OpenShift: A Comprehensive Guide to Enterprise and Multicloud

OpenShift is a powerful platform for building, deploying, and managing applications in a cloud-native way. It's an open-source container application platform that allows developers to use their preferred programming languages and frameworks.

OpenShift is designed to be highly scalable and can run on a variety of infrastructure, including on-premises data centers, public clouds like Amazon Web Services (AWS), and private clouds. This flexibility is a key benefit for businesses looking to deploy applications across multiple environments.

With OpenShift, developers can create and manage applications using a variety of tools, including the OpenShift web console, the command-line interface (CLI), and the OpenShift API. This allows for a high degree of flexibility and customization.

OpenShift also provides a range of security features, including network policies, secret management, and role-based access control (RBAC).

OpenShift is built on open source Kubernetes with additional components to provide enterprise-grade features. These components include self-service, dashboards, automation-CI/CD, container image registry, and multilingual support.

The base operating system for OpenShift is Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS, a lightweight version of RHEL that provides essential OS features and combines the ease of over-the-air updates from Container Linux with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel.

Kubernetes is the container orchestration engine used by OpenShift, managing several hosts and workers to run containers. Kubernetes resources define how applications are built, operated, and managed.

ETCD is a distributed database of key-value pairs that stores cluster and Kubernetes object configuration and state information.

OpenShift Kubernetes Extensions provide additional functionality compared to a vanilla Kubernetes deployment, using Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) in the Kubernetes ETCD database.

Most internal features run as containers on a Kubernetes environment, fulfilling base infrastructure functions such as networking and authentication.

The OpenShift platform provides automated development workflows that allow developers to concentrate on business outcomes rather than learning about Kubernetes or containerization in detail.

OpenShift's main components are designed to provide a robust and secure platform for application management.

Cluster services, scheduling, and orchestration provide load-balancing and auto-scaling capabilities.

IT operations benefit from secure, enterprise-grade Kubernetes with policy-based controls and automation.

OpenShift Container Platform offers a range of components that make it a robust platform for managing applications.

Cluster services provide load-balancing and auto-scaling capabilities, ensuring that applications can handle varying levels of traffic.

IT operations can leverage policy-based controls and automation for application management, giving them a high degree of flexibility and customization.

Security features prevent tenants from compromising other applications or the underlying host, maintaining a secure environment.

Persistent storage can be attached directly to Linux containers, allowing for the running of both stateful and stateless applications on a single platform.

Operators are the preferred method of managing services on the OpenShift control plane.

They integrate with Kubernetes APIs and CLI tools, performing health checks, managing updates, and ensuring that the service/application remains in a specified state.

Platform operators are responsible for managing services related to the entire OpenShift platform, including critical networking, monitoring, and credential services.

These operators provide an API to allow administrators to configure these components.

Application operators are managed by the Cluster Operator Lifecycle Management and can be used to manage specific application workloads on the clusters.

Red Hat Operators and Certified operators from third parties are examples of application operators.

The Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) helps developers install, update, and manage the lifecycle of Kubernetes native applications and associated services running across their OpenShift Container Platform clusters.

OLM is a part of the Operator Framework, an open source toolkit designed to manage Operators in an effective, automated, and scalable way.

Integration is a crucial aspect of modern software development, and Red Hat Integration offers a comprehensive set of cloud-native tools to help developers and DevOps achieve seamless application and system integration.

API connectivity is a key feature of Red Hat Integration, allowing for the connection of various applications and systems through standardized interfaces.

Data transformation is another essential capability, enabling developers to convert data from one format to another, ensuring smooth data flow across different systems.

Service composition and service orchestration are also critical components, allowing developers to combine multiple services and manage their interactions in a coordinated manner.

Real-time messaging and data streaming are vital for applications that require immediate data exchange and processing, such as those in the finance and healthcare industries.

Change data capture is a feature that enables developers to track changes to data in real-time, ensuring data consistency and integrity across different systems.

OpenShift allows teams to organize and manage their workloads in isolation from other teams through custom resources called projects, which group Kubernetes resources and provide access based on these groupings.

Projects can also receive quotas to limit the available resources, number of pods, volumes, and more, giving teams a clear understanding of their resource usage.

A project is essentially a way to contain and manage a team's workloads without affecting other teams.

OpenShift uses Service, Ingress, and Route resources to manage network communication between pods and route traffic to the pods from cluster external sources, making it easier to access and manage applications.

The Service resource exposes a single IP and load balances traffic between pods sitting behind it within the cluster.

A Route resource provides a DNS record, making the service available to cluster external sources, allowing for external access to services running on the OpenShift Container Platform.

Red Hat OpenShift Networking is an ecosystem of features that extend Kubernetes networking with advanced features, enabling enterprise-grade Zero Trust security features and allowing for flexible network management.

Projects are custom resources used in OpenShift to group Kubernetes resources and to provide access for users based on these groupings.

Projects can be used to organize and manage workloads in isolation from other teams, allowing for better control and separation of resources.

A project can receive quotas to limit the available resources, such as the number of pods and volumes.

OpenShift uses Service, Ingress, and Route resources to manage network communication between pods and route traffic to the pods from cluster external sources.

A Service resource exposes a single IP while load balancing traffic between pods sitting behind it within the cluster.

The Ingress Operator implements an ingress controller API and enables external access to services running on the OpenShift Container Platform.

Red Hat OpenShift Networking is an ecosystem of features, plugins, and advanced networking capabilities that extend Kubernetes networking with the advanced networking-related features that your cluster needs to manage its network traffic for one or multiple hybrid clusters.

Open Virtual Network (OVN) Kubernetes is the default Container Network Interface (CNI) plugin that provides Kubernetes networking for OpenShift clusters.

OVN Kubernetes enables enterprise-grade Zero Trust security features and can have its functionality extended through combinations of additional certified OpenShift CNI plugins.

OpenShift's advanced networking capabilities can grow with your application deployments, providing a scalable and secure networking solution.

OpenShift provides a robust logging and monitoring system that makes it easy to keep track of your application's performance and health. This is achieved through the integrated Elasticsearch, Fluentd, and Kibana (EFK) stack, which collects and visualizes logs from all nodes and containers.

With OpenShift, you can create dashboards in Kibana to view and analyze your logs, making it easier to identify issues and troubleshoot problems. This is especially useful for developers and administrators who need to quickly identify and resolve issues.

OpenShift also includes a pre-installed monitoring solution based on the Prometheus ecosystem, which monitors cluster components and alerts administrators about issues. This is done through Grafana, which provides a visualization tool for creating dashboards and viewing metrics.

Logging is a crucial aspect of DevOps, and Red Hat OpenShift has a robust logging solution in place.

The EFK (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, and Kibana) stack is integrated for cluster-wide logging functionality.

Fluentd is deployed on each node, collecting logs from all nodes and containers, and writing them to Elasticsearch.

Kibana serves as a visualization tool, where developers and administrators can create dashboards to analyze and understand their logs.

OpenShift has an integrated pre-installed monitoring solution based on the wider Prometheus ecosystem.

This solution monitors cluster components and alerts cluster administrators about issues, using Grafana for visualization with dashboards.

Several pre-built monitoring dashboards and sets of alerts notify cluster administrators about cluster health and help to quickly troubleshoot the issues.

From the OpenShift web console, admins can view and manage metrics, and alerts for the cluster and can enable monitoring for user-defined projects.

The monitoring stack is preinstalled, preconfigured, and self-updating, providing real-time monitoring for core platform components.

This allows cluster administrators to quickly identify and fix issues, reducing downtime and improving overall system reliability.

Automated health probes allow for automatic identification of application issues, enabling quick repair action.

Container metrics provide full visibility into how applications resource usage changes over time, giving developers valuable insights into system performance.

With the ability to generate reports with periodic ETL jobs using SQL queries, users can do reporting on namespaces, pods, and other Kubernetes resources.

This level of visibility and control enables developers to detect and rectify anomalies immediately, rather than fixing them later in production where fixes impact cost and service delivery more critically.

OpenShift Serverless is a powerful tool that lets developers create, manage, and deploy event-driven cloud-native applications and Functions on OpenShift. This is made possible by the open source Knative project, providing portability and consistency across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Red Hat OpenShift Serverless delivers Kubernetes-native building blocks that enable developers to create, manage, and deploy event-driven cloud-native applications and Functions on OpenShift. You can use OpenShift Serverless to build, deploy, and run event-driven applications with out-of-the-box traffic routing, security, and configurable capabilities.

Container-native virtualization allows administrators and developers to run and manage virtual machine workloads alongside container workloads. This allows the platform to create and manage Linux and Windows virtual machines, import and clone existing virtual machines, and even live migrate virtual machines between nodes.

In the world of serverless and virtualization, understanding nodes is crucial. OpenShift makes distinction between two different node types, cluster master and cluster workers, similar to vanilla Kubernetes.

These nodes are the building blocks of your serverless and virtualization infrastructure. Cluster master nodes handle control plane tasks, while cluster workers handle compute tasks.

The cluster master node is the brain of the operation, responsible for managing the entire cluster. Cluster workers, on the other hand, are the actual machines that run your applications and services.

OpenShift Serverless is based on the open source Knative project, providing portability and consistency across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

It's like having a Swiss Army knife for your applications - you can deploy them anywhere and they'll work seamlessly.

Red Hat OpenShift Serverless delivers Kubernetes-native building blocks that enable developers to create, manage, and deploy event-driven cloud-native applications and Functions on OpenShift.

This means you can focus on writing code, not worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

With the power of open source Knative, you can use OpenShift Serverless to build, deploy and run event-driven applications with out-of-the-box traffic routing, security, and configurable capabilities.

This is especially useful for applications that have varying levels of traffic, as you can scale resources up and down, even back to zero, based on demand.

Container-native virtualization is a game-changer for administrators and developers, allowing them to run and manage virtual machine workloads alongside container workloads.

This technology enables the platform to create and manage Linux and Windows virtual machines, giving organizations the flexibility to deploy a wide range of applications.

Container-native virtualization also provides the functionality of live migration of virtual machines between nodes, which is especially useful in cloud environments.

This means that organizations can easily move virtual machines from one node to another without any downtime, ensuring high availability and minimal disruption to users.

By combining container-native virtualization with Kubernetes, organizations can take advantage of the simplicity and speed of containers while still benefiting from the applications and services that have been architected for virtual machines.

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization is a great example of this, combining two technologies into a single management platform that allows for seamless management of both container and virtual machine workloads.

When it comes to serverless computing, speed is a critical factor. Docker's integration and accumulation process is significantly faster compared to OpenShift, which can experience delays due to massive upstream blocking.

In fact, Docker's speed advantage is a major selling point for many developers. This is because Docker's architecture allows for quicker deployment and scaling of applications.

However, it's worth noting that OpenShift's delays are not necessarily a deal-breaker. With proper optimization and configuration, OpenShift can still deliver fast and efficient performance. But for many use cases, Docker's speed edge is a key differentiator.

Geo-replication mirroring is a powerful tool for ensuring your content is always available close to where it's needed most. Red Hat Quay's continuous geographic distribution is a great example of this in action.

Developers and DevOps teams can have all the content they need for their Kubernetes environments with multicluster and multi-region content management. This means they can focus on building and deploying applications without worrying about content availability.

Red Hat Quay's geo-replication mirroring provides improved performance by distributing content across different regions. This ensures that your content is always available and accessible, even in areas with limited connectivity.