Kubernetes Operators will help software companies more easily deliver Red Hat OpenShift-tested and validated cloud-native applications and services across hybrid and multicloud footprints.
Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, has introduced Kubernetes Operators to the Red Hat OpenShift ecosystem, providing a simplified path for software partners to ultimately deliver tested and validated Kubernetes applications on the industry’s most comprehensive enterprise Kubernetes platform.
Developed with the Operator Framework open source toolkit, an Operator helps to remove the barriers to building complex, stateful applications for Kubernetes, resulting in services designed to ‘just work’ across any cloud where Kubernetes runs.
Operators on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform launches with broad industry support. At launch, more than 60 software partners have committed support for the Kubernetes Operator Framework initiative introduced by Red Hat.
For software companies, building and maintaining cloud-native applications today is not a simple task – they must address significant complexities during the initial build and provide maintenance across siloed cloud footprints. Helping to address these challenges are Operators, a method of packaging, deploying and managing a Kubernetes application.
A Kubernetes application is an application that is both deployed on Kubernetes and managed using the Kubernetes APIs and kubectl tooling. Kubernetes Operators simplify application development for Kubernetes platforms by abstracting away complexities and coding human operational knowledge into applications, creating services that can function without human intervention.
This service automation can improve the lives of both developers and operations teams, enabling Kubernetes applications to function like cloud services, from self-healing and self-provisioning capabilities to easier management and maintenance at production-scale.
Built from the Operator Framework, applications can be instantly updated across all footprints simultaneously, limiting IT downtime and easing the burden of maintaining large clusters of Kubernetes applications.
Kubernetes Operators and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform provides a common foundation for cloud-native operations, pacing the needs of modern enterprise IT just as Red Hat Enterprise Linux did for traditional data centre operations. Red Hat OpenShift pairs the innovation of Kubernetes with Red Hat’s expertise in delivering enhanced IT security and enterprise-grade support, resulting in a comprehensive, industry-leading Kubernetes platform to meet modern enterprise needs that is backed by a robust software partner ecosystem.
Red Hat is working on a future enhancement that will enable software partners to test and validate their Operators for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform against Red Hat OpenShift.
This will help to provide assurances that the application is part of Red Hat’s expansive and supported ecosystem and gives software companies the knowledge that their application will work as intended on any Red Hat OpenShift instance.
This will hold true across hybrid and multicloud footprints, such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and more. Customers will gain more confidence in production-grade, cloud-native applications, while Red Hat software partners will gain a more manageable, easily-maintained offering that lives where their end users need it.
The Red Hat ecosystem advantage
Red Hat has a long history of building successful, collaborative software ecosystems based upon open source infrastructure, highlighted by the robust partner networks surrounding Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenStack Platform. Eventually, Red Hat plans to extend Red Hat Container Certification with support for Operators as tested and validated Kubernetes applications on Red Hat OpenShift. Red Hat is already able to provide the world’s largest commercially supported ecosystem for cloud-native applications, with the intent for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform to become the most easily-managed application platform across the hybrid cloud.
Ashesh Badani, vice president and general manager, OpenShift, Red Hat, said: “The introduction of Operator Framework, paired with Red Hat’s comprehensive Kubernetes platform, is designed to make the underlying footprint of enterprise IT consistent: Kubernetes Operators enable the creation of applications that simply work across the common fabric of Kubernetes, no matter where the deployment actually lives.
“Red Hat intends to use our vast technical expertise in Kubernetes and cloud-native application and service development to help our software partner ecosystem and customers build their own specific Kubernetes Operators which can then be readily deployed and supported at-scale on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform.”
Ali Siddiqui, general manager, Agile Operations, CA Technologies, said: “CA has been a long-term partner of Red Hat and we are thrilled to see the software vendor ecosystem rally in support of helping to build an easily-managed application platform for the hybrid cloud. Our monitoring solutions complement Red Hat OpenShift platform by delivering insights into application performance to help customers build better apps faster. We are excited to be a part of the Red Hat Operator Early Access Program and look forward to working with Red Hat to build the future of cloud-native applications for our customers.”
Availability
Kubernetes Operators for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform are initially available for Red Hat software partners as part of a new Kubernetes Operator Early Access Program.
