Product Architecture Architecture OpenShift Container Platform 4.13

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Product architecture | Architecture | OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.13/architecture/architect...

OpenShift Container Platform architecture

▪ Introduction to OpenShift Container Platform


▪ About Kubernetes
▪ The benefits of containerized applications
▪ OpenShift Container Platform overview
▪ Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform

Introduction to OpenShift Container Platform


OpenShift Container Platform is a platform for developing and running containerized
applications. It is designed to allow applications and the data centers that support
them to expand from just a few machines and applications to thousands of machines
that serve millions of clients.

With its foundation in Kubernetes, OpenShift Container Platform incorporates the


same technology that serves as the engine for massive telecommunications, streaming
video, gaming, banking, and other applications. Its implementation in open Red Hat
technologies lets you extend your containerized applications beyond a single cloud to
on-premise and multi-cloud environments.

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About Kubernetes
Although container images and the containers that run from them are the primary
building blocks for modern application development, to run them at scale requires a
reliable and flexible distribution system. Kubernetes is the defacto standard for
orchestrating containers.

Kubernetes is an open source container orchestration engine for automating


deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. The general
concept of Kubernetes is fairly simple:

▪ Start with one or more worker nodes to run the container workloads.

▪ Manage the deployment of those workloads from one or more control plane
nodes.

▪ Wrap containers in a deployment unit called a pod. Using pods provides extra
metadata with the container and offers the ability to group several containers in a
single deployment entity.

▪ Create special kinds of assets. For example, services are represented by a set of
pods and a policy that defines how they are accessed. This policy allows
containers to connect to the services that they need even if they do not have the
specific IP addresses for the services. Replication controllers are another special
asset that indicates how many pod replicas are required to run at a time. You can
use this capability to automatically scale your application to adapt to its current
demand.

In only a few years, Kubernetes has seen massive cloud and on-premise adoption. The
open source development model allows many people to extend Kubernetes by
implementing different technologies for components such as networking, storage, and
authentication.

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The benefits of containerized applications


Using containerized applications offers many advantages over using traditional
deployment methods. Where applications were once expected to be installed on
operating systems that included all their dependencies, containers let an application
carry their dependencies with them. Creating containerized applications offers many
benefits.

Operating system benefits


Containers use small, dedicated Linux operating systems without a kernel. Their file
system, networking, cgroups, process tables, and namespaces are separate from the
host Linux system, but the containers can integrate with the hosts seamlessly when
necessary. Being based on Linux allows containers to use all the advantages that come
with the open source development model of rapid innovation.

Because each container uses a dedicated operating system, you can deploy
applications that require conflicting software dependencies on the same host. Each
container carries its own dependent software and manages its own interfaces, such as
networking and file systems, so applications never need to compete for those assets.

Deployment and scaling benefits


If you employ rolling upgrades between major releases of your application, you can
continuously improve your applications without downtime and still maintain
compatibility with the current release.

You can also deploy and test a new version of an application alongside the existing
version. If the container passes your tests, simply deploy more new containers and
remove the old ones.

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Since all the software dependencies for an application are resolved within the
container itself, you can use a standardized operating system on each host in your data
center. You do not need to configure a specific operating system for each application
host. When your data center needs more capacity, you can deploy another generic
host system.

Similarly, scaling containerized applications is simple. OpenShift Container Platform


offers a simple, standard way of scaling any containerized service. For example, if you
build applications as a set of microservices rather than large, monolithic applications,
you can scale the individual microservices individually to meet demand. This capability
allows you to scale only the required services instead of the entire application, which
can allow you to meet application demands while using minimal resources.

OpenShift Container Platform overview


OpenShift Container Platform provides enterprise-ready enhancements to
Kubernetes, including the following enhancements:

▪ Hybrid cloud deployments. You can deploy OpenShift Container Platform


clusters to a variety of public cloud platforms or in your data center.

▪ Integrated Red Hat technology. Major components in OpenShift Container


Platform come from Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and related Red Hat
technologies. OpenShift Container Platform benefits from the intense testing
and certification initiatives for Red Hat’s enterprise quality software.

▪ Open source development model. Development is completed in the open, and


the source code is available from public software repositories. This open
collaboration fosters rapid innovation and development.

Although Kubernetes excels at managing your applications, it does not specify or


manage platform-level requirements or deployment processes. Powerful and flexible
platform management tools and processes are important benefits that OpenShift
Container Platform 4.13 offers. The following sections describe some unique features
and benefits of OpenShift Container Platform.

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Custom operating system


OpenShift Container Platform uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS), a
container-oriented operating system that is specifically designed for running
containerized applications from OpenShift Container Platform and works with new
tools to provide fast installation, Operator-based management, and simplified
upgrades.

RHCOS includes:

▪ Ignition, which OpenShift Container Platform uses as a firstboot system


configuration for initially bringing up and configuring machines.

▪ CRI-O, a Kubernetes native container runtime implementation that integrates


closely with the operating system to deliver an efficient and optimized
Kubernetes experience. CRI-O provides facilities for running, stopping, and
restarting containers. It fully replaces the Docker Container Engine, which was
used in OpenShift Container Platform 3.

▪ Kubelet, the primary node agent for Kubernetes that is responsible for launching
and monitoring containers.

In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, you must use RHCOS for all control plane
machines, but you can use Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) as the operating system
for compute machines, which are also known as worker machines. If you choose to use
RHEL workers, you must perform more system maintenance than if you use RHCOS
for all of the cluster machines.

Simplified installation and update process


With OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, if you have an account with the right
permissions, you can deploy a production cluster in supported clouds by running a
single command and providing a few values. You can also customize your cloud
installation or install your cluster in your data center if you use a supported platform.

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For clusters that use RHCOS for all machines, updating, or upgrading, OpenShift
Container Platform is a simple, highly-automated process. Because OpenShift
Container Platform completely controls the systems and services that run on each
machine, including the operating system itself, from a central control plane, upgrades
are designed to become automatic events. If your cluster contains RHEL worker
machines, the control plane benefits from the streamlined update process, but you
must perform more tasks to upgrade the RHEL machines.

Other key features


Operators are both the fundamental unit of the OpenShift Container Platform 4.13
code base and a convenient way to deploy applications and software components for
your applications to use. In OpenShift Container Platform, Operators serve as the
platform foundation and remove the need for manual upgrades of operating systems
and control plane applications. OpenShift Container Platform Operators such as the
Cluster Version Operator and Machine Config Operator allow simplified, cluster-wide
management of those critical components.

Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) and the OperatorHub provide facilities for storing
and distributing Operators to people developing and deploying applications.

The Red Hat Quay Container Registry is a Quay.io container registry that serves most
of the container images and Operators to OpenShift Container Platform clusters.
Quay.io is a public registry version of Red Hat Quay that stores millions of images and
tags.

Other enhancements to Kubernetes in OpenShift Container Platform include


improvements in software defined networking (SDN), authentication, log aggregation,
monitoring, and routing. OpenShift Container Platform also offers a comprehensive
web console and the custom OpenShift CLI ( oc ) interface.

OpenShift Container Platform lifecycle


The following figure illustrates the basic OpenShift Container Platform lifecycle:

▪ Creating an OpenShift Container Platform cluster

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▪ Managing the cluster

▪ Developing and deploying applications

▪ Scaling up applications

Figure 1. High level OpenShift Container Platform overview

Internet access for OpenShift Container Platform


In OpenShift Container Platform 4.13, you require access to the internet to install your
cluster.

You must have internet access to:

▪ Access OpenShift Cluster Manager Hybrid Cloud Console to download the


installation program and perform subscription management. If the cluster has
internet access and you do not disable Telemetry, that service automatically
entitles your cluster.

▪ Access Quay.io to obtain the packages that are required to install your cluster.

▪ Obtain the packages that are required to perform cluster updates.

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If your cluster cannot have direct internet access, you can perform a
restricted network installation on some types of infrastructure that you
provision. During that process, you download the required content and
 use it to populate a mirror registry with the installation packages. With
some installation types, the environment that you install your cluster in
will not require internet access. Before you update the cluster, you
update the content of the mirror registry.

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