The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →IBM Bob self-hosted is deployed as a customer-managed workload on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP), using IBM’s release bundle and bobctl. It is not an installer for an arbitrary server or Kubernetes distribution. Your organization supplies the cluster, capacity, storage, model endpoint and registry access, and operates identity, networking, upgrades, availability and platform security controls.
Plan the OpenShift environment and capacity
IBM’s system requirements documentation lists OCP 4.20, 4.21 and 4.22 for Bob self-hosted 2.0.0, alongside Bob IDE 2.2.0 and Bob Shell 2.0.5. These are the versions represented by that documentation, not a guarantee that every release bundle uses them. Check the entitlement and documentation shipped with the specific bundle you will install.
Bob’s backend requires amd64 (x86_64) worker capacity. A mixed-architecture cluster can be used, but you must constrain Bob workloads to amd64 nodes using node selectors or taints; Bob does not add those constraints automatically.
Bob workload sizing references
The following figures are from IBM Bob documentation, whose publication year is not stated; accessed 2026. They describe Bob workload resources, not the full OpenShift cluster design.
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| Reference | CPU | Memory | Persistent storage | What it represents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Core production reference | 28.1 vCPU | 41.1 GiB | Approximately 50 GiB | Raw aggregate Bob Core workload with no optional add-ons. |
| Bob Core production with scheduling headroom | Approximately 36.5 vCPU | Approximately 53.4 GiB | Approximately 50 GiB | IBM guidance with 25–30% scheduling headroom. |
| Dedicated nine-node reference topology | Approximately 84 vCPU | 168 GiB | 600 GiB | IBM’s minimum reference topology for a dedicated nine-node cluster; it is not a universal minimum for a shared cluster. |
IBM says a dedicated cluster is not required when the existing OpenShift environment has sufficient resources. Account separately for OpenShift platform overhead, high availability, other tenants and growth. Premium add-ons increase CPU, memory and storage needs; IBM marks the Z Understand figures as provisional while benchmarking continues, so they should not be treated as final capacity guarantees.
Choose storage for each workload
IBM lists managed NFS and OpenShift Data Foundation as supported storage classes. PostgreSQL, OpenSearch and Redis need ReadWriteOnce (RWO) volumes; shared configuration and certificates need ReadWriteMany (RWX). SSD-backed block storage is strongly recommended for PostgreSQL, and IBM recommends the fastest available block storage for PostgreSQL and OpenSearch data. Plan a separate backup target for backups, database backups, index snapshots and retention copies.
Rank #2
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- 90W Pass-Through Charging: Achieve optimal charging with 90W pass-through power to your laptop, supported by a total input of 100W, with the hub reserving 10W for operational efficiency. (Note: Wall charger not included.)
- Quick Data Transfers: Accelerate your productivity with rapid data transfers using a high-speed 5Gbps USB 3.0 port and two 480Mbps USB 2.0 ports.
- 4K HDMI Display: Enhance your visual experience with a hub capable of delivering 4K resolution at 30Hz in both mirror and extend modes. Please note that this hub is compatible with MacBook (macOS 12 and newer), Windows 10 and 11, ChromeOS, and laptops equipped with DP Alt Mode and Power Delivery. Note: This device is not compatible with Linux.
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Gather access, tools and prerequisites
The installation workstation must be able to reach the OpenShift cluster. Obtain a valid IBM Bob self-hosted entitlement, the repository or release bundle, IBM Entitled Container Registry credentials for backend images, and the cluster permissions required for installation. The bundle includes manifests, Helm charts, configuration templates and bobctl; backend container images are obtained separately from IBM’s registry.
Prepare the workstation and cluster
occompatible with the target OCP version (the same minor version or within one minor version).- Helm 3.14.0 or later.
- Bash 3.2 or later.
- OpenSSL 3.5 or the version supplied by the operating system.
- cert-manager 1.14 or later, with its required CRDs installed and validated before Bob installation. IBM documents that
bobctl installstops early if those CRDs are missing.
Confirm that the active oc context is the intended cluster and that the installer can authenticate to it. The documented initial installation workflow uses cluster-admin privileges. IBM separates cluster-scoped resources, such as CRDs and cluster roles or bindings, from namespace-scoped operator and application resources.
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- What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (7-in-1), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.
Choose a connected or air-gapped installation path
| Decision | Connected cluster | Air-gapped cluster |
|---|---|---|
| Image source | Pull directly from IBM Container Registry. | Mirror images to an internal registry, directly or by offline transfer. |
| Model inference | Hosted or on-premises endpoints may be used, subject to network access. | On-premises inference only, according to IBM’s installation comparison. |
| Updates | Download from external sources. | Import using offline update bundles. |
| Certificate issuance | Public certificate authorities may be used. | Use internal or private authorities. |
| Telemetry | Enabled by default; it can be disabled. | Disabled. |
For air-gapped direct mirroring, the administrative workstation can reach both the source and destination registries. For indirect mirroring, prepare artifacts on an internet-connected workstation, transfer them across the network boundary, then upload them to the private registry. The exact mirroring procedure depends on the bundle and the boundary design.
Arrange model inference and user access
Provide a supported model endpoint
Bob requires an accessible, supported core inference endpoint for code generation, explanations, chat and assistant features. Bob does not provision, host or manage the model-serving infrastructure. The endpoint could be a model served through OpenShift AI, private GPU servers, a dedicated inference cluster or, where network policy allows, a cloud provider. Prepare its model gateway configuration and credentials in advance.
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You can supply model configuration during installation. If you omit it, Bob can be installed without model access and configured later with bobctl update-model-config.
Choose identity and certificate trust
IBM documents LDAP federation or direct Keycloak accounts for user authentication. Decide which approach to use before rollout. For the external endpoint’s TLS certificate, choose a customer-provided certificate that client workstations already trust or the default self-signed CA. If clients do not already trust the CA, plan how to distribute it: Bob IDE and Bob Shell cannot connect until the workstation trusts the certificate presented by the endpoint.
Best Value
- 5-in-1 Connectivity: Equipped with a 4K HDMI port, a 5 Gbps USB-C data port, two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, and a USB C 100W PD-IN port. Note: The USB C 100W PD-IN port supports only charging and does not support data transfer devices such as headphones or speakers.
- Powerful Pass-Through Charging: Supports up to 85W pass-through charging so you can power up your laptop while you use the hub. Note: Pass-through charging requires a charger (not included). Note: To achieve full power for iPad, we recommend using a 45W wall charger.
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Install Bob using the entitled release bundle
Use the instructions shipped with your entitled bundle: command details may vary by release. The sequence below follows IBM’s documented workflow.
- Verify the prerequisites. Check the target OCP version, amd64 worker placement, capacity, storage classes, cert-manager CRDs, IBM registry entitlement, model endpoint plan and active cluster context.
- Download and extract the release bundle. Use the included
bobctland deployment assets. Obtain the backend images separately from IBM’s entitled registry. - Create and customize the configuration. Copy
config-template.yamltoconfig.yaml. Set the namespaces, storage classes, registry details and enabled add-ons. Prepare model gateway and optional identity-provider configuration, and select the TLS trust approach. - Generate and review cluster-scoped resources. Run
./bobctl generate-cluster-resources, inspectwork/cluster-resources.yaml, and have an appropriately privileged administrator apply it. IBM recommends review by an administrator or security team before applying these resources. - Install the workload. With the cluster-admin access required by the documented initial workflow, run
./bobctl install --registry-creds <username:password> --accept-license. Include model configuration as appropriate. The license acceptance flag is required; use--dry-runto preview changes. Follow the bundle for the precise syntax applicable to your release. - For an isolated cluster, mirror and check images. Configure the internal image prefix in
config.yamland use the bundle’sbobctl mirror-imagesandbobctl verify-imagescommands as directed by its air-gapped procedure. - Check readiness and finish onboarding. Confirm that the Bob custom resource reports Ready, configure the route certificate and identity, then distribute the API endpoint and CA certificate where needed. Connect Bob IDE or Bob Shell and authenticate.
Understand what your organization operates
Self-hosting puts lifecycle and platform operations under your organization’s control. IBM describes the operator and operand namespaces as the scope for Bob’s namespace-level installation RBAC after the cluster-scoped resources are handled. Review cluster-wide permissions before applying them; the later bobctl install workflow operates in Bob’s operator and operand namespaces.
Your platform team remains responsible for networking, storage, identity, upgrades, scaling, availability and platform security logging, monitoring and audit controls. IBM places security event logging and related controls at the OpenShift platform level rather than having Bob manage them itself.
Quick Recap
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