Red Hat OpenShift Kubernetes Engine

I work for IBM Control, so I work with Red Hat and VMware, both technologies. I am working with OpenShift. I have not worked on Red Hat CloudForms, but I work with OpenShift. I am the integrator. We are creating automation for our customers using OpenShift, and we have implemented Ansible Tower Platform for automating all the system admin tasks.

We create what you call Ansible playbooks, which we execute for automation and deploy across all of our multi-customers within IBM and Control.

I find the resilient infrastructure feature of OpenShift very valuable, as it has no downtime at all.

I find OpenShift to be very scalable.

The initial setup of OpenShift is difficult; it takes a while to set it up. It is difficult to set up OpenShift because of the infrastructure requirements and the customization required to set up the software.

I would advise others looking into using OpenShift that it is a pretty product, widely accepted by customers, easily scalable, and highly reliable, but it should be more user-friendly. I think it should be more user-friendly because many people request assistance setting it up the first time.

I have been working with the solution for three and a half years.

OpenShift is stable. I would say the stability of OpenShift is nine out of ten.

I find OpenShift to be very scalable. I would rate the scalability of OpenShift a nine.

I think the technical support from Red Hat is good. I rate the technical support an eight. The reason for the rating of eight for technical support is that problems arise frequently, and they need to fix those issues, as it is open-source software requiring a lot of customizations.

We actually buy everything with maintenance; when we buy the software, we buy it with maintenance.

The initial setup of OpenShift is difficult; it takes a while to set it up. It is difficult to set up OpenShift because of the infrastructure requirements and the customization required to set up the software. I would rate the initial setup of OpenShift around five.

The initial setup of that solution took us weeks, but now the deployment is completed within days. It took one to ten days to set up OpenShift.

There are twenty-four to twenty-five people involved in the deployment. I think two to three people are architects, along with all the engineers involved.

I would advise others looking into using OpenShift that it is a pretty product, widely accepted by customers, easily scalable, and highly reliable, but it should be more user-friendly. I think it should be more user-friendly because many people request assistance setting it up the first time. I cannot think of any new features that could be added to make the solution better right now. My overall review rating for this solution is eight out of ten.

Our main use case for Red Hat OpenShift  is that our application, the CBMS application, is a microsite divided into multiple modules with multiple back-end modules built using Spring Boot  and Java and UI modules built using Vue.js and React.js. These individual modules are deployed in Red Hat OpenShift, and whenever we make any changes and push to a feature branch, that particular feature branch gets merged with the development branch, and then a build is triggered. Once a build is triggered and I log into Red Hat OpenShift client platform from IBM Cloud, I can see that a build is happening. If there is any compilation issue, the build fails, and if there is no issue, once the build completes, a deployment happens and the application is deployed.

Apart from that, we check config maps, secrets, and see logs in the pod. For example, we worked on another application named AL Lab where the client asked us to download the profile pictures of all the senior managers working in IBM. From that pod, we wrote an API to zip the profile pictures downloading from Box and then put that inside one container from which that application was running and downloaded it. There are many other use cases, and it is very difficult to remember each one of them, but when I am working and seeing the user interface of that application, they come to mind.

A specific example of when Red Hat OpenShift helped my team solve a problem is when I came into this project that got migrated from the Chinese team. I think they built most of the things, and we have a DevOps person in our team who has most of the controls. Now, coming to help, we can find out the config maps and the secrets from Red Hat OpenShift by going into the console. If we need to run the application locally, we can get the secrets and put them in our STS application YML to run the application. I do not have too much experience because I am not getting many opportunities to work on Red Hat OpenShift. My basic work is mainly writing code in this project, which may be Java code, Spring Boot  code, Python code, or React.js and Vue.js code, without being too much into the DevOps side, as there is a different person managing that. Whenever she faces any challenge, we work together to solve the problem.

We are mainly using Red Hat OpenShift as a deployment platform where we are pushing our changes. The image is built into the container registry, and when the build triggers, that particular image gets deployed into the containers and pod in Kubernetes . Once the application starts, it gets the secret config maps from specific locations, and the application starts and serves the client.

The best features that Red Hat OpenShift offers include the capabilities for deployment and build of our application. When we are deploying the application in the dev environment, there is a sorting feature based on the name and date, which is very helpful because we have multiple containers and deployments running inside dev, QA, stage, and prod environments. Once we are deploying in dev and have triggered a build, being inside that console, the sorting feature helps us understand whether the recent build has been triggered, which is very helpful.

Red Hat OpenShift has positively impacted our organization by improving efficiency and collaboration, as this is the first time I am trying to use Red Hat OpenShift after previously working with AWS . In the earlier project at Prudential, I was using AWS  and before that, in Kroger, we were using IBM Cloud instead of Red Hat OpenShift. In comparison, Red Hat OpenShift seems to be better than IBM Cloud, as that is how I used it in Kroger. I cannot provide a comparison between AWS and Red Hat OpenShift at this juncture, as I was not very aware of what was happening in AWS, and a lot of time has passed since then.

At this particular point, I think it is very difficult for me to suggest how Red Hat OpenShift can be improved, as I need specific documentation outlining all features. Understanding Red Hat OpenShift UI is essential to provide feature improvement ideas, and I currently do not have the knowledge to do so. I do not have anything coming to my mind at this point regarding challenges or areas in which I think Red Hat OpenShift could be easier to use.

I have been using Red Hat OpenShift  on this client advantage project for approximately one and a half years.

In my experience, Red Hat OpenShift is stable.

Red Hat OpenShift's scalability is good. We have one application named Content Microservice, which has multiple containers running in production, specifically four containers. I do not think it needs any horizontal or vertical scaling because our user base is not that large, but I believe that in such a situation, Red Hat OpenShift will be able to horizontally or vertically scale itself.

I did not go to Red Hat OpenShift customer support, so I have not had any interactions or needed help.

Before Red Hat OpenShift, I used AWS, but I was working as a developer, so I was not too much aware of the DevOps aspects. In Kroger, I also used IBM Cloud, but I cannot remember much since it has been over two or three years. There, we were updating the IBM Cloud registry and seeing the logs in LogDNA  and checking the container registry, where we used to remove images and tag images, but that is all I can recall.

When I came into this project of client advantage microsite, they were already using Red Hat OpenShift, so I did not have the opportunity to evaluate it against other products as I was not in a position to make that decision.

My advice for others looking into using Red Hat OpenShift is to give it a try if someone wants to use a cloud platform. They can assess how much they gain and how much cost saving occurs, possibly giving it a try on a trial basis for one or two months. I truly suggest that any company wanting to move to the cloud should give Red Hat OpenShift a try. My overall rating for Red Hat OpenShift is eight out of ten.

My main use case for Red Hat OpenShift  is that in our organization, we are going into a modernization of our application where we are moving away from our traditional application approach. Now we are moving forward.

A specific example of how I'm using Red Hat OpenShift  in my organization is that we have around 18 clusters and for now, we are maintaining around 16 applications in Red Hat OpenShift.

Day-to-day, I'm using Red Hat OpenShift as we are moving into adding applications to containers, using it regularly on troubleshooting issues, whatever the customer encounters.

The best feature Red Hat OpenShift offers in my experience is the Service Mesh . The recent update of the Service Mesh  is a very good component of Red Hat.

Red Hat OpenShift has positively impacted my organization as the main focus was to reduce the physical servers we have in our warehouse. That helped us a lot in moving into containerization and handling the application.

After moving to Red Hat OpenShift, I noticed we moved around 16 applications, and each application used to use around six to eight servers. So, roughly around 110-150 servers have been reduced right now.

Red Hat OpenShift can be improved as I commonly use the CLI console, but I have not explored much on the graphical console. I have been working on the command line mostly and not explored much on the console. I feel like it might be more advanced and useful for newcomers who are not familiar with the command line.

Further needed improvements in Red Hat OpenShift include that getting the providers will be a little bit tricky in the console. When I tried to add searching on providers, that was a little bit tricky.

I have been using Red Hat OpenShift for one year.

In my experience, Red Hat OpenShift is very stable.

Scalability-wise, Red Hat OpenShift is pretty much good, as it is one click where we can scale any of the applications.

The customer support of Red Hat OpenShift is good as I have reached out to them a couple of times. The customer support was easy. We have a premium membership with the Red Hat team, so it is very convenient and they get back to us as soon as we require. They are also knowledgeable.

Previously, we have not used any other solutions before Red Hat OpenShift as we directly moved to it.

Since deploying Red Hat OpenShift, I have seen a return on investment as it saved a lot. Once we deployed, there is very minimalistic time spent on troubleshooting issues. Everything is taken care of by the containers or the new pods we have deployed. Time was the major thing which saved a lot, and in terms of resources, it has reduced resource utilization so the remaining users can focus on other tasks.

Our company has a business relationship with Red Hat as we are a partner.

Since deploying Red Hat OpenShift, I have seen a return on investment as it saved a lot. Once we deployed, there is very minimalistic time spent on troubleshooting issues. Everything is taken care of by the containers or the new pods we have deployed. Time was the major thing which saved a lot, and in terms of resources, it has reduced resource utilization so the remaining users can focus on other tasks.

I may provide information about setup costs in another review at a later time.

Before choosing Red Hat OpenShift, we did not evaluate other options as this was an organization decision where we did not involve other tools.

I rate Red Hat OpenShift a nine out of ten.

I rated it a nine because it made a lot of work easy for me comparatively to handling servers, where I used to work in monolithic applications. This helped me a lot when I moved to Red Hat OpenShift. Kubernetes  was the part where I used to work on and when I moved to Red Hat OpenShift, it gave me a broader way where I can think or explore much on what is not there with Kubernetes . The functions and features all together in one place helped me a lot.

My advice for others looking into using Red Hat OpenShift is that I surely advise going with Red Hat OpenShift, which is a very convenient way to handle their applications and to reduce the cost of servers and whatever resources we spend. Those resources can be utilized much more efficiently with Red Hat OpenShift, and that is the very easiest way.

I have additional thoughts about Red Hat OpenShift in that I appreciate the documentation given by the Red Hat team. That helps us a lot from a learning perspective.

My main use case for Red Hat OpenShift  is to train and learn more about containers and Kubernetes , aiming to upgrade my competencies in this field to propose solutions with Red Hat OpenShift  containerization and virtualization for my clients.

Most of my Red Hat OpenShift deployment is for training. I encounter difficulties in understanding and deploying Red Hat OpenShift due to the many scenarios for bare metals and virtualization, including various deployment methods such as assisted installers or dark sites installation. This presents a challenge for me, but with extensive training and deployment, I understand the differences and can deploy clusters with different scenarios for private cloud, bare metals, or proofs of concept.

Until now, we are trying to learn and gain competencies with this ecosystem to assist our clients in understanding the differences between traditional data centers and modern data centers with Red Hat OpenShift containers and integration with virtualization. Many clients are unaware of this new Red Hat OpenShift product based on Kubernetes  and how it can replace legacy infrastructures from VMware or other solutions, providing an all-in-one solution focused on operational ease and efficiency for their teams transitioning to these new systems from Red Hat.

In my opinion, the best features Red Hat OpenShift offers include the integration of all specifications related to container, virtualization, and storage through the Storage Data Foundation in one cluster. This provides a comprehensive solution for clients. However, I find it quite challenging to maintain and manage everything without extensive experience. The combination of storage, virtualization, and containers, along with the necessity of networking expertise, makes management difficult for me in the Red Hat OpenShift cluster, but I see great future potential.

Red Hat OpenShift has positively impacted my organization. I have learned a lot about these new technologies. Initially, I was apprehensive about learning Kubernetes, but through Red Hat OpenShift, I gained the confidence to deploy Kubernetes or discuss this solution in meetings. Red Hat OpenShift has proven to be an intelligent product for me, being built on Kubernetes, which is widely recognized and is where many cloud providers are deploying new workloads. Knowing Red Hat OpenShift signifies that I am becoming a Kubernetes expert.

I hope that the interface and dashboard can become more user-friendly to assist in creating clusters and managing network interfaces easily, as opposed to relying heavily on command lines, which complicates management and troubleshooting. I envision a graphical user interface similar to what VMware offers with vSphere for seamless management.

I do not have additional needs for the specifications at the moment, but perhaps we require more functions within the dashboard and clearer configurations that allow users to integrate security more intuitively from the user interface rather than through YAML files or command lines. A setup similar to what VMware did with NSX, HCI  storage, and VDS would greatly benefit future users of Red Hat OpenShift, especially those with less experience in Kubernetes ecosystems.

I have not yet seen specific outcomes or metrics regarding time saved or skills gained from this experience.

I have been working in my current position since 2018.

In my experience, Red Hat OpenShift is stable, although I have encountered errors during my labs and proofs of concept. Sometimes, I struggle to comprehend these issues, possibly due to underlying factors, but overall, I find it to be a reliable product from Red Hat.

Red Hat OpenShift's scalability is excellent. As with any Kubernetes cluster, scaling is not a problem. Red Hat OpenShift is designed to be scalable in deployment, making it easy to scale worker nodes, pods, and deployments without issues.

During my training session, I experienced a problem with my training cluster and sought support. The support team attempted to assist me, although it was challenging to comprehend the issues as I was new. Additionally, I supported a client who had Red Hat OpenShift deployment with VMware, where I helped resolve underlying VMware issues that affected their Red Hat OpenShift cluster.

I previously used VMware, which was the primary solution throughout my career. I have also utilized other solutions from Proxmox, Nutanix, or Red Hat Virtualization, which is the standard virtualization product.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involved a pre-sales project with Red Hat OpenShift last year, which ultimately did not proceed as the client decided to cancel. Consequently, I only have limited experience that helped me understand the differences between licensing in bare metal, virtualization, and various deployment models such as Red Hat OpenShift, Red Hat OpenShift Plus, and Red Hat OpenShift with Data Foundation, based on CPU or physical cores.

Red Hat OpenShift has positively impacted my organization. I have learned a lot about these new technologies. Initially, I was apprehensive about learning Kubernetes, but through Red Hat OpenShift, I gained the confidence to deploy Kubernetes or discuss this solution in meetings.

Red Hat OpenShift has proven to be an intelligent product for me, being built on Kubernetes, which is widely recognized and is where many cloud providers are deploying new workloads. Knowing Red Hat OpenShift signifies that I am becoming a Kubernetes expert.

I have not yet seen specific outcomes or metrics regarding time saved or skills gained from this experience. I do not have improvements or metrics to share regarding return on investment from my work with Red Hat OpenShift.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing involved a pre-sales project with Red Hat OpenShift last year, which ultimately did not proceed as the client decided to cancel. Consequently, I only have limited experience that helped me understand the differences between licensing in bare metal, virtualization, and various deployment models such as Red Hat OpenShift, Red Hat OpenShift Plus, and Red Hat OpenShift with Data Foundation, based on CPU or physical cores.

I directly adopted Red Hat OpenShift without evaluating other options.

My advice for others considering Red Hat OpenShift is to ensure they have substantial experience in networking and storage, particularly with Kubernetes. It is crucial not to approach Red Hat OpenShift without a proper understanding of Kubernetes. I would rate my overall experience at three out of five.