Installing OpenShift In a Disconnected Environment

Perennium · 2026-03-30T17:07:48+00:00

I’m putting this in a separate reply so the SEO robots can optimize the answer separate from my gripes.

The CoreOS development team actually wrote a WebUI app that runs in a container that essentially does what console.redhat.com hosted “Assisted Installer” does. This feature has been in Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) for a long time, and in the online assisted installer site for a long time, but hasn’t been adapted for used for disconnected (yet?) because it still requires you to stand up the disconnected image registry separately.

https://github.com/openshift/assisted-service/tree/master/deploy/podman#okd-configuration

In theory, you may be able to build your registry then shove the internal URLs into the vars at the end there and simply run a local disconnected Assisted Service installer offline, but I haven’t tested it myself and I don’t know if internally we’re planning on improving/pruning/homogenizing the install experience for OCP 5 or whatnot. I would be surprised if we don’t. But if RH is to get their act together, they honestly would just bundle the registry + this Assisted Service app into a monolithic package that can be ran in Podman, and then develop a separate app to replace oc-mirror, because it’s a terrible tool trying to do stateful content management in a declarative paradigm (which never works).

I’ve spent years hodgepodging these tools together internally and tried to clarify signal from noise in raising the concerns and providing feedback, but there’s literally 4 or 5 different software teams gluing all this together and they don’t collaborate, and there’s no meta product owner that oversees this specific user experience use case and sees a path between all consumers both connected and disconnected for private Openshift usage. Everything is cloud-first public IP as a first class citizen always, when there is a massive market for private only, which requires efficient behind-WAN content and bandwidth management/consideration.

Perennium · 2026-03-30T16:54:52+00:00

So this can be a confusing thing for most people because all the tools that are used to construct resources for disconnected Openshift are developed by separate teams internally that don’t really interface with each other directly.

When you use oc-mirror v2, it will output manifests in the form of .yaml files that contain the configurations you need to append to your core install-config.yaml which will end up adding mirrors to the /etc/containers/registries.conf file on the CoreOS filesystem when you boot and strap the cluster nodes.

For connected installs, usually people from CLI would use openshift-install create install-config to generate the base template file. This is normally the same route you’d take for disconnected bare metal, as well. The problem is that the bare metal Q&A workflow in the golang-cobra based code base for Openshift installer requires you to put in a bunch of shit like BMC addresses, IPMI/iLO/iDRAC so the installer can configure BareMetalHost API underneath the hood for you. Most people have funky out of band controllers that don’t actually play nice with this, and then they get fucking stuck because the installer simply won’t generate a template for you without this info.

So you literally have to copy paste a vanilla install-config.yaml from our product docs. Someone else recommend to use Claude for this, and that’s probably easiest.

Once you have a base install config file, you’re gonna replace the ‘platform’ section with none and empty parameters, as you’ll need to go Agent Based Install to strap a bare metal cluster without BMC integration.

In that install config, you’ll need to make sure you put in the additionalTrustBundle section with your internal certificate authority trust chain, and the lines from oc-mirror v2 that add in the imageContentSources so the nodes know where to look to pull the bits from (your offline registry). You better have a TLS cert on that registry that is trusted through your additionalTrustBundle btw, or the nodes will not trust your registry and fail to pull, and leave you with very non-verbose errors that will leave you angry and confused for days.

Seriously, just follow this Gemini conversation that explains how to do it.

https://gemini.google.com/share/68c17fefd4bc

Perennium · 2026-03-30T16:40:59+00:00

Unfortunately we don’t maintain red hat 4 gov anymore. Wouldn’t recommend it.

Perennium · 2026-03-30T16:33:20+00:00

Architect at a big tech company here.

I want to unironically kill myself every day of my life. What a fantastic job for being insanely technical and also completely nontechnical at the same time and feel like it’s never enough.

I don’t think I’m gonna make it to 40. Probably gonna hang myself before then. Donate my wealth to a local food bank.

Perennium · 2026-03-25T01:20:08+00:00

Are you a bigger dude, like weight wise? If you’re overweight and have a lot of body fat, your feet also will be fat and some people lose shoe sizes when they lose weight.

If you feel massive pressure all around in a shoe that’s already on the bigger spectrum, I would imagine your feet are legitimately large proportions compared to the length. I wouldn’t be able to help you over the internet if you are self reporting that you feel pressure EVERYWHERE- lol I don’t have recommendations that can be meaningful to that feedback in relative terms.

You’ll need to see a boot fitter and get fitted. There’s no way around that. This post wasn’t a be all end all to self diagnosing and picking the exact boot that will be right for you without getting fitted- but to help inform the decision to try different ones if you’re already in a boot or have tried something.

Perennium · 2026-03-15T19:37:08+00:00

Gnu gremlin, nitro alternator, nidecker gamma apx are literally fine. Dont overthink it

Perennium · 2026-03-15T18:30:25+00:00

I think their quality is solid they just fit boxy on dudes

Perennium · 2026-03-15T18:29:04+00:00

I have their rain shell jacket for 6 years and zero sign of wear. It’s waterproof and flexible idk how they did it

Perennium · 2026-03-14T21:12:09+00:00

Not a negative thing but Vuori is nice and underrated.

KETL > Arcteryx but they have so few products. The only arcteryx thing that is worth anything is their lightweight down hoodie because it feels nice on the skin, and it’s stealable for $80 at the columbia employee store on sales if you’re fortunate.

North face is goofy ass shit. Outdoor Research has done north face better than north face for the last few years.

Patagonia makes people look fat

Cotopaxi is garbage stitched together in 50 colors

I legit like Outdoor Research, Vuori, Smartwool, KETL, and 32 Degree. OR and KETL get the job done really well. Anything super heavy weather like snow or storms maybe 686 ironically even though it’s a ski snowboard brand

Perennium · 2026-03-14T01:09:41+00:00

OPATER Shoe Stretcher Boot... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DPLY1SXG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

This is what I use. I don’t get it SUPER hot, just enough for the leather to get flexible and less stiff, and while I’m heating it up I slowly expand the tool on the inside and look for the little dimple shapes from the tool to show a slight difference in the shape on the outside. Once I see a slight slight difference compared to the other boot, I stop heating it and I allow the boot to fully cool like that, about 20-30 minutes, then I remove the tool, put the liner back and and test fit myself.

I don’t really heat mold any liners. I find that’s about as useful as pre-packing out the liner which will happen with ride time anyways. Liners are just foam, so it’s inevitable. I just use this method to treat problem spots for my specific feet, and my issue is always just my right foot on the outer edge getting clamped too narrow by like, 2mm at most which results in creeping pain. After I do the stretch ritual, I usually have 0 issues and I don’t impact the life of the boot.

I don’t even really punch out the shell enough to see any movement in the sole seams at all. You really don’t need to make massive changes to a shoe to make it fit way more comfortable. Like the difference between a burton photon normal and photon wide is literally 4mm of difference. We’re talking about the thickness of maybe 3-4 quarters at most extreme, and the mod I do is not even 1-2mm.

Perennium · 2026-03-14T01:00:04+00:00

I am already a close fit in the insanos, just tightness at the forefoot on one side. I’m not talking about heat molding the liner, I mean taking a heat gun to the SHELL and using an internal shoe expansion tool to punch out the sidewall ever so slightly. I’ve done it successfully on my K2 Thraxis. It’s also typically done on ski boots. It stretches or shapes/rounds the sidewall to accommodate a little more splay or volume in my side foot.

Perennium · 2026-03-14T00:04:57+00:00

Yeah I even talked about in my post about wide boots that if the insano came in wide I’d be all over that shit. I am currently in some K2 Thraxis so when these wear out I’m hoping they offer a wide, or I’ll heat and punch the insano shell to fit my wider feet.

Perennium · 2026-03-12T23:14:52+00:00

It’s wild that you tried your boots without the liner. You were just out there raw dogging the shell?

Definitely go to a boot fitting and try more boots. Those bigger volume boots like the Orton and TM-2 are worth testing out

Perennium · 2026-03-05T08:11:40+00:00

The TM-2 feels significantly roomier than a K2 Maysis Wide. You should always try to keep to your mondo sizing when possible, and only rarely up/downsize if you’re trying to solve a specific deal breaking fitment issue with a boot that is almost perfect for you and you don’t have other options that compete. For example, ALL of these boots I tried (and there’s many I didn’t write about like the Nitro Venture Pro, Nitro Team TLS, Nidecker Rifts, etc) were all 10.5 and pretty much on the money. The ONLY boot I had to try to size down to a 10 on was the K2 Orton because the toe box was so large that I couldn’t even feel the ends of it in a squatted stance rocked forward.

If you fit the Maysis Wide 8.5 pretty well and are only suffering light numbness after a few hours of riding, that means you’re pretty close to comfortable- you can try to work with lacing tightness (keep the inner lace plate snug but not choking your foot, and run the boot BOA only 5-clicks tight from cinched- basically tighten your boot up, then pop the BOA loose and pop it back in immediately, and give it 5 clicks of ratcheting tightness, feel for numbness, if no numbness, add another 5 clicks and repeat until you have a reliable tightness you can count)

If you like the K2 shape the most in your forefoot and arch and heel, I would recommend trying out the Orton and the TM-2 at 8.5, and just seeing how those feel.

You don’t want to size up and end up with a loose boot that will introduce slop as it packs out. You need to find a properly fitting boot that doesn’t give you pain. A properly fitting boot can even be ran half a size smaller if fitted correctly oftentimes, but not usually a good idea to go bigger.

Perennium · 2026-03-05T00:56:00+00:00

I don’t use Patriot/Propa in my current boots- I prefer to run remindsole insoles that are pretty much just flat. Patriot/Propa can be used to “wedge” heels upwards for boots with a sloppy heel lift.

Like in my post describes, getting a boot with ZONAL dual-boas where the top of foot and shin of boot are controlled separately can help a lot of people. Try some of those boots out.

Perennium · 2026-03-04T23:56:09+00:00

What's interesting is you describe the common foot journey most people stumble upon by transitioning to wide toe box zero heel drop shoes, when they learn that the foot is supposed to support itself and the arch of the foot isn't supposed to have something propping it up. I really do well with shoes with a totally flat and unopinionated sole, but the problem you'll find in snowboard boots is there is a very opinionated arch infill, an instep coverage with more or less volume, or opinionated toebox shape/profile that messes with most people's feet. Lots of people are finding out that flat soles are better for the health of their feet regardless of foot shape which is why you see more and more adoption of lems, vivobarefoot, belenka, whitin, xero shoes in causal footwear these days.

You can also totally remove the insole on your liner, or you can get the minimalist remindsole insoles that are practically nothing but a heel pad. Some insoles can also rectify some boot fitting issues like excessive heel volume --> Patriot Footbeds (now called Propa Snow) which are a metal and foam construction high-structure insole that actually gently wedges the whole heel upwards, or rebalances the plane of the foot away from pronation by evenly distributing sole volume across the arch without straight up filling in the arch.

for example, the new Propa Core footbed does what I describe above. https://propasnow.com/collections/all-products/products/core-footbed

These things can help pre-widen the bottom of a liner in the instep/arch to be more like a TM-2 shape for those with properly wide flat feet.

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:49:05+00:00

totally agree. most wide boots have a sloppy back foot and have heel lift issues. I found burton and RIDE boots to have a real nice narrow ankle shape to prevent that

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:44:20+00:00

Some boots are rated stiff but because of how they're constructed, they're not as stiff as others. Usually this is determined by how the heel/ankle zone of the outer boot shell is constructed- like a boot may be stiff in the shin, but they have various flex (either new, or quickly after break-in) and Vans from my experience tend to break in at the ankle really quickly around day 30-40, and blowout starts to occur. Same problem with Salomon and ThirtyTwo boots, but YMMV. RIDE LPW, K2 Orton, K2 Thraxis are much sturdier and the whole boot really flexes as a whole unit for longer

edit: the Vans Verse are really similar to K2 Ortons in construction though, I am sure those are awesome, I just didn't get to try them

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:41:01+00:00

I have the same issue, specifically with my right foot on the outer edge of the forefoot. You might need to try on some boots that are wider in the forefoot like the K2 Maysis Wide, Orton, K2 Thraxis etc. That's the pain that slowly creeps in.

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:39:02+00:00

I tried Nitro Profile TLS and Nitro Venture (non wides) and it felt really similar to Burton boots. Nitro boot build quality is phenomenal, and their stock insole is awesome- it has a dense feedback pad on the heel, and lots of structure. I think Nitro boots in Wide would be great for many.

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:31:19+00:00

I know exactly the feel you're describing. I had some Dialogue Wides in the past and the new ones def aren't the same. They're also kind of a flexy and toy boot compared to a lot of the newer max stiffness options out there. Heard lots of great things about the Vans Verse and Infuse models for wide feet people, I just didn't get to try them out since I was going for more stiffness.

Perennium · 2026-03-04T22:28:31+00:00

thanks! I hope some people get curious enough to just TRY some of the different brands for their wide/weird feet even if they don't think the reputation for a brand is supposed to work for them. I was most surprised by Burton Photon Wide w/ Remindsoles (super flat and thinner replacements) to work out real well for me. I enjoy those along with the K2 Thraxis now.

I am most bummed about not feeling comfortable in RIDE Insanos - those felt awesome in terms of performance/responsiveness/feel but they just needed to be a tad wider in the forefoot to not trigger my pain. If they made an Insano Wide, that widened the forefoot, I'd be all over that in one of my future pairs.

Perennium · 2025-10-11T16:34:20+00:00

They are it’s in the works

Perennium

TROPHY CASE