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About clusters with multi-architecture compute machines

An OpenShift Container Platform cluster with multi-architecture compute machines is a cluster that supports compute machines with different architectures.

Configuring multi-architecture compute machines involves some additional considerations:

  • When there are nodes with multiple architectures in your cluster, the architecture of the container image that you deploy to a node must be consistent with the architecture of that node. You need to ensure that the pod is assigned to the node with the appropriate architecture and that it matches the container image architecture. For more information on assigning pods to nodes, see Assigning pods to nodes.

  • In installer-provisioned installations, you are restricted to using the infrastructure provided by a single cloud provider. Adding external nodes, regardless of their architecture, to these clusters is not supported.

  • Clusters that are installed with the platform type none are unable to use some features, such as managing compute machines with the Machine API. This limitation applies even if the compute machines that are attached to the cluster are installed on a platform that would normally support the feature. This parameter cannot be changed after installation.

    Important

    Review the information in the guidelines for deploying OpenShift Container Platform on non-tested platforms before you attempt to install an OpenShift Container Platform cluster in virtualized or cloud environments.

  • The Cluster Samples Operator is not supported on clusters with multi-architecture compute machines. Your cluster can be created without this capability. For more information, see Cluster capabilities.

  • For information on migrating your single-architecture cluster to a cluster that supports multi-architecture compute machines, see Migrating to a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines.

Configuring your cluster with multi-architecture compute machines

To create a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines with different installation options and platforms, you can use the documentation in the following table:

Table 1. Cluster with multi-architecture compute machine installation options
Documentation section Platform User-provisioned installation Installer-provisioned installation Control Plane Compute node

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on Azure

Microsoft Azure

aarch64 or x86_64

aarch64, x86_64

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

aarch64 or x86_64

aarch64, x86_64

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on Google Cloud

Google Cloud

aarch64 or x86_64

aarch64, x86_64

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on bare metal, IBM Power, or IBM Z

Bare metal

aarch64 or x86_64

aarch64, x86_64

IBM Power

x86_64 or ppc64le

x86_64, ppc64le

IBM Z

x86_64 or s390x

x86_64, s390x

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE with z/VM

IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE

x86_64

x86_64, s390x

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE with RHEL KVM

IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE

x86_64

x86_64, s390x

Creating a cluster with multi-architecture compute machines on IBM Power®

IBM Power®

x86_64

x86_64, ppc64le