What is Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization?

Oct 05, 2022

Openshift Virtualization is an add-on to the OpenShift platform that allows you to run and manage virtual machine workloads alongside container workloads.

Benefits

OpenShift Virtualization lets customers modernize existing applications and services to Red Hat OpenShift
OpenShift Virtualization allows users to develop and deliver new and existing apps that consist of virtual machines, containers, and serverless computing managed together in a Kubernetes-native architecture.
OpenShift Virtualization allows both VMs and containers to be managed and consumed from within the RH OpenShift management plane, and the technology supports app modernization overtime
OpenShift Virtualization is focused on running and managing traditional VMs as if they were containers
Live migrating VMs between nodes.
Managing network interface controllers and storage disks attached to VMs.
Connecting to VMs through UI and CLI tools.
Accelerates application delivery with a single platform that can manage “mixed applications”
Modernize legacy VM based applications over time, or maintain them as VMs

For Developers

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization is a tool that allows the developer to add VM workloads to new and existing applications consisting of VMs, containers, and serverless deployments. This agility enables the development teams to build, deploy, and integrate application delivery using modern processes, automation, and CI/CD lifecycle workflows consistent with operational policies and standards.

OpenShift provides consistent development tools and processes – With OpenShift support for VMs, containers, and serverless computing you are enabled to standardize your development process and tools.
Teams can use the same pipelines for applications in VMs; containers or function regardless of where they run. A laptop, on-premise, hybrid, public or private cloud. This consistency reduces errors and allows teams to move from project-to-project without having to learn new processes.

For Operations

OpenShift virtualization is designed to modernize and simplify the data center. As VMs and applications are moved to OpenShift; you are able to systematically turn them off, along with the virtual management control plane, in other parts of your infrastructure.

Consistency of management, simplicity, operational ease of use – With OpenShift support for VMs, containers, and serverless you can align your team’s time and efforts on a single application delivery platform, a simplified operational model, and a new level of collaboration with development teams.

Operators can proactively move applications and manage them side-by-side with the latest innovations in Kubernetes.

VMWare

OpenShift and OpenShift virtualization allows VMware customers to standardize on single application development and management platform stack, built on the innovation of open source and the agility and performance of pure Kubernetes-native infrastructure.

Best Fit

In my opinion, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization would be great for customers who rely on a mix of computing resources and workloads to develop and deploy applications. Virtualization also allows the modernization of applications that live on VMs that are moving to containerization. Alternatively, OpenShift Virtualization would also be great for organizations that have development teams that support applications that will never be converted to containers due to complexity or shelf-life.

Customers who run the OpenShift Container Platform on VMWare also now have the ability to import existing VMs into an OpenShift Virtualization and manage them from a central management plane. VMs can be cloned, migrated, resized, and more all from the OpenShift Platform Console.

Teams also looking to gain operational efficiencies by leveraging existing and future investments in OpenShift to manage mixed workloads running across Linux and Windows. Teams can support and collaborate more with developers in their application modernization efforts.