System requirements

Node requirements

• x86-64, arm64, ppc64le, or s390x processor

• Calico must be able to manage cali* interfaces on the host. When IPIP is enabled (the default), Calico also needs to be able to manage tunl* interfaces. When VXLAN is enabled, Calico also needs to be able to manage thevxlan.calico interface.

• Linux kernel 3.10 or later with required dependencies. The following distributions have the required kernel, its dependencies, and are known to work well with Calico and OpenShift.

  • RedHat Linux 7
  • RedHat Container OS

note

Many Linux distributions, such as most of the above, include NetworkManager. By default, NetworkManager does not allow Calico to manage interfaces. If your nodes have NetworkManager, complete the steps in Preventing NetworkManager from controlling Calico interfaces before installing Calico.

• If your Linux distribution comes with installed Firewalld or another iptables manager it should be disabled. These may interfere with rules added by Calico and result in unexpected behavior.

note

If a host firewall is needed, it can be configured by Calico HostEndpoint and GlobalNetworkPolicy. More information about configuration at Security for host.

Key/value store

Calico requires a key/value store accessible by all Calico components. With OpenShift, the Kubernetes API datastore is used for the key/value store.

Network requirements

Ensure that your hosts and firewalls allow the necessary traffic based on your configuration.

Configuration	Host(s)	Connection type	Port/protocol
Calico networking (BGP)	All	Bidirectional	TCP 179
Calico networking with IP-in-IP enabled (default)	All	Bidirectional	IP-in-IP, often represented by its protocol number 4
Calico networking with VXLAN enabled	All	Bidirectional	UDP 4789
Typha access	Typha agent hosts	Incoming	TCP 5473 (default)
All	kube-apiserver host	Incoming	Often TCP 443 or 8443*

* The value passed to kube-apiserver using the --secure-port flag. If you cannot locate this, check the targetPort value returned bykubectl get svc kubernetes -o yaml.

Privileges

Ensure that Calico has the CAP_SYS_ADMIN privilege.

The simplest way to provide the necessary privilege is to run Calico as root or in a privileged container.

OpenShift requirements

Calico supports the OpenShift Container Platform.

Node requirements

• x86-64, arm64, ppc64le, or s390x processor

• Calico must be able to manage cali* interfaces on the host. When IPIP is enabled (the default), Calico also needs to be able to manage tunl* interfaces. When VXLAN is enabled, Calico also needs to be able to manage thevxlan.calico interface.

• Linux kernel 3.10 or later with required dependencies. The following distributions have the required kernel, its dependencies, and are known to work well with Calico and .

  • RedHat Linux 7

note

Many Linux distributions, such as most of the above, include NetworkManager. By default, NetworkManager does not allow Calico to manage interfaces. If your nodes have NetworkManager, complete the steps in Preventing NetworkManager from controlling Calico interfaces before installing Calico.

• If your Linux distribution comes with installed Firewalld or another iptables manager it should be disabled. These may interfere with rules added by Calico and result in unexpected behavior.

note

If a host firewall is needed, it can be configured by Calico HostEndpoint and GlobalNetworkPolicy. More information about configuration at Security for host.

Key/value store

Calico requires a key/value store accessible by all Calico components. 

Network requirements

Ensure that your hosts and firewalls allow the necessary traffic based on your configuration.

Configuration	Host(s)	Connection type	Port/protocol
Calico networking (BGP)	All	Bidirectional	TCP 179
Calico networking with IP-in-IP enabled (default)	All	Bidirectional	IP-in-IP, often represented by its protocol number 4
All	etcd hosts	Incoming	Officially TCP 2379 but can vary

Privileges

Ensure that Calico has the CAP_SYS_ADMIN privilege.

The simplest way to provide the necessary privilege is to run Calico as root or in a privileged container.