[alibabacloud] trying to install in region "ap-northeast-2" or "ap-southeast-7" or "me-central-1" got "Invalid Alibaba Cloud region" unexpectedly

trying to install in region "ap-northeast-2" or "ap-southeast-7" got "Invalid Alibaba Cloud region" unexpectedly

[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install version
./openshift-install 4.11.0-0.nightly-2022-12-26-210225
built from commit 616d13577a49a887c7adc0236e22903dfcdb1ac5
release image registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release@sha256:cf4b97844498dfb1be3180c474212d872a713e00b24208ed5ed83ff45fce7506
release architecture amd64
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ cd ../ocp412
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp412]$ ./openshift-install version
./openshift-install 4.12.0-0.nightly-2022-12-27-111646
built from commit 9e4a327874648ae9ec89a4d23d85e202d543d6e8
release image registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release@sha256:576d3e6832dce19e4dde7dd9b7664847f71dbbf322b2a9a35384346b8d39a6cd
release architecture amd64
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp412]$ cd ../ocp413
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp413]$ ./openshift-install version
./openshift-install 4.13.0-0.nightly-2022-12-23-223710
built from commit 52b495c654ebf90dc96bfb162a156f535218bbfc
release image registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release@sha256:76259072b4df3c6abbfc66f84795b94cd7bd632198783e4a24f8295ffd928f23
release architecture amd64
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp413]$ 

Always

1. try "create install-config" and make sure the regions "ap-northeast-2" and "ap-southeast-7" do be listed by 4.11 installer survey
2. "create install-config" for another alibabacloud, e.g. "ap-northeast-1", then edit the install-config.yaml to change into region "ap-northeast-2", along with inserting valid instanceType settings, for example, "ecs.g6e.large" for compute and "ecs.g6e.xlarge" for control-plane, and "credentialsMode: Manual"
3. "create manifests" and then create the required credentials
4. "create cluster"

Note that 4.12 & 4.13 installer survey doesn't list the 2 regions, see https://issues.redhat.com/browse/OCPBUGS-5212.

It tells "Invalid Alibaba Cloud region: ap-northeast-2".

The installation should succeed in these regions "ap-northeast-2" or "ap-southeast-7".

[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install version
./openshift-install 4.11.0-0.nightly-2022-12-26-210225
built from commit 616d13577a49a887c7adc0236e22903dfcdb1ac5
release image registry.ci.openshift.org/ocp/release@sha256:cf4b97844498dfb1be3180c474212d872a713e00b24208ed5ed83ff45fce7506
release architecture amd64
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ 
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install create install-config --dir work0
? SSH Public Key /home/fedora/.ssh/openshift-qe.pub
? Platform alibabacloud
? Region  [Use arrows to move, type to filter, ? for more help]
  ap-northeast-1 (Japan (Tokyo))
> ap-northeast-2 (South Korea (Seoul))
  ap-south-1 (India (Mumbai))
  ap-southeast-1 (Singapore)
  ap-southeast-2 (Australia (Sydney))
  ap-southeast-3 (Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur))
  ap-southeast-5 (Indonesia (Jakarta))
  ap-southeast-6 (Philippines (Manila))
  ap-southeast-7 (Thailand (Bangkok))
...omitted...
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ 
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ yq-3.3.0 r work/install-config.yaml compute
- architecture: amd64
  hyperthreading: Enabled
  name: worker
  platform:
    alibabacloud:
      instanceType: ecs.g6e.large
  replicas: 2
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ yq-3.3.0 r work/install-config.yaml controlPlane
architecture: amd64
hyperthreading: Enabled
name: master
platform:
  alibabacloud:
    instanceType: ecs.g6e.xlarge
replicas: 3
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ yq-3.3.0 r work/install-config.yaml platform
alibabacloud:
  region: ap-northeast-2
  resourceGroupID: rg-aek2c4huej7f3ni
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ yq-3.3.0 r work/install-config.yaml credentialsMode
Manual
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install create manifests --dir work
INFO Consuming Install Config from target directory
INFO Manifests created in: work/manifests and work/openshift
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ls work/manifests/*-credentials.yaml -l
-rw-------. 1 fedora fedora 292 Dec 28 10:29 work/manifests/openshift-cluster-csi-drivers-alibaba-disk-credentials-credentials.yaml
-rw-------. 1 fedora fedora 290 Dec 28 10:29 work/manifests/openshift-image-registry-installer-cloud-credentials-credentials.yaml
-rw-------. 1 fedora fedora 282 Dec 28 10:29 work/manifests/openshift-ingress-operator-cloud-credentials-credentials.yaml
-rw-------. 1 fedora fedora 284 Dec 28 10:29 work/manifests/openshift-machine-api-alibabacloud-credentials-credentials.yaml
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install create cluster --dir work
INFO Consuming Common Manifests from target directory
INFO Consuming Openshift Manifests from target directory
INFO Consuming Worker Machines from target directory
INFO Consuming OpenShift Install (Manifests) from target directory
INFO Consuming Master Machines from target directory
INFO Creating infrastructure resources...
ERROR
ERROR Error: Invalid Alibaba Cloud region: ap-northeast-2
ERROR
ERROR   with provider["openshift/local/alicloud"],
ERROR   on main.tf line 14, in provider "alicloud":
ERROR   14: provider "alicloud" {
ERROR
ERROR failed to fetch Cluster: failed to generate asset "Cluster": failure applying terraform for "cluster" stage: failed to create cluster: failed to apply Terraform: exit status 1
ERROR
ERROR Error: Invalid Alibaba Cloud region: ap-northeast-2
ERROR
ERROR   with provider["openshift/local/alicloud"],
ERROR   on main.tf line 14, in provider "alicloud":
ERROR   14: provider "alicloud" {
ERROR
ERROR
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ 

Similar error for region "ap-southeast-7".
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ ./openshift-install create cluster --dir work3
INFO Consuming Openshift Manifests from target directory
INFO Consuming Master Machines from target directory
INFO Consuming Common Manifests from target directory
INFO Consuming OpenShift Install (Manifests) from target directory
INFO Consuming Worker Machines from target directory
INFO Creating infrastructure resources...
ERROR
ERROR Error: Invalid Alibaba Cloud region: ap-southeast-7
ERROR
ERROR   with provider["openshift/local/alicloud"],
ERROR   on main.tf line 14, in provider "alicloud":
ERROR   14: provider "alicloud" {
ERROR
ERROR failed to fetch Cluster: failed to generate asset "Cluster": failure applying terraform for "cluster" stage: failed to create cluster: failed to apply Terraform: exit status 1
ERROR
ERROR Error: Invalid Alibaba Cloud region: ap-southeast-7
ERROR
ERROR   with provider["openshift/local/alicloud"],
ERROR   on main.tf line 14, in provider "alicloud":
ERROR   14: provider "alicloud" {
ERROR
ERROR
[fedora@preserve-jiwei ocp411]$ 

Note: Trying to install using 4.12 & 4.13 got the same error in such case.

FYI the bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2087553 had been verified, so that RHCOS images do be available in "ap-northeast-2" and "ap-southeast-7".