Extra tags: kubernetes
It is easy to say that OpenShift is a souped-up version of Kubernetes. After all, it really is Kubernetes—but levelled up with several high-level, best-in-class service offerings. So, no, OpenShift isn’t necessarily just “Enterprise Kubernetes,” instead, it is the kind of all-in-one solution for organisations looking to leverage containers in a range of ways. In other words, OpenShift is an enterprise-grade product full of useful features.
That’s because OpenShift combines tools and resources, like image registry, networking solutions, storage management and logging and monitoring tools, with critical integrations to frameworks, middleware, CI/CD tools and databases – all in a single pane of glass. In doing so, OpenShift gives your application team all they need to run containers with Kubernetes, simplifying and streamlining the process as a result and making it easy and seamless at the same time.
With that being said, what exactly are you getting with OpenShift as opposed to Kubernetes? Let us count the benefits:
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Ease of Deployment. As mentioned, OpenShift simplifies and streamlines everything, and this makes deployment a breeze—taking less time and stripping away all the complexities that come with running a GitHub code, spinning up a container and hosting it in a registry before finally understanding your CI/CD pipeline. But with OpenShift, the heavy lifting and backend work is fully automated, which means all you have to do is create a project and upload your code.
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Flexibility. The automation that comes with using Red Hat OpenShift allows you to influence your apps much quicker and, more importantly, customise your CI/CD DevOps pipeline. This easy, seamless customisation not only gives you flexibility when developing your processes but also lets you get creative with them. Critically, you can leverage best practices in deployment, management and updating throughout the process.
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Security. Red Hat and OpenShift are constantly identifying security best practices, and this explains how OpenShift security has been simplified yet strengthened out of the box. With OpenShift, you just add new users and will automatically enable different security policies. This is far simpler as opposed to Kubernetes, where projects involve multiple developers and operators requiring manual, time-consuming setups and configurations.
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Day-to-Day Operations. Red Hat OpenShift both automates and manages cluster provisioning, scaling and upgrading of operations. In doing so, OpenShift eliminates the need to spin up new VMs, which is not only time-consuming but also overly complicated, with scripts needing to be developed before setting up things, like self-registration and cloud automation.
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Management. Kubernetes’ default dashboards are for the most part useful and straightforward but Red Hat OpenShift’s are far more robust, offering a great web console that improves on the APIs and capabilities of Kubernetes. This, in turn, makes it easier for operations teams to manage their workloads.
So, no, OpenShift is not just a levelled-up Kubernetes. Neither is it an “Enterprise Kubernetes.” It is much more than that. To learn more about Red Hat OpenShift and all its bells and whistles, click here.
