OpenShift is a family of containerization software products developed by Red Hat. Its flagship product is the OpenShift Container Platform—an on-premises platform as a service built around Docker containers orchestrated and managed by Kubernetes on a foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The family's other products provide this platform via different environments: OKD serves as the community-driven upstream (akin to the way that Fedora is upstream of Red Hat Enterprise Linux), OpenShift Online is the platform offered as software as a service, and OpenShift Dedicated is the platform offered as a managed service.
The inception of the OpenShift project within Red Hat had as its primary objective the transformation of enterprise IT infrastructure. It aimed to create an environment where innovation could thrive, powered by an open-source, cloud-based, containerized approach. This is the heart of the DevOps philosophy, and OpenShift is one of its most prominent and successful examples.
Definition
OpenShift is a cloud development Platform as a Service (PaaS) hosted by Red Hat. It's an open-source technology that allows developers to create, test, and run their applications and deploy them to the cloud. OpenShift provides an integrated development environment (IDE) for building applications in various programming languages such as Java, Ruby, PHP, Python, Node.js, and Perl.
DevOps, on the other hand, is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). It aims to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. DevOps is complementary with Agile software development; several DevOps aspects came from the Agile methodology.
OpenShift in the Context of DevOps
OpenShift, as a cloud-based platform, is a perfect fit for the DevOps approach. It provides a common platform for the development, testing, and deployment of applications, facilitating better collaboration between development and operations teams. This is the essence of DevOps—breaking down the silos between these two teams to enable faster and more efficient software delivery.
Moreover, OpenShift's features like automated build and deployment processes, scaling, health management, and more, all contribute to the implementation of DevOps practices. It provides a consistent environment across all stages of the application lifecycle, from development to production, thereby ensuring reliability and speed in software delivery.
Explanation
OpenShift is a comprehensive platform that provides a range of solutions for developers and operations teams. It provides an environment for developing applications, a mechanism for deploying them, and tools for managing and scaling them. All these features are provided in a cloud-based environment, which means that they can be accessed from anywhere, at any time, and by any member of the team.
OpenShift uses Docker for containerization, which means that applications and their dependencies are bundled into a single, self-contained unit that can run anywhere Docker is installed. This ensures consistency across all environments and makes applications easier to manage and scale. On top of Docker, OpenShift uses Kubernetes for orchestration, which handles the scheduling and running of Docker containers on clusters of physical or virtual machines.
DevOps and OpenShift
DevOps is all about improving collaboration between development and operations teams, automating tasks, and speeding up software delivery. OpenShift supports these goals with its integrated environment that facilitates collaboration, its automation features that reduce manual effort, and its cloud-based nature that enables quick and easy deployment of applications.
Furthermore, OpenShift's support for microservices architecture—a popular approach in DevOps—allows applications to be broken down into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently. This not only improves the speed and reliability of software delivery but also makes applications more resilient and easier to manage and scale.
History
OpenShift was first announced by Red Hat in 2011 as a platform as a service (PaaS). The initial release was built around a core of application container hosting, with a developer-focused view of platform management. Over the years, OpenShift has evolved and added more features and capabilities, reflecting the changing landscape of container technology and cloud-native development.
In 2015, Red Hat made a significant shift by adopting Docker as the container runtime for OpenShift and Kubernetes as the container orchestration platform. This move was in line with the growing popularity of these technologies in the industry. Since then, OpenShift has grown in popularity and has become one of the leading platforms for cloud-native development and operations.
OpenShift and the Evolution of DevOps
As OpenShift has evolved, so has the concept of DevOps. The idea of combining development and operations into a single, unified process has gained widespread acceptance, and tools like OpenShift have played a crucial role in this evolution. By providing a common platform for both developers and operations teams, OpenShift has helped break down the silos that traditionally existed between these two groups.
Moreover, OpenShift's support for automation, scalability, and consistency across environments aligns perfectly with the principles of DevOps. As a result, OpenShift has not only adapted to the evolution of DevOps but has also been a driving force behind it.
Use Cases
OpenShift has a wide range of use cases, thanks to its flexibility, scalability, and comprehensive feature set. It can be used for everything from developing and testing small-scale applications to running large-scale, mission-critical applications in production. Some of the most common use cases include cloud-native application development, microservices architectures, and multi-cloud deployments.
DevOps teams often use OpenShift for continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. The platform's built-in automation capabilities make it easy to set up pipelines that automate the process of building, testing, and deploying applications. This not only speeds up software delivery but also improves its reliability.
Examples
One example of OpenShift in action is at Barclays, a British multinational investment bank and financial services company. Barclays uses OpenShift to host a large portion of its application portfolio, with over 3,000 applications running on the platform. This has allowed the bank to reduce its data center footprint and improve its agility and speed of delivery.
Another example is Amadeus, a global travel technology company. Amadeus uses OpenShift to run its highly complex, mission-critical travel applications. The platform's scalability and reliability have enabled Amadeus to handle the high volumes of traffic that these applications receive and to quickly recover from any issues that arise.
Conclusion
OpenShift is a powerful platform that supports the principles of DevOps and enables teams to develop, deploy, and manage applications more efficiently and effectively. Its support for containerization, automation, and scalability make it a great choice for teams looking to implement DevOps practices.
As the world of software development continues to evolve, tools like OpenShift will play a crucial role in shaping the future of DevOps. By providing a platform that supports collaboration, automation, and consistency across environments, OpenShift is helping to drive the DevOps revolution and transform the way we build and deliver software.