Item: Red Hat OpenShift
Rating: 9
Author: Lovelee Borgohain

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I can quickly spin up containerized environments for testing and iterating on new ML models without worrying about infrastructure setup. OpenShift's built-in CI/CD pipelines automate the build and deployment process. Once a model proves promising, I can scale it to handle production traffic using its autoscaling features. Working with a team of integration experts, OpenShift offers a great platform for sharing and collaborating on models, and we can easily run different versions of models in parallel and compare their performance.

Pros and Cons

It integrates well with popular cloud providers (CSPs) like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, adding flexibility and choice for cloud deployments. OpenShift provides centralized ingress control for managing how external traffic reaches applications running across multiple clusters and simplifies security management.
OpenShift's S2I capability builds container images directly from source code and eliminates the need for manual configuration to provide consistency across deployments. Developers can push code changes and deploy updates to production environments to reduce manual work and accelerate release cycles.
We take advantage of OpenShift's hybrid cloud capabilities. We run ML workloads on both on-prem infrastructure and public cloud platforms, depending on resource needs and cost considerations.

OpenShift isn't exactly beginner-friendly. The initial setup is a bit challenging, and navigating the console feels like deciphering hieroglyphics for someone new to Kubernetes.
Juggling multiple OpenShift clusters across different environments is still a clunky experience. Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management helps, but it adds another layer of complexity to an already intricate system.
While OpenShift integrates with popular CI/CD tools, the experience isn't always smooth. Integrating GitOps workflows directly into OpenShift would make deployments even more easy and flexible.

Return on Investment

We managed to launch our client's latest mobile app three months ahead of schedule. OpenShift sped up our development cycles by 30%. Now, we can release new features, and bug fixes much quicker.
Our software engineers love the flexibility and agility OpenShift has. Our devs are 25% more productive, focusing more on building great features than fighting infrastructure battles.
Initially, the OpenShift licensing felt a bit steep. But the ROI is clear: we have achieved an overall 25% increase in our software release frequency and a 20% boost in customer satisfaction as of now, and we are hoping to gain much more cost savings in the long run.

Application Development and Delivery

Our deployments are automated workflows now, triggered by code changes. We can push updates confidently, knowing they'll land safely and consistently across environments. Each service is self-contained, where development and testing are way faster. No more worrying about dependency conflicts or infrastructure quirks, and it keeps all our underlying software and tools updated automatically.

Performance

Our applications are isolated from each other and also from the underlying infrastructure. OpenShift scales horizontally and we can easily add more worker nodes to our cluster to handle increased demand. It automatically scales our applications up and down based on demand, ensuring we always have the resources we need to perform optimally which prevents resource contention and ensures that each application gets the resources it needs, even during spikes and heavy usage loads.

Alternatives Considered

IBM Cloud Foundry

We had some existing apps and were looking for a platform to modernize our app deployments and scale for future growth. Based on Kubernetes, OpenShift offers more flexibility and customization. We could deploy any type of containerized application, not just Cloud Foundry-specific ones. I particularly liked the built-in security and its focus on rapid and automated deployments. Moreover, our cloud strategy isn't set in stone. OpenShift's flexibility means we could deploy on-prem, in multiple public clouds, or use a hybrid approach - something other products couldn't offer as expected.

Key Insights

Do you think Red Hat OpenShift delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Red Hat OpenShift's feature set?

Yes

Did Red Hat OpenShift live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Red Hat OpenShift go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Red Hat OpenShift again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Marketo Sales Connect, Sprout Social, Symantec Advanced Authentication, Grafana, GraphQL, Applied Epic

Likelihood to Recommend

Building cloud-native microservices-based applications with OpenShift is quite easy. It's like having a well-oiled pipeline where coding, testing and deployment smoothly flow together. We operate across on-prem, private, and public cloud environments, and OpenShift's flexibility comes in handy. It works smoothly across these disparate platforms. OpenShift is best for cloud-native containerized applications. Porting legacy monoliths is complex and time-consuming. We tried to migrate our old CRM system to OpenShift, but it ended up being a bigger headache than it was worth.

RedHat OpenShift for future-proof agility and rapid growth.

Software Version

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Red Hat OpenShift