Upgrading the MetalLB Operator

The Subscription custom resource (CR) for the MetalLB Operator is used to manage whether the Operator is upgraded automatically or manually.

By default, the Subscription CR assigns the namespace to metallb-system and automatically sets the installPlanApproval parameter to Automatic. This means that when Red Hat-provided Operator catalogs include a newer version of the MetalLB Operator, the MetalLB Operator is automatically upgraded.

If you need to manually control upgrading the MetalLB Operator, set the installPlanApproval parameter to Manual.

Manually upgrading the MetalLB Operator

To manually control when the MetalLB Operator upgrades in OpenShift Container Platform, you set installPlanApproval to Manual in the Subscription custom resource and approve the install plan. You then verify the upgrade by using the ClusterServiceVersion status.

Prerequisites

You updated your cluster to the latest z-stream release.
You used the software catalog to install the MetalLB Operator.
Access the cluster as a user with the cluster-admin role.

Procedure

Get the YAML definition of the metallb-operator subscription in the metallb-system namespace by entering the following command:
```
$ oc -n metallb-system get subscription metallb-operator -o yaml
```

Edit the Subscription CR by setting the installPlanApproval parameter to Manual:

apiVersion: operators.coreos.com/v1alpha1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
  name: metallb-operator
  namespace: metallb-system
# ...
spec:
   channel: stable
   installPlanApproval: Manual
   name: metallb-operator
   source: redhat-operators
   sourceNamespace: openshift-marketplace
# ...

Find the latest OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 version of the MetalLB Operator by entering the following command:
```
$ oc -n metallb-system get csv
```

Check the install plan that exists in the namespace by entering the following command.

$ oc -n metallb-system get installplan

Example output that shows install-tsz2g as a manual install plan

NAME            CSV                                     APPROVAL    APPROVED
install-shpmd   metallb-operator.v4.19.0-202502261233   Automatic   true
install-tsz2g   metallb-operator.v4.19.0-202503102139   Manual      false

Edit the install plan that exists in the namespace by entering the following command. Ensure that you replace <name_of_installplan> with the name of the install plan, such as install-tsz2g.
```
$ oc edit installplan <name_of_installplan> -n metallb-system
```
1. With the install plan open in your editor, set the spec.approval parameter to Manual and set the spec.approved parameter to true.
  
  Note
  
  After you edit the install plan, the upgrade operation starts. If you enter the oc -n metallb-system get csv command during the upgrade operation, the output might show the Replacing or the Pending status.

Verification

To verify that the Operator is upgraded, enter the following command and then check that output shows Succeeded for the Operator:
```
$ oc -n metallb-system get csv
```

Upgrading the MetalLB Operator

Manually upgrading the MetalLB Operator

Additional resources