What is OpenShift?
OpenShift is Red Hat’s enterprise-grade Kubernetes distribution that extends the core orchestration platform with additional features, tools, and services designed for production use in enterprise environments. Built on top of Kubernetes, OpenShift maintains full compatibility with standard Kubernetes resources while adding integrated developer workflows, operational management capabilities, and enhanced security controls. It provides a complete container application platform that includes built-in CI/CD pipelines, monitoring solutions, a comprehensive web console, and developer-focused tools. OpenShift bridges the gap between Kubernetes’ powerful orchestration capabilities and enterprise requirements for governance, security, and developer productivity, enabling organizations to adopt container technology at scale with reduced operational complexity.
Technical Context
OpenShift’s architecture builds upon standard Kubernetes components with enterprise extensions organized in a layered approach. At its foundation, OpenShift uses Kubernetes for container orchestration, managing the scheduling and lifecycle of containerized applications across the cluster.
The core architectural components include:
– OCP Control Plane: Extends the Kubernetes control plane with additional OpenShift-specific controllers
– CRI-O Container Runtime: A lightweight container runtime optimized for Kubernetes, replacing Docker as the default runtime
– SDN (Software Defined Networking): Provides cluster networking through solutions like OVN-Kubernetes
– Operators: Automate the deployment and management of OpenShift components and services
– Image Registry: An integrated private container registry for storing and managing container images
OpenShift introduces several custom resources that enhance Kubernetes:
– Routes: Expose services outside the cluster through HTTP/HTTPS, extending Kubernetes Ingress
– DeploymentConfigs: Similar to Kubernetes Deployments but with additional capabilities like automated rollbacks
– BuildConfigs: Define how source code is transformed into container images
– ImageStreams: Abstract image references and provide image change triggers for deployments
– Templates: Bundle resources together for easy application deployment
– Projects: Enhanced namespaces with additional annotations for multi-tenancy
The platform implements a robust security model with Security Context Constraints (SCCs), which provide more granular control over pod privileges than standard Kubernetes Pod Security Policies. OpenShift also integrates authentication with enterprise identity providers like LDAP, Active Directory, and OAuth providers.
For storage, OpenShift supports Container Storage Interface (CSI) drivers and includes integration with storage solutions like Red Hat OpenShift Container Storage (now Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation). It offers both a comprehensive web console for visual management and the ‘oc’ command-line tool that extends ‘kubectl’ with OpenShift-specific functionality.
Business Impact & Use Cases
OpenShift delivers significant business value by addressing enterprise requirements for container platforms:
Accelerated Application Delivery: Organizations typically report 50-70% faster time-to-market after implementing OpenShift by streamlining the path from code to production. The integrated CI/CD pipelines and developer tools reduce overhead in software delivery processes.
Operational Efficiency: The platform’s automation capabilities and unified management interface reduce operational costs by 30-40% compared to managing traditional infrastructure or custom Kubernetes deployments. OpenShift’s self-service capabilities allow developers to provision environments without operations involvement, further reducing bottlenecks.
Enterprise Readiness: OpenShift provides comprehensive security, compliance, and governance features that reduce risk when deploying containerized applications in regulated industries. Organizations report reduced audit findings and faster compliance certification for applications running on OpenShift.
Common use cases include:
– Application Modernization: Refactoring legacy applications into microservices and deploying them on OpenShift
– Hybrid Cloud Deployments: Creating consistent application environments across on-premises data centers and multiple public clouds
– DevOps Transformation: Supporting organizational DevOps initiatives with integrated tools and workflows
– AI/ML Workloads: Running data science and machine learning pipelines using OpenShift’s specialized components like Open Data Hub
– Edge Computing: Extending application deployment to edge locations with compact OpenShift distributions
Industries particularly benefiting include financial services (for secure transaction processing systems), healthcare (for HIPAA-compliant application platforms), telecommunications (for service delivery across distributed infrastructure), and government agencies (for secure multi-tenant environments with strict compliance requirements).
Best Practices
Implementing OpenShift effectively requires adherence to several key practices:
Architecture and Planning:
– Design cluster sizing based on workload requirements with separate compute nodes for different workload types (e.g., development vs. production, CPU-intensive vs. memory-intensive)
– Implement proper multi-tenancy with projects, RBAC, and network policies
– Consider infrastructure topology, including region and zone distribution for high availability
– Plan for appropriate node counts and machine types for control plane and infrastructure components
Security Implementation:
– Apply the principle of least privilege with Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
– Use appropriate Security Context Constraints (SCCs) for workloads instead of running containers with elevated privileges
– Implement network segmentation with NetworkPolicy resources
– Configure image scanning and enforce trusted registries
– Regularly update OpenShift and base images to address security vulnerabilities
Operational Excellence:
– Implement GitOps practices for declarative application and cluster configuration
– Establish proper cluster monitoring with Prometheus, Grafana, and Alertmanager (included in OpenShift)
– Create standardized application templates and CI/CD pipelines to ensure consistency
– Develop and test disaster recovery procedures, including etcd backup
– Implement proper log aggregation and analysis
– Plan for zero-downtime cluster upgrades
Developer Workflow Optimization:
– Create tailored developer experiences with customized templates and service catalogs
– Implement consistent build and deployment pipelines across teams
– Provide self-service capabilities while maintaining governance
– Use Source-to-Image (S2I) for standardized application builds
These practices help organizations avoid common pitfalls like resource exhaustion, security vulnerabilities, or operational complexity from inconsistent deployment practices.
Related Technologies
OpenShift exists within a broader ecosystem of technologies:
Kubernetes: The foundation of OpenShift, providing core container orchestration capabilities that OpenShift extends and enhances.
Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines: Based on Tekton, provides cloud-native CI/CD pipeline capabilities integrated into the platform.
Red Hat OpenShift GitOps: Based on ArgoCD, implements GitOps workflows for application and cluster configuration.
Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh: Based on Istio, provides advanced networking capabilities including traffic management, security, and observability.
Red Hat OpenShift Serverless: Based on Knative, enables serverless application development and deployment.
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization: Allows virtual machines to run alongside containers in the same platform.
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management: Provides multi-cluster management capabilities for OpenShift deployments.
Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation: Formerly OpenShift Container Storage, provides software-defined storage for containerized applications.
Further Learning
To deepen understanding of OpenShift, explore the official Red Hat OpenShift documentation, which provides comprehensive coverage of all components and features. The Red Hat Certified Specialist in OpenShift Administration and Application Development certifications offer structured learning paths for operational and development perspectives. Hands-on practice is essential—consider using CodeReady Containers for local development or Red Hat’s Developer Sandbox for free access to an OpenShift environment. For advanced topics, explore OpenShift Commons briefings and Red Hat Summit presentations, which cover real-world implementation patterns and use cases. The OpenShift blog regularly features technical deep dives, best practices, and new feature announcements that provide valuable insights into platform capabilities and evolution.