CRC NAD Console Plugin Deployment

Deploy the nad-console-plugin — a pre-built OpenShift Console Dynamic Plugin that sets the KUBEVIRT_DYNAMIC flag when the NetworkAttachmentDefinition CRD exists, causing the built-in networking-console-plugin to show the NAD nav item natively.

Background

The networking-console-plugin (built into OCP 4.21+) already has a full NAD UI (list, create, details) but gates it behind two flags:

• NET_ATTACH_DEF — always true (hardcoded in networking-console-plugin)
• KUBEVIRT_DYNAMIC — normally set by the KubeVirt plugin, absent in CRC

This plugin sets KUBEVIRT_DYNAMIC=true via a console.flag/model extension (7 lines of JSON, no custom JS code) whenever the NetworkAttachmentDefinition CRD is present in the cluster.

Prerequisites

• CRC cluster is running (crc status shows Running)
• oc is logged in as kubeadmin
• Helm v3 is available — use ~/.local/bin/helm (v3.21.0)
  • Verify: ~/.local/bin/helm version
• The nad-console-plugin project is at ~/app/playground/nad-console-plugin/
• Pre-built image: quay.io/rhtevan/nad-console-plugin:latest

Step 1: Verify the NAD CRD Is Present

The plugin only activates its flag when this CRD exists. Confirm it’s in the cluster:

oc get crd network-attachment-definitions.k8s.cni.cncf.io

Expected: The CRD is present (it’s part of CRC’s default Multus CNI setup).

Step 2: Deploy with Helm

~/.local/bin/helm upgrade -i nad-console-plugin \
  ~/app/playground/nad-console-plugin/charts/openshift-console-plugin \
  -n nad-console-plugin \
  --create-namespace \
  --set plugin.image=quay.io/rhtevan/nad-console-plugin:latest \
  --set plugin.name=nad-console-plugin \
  --set plugin.imagePullPolicy=Always

imagePullPolicy=Always ensures Kubernetes always pulls the latest image rather than using a cached version.

Step 3: Verify Pods Are Running

oc get pods -n nad-console-plugin

Expected: At least one pod in Running state serving the plugin.

# Also check the service and route/ingress
oc get svc,consoleplugin -n nad-console-plugin

Step 4: Verify the ConsolePlugin Is Registered

oc get consoleplugin nad-console-plugin

Expected output:

NAME                 AGE
nad-console-plugin   ...

Check it is enabled in the console operator:

oc get consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster -o jsonpath='{.spec.plugins}' | tr ',' '\n'

Expected: nad-console-plugin appears in the list alongside networking-console-plugin.

Step 5: Restart the Console Pod (If Needed)

If the plugin was deployed before or the console has a stale state, force a console pod restart:

# Trigger console operator reconcile to pick up the new plugin
oc patch consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster --type=merge \
  -p '{"spec":{"logLevel":"Debug"}}'

# Wait for console pods to restart
oc rollout status deployment console -n openshift-console

Then restore log level:

oc patch consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster --type=merge \
  -p '{"spec":{"logLevel":"Normal"}}'

Step 6: Verify the NAD Menu Item in the Console

1. Open the OpenShift Console (crc console --url)
2. Log in as kubeadmin
3. Hard refresh the browser (Ctrl+Shift+R) to clear any cached plugin state
4. Navigate to Networking in the left sidebar
5. Confirm NetworkAttachmentDefinitions appears as a menu item

Note: The NAD menu item is rendered by the built-in networking-console-plugin, not by this plugin directly. Our plugin only sets the KUBEVIRT_DYNAMIC flag that unlocks it.

Verification Checklist

• oc get crd network-attachment-definitions.k8s.cni.cncf.io — CRD present
• oc get pods -n nad-console-plugin — pod(s) Running
• oc get consoleplugin nad-console-plugin — resource exists
• nad-console-plugin appears in consoles.operator.openshift.io/cluster spec.plugins
• networking-console-plugin also appears in spec.plugins (required for the NAD UI)
• NetworkAttachmentDefinitions menu item visible in Console → Networking

Persistence After CRC Restart

The Helm release and ConsolePlugin resource persist across CRC restarts. After a crc stop / crc start cycle, wait for the nad-console-plugin pod to reach Running state, then verify the menu item is still present.

Troubleshooting

Plugin listed but JS never loads / menu item not appearing:

The most common cause is a callback name mismatch between the SDK and the OCP console version. The pre-built image already has the fix (loadPluginEntry patched in). If you rebuild the image, ensure the Dockerfile includes:

sed -i 's/__load_plugin_entry__/loadPluginEntry/g' dist/plugin-entry.*.min.js

Plugin not in spec.plugins after Helm deploy:

The Helm chart’s post-install Job patches the console operator automatically. If it failed:

oc get jobs -n nad-console-plugin
oc logs job/<patcher-job-name> -n nad-console-plugin

Manually add the plugin if needed:

oc patch consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster --type=json \
  -p='[{"op":"add","path":"/spec/plugins/-","value":"nad-console-plugin"}]'

Browser shows stale “failed” plugin state:

The browser caches plugin load failures. A hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R) is required — a normal refresh is not sufficient. Also ensure the console pod restarted after the plugin was correctly deployed.

networking-console-plugin not present:

The NAD UI is served by networking-console-plugin. Verify it is enabled:

oc get consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster -o jsonpath='{.spec.plugins}'

It should be present by default in OCP 4.21+. If missing, contact cluster admin.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for version history.