1. Proposed title of this feature request

Automated Ingress VIP Management for HostedControlPlane (HCP) Agent Provider

2. What is the nature and description of the request?

The request is to implement a managed Ingress Virtual IP (VIP) capability within the HyperShift Agent Provider, similar to the existing functionality in standard OpenShift IPI (Installer-Provisioned Infrastructure).

Current State: In HCP Agent-based deployments (Bare Metal/VMs), the user is responsible for providing a load-balancing solution for application traffic (Ingress). This usually requires manually installing and configuring MetalLB or an external hardware load balancer after the Hosted Cluster is "Up," creating a gap in the automation workflow.

Proposed State: HCP should allow users to specify an ingressVIP in the HostedCluster or NodePool manifest. The HCP operator should then:

• Automatically deploy and manage a lightweight VIP orchestration layer (e.g., Keepalived/VRRP) onto the worker nodes within the NodePool.
• Ensure the ingress-operator within the guest cluster is configured to use this VIP.
• Provide a single, highly available entry point for all *.apps traffic without requiring external infrastructure or manual post-install configuration.

3. Why does the customer need this? (List the business requirements here)

Operational Parity: Customers migrating from standard OpenShift IPI to HyperShift expect the same level of "Day 0/1" automation. The lack of a managed VIP is seen as a functional regression.

Reduced Infrastructure Complexity: Many edge and remote branch office (ROBO) environments do not have access to external enterprise load balancers (F5, Citrix, etc.). The cluster must be self-sufficient.

Faster Time-to-Value: By eliminating the need to manually configure MetalLB or BGP/L2 networking post-install, customers can move from "cluster creation" to "application deployment" significantly faster.

Simplified DNS Management: Provides a single, static IP address for the wildcard DNS record (*.apps.cluster.com), reducing the overhead of updating DNS records whenever worker nodes are scaled or replaced.

Reduced Technical Debt: Standardizing the VIP management within the HCP Operator prevents teams from creating fragmented, custom-scripted networking solutions across different clusters.

4. List any affected packages or components.

HCP Agent