OpenShift: Redefining Industries through Cloud-Native Power

12 min readSep 17, 2023

Introduction to OpenShift

OpenShift is a powerful container orchestration platform developed by Red Hat that allows organizations to deploy, manage, and scale containerized applications effortlessly. By leveraging Kubernetes at its core, OpenShift provides a robust set of tools and features to streamline application development and operations.

History of OpenShift

OpenShift is a container platform developed by Red Hat, building upon the open-source Kubernetes container orchestration system. The platform’s development history can be traced back to a project called “OpenShift Origin,” which was initially launched in 2011. OpenShift Origin was the community-driven upstream version of OpenShift, making the source code openly available for collaboration and contributions.

The platform evolved rapidly, and in May 2012, Red Hat released “OpenShift Enterprise” a commercially supported version targeted at enterprises and organizations seeking to deploy and manage applications in the cloud. OpenShift Enterprise provided additional features, support, and security enhancements compared to the community edition.

RedHat OpenShift

Over time, OpenShift continued to advance, and with the growing popularity of Kubernetes, Red Hat made a significant decision in 2018 to re-engineer OpenShift with Kubernetes at its core. This led to the birth of the “OpenShift Container Platform,” combining the best of both worlds: the robustness of Kubernetes and the enterprise-grade features and tools from the original OpenShift.

Architecture & Key Components of OpenShift

The Architecture

OpenShift Container Platform is built on top of Kubernetes, extending its capabilities to provide a comprehensive container orchestration platform. Let’s explore the key components and architectural elements that makeup OpenShift:

A. Master Nodes: The control plane of OpenShift consists of one or more master nodes responsible for managing the entire cluster. The master nodes include the following components:

API Server: Accepts and processes RESTful API requests from clients, including developers and administrators.
Controller Manager: Monitors and manages the cluster’s desired state by responding to changes and reconciling the actual state with the desired state.
Scheduler: Assigns pods to appropriate nodes based on resource requirements, node availability, and other constraints.
etcd: A distributed key-value store used to store the cluster’s configuration data and state.

B. Node (Worker) Machines: The worker nodes in an OpenShift cluster are responsible for running application workloads. Each worker node runs the following components:

Kubelet: Communicates with the API server and ensures that containers are running and healthy on the node.
Container Runtime: The software responsible for running containers, such as Docker or containerd.
OpenShift SDN (Software Defined Networking): A software-defined network overlay that facilitates communication between pods across different nodes.
Proxy: Responsible for load balancing and routing network traffic to appropriate pods.

C. Container Runtime: OpenShift supports various container runtimes, such as Docker and containerd. These runtimes handle the creation, execution, and management of containers on the nodes.

D. Networking: OpenShift provides networking support through its Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution. SDN enables seamless communication between pods running on different nodes and ensures secure, isolated communication across the cluster.

E. Operators: Operators are a crucial architectural concept in OpenShift. They are Kubernetes custom resources that encapsulate application-specific knowledge and logic, allowing for automated management of applications and complex services within the cluster. Operators facilitate tasks such as provisioning, scaling, and updating applications, making it easier for developers and administrators to manage complex deployments.

F. Source-to-Image (S2I): Source-to-Image is a build strategy in OpenShift that automates the process of transforming application source code into a runnable container image. S2I simplifies the development workflow and promotes standardization by automatically creating container images directly from the source code, without the need for Dockerfiles or manual image building.

Source-to-Image Automation

G. Kubernetes: At its core, OpenShift is built on top of Kubernetes, the popular open-source container orchestration platform. Kubernetes provides the foundation for container management, workload scheduling, auto-scaling, and load balancing. OpenShift extends Kubernetes with additional features and tools to enhance user experience and support enterprise-grade requirements.

H. Web Console and CLI: OpenShift provides both a web-based graphical user interface (Web Console) and a command-line interface (CLI) to interact with and manage the cluster. These interfaces offer developers and administrators the flexibility to perform various operations, including deploying applications, monitoring resources, and managing configurations.

Web Console — Open Shift

I. Image Registry: OpenShift includes an integrated image registry to store and manage container images securely within the cluster. The image registry enables teams to share and reuse container images, reducing redundancy and improving collaboration.

Example for Deploying an Application:

To deploy an application on OpenShift, we need to define a Kubernetes manifest (e.g., YAML file) describing the application’s deployment, services, and other necessary resources.

Let’s assume we have a simple web application called “my-app” with a Docker container image named “my-image:latest.” Create a file named deployment.yaml with the following content:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: my-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: my-app
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: my-app
          image: my-image:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 80

Now, we will deploy the application using the oc command:

oc apply -f deployment.yaml

OpenShift will create a deployment with three replicas of the application.

Example for Scaling the Application

oc scale deployment my-app --replicas=5

OpenShift’s components work in tandem to provide a robust and user-friendly container platform for organizations looking to embrace containerization and cloud-native application development. Its integration with Kubernetes, coupled with unique features like Operators and Source-to-Image, makes OpenShift a powerful choice for enterprises seeking efficient container orchestration and management solutions.

Industry Use Cases of OpenShift

Microservices Architecture: In the context of microservices, OpenShift excels at managing the complexities associated with orchestrating multiple interconnected services. Its container-based approach allows teams to deploy individual microservices independently, facilitating seamless scalability, and enhancing fault isolation. The platform’s automatic load balancing and service discovery mechanisms ensure efficient communication between microservices.
Cloud-Native Application Development: OpenShift is a perfect fit for organizations looking to embrace cloud-native application development. By packaging applications into containers, developers can build, test, and deploy applications consistently across various environments, including public and private clouds. The platform’s self-service capabilities empower developers to focus on innovation while ensuring consistency and security throughout the application lifecycle.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): OpenShift enables streamlined CI/CD pipelines, which significantly reduce development cycles and time-to-market. Developers can automatically build, test, and deploy code changes using built-in tools or integrating third-party CI/CD solutions. OpenShift’s integration with source code repositories, like Git, and collaboration platforms, like Jenkins, facilitates efficient CI/CD workflows.
Scalable Web Applications: For businesses dealing with high web traffic and user demands, OpenShift’s scalability features prove indispensable. It can automatically scale applications up or down based on demand, ensuring optimal resource utilization while maintaining excellent performance. Combined with Kubernetes’ Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, OpenShift dynamically adjusts resources to handle varying workloads effectively.
Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud Strategies: Organizations adopting hybrid cloud or multi-cloud strategies benefit from OpenShift’s portability and consistency across environments. OpenShift can run on various cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure, allowing seamless application migration between platforms. This flexibility reduces vendor lock-in and maximizes resource utilization across different cloud providers.

Cloud Native App

OpenShift has become a transformative platform for numerous industries, providing an integrated solution for container orchestration, application development, and deployment. Its flexibility, scalability, and robust feature set make it a compelling choice for organizations seeking to streamline their development and operational processes. As businesses continue to explore cloud-native and containerized architectures, OpenShift stands as a critical tool in their journey towards efficient and innovative application delivery.

How industries are harnessing the power of OpenShift

Features that are used by the industries

Financial Services: Financial institutions are using OpenShift to modernize their application infrastructure and streamline development workflows. By adopting OpenShift, banks, and financial service providers can build scalable, secure, and compliant applications while accelerating time-to-market for new financial products and services.
Healthcare and Life Sciences: The healthcare industry is leveraging OpenShift to develop and deploy cloud-native applications that handle massive amounts of patient data and facilitate seamless communication between medical systems. OpenShift’s flexibility and integration with healthcare IT systems allow for improved patient care and medical research.
Retail and E-commerce: Retailers and e-commerce companies are using OpenShift to build scalable and resilient e-commerce platforms. OpenShift’s auto-scaling capabilities help retailers handle peak traffic during sales events, while its integrated CI/CD pipelines enable frequent updates and feature releases.
Manufacturing and Industrial Automation: Manufacturers are adopting OpenShift to modernize their industrial automation systems. With OpenShift’s support for IoT and edge computing, industries can deploy containerized applications that connect devices, improve production efficiency, and enable predictive maintenance.
Telecommunications: Telecommunication providers are using OpenShift to develop and deploy network functions virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) applications. OpenShift’s container-based approach allows telcos to scale and manage their network services more efficiently.
Government and Public Sector: Government agencies are leveraging OpenShift to improve their IT infrastructure, develop citizen-centric applications, and provide better digital services to the public. OpenShift’s multi-cloud support enables governments to deploy applications across various cloud providers and on-premises environments.
Education and E-learning: Educational institutions are using OpenShift to build and deploy online learning platforms and educational applications. OpenShift’s container orchestration capabilities enable seamless scaling and management of e-learning resources.

In each of these industries, OpenShift offers benefits such as simplified application deployment, enhanced scalability, improved security, and increased developer productivity. Its container-based architecture and integration with CI/CD tools and service mesh solutions empower industries to embrace cloud-native practices and drive innovation in their respective fields.

Let’s examine how several companies have leveraged OpenShift to address their specific challenges and improve their operations

OpenShift was widely adopted by various companies to address their challenges and streamline their application deployment and management processes. Here are a few examples of companies and how they utilized OpenShift:

Lockheed Martin & RedHat

Lockheed Martin: The aerospace and defense company, Lockheed Martin, implemented OpenShift to modernize its application infrastructure and support its development teams. By leveraging OpenShift’s container orchestration capabilities, Lockheed Martin improved the efficiency of its software delivery pipeline, enabling faster updates and reducing downtime.
Verizon: The telecommunications giant, Verizon, embraced OpenShift to drive its digital transformation initiatives. OpenShift allowed Verizon to build and deploy microservices-based applications, facilitating faster and more flexible development. The platform’s scalability also helped Verizon handle varying workloads and traffic demands effectively.
Siemens: Siemens, a global technology company, utilized OpenShift to accelerate its software development and enhance its DevOps practices. OpenShift’s containerization features enabled Siemens to achieve better resource utilization and application scalability, thereby increasing overall productivity.
Vanguard: Vanguard, a renowned investment management company, adopted OpenShift to modernize its application infrastructure and enhance its development workflows. By leveraging OpenShift, Vanguard reduced the time and effort required to deploy applications, enabling faster updates and continuous delivery.
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT): GDIT, a company providing IT services and solutions to the government sector, used OpenShift to support its cloud-native development efforts. OpenShift allowed GDIT to containerize applications, leading to increased scalability and better resource utilization, while also ensuring consistent deployment across different environments.

OpenShift had emerged as a popular and widely adopted container platform, helping companies across various industries address their challenges and accelerate their digital transformation efforts. The platform’s container orchestration capabilities empowered organizations to modernize their application infrastructure, streamline development workflows, and achieve more efficient software delivery.

Case Study: Modernizing Gaming Infrastructure with Microservices and Red Hat OpenShift at Kaizen Gaming

Kaizen Gaming

Introduction

Kaizen Gaming is a rapidly growing gametech company that offers sports betting, casino gambling, and other services in ten countries. To maintain its high-quality customer experiences and accommodate business expansion, the company decided to modernize its monolithic legacy IT applications and virtual machine (VM)-based architecture. To achieve this goal, Kaizen Gaming adopted a microservices-based architecture and continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) approach with the help of Red Hat Consulting. The transition to Red Hat OpenShift, an enterprise Kubernetes container platform, brought significant benefits to the company, including a 50% reduction in time to market and improved scalability to respond to business growth.

Challenges Faced

Kaizen Gaming’s legacy applications, initially built by a small team of 15 engineers, were monolithic and complex. As the company’s development team grew to around 300 engineers, managing these applications at scale became increasingly challenging. To simplify and scale their IT infrastructure and platforms, the company decided to divide their larger legacy applications into microservices and adopt more iterative processes.

Adopting Red Hat OpenShift

To achieve the full scalability and efficiency benefits of Kubernetes, Kaizen Gaming completed a proof of concept (POC) using an in-house platform running on bare metal and the community distribution of Kubernetes. However, to enhance support, security, and automation capabilities, the company replaced this solution with Red Hat OpenShift, an enterprise Kubernetes container platform. With the guidance of Red Hat Consulting, Kaizen Gaming deployed Red Hat OpenShift on bare metal and migrated their bonus platform application to .NET Core microservices in the new environment.

Company Experience with RedHat OpenShift

Benefits Achieved

Reduced Time to Market: The implementation of Red Hat OpenShift and the use of Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines streamlined the CI/CD pipeline, enabling developers to complete testing in minutes. This resulted in a 50% reduction in time to market for new applications and features.
Improved Scalability: Red Hat OpenShift’s autoscale capabilities enabled Kaizen Gaming to scale their applications faster and more efficiently. It reduced the time required to spin up a new VM and create and store an application from around 20 minutes to a few seconds.
Optimized Development Approach: Red Hat Consulting’s expertise helped Kaizen Gaming optimize their microservices architecture and modern development processes. Ongoing support from experienced consultants allowed the company to run their workloads smoothly in the new production environment.

Future Plans

Having successfully modernized their bonus platform application with microservices and Red Hat OpenShift, Kaizen Gaming plans to expand their microservices architecture to more complex projects. The company also aims to establish a hybrid cloud environment to support its multicluster approach to international expansion, using a combination of on-premise and cloud resources. As part of this cloud deployment, they plan to enhance their existing OpenShift solution with Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus, a set of Kubernetes container technologies.

Conclusion

By adopting microservices and Red Hat OpenShift, Kaizen Gaming has successfully modernized its gaming platform infrastructure, enabling faster time to market, improved scalability, and a more efficient development pipeline. The company’s partnership with Red Hat Consulting has proven invaluable in optimizing their microservices architecture and navigating the complexities of modernizing legacy IT systems. As Kaizen Gaming continues to grow, Red Hat’s technology and services will continue to play a crucial role in supporting their ongoing modernization efforts and facilitating business expansion to new markets.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, OpenShift is a powerful and versatile container platform that empowers industries to embrace cloud-native application development, streamline operations, and drive innovation. With its foundation on Kubernetes, OpenShift simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications, allowing organizations to focus on delivering value to their customers.

Industries across various sectors, including financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, telecommunications, government, and education, are harnessing the capabilities of OpenShift to modernize their IT infrastructure, improve application delivery, and enhance the customer experience. From automating complex tasks with Operators to ensuring high availability and scalability with auto-scaling, OpenShift provides the tools and features needed to succeed in today’s digital landscape.

As technology continues to evolve, OpenShift remains at the forefront of container orchestration platforms, driving the adoption of cloud-native practices and enabling organizations to stay agile, competitive, and responsive to changing market demands. Whether it’s building cutting-edge applications, managing complex microservices architectures, or accelerating software delivery, OpenShift continues to play a vital role in shaping the future of modern application development.