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Requirements for the Jump Node#

The jump node is the machine from which you run the Ansible playbooks to install and configure the OpenShift cluster. This machine must meet the following requirements.

Note

If you are using the Installer Agent, you only need to meet the operating system and network requirements on this page. The Installer Agent installs the software prerequisites on the jump node automatically.

Operating System#

Install Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04. NVIDIA recommends that you use a bare-metal instance.

Note

You cannot run the installation process from a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) jump node because Apache Web Server on WSL cannot reliably expose the OpenShift ISO file to the cluster hosts.

Network#

The jump node must:

Have internet access.
Have access to the cluster hosts through their management interface (for example, eth0, not the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) network interface).

Software Prerequisites#

jq Command-Line JSON Processor

Install jq, a lightweight and flexible command-line JSON processor, using the following commands:
```
sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install jq
```
curl Command-Line Data Transfer Client

Install curl, a command-line tool for transferring data with URLs, using the following command:
```
sudo apt -y install curl
```
pip Package Installer for Python

Install pip, the package installer for Python:
```
sudo apt install python3-pip
```
Python Virtual Environment

Install venv, a tool for creating lightweight Python virtual environments, and create one called .h4m:
```
sudo apt install python3-venv
python3 -m venv .h4m
```
Ansible

Install Ansible and the other required Python packages in the Python virtual environment:
```
source .h4m/bin/activate
pip3 install setuptools==81.0.0 jmespath==1.1.0 ansible==8.0.0
deactivate
```
Open the ~/.bashrc file and add the following lines to suppress some informational Ansible warnings:
```
export ANSIBLE_LOCALHOST_WARNING=False
export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY_UNPARSED_WARNING=False
```
Save the file and return to the shell.

Reload your .bashrc file:
```
source ~/.bashrc
```
SSH Keys

Generate an SSH key on the jump node using the ssh-keygen utility. For all prompts, press Enter to use the default values. If SSH keys already exist, ensure that they are in the default path, ~/.ssh/.
```
ssh-keygen -t rsa
```
You use this key during cluster installation and for any post-installation debugging.
Apache Web Server

Apache Web Server hosts the ISO file for Red Hat CoreOS. The playbooks upload this ISO file to the server baseboard management controller (BMC) using the Redfish API and boot the servers from it. For installation instructions, refer to Install and configure Apache.
```
sudo apt install apache2
```
Confirm the Apache installation as follows:
```
curl -I http://localhost
```
```
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2026 19:16:46 GMT
Server: Apache/2.4.58 (Ubuntu)
...
```
You can also type the local IP address or localhost in a web browser. The default Apache welcome page appears.

Apache default page confirming successful installation.#