Remove UPGRADE_RHEL_WORKER_BEFOREHAND workaround in RHEL upgrade jobs

[gpei]

As a follow up of #65478, we found that there's no need to run the RHEL upgrade playbook before the MCO update for 4.14 to 4.16 and 4.16 to 4.18, so this PR is for verifying whether it is still necessary to use the UPGRADE_RHEL_WORKER_BEFOREHAND parameter in current 4.15 to 4.16, 4.16 to 4.17 upgrade jobs.

The following passed rehearsal jobs proved that we can remove the UPGRADE_RHEL_WORKER_BEFOREHAND env var from the jobs now.

• openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.16-amd64-nightly-4.16-upgrade-from-stable-4.15-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28: https://qe-private-deck-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/view/gs/qe-private-deck/pr-logs/pull/openshift_release/65773/rehearse-65773-periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.16-amd64-nightly-4.16-upgrade-from-stable-4.15-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28/1930937876468469760

• openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28 (tested with chain: openshift-upgrade-qe-sanity): https://qe-private-deck-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/view/gs/qe-private-deck/pr-logs/pull/openshift_release/65773/rehearse-65773-periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28/1931207740961591296
  Note: in the normal upgrade test, with chain: openshift-upgrade-qe-test, after running step openshift-extended-upgrade-pre MCO will be degraded because it got stuck when updating the first RHEL node. After comparing the node MC before and after, it should be caused by the following configuration update:

1.    "podsPerCore": 100,
was added in KubeletConfiguration

2. /etc/crio/crio.conf.d/01-ctrcfg-pidsLimit
was created to set the following option

[crio]
  [crio.runtime]
    pids_limit = 2048

The following log from https://gcsweb-qe-private-deck-ci.apps.ci.l2s4.p1.openshiftapps.com/gcs/qe-private-deck/pr-logs/pull/openshift_release/65773/rehearse-65773-periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28/1930937876522995712/artifacts/azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28/openshift-extended-upgrade-pre/build-log.txt also indicated this

  Jun  6 12:44:43.046: INFO: Running 'oc --namespace=e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86 --kubeconfig=/tmp/kubeconfig-2784990640 process --ignore-unknown-parameters=true -f /tmp/fixture-testdata-dir1617868448/test/extended/testdata/mco/generic-kubelet-config.yaml -p NAME=mco-tc-62154-kubeletconfig -p KUBELETCONFIG={"podsPerCore": 100}'
  Jun  6 12:44:43.310: INFO: the file of resource is /tmp/e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86-e0787hk3config.json.stdout
  Jun  6 12:44:43.310: INFO: Running 'oc --kubeconfig=/tmp/kubeconfig-2784990640 create -f /tmp/e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86-e0787hk3config.json.stdout'
  kubeletconfig.machineconfiguration.openshift.io/mco-tc-62154-kubeletconfig created
  STEP: create ContainerRuntimeConfig 06/06/25 12:44:43.568
  Jun  6 12:44:46.570: INFO: showInfo is true
  Jun  6 12:44:46.570: INFO: Running 'oc --namespace=e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86 --kubeconfig=/tmp/kubeconfig-2784990640 process --ignore-unknown-parameters=true -f /tmp/fixture-testdata-dir1617868448/test/extended/testdata/mco/generic-container-runtime-config.yaml -p NAME=mco-tc-62154-crconfig -p CRCONFIG={"pidsLimit": 2048}'
  Jun  6 12:44:46.838: INFO: the file of resource is /tmp/e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86-pb2ropk6config.json.stdout
  Jun  6 12:44:46.838: INFO: Running 'oc --kubeconfig=/tmp/kubeconfig-2784990640 create -f /tmp/e2e-test-mco-upgrade-lrg86-pb2ropk6config.json.stdout'
  containerruntimeconfig.machineconfiguration.openshift.io/mco-tc-62154-crconfig created
  STEP: wait for worker pool to be ready 06/06/25 12:44:47.117
  Jun  6 12:44:47.117: INFO: Running 'oc --kubeconfig=/tmp/kubeconfig-2784990640 get mcp worker -o jsonpath={.status.machineCount}'
...
  Jun  6 12:55:47.947: ERROR: Degraded MC:
...
                  "lastTransitionTime": "2025-06-06T12:55:07Z",
                  "message": "Node ci-op-ygvsqis0-c057b-s4jpr-rhel-1 is reporting: \"reboot command failed, something is seriously wrong\"",
                  "reason": "1 nodes are reporting degraded status on sync",

will check with MCO team about this, but this will not affect our removal of the UPGRADE_RHEL_WORKER_BEFOREHAND parameter.

[gpei]

/uncc memodi
/uncc Xia-Zhao-rh

[gpei]

/pj-rehearse periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28 periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.16-amd64-nightly-4.16-upgrade-from-stable-4.15-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28

[openshift-ci-robot]

@gpei: now processing your pj-rehearse request. Please allow up to 10 minutes for jobs to trigger or cancel.

[gpei]

/pj-rehearse periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28

[openshift-ci-robot]

@gpei: now processing your pj-rehearse request. Please allow up to 10 minutes for jobs to trigger or cancel.

[openshift-ci-robot]

[REHEARSALNOTIFIER]
@gpei: the pj-rehearse plugin accommodates running rehearsal tests for the changes in this PR. Expand 'Interacting with pj-rehearse' for usage details. The following rehearsable tests have been affected by this change:

Test name	Repo	Type	Reason
periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.16-amd64-nightly-4.16-upgrade-from-stable-4.15-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28	N/A	periodic	Ci-operator config changed
periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28	N/A	periodic	Ci-operator config changed

Interacting with pj-rehearse

Comment: /pj-rehearse to run up to 5 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse skip to opt-out of rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse {test-name}, with each test separated by a space, to run one or more specific rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse more to run up to 10 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse max to run up to 25 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse auto-ack to run up to 5 rehearsals, and add the rehearsals-ack label on success
Comment: /pj-rehearse list to get an up-to-date list of affected jobs
Comment: /pj-rehearse abort to abort all active rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse network-access-allowed to allow rehearsals of tests that have the restrict_network_access field set to false. This must be executed by an openshift org member who is not the PR author

Once you are satisfied with the results of the rehearsals, comment: /pj-rehearse ack to unblock merge. When the rehearsals-ack label is present on your PR, merge will no longer be blocked by rehearsals.
If you would like the rehearsals-ack label removed, comment: /pj-rehearse reject to re-block merging.

[openshift-ci-robot]

[REHEARSALNOTIFIER]
@gpei: the pj-rehearse plugin accommodates running rehearsal tests for the changes in this PR. Expand 'Interacting with pj-rehearse' for usage details. The following rehearsable tests have been affected by this change:

Test name	Repo	Type	Reason
periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.16-amd64-nightly-4.16-upgrade-from-stable-4.15-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28	N/A	periodic	Ci-operator config changed
periodic-ci-openshift-openshift-tests-private-release-4.17-amd64-nightly-4.17-upgrade-from-stable-4.16-azure-ipi-proxy-workers-rhcos-rhel8-f28	N/A	periodic	Ci-operator config changed

Interacting with pj-rehearse

Comment: /pj-rehearse to run up to 5 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse skip to opt-out of rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse {test-name}, with each test separated by a space, to run one or more specific rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse more to run up to 10 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse max to run up to 25 rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse auto-ack to run up to 5 rehearsals, and add the rehearsals-ack label on success
Comment: /pj-rehearse list to get an up-to-date list of affected jobs
Comment: /pj-rehearse abort to abort all active rehearsals
Comment: /pj-rehearse network-access-allowed to allow rehearsals of tests that have the restrict_network_access field set to false. This must be executed by an openshift org member who is not the PR author

Once you are satisfied with the results of the rehearsals, comment: /pj-rehearse ack to unblock merge. When the rehearsals-ack label is present on your PR, merge will no longer be blocked by rehearsals.
If you would like the rehearsals-ack label removed, comment: /pj-rehearse reject to re-block merging.

[gpei]

@jianlinliu please help to take a look, thx

[jianlinliu]

/lgtm

[gpei]

@liangxia for the approval, thanks

[openshift-ci]

[APPROVALNOTIFIER] This PR is APPROVED

This pull-request has been approved by: gpei, jianlinliu, liangxia

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[gpei]

/pj-rehearse ack

[openshift-ci-robot]

@gpei: now processing your pj-rehearse request. Please allow up to 10 minutes for jobs to trigger or cancel.

[openshift-ci]

@gpei: all tests passed!

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