Red Hat OpenShift – Enterprise Kubernetes Platform

Overview

Red Hat OpenShift is an enterprise Kubernetes platform that provides a complete application development and deployment environment. It is built on Kubernetes, adding developer-centric tools, operational management, and enhanced security features to support containerized workloads across various infrastructure types. OpenShift aims to offer a consistent experience for developers and operations teams, whether deploying on-premises, in public clouds, or in hybrid cloud configurations.

The platform integrates core Kubernetes functionalities with developer tools such as built-in CI/CD pipelines, image registries, and a web console. This integration is designed to streamline the development workflow from code commit to deployment. OpenShift also incorporates features for security and compliance, including identity and access management and network policies, making it suitable for regulated industries and organizations with stringent security requirements.

OpenShift supports a range of deployment models, including self-managed (OpenShift Container Platform), managed services on public clouds (OpenShift Dedicated, OpenShift Online), and hybrid solutions. This flexibility allows organizations to choose the operational model that best fits their needs and existing infrastructure. For example, OpenShift Dedicated offers a managed service on AWS and Google Cloud, where Red Hat manages the underlying infrastructure and platform, allowing users to focus on their applications Google Cloud OpenShift Dedicated overview.

A key aspect of OpenShift's offering is its focus on developer productivity. The platform extends the standard Kubernetes command-line interface (CLI) with its own oc tool, which provides additional OpenShift-specific commands and functionalities. Furthermore, the odo CLI tool is designed to simplify common developer tasks, enabling faster iteration and deployment of applications. These tools, combined with a comprehensive web console, aim to lower the barrier to entry for developers working with Kubernetes.

For organizations seeking to standardize their container orchestration strategy across diverse environments while maintaining enterprise-grade support and security, OpenShift provides a cohesive platform. Its emphasis on a consistent operational experience across hybrid clouds positions it for enterprises migrating legacy applications or building new cloud-native ones.

Key features

• Kubernetes Distribution: Provides an enterprise-grade distribution of Kubernetes with added features and support.
• Integrated Developer Tools: Includes built-in CI/CD pipelines (OpenShift Pipelines, based on Tekton), source-to-image (S2I) capabilities, and an integrated image registry to streamline application development and deployment.
• Hybrid Cloud Capabilities: Designed to run consistently across on-premises data centers, private clouds, and public cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, facilitating hybrid and multi-cloud strategies.
• Enhanced Security: Offers robust security features, including advanced network policies, identity and access management (IAM) integration, and default security contexts for pods, to help secure containerized applications.
• Operational Management: Provides a comprehensive web console and advanced monitoring, logging, and metrics capabilities through integrated tools like OpenShift Monitoring (based on Prometheus and Grafana) Grafana Prometheus datasource documentation.
• Operator Framework: Leverages the Kubernetes Operator pattern to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of complex applications and services on OpenShift.
• Service Mesh: Integrates OpenShift Service Mesh (based on Istio, Kiali, and Jaeger) for managing microservices communication, traffic routing, and observability.
• Serverless Capabilities: Offers OpenShift Serverless (based on Knative) for deploying and managing event-driven, serverless workloads.
• GitOps Integration: Supports GitOps workflows through OpenShift GitOps (based on Argo CD) for declarative continuous delivery.
• Developer Sandbox: A free, temporary environment for developers to explore OpenShift features without requiring a full installation or subscription Red Hat Developer Sandbox.

Pricing

Red Hat OpenShift offers various pricing models depending on the deployment option. Self-managed OpenShift Container Platform typically involves custom enterprise pricing based on subscriptions, while managed services like OpenShift Dedicated and OpenShift Online use usage-based pricing.

For detailed and up-to-date pricing information, refer to the official Red Hat OpenShift pricing page.

Common integrations

• Cloud Providers: Deep integration with major public clouds including AWS (ROSA), Azure (ARO), and Google Cloud for managed services and hybrid deployments.
• CI/CD Tools: Native integration with OpenShift Pipelines (Tekton) and support for external tools like Jenkins, GitLab CI, and Argo CD for continuous integration and delivery.
• Monitoring & Logging: Built-in OpenShift Monitoring (Prometheus, Grafana) and logging (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, Kibana) with support for external solutions like Sumo Logic.
• Identity Providers: Integrates with enterprise identity providers such as LDAP, Active Directory, and OAuth providers like Keycloak Keycloak documentation.
• Storage Solutions: Supports various storage options, including Ceph (OpenShift Data Foundation), NFS, iSCSI, and cloud-native storage services.
• Service Mesh: OpenShift Service Mesh provides traffic management and observability for microservices.
• Serverless: OpenShift Serverless enables event-driven and serverless application deployments.

Alternatives

• Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE): A managed Kubernetes service by Google, offering auto-upgrades, auto-repair, and integrated Google Cloud services.
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS): Microsoft's managed Kubernetes offering, providing serverless Kubernetes, integrated CI/CD, and enterprise-grade security.
• Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS): A managed Kubernetes service that makes it easy to run Kubernetes on AWS and on-premises, integrating with AWS networking and security services.
• Docker Desktop with Kubernetes: For local development environments, Docker Desktop includes a single-node Kubernetes cluster.
• Rancher: An open-source container management platform that simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes clusters across any infrastructure.

Getting started

To get started with Red Hat OpenShift, you can use the Developer Sandbox for OpenShift, which provides a free, temporary environment. Once you have access to an OpenShift cluster (either via the sandbox or a provisioned cluster), you can deploy a simple application using the OpenShift CLI (oc). The oc CLI is similar to kubectl but includes additional OpenShift-specific commands.

Here's an example of deploying a basic Node.js application:

# Log in to your OpenShift cluster (replace with your actual login command)
oc login --token=<your_token> --server=<your_api_url>

# Create a new project (namespace) for your application
oc new-project my-nodejs-app

# Create a new application from a Git repository
# OpenShift will automatically detect the language and build a container image
oc new-app https://github.com/sclorg/nodejs-ex --name=nodejs-hello-world

# Expose the application to make it accessible externally
oc expose svc/nodejs-hello-world

# Get the URL of the deployed application
oc get route nodejs-hello-world -o jsonpath='{.spec.host}'

This sequence of commands will:

1. Log you into your OpenShift cluster.
2. Create a new project (equivalent to a Kubernetes namespace).
3. Deploy an application from a Git repository. OpenShift's Source-to-Image (S2I) process will build a container image from the source code.
4. Expose the application via a route, making it accessible from outside the cluster.
5. Retrieve the URL where your application is running.

You can find more detailed guides and examples in the Red Hat OpenShift documentation.