Traditionally, a hybrid cloud runs simultaneously on a public and private cloud. Historically, that's been done with three models: Hybrid-cloud management software such as HPE Helion; vendor-native hybrid cloud platforms, such as Microsoft with Azure and Azure Stack; and Platforms-as-a-Service (PaaS) clouds, including Cloud Foundry, which can bridge over Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds. Or, you can do what Red Hat announced at Red Hat Summit: Use Kubernetes container orchestration with Red Hat OpenShift 4.
In this next generation of Red Hat's Kubernetes platform, Red Hat explicitly stated OpenShift 4 is designed to deliver a cloud-like experience across the hybrid cloud by driving automated updates across Kubernetes deployments everywhere. Or, as Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst summed it up: "Make open hybrid cloud the default architecture."
In more detail, Ashesh Badani, Red Hat senior vice president of Cloud Platforms, said: "Enterprise IT's future is driven by hybrid and multicloud computing, with Kubernetes acting as a bridge to seamlessly connect workloads between on-premise datacenters and public cloud footprints. Red Hat OpenShift 4 makes this vision of Kubernetes a reality, offering a consistent, self-managing enterprise Kubernetes platform that spans the hybrid cloud."
How? Red Hat explained:
You may have noticed the mention of RHEL CoreOS. This is the next step from Red Hat's acquisition of CoreOS. The new CoreOS is an OpenShift-specific embedded variant of RHEL. Specifically, it provides Kubernetes running on top of the lightweight, fully immutable, container-optimized Linux distribution. In this variant, security features and stability are still paramount, with automated updates managed by Kubernetes and enabled by OpenShift with the push of a button.
The mission of OpenShift 4, according to Clayton Coleman, a Red Hat Kubernetes architect, is to make "platform designed for realizing these two goals – instead of forcing you to deal with VMs or load balancers APIs, we focus on higher level abstractions like deployments and services. Instead of installing software agents you run containers, and instead of writing your own monitoring stack, you leverage ambient monitoring from the platform."
To help with this mission, Red Hat OpenShift 4 comes with the following new features:
If you feel like pushing the envelope, OpenShift 4 also comes with several beta features.
These are:
Al Gillen, IDC's group vice president of software development and open source, added:
"Red Hat has long led by example within the open-source community, contributing to both nascent and maturing projects. After Kubernetes emerged, Red Hat shifted gears and carved out an early leadership position with container support on Kubernetes as part of OpenShift. The launch of Red Hat OpenShift 4 brings forward a multicloud solution also available as a managed cloud service. This product offers the portability customers are asking for in a package that brings substantive improvements in automating deployment and simplifying operation, which ultimately makes innovation easier."
Red Hat OpenShift 4 will roll out the door in June. If you like the idea of a Kubernetes-based hybrid cloud, you should check it out.