1. Getting started

Get familiar with the lab environment.

Task 1.1: Login

The first thing we’re going to do is to explore our lab environment and get in touch with the different components.

Login to the web console of the Lab Cluster with the provided Username and Password:

https://console.techlab.openshift.ch

The project with the name corresponding to your username is going to be used for all the hands-on labs.

Task 1.1.1: Access Web IDE

As your lab environment, we use a so-called web IDE, directly deployed on the lab environment. To login to your specific web IDE, we need to figure out the IDE Password, which is configured as Environment Variable in the Deployment amm-techlab-ide in your project.

Go and get the value out of the Environment Variable and log into the Web IDE.

Once you’re successfully logged into the web IDE open a new Terminal by hitting CTRL + SHIFT + C/CTRL + SHIFT + ~ or clicking the Menu button –> Terminal –> new Terminal and check the installed oc version by executing the following command:

oc version

Task 1.1.2: Login with oc tool

The easiest way to login to the lab cluster using the oc tool is, by copying the login command from the web console (Click on the Username in the top right corner of your web console and then Copy Login Command, to get to the login command).

Paste this login command in the Terminal and verify the output Logged into ...

If you are using Firefox, you can paste the command with shift + insert

Switch to your project with oc project <username>

If you want to use your local oc tool, make sure to get the appropriate version.

Task 1.2: Explore other namespaces

Alongside the Lab Cluster, we also deployed a couple of additional tools and services we’re going to use during the lab.

Checkout the deployed resources and then login to the services. (URLs are provided by the trainer)

oc get project
  • Prometheus and Grafana in the project pitc-infra-monitoring (Login using Oauth OpenShift)
  • Git Server pitc-infra-gitea, this will be used for lab 4 (You don’t need to do anything yet.)

You can also checkout other resources, for example the OpenShift routes

oc get routes

Task 1.3: Web IDE

The Web IDE Container consists of the following tools:

  • oc
  • kubectl
  • kustomize
  • helm
  • kubectx
  • kubens
  • tekton cli
  • odo
  • argocd

The files in the home directory under /home/coder are stored in a persistence volume.

Task 1.3.1: Local Workspace Directory

During the lab, you’ll be using local files (eg. YAML resources) which will be applied in your lab project.

Create a new folder for your <workspace> in your Web IDE (for example ./amm-workspace/). Either you can create it with right-mouse-click -> New Folder or in the Web IDE terminal mkdir amm-workspace

The oc commands of the labs have to be executed inside your workspace. Inside your terminal change to that directory: cd amm-workspace

Task 1.4: Lab Setup

Most of the labs will be done inside the OpenShift project with your username. Verify that your oc tool is configured to point to the right project:

oc project
Using project "<username>" on server "https://<theClusterAPIURL>".

The returned project name should correspond to your username.

Task 1.5: Check Expert Mode

The instructions for this lab has two modes: normal and expert

The mode can be switched by the Expert Mode switch at the top of the page (inside the page header).

With normal mode you should see the text "Normal" mode instructions. below. With Expert Mode selected, the text is hidden behind the command hint box. Clicking on that box will show the instructions.

command hint

“Normal” mode instructions.

Challenge yourself to do the labs in expert mode. The commands should have been introduced before they will be hidden behind command hint.