenShift version. This issue tracks a feature that allows you to specify an OpenShift version when creating an ARO cluster.

[siw36]

Hi, we're currently in the process of rolling out multiple ARO clusters and are now heaving trouble because this feature is missing. We already created two clusters with version 4.6 and have committed to this version for all of the clusters we are creating the following days/weeks. We did this to simplify the upgrade process of the mentioned clusters and to have the same base version for all of our workloads.

But I will now get a 4.7 ARO cluster when creating one, so our cluster versions will differentiate throughout this rollout phase. This means more work for me and my team to get all clusters to the same version again.

I would really appreciate this feature as soon as possible.

[marcusne]

Same to me, it's mandatory for us to maintain that all ARO clusters, existing ones and newly created ones are version aligned (e.g. v4.6.x/v4.7.x, z-stream like 4.7.z isn't required), so I would be happy to see this implemented as well and supported for Ansible azcollection/azure_rm_openshiftmanagedcluster_module.

[DaveSpe]

+1 same here, need this feature asap. We test upgrades with automation and need to specify the deploy version of the cluster.

[msftnadavbh]

I have multiple customers requesting this feature. Any update?

[wilfredjamison]

Some products, such as Cloud Paks from IBM, that run on top of OpenShift are not necessarily in syched with the latest version of OpenShift. They may be 1 minor version behind because they cannot test the new OCP version ahead of time before it gets released.

Having said that, this introduces a major problem when a customer wants to use a Cloud Pak product on ARO. The ability to specify an older version is a major need in this use case, or this will cause a customer to drop ARO as an option since ARO is not the only way that the Cloud Pak products can be deployed. Microsoft may be losing revenues if you don't support this scenario.

[TiloGit]

this severely limits us. We use that to create Non-PRD cluster and PRD cluster (with month in between). Also for business use case to create a new temp cluster (old version) to test upgrade of ARO/OCP.

creating a bunch of ARO cluster at Day one is cost prohibitive.

AKS supports this via: --kubernetes-version

@wilfredjamison fyi, We are also working to setup IBM CP on ARO.

[dcaldwel]

I also have a customer who has requested this feature. Any updates on this? Anything on the roadmap that I can feedback to them?

From a security, compliance and testing POV, I imagine that if you spend x weeks getting your test environment certified only to find out that you can no longer roll out the same version for a prod environment, it may be a little frustrating.

[joharder]

This feature is currently in development, however there is not yet a firm ETA to share.

[miroag]

:+1:

[GijsvanDulmen]

Would there be an ETA already? We also want the ability to install some other version like 4.8 when 4.9 is the current default.

[Ashengross]

any updates on timeline? we have few requirements from customer for it

[lhoss]

Same here, we need to install OCP 4.8 (since OpenDatahub.io is not yet ready for later versions). Frankly quite unbelievable for me this >1y old and often requested feature hasn't been implemented yet! (compare that to AWS OpenShift "ROSA" installer rosa create cluster --version "4.8.34" ...!) First saw the feature is missing, by checking https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/aro?view=azure-cli-latest#az-aro-create

Workaround ?!

However the installation via ARM/BICEP Template seems to support giving the cluster version .. (even though the field is not exposed as a template parameter) , via the clusterProfile/version field: Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/templates/microsoft.redhatopenshift/openshiftclusters?tabs=json But is this working at all ? ( I'ld prefer to use az aro though )

[jasonvriends]

I would love to see this also.

[mayankarora-ibm]

Any update on the timeline for this? I've a few customers who need this

[MichaelWasher]

When this does get implemented, can we make sure that the Z-stream can also be configured?

[joharder]

Workaround ?!

However the installation via ARM/BICEP Template seems to support giving the cluster version .. (even though the field is not exposed as a template parameter) , via the clusterProfile/version field: Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/templates/microsoft.redhatopenshift/openshiftclusters?tabs=json But is this working at all ? ( I'ld prefer to use az aro though )

This will not work. It's only possible right now to install the current latest version. I'm working with the PM team to see if they have an ETA yet that we can share.

[dcaldwel]

Is there any ETA on this feature being incorporated?

[yongkanghe]

Surprises, there is no way to specify the version. Adding --version 4.x should not take a year or more?

[jboutaud]

This feature is now live for customers and customers can use the --version flag in the CLI to specify a version to deploy

[mosabami]

now GA

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/openshift/tutorial-create-cluster https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/openshift/support-lifecycle