OpenShift v4 for Beginners – Course Introduction:
Welcome to the “OpenShift for Beginners” course, a comprehensive introduction designed to help you master the fundamentals of OpenShift v4 in just one hour.
OpenShift is a powerful Kubernetes platform that empowers developers to build, deploy, and manage containerized applications seamlessly.
Whether you’re a developer, system administrator, or IT professional, understanding OpenShift is essential in today’s cloud-native landscape.
This course is crafted to demystify OpenShift, making it accessible for beginners with no prior experience.
We’ll start by exploring the core concepts of Kubernetes and how OpenShift builds on top of it to provide an enterprise-ready platform.
You’ll learn about key features such as automated deployment, scaling, and management of applications.
Through hands-on exercises, you’ll get practical experience with OpenShift’s web console and command-line tools, allowing you to confidently deploy and manage applications.
By the end of this course, you’ll have a solid understanding of OpenShift architecture, key components, and its role in modern application development.
The importance of this course lies in its ability to provide you with the foundational knowledge needed to leverage OpenShift in your projects, enabling you to streamline development workflows, enhance productivity, and embrace the benefits of containerization and orchestration.
Join us and start your journey towards becoming an OpenShift expert!
Audience for this course:
- OpenShift Beginners – Who wants to move to OpenShift Container Platform
2. Who is seeking job
3. OpenShift Administrators – who wants to build good understanding of OpenShift
Course Topics:
Understanding Containers and Kubernetes
- Introduction to containers
- Basics of Kubernetes
- How OpenShift builds on Kubernetes
Introduction to OpenShift
- Overview of OpenShift v4
- Importance of OpenShift in modern application development
OpenShift Architecture
- Key components of OpenShift
- OpenShift clusters and nodes
- OpenShift control plane
Setting Up OpenShift Environment
- Installing OpenShift locally (CRC)
- Accessing the OpenShift web console and CLI
OpenShift Web Console Overview
- Navigating the OpenShift web console
- Key features and functionalities
Deploying Applications on OpenShift
- Creating and deploying a simple application
- Using templates and image streams
- Managing application configurations
Managing OpenShift Projects
- Creating and managing projects
- Role-based access control (RBAC)
Scaling and Managing Applications
- Horizontal and vertical scaling
- Monitoring and logging
- Rolling updates and rollbacks
OpenShift Networking
- Service discovery and load balancing
- Managing routes and ingress
Persistent Storage in OpenShift
- Introduction to persistent storage
- Configuring persistent volume claims (PVCs)
Security in OpenShift
- Securing applications and containers
- OpenShift security policies
CI/CD with OpenShift
- Integrating OpenShift with CI/CD pipelines
- Using OpenShift Pipelines
Troubleshooting and Best Practices
- Common troubleshooting steps
- Best practices for deploying and managing applications
Hands-on Lab Exercises
- Practical exercises for deploying and managing applications
- Real-world scenarios and problem-solving
Course Summary and Next Steps
- Recap of key concepts
- Further learning resources and certification paths
Understanding Containers & Kubernetes:
Introduction to Containers:
Containers are lightweight, portable units that encapsulate an application and its dependencies, allowing it to run consistently across various computing environments. They offer a more efficient alternative to traditional virtual machines by sharing the host operating system’s kernel, which results in faster startup times and reduced overhead.
Container Tools:
- Docker: The most widely used containerization platform, Docker simplifies the creation, deployment, and management of containers. It boasts a vast ecosystem, including Docker Hub, which hosts millions of pre-built images.
- Podman: A daemonless container engine that offers a similar experience to Docker but emphasizes security by running containers as non-root by default. It integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes and supports Docker-compatible commands.
- Kubernetes: An orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It ensures high availability, load balancing, and efficient resource utilization.
Container Foundations:
Understanding the following concepts is crucial for mastering containers:
- Images: Immutable templates used to create containers.
- Containers: Running instances of images.
- Registries: Repositories where images are stored and shared.
- Orchestration: Managing multiple containers across a cluster of machines.
Ease of Use:
Containers simplify application deployment by eliminating environment inconsistencies. With tools like Docker and Podman, developers can easily build, ship, and run applications in any environment.
Importance of Learning Containers:
Proficiency in containers is vital for modern DevOps practices, enhancing development speed, scalability, and resource efficiency. Mastering containers and orchestration tools like Kubernetes is essential for anyone involved in cloud-native development and microservices architecture.
Containers are lightweight, portable units that encapsulate an application and its dependencies, allowing it to run consistently across various computing environments. They offer a more efficient alternative to traditional virtual machines by sharing the host operating system’s kernel, which results in faster startup times and reduced overhead.
Container Tools:
- Docker: The most widely used containerization platform, Docker simplifies the creation, deployment, and management of containers. It boasts a vast ecosystem, including Docker Hub, which hosts millions of pre-built images.
- Podman: A daemonless container engine that offers a similar experience to Docker but emphasizes security by running containers as non-root by default. It integrates seamlessly with Kubernetes and supports Docker-compatible commands.
- Kubernetes: An orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It ensures high availability, load balancing, and efficient resource utilization.
What are the key problems solved by Containers:
Moving to containers and utilizing container orchestration tools like Docker, Podman, Kubernetes, and OpenShift resolves several key problems in software development and deployment. These include:
- Environment Consistency:
- Problem: Applications often behave differently in development, testing, and production due to variations in environment configurations.
- Solution: Containers encapsulate all dependencies, ensuring consistent behavior across different environments.
- Resource Efficiency:
- Problem: Traditional virtual machines (VMs) are resource-intensive, leading to inefficient utilization of computing resources.
- Solution: Containers share the host OS kernel, reducing overhead and enabling more efficient resource utilization.
- Scalability:
- Problem: Manually scaling applications to handle varying workloads is complex and error-prone.
- Solution: Orchestration tools like Kubernetes and OpenShift automate scaling, adding or removing container instances based on demand.
- Isolation:
- Problem: Conflicts arise when multiple applications with different dependencies run on the same system.
- Solution: Containers provide isolated environments, preventing dependency conflicts.
- Portability:
- Problem: Applications are often tied to specific environments, making it difficult to move them between on-premises, cloud, and hybrid setups.
- Solution: Containers ensure applications can run anywhere, promoting portability.
- Deployment Speed:
- Problem: Deploying applications and updates can be slow and cumbersome with traditional methods.
- Solution: Containers enable faster deployments and updates by packaging applications and their dependencies into a single unit.
- Microservices Architecture:
- Problem: Building and managing microservices architectures is challenging with traditional deployment methods.
- Solution: Containers simplify the development and deployment of microservices, providing isolated and scalable units for each service.
- DevOps Practices:
- Problem: Integrating development and operations workflows can be difficult.
- Solution: Containers support DevOps practices by enabling continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), streamlining the software development lifecycle.
- High Availability and Disaster Recovery:
- Problem: Ensuring high availability and quick recovery from failures is challenging with monolithic architectures.
- Solution: Orchestration tools provide self-healing capabilities, automatically restarting failed containers and distributing workloads to ensure high availability.
By addressing these problems, containers and their orchestration tools significantly enhance the efficiency, reliability, and scalability of software deployment and operations.
Container Foundations:
Understanding the following concepts is crucial for mastering containers:
- Images: Immutable templates used to create containers.
- Containers: Running instances of images.
- Registries: Repositories where images are stored and shared.
- Orchestration: Managing multiple containers across a cluster of machines.
Ease of Use:
Containers simplify application deployment by eliminating environment inconsistencies. With tools like Docker and Podman, developers can easily build, ship, and run applications in any environment.
Importance of Learning Containers:
Proficiency in containers is vital for modern DevOps practices, enhancing development speed, scalability, and resource efficiency. Mastering containers and orchestration tools like Kubernetes is essential for anyone involved in cloud-native development and microservices architecture.
Container orchestration:
Container orchestration automates the deployment, management, scaling, and networking of containers. As applications grow in complexity and scale, manually managing containers becomes impractical. Orchestration tools like Kubernetes and OpenShift address these challenges by providing a framework for efficient container management.
Kubernetes: An open-source orchestration platform, Kubernetes manages containerized applications across a cluster of machines. It automates tasks such as:
- Scaling: Adjusting the number of container instances based on demand.
- Load Balancing: Distributing network traffic across containers to ensure optimal performance.
- Self-Healing: Restarting failed containers, rescheduling them on healthy nodes, and replacing them.
- Storage Orchestration: Automatically mounting storage systems, such as local storage, cloud providers, and network storage.
OpenShift: A Kubernetes-based platform by Red Hat, OpenShift extends Kubernetes with additional features, including:
- Developer-Friendly Tools: Integrated development tools for building, deploying, and running applications.
- Security Enhancements: Advanced security features like role-based access control (RBAC) and integrated CI/CD pipelines.
- Enterprise Support: Comprehensive support and certification for enterprise-grade applications.
Problems Solved by Container Orchestration:
- Complexity Management: Simplifies the deployment and management of microservices architectures.
- Resource Optimization: Efficiently allocates resources to containers, maximizing utilization.
- High Availability: Ensures applications remain available and resilient to failures.
- Scalability: Easily scales applications to handle varying workloads without manual intervention.
- Consistency: Maintains a consistent environment across development, testing, and production.
By automating these critical aspects, container orchestration enables organizations to deploy applications faster, maintain high availability, and optimize resource usage, ultimately supporting agile and scalable software development practices.
What is Kubernetes:
Kubernetes is an open-source platform designed to automate the deployment, scaling, and operation of containerized applications. Understanding its core concepts is essential for effectively using Kubernetes in any development or production environment. Here are the basics to get you started:
Core Components:
- Cluster: A set of nodes (physical or virtual machines) that run containerized applications managed by Kubernetes.
- Master Node: The control plane responsible for managing the cluster. It consists of several key components:
- API Server: The front-end that exposes the Kubernetes API.
- etcd: A distributed key-value store for configuration data and state management.
- Controller Manager: Ensures the desired state of the cluster by running controllers.
- Scheduler: Assigns workloads to nodes based on resource availability and requirements.
- Worker Nodes: Nodes where the actual applications run. Each node includes:
- Kubelet: An agent that ensures containers are running in a Pod.
- Kube-Proxy: Manages network rules to allow communication to and from Pods.
- Container Runtime: Software responsible for running containers (e.g., Docker, containerd).
- Master Node: The control plane responsible for managing the cluster. It consists of several key components:
- Pods: The smallest deployable units in Kubernetes. A Pod can contain one or more containers that share storage, network, and a specification for how to run the containers.
- Services: Abstractions that define a logical set of Pods and a policy to access them. They provide stable IP addresses and DNS names for Pods.
- Namespaces: Virtual clusters within a Kubernetes cluster. They provide a mechanism to partition resources and manage them separately.
- Deployments: Define the desired state for application Pods and ReplicaSets. They ensure that the specified number of replicas of a Pod are running at any given time.
Key Concepts for Learning:
- YAML Configuration: Kubernetes uses YAML files for configuration. Understanding the structure and syntax of these files is crucial.
- Kubectl: The command-line tool for interacting with the Kubernetes API server. It’s essential for managing Kubernetes components and resources.
- Labels and Selectors: Labels are key-value pairs attached to objects, and selectors enable filtering and grouping of these objects.
- Persistent Storage: Managing storage with Kubernetes involves understanding Persistent Volumes (PVs) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs).
- Networking: Kubernetes networking includes concepts like Cluster IP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer services, as well as Ingress controllers for managing external access.
Practical Steps:
- Set Up a Local Cluster: Tools like Minikube or Kind are great for running Kubernetes locally for practice and experimentation.
- Hands-On Tutorials: Follow step-by-step tutorials to deploy applications, manage resources, and troubleshoot common issues.
- Explore Documentation: The official Kubernetes documentation is a comprehensive resource for understanding deeper concepts and advanced features.
- Join the Community: Participate in Kubernetes forums, attend meetups, and contribute to discussions to learn from the community and stay updated on best practices.
How OpenShift builds on Kubernetes:
OpenShift builds on Kubernetes by adding enterprise-grade features and developer-friendly tools. It enhances Kubernetes with integrated CI/CD pipelines, streamlined application development, and robust security features such as role-based access control (RBAC).
OpenShift also provides a comprehensive web console and developer tools that simplify the process of building, deploying, and scaling applications.
Additionally, OpenShift includes support and certification for enterprise environments, ensuring stability and reliability.
By extending Kubernetes, OpenShift offers a more cohesive and manageable platform for both development and operations teams, facilitating the adoption of containerization and cloud-native practices.
What are the key differences between Kubernetes and OpenShift?
- Base Platform:
- Kubernetes: Open-source container orchestration platform.
- OpenShift: Built on Kubernetes with additional features and tools for enterprise use.
- Installation:
- Kubernetes: Requires manual setup and configuration.
- OpenShift: Provides a streamlined installation process with Ansible playbooks and other tools.
- User Interface:
- Kubernetes: Command-line interface (kubectl) and a basic web dashboard.
- OpenShift: Enhanced web console with developer and administrator views.
- Security:
- Kubernetes: Basic security features; user needs to configure advanced security.
- OpenShift: Enhanced security out-of-the-box, including SELinux, RBAC, and integrated security policies.
- Build and Deployment:
- Kubernetes: Requires external tools like Jenkins for CI/CD pipelines.
- OpenShift: Integrated CI/CD pipeline with Jenkins, Source-to-Image (S2I), and deployment strategies.
- Networking:
- Kubernetes: Uses standard network plugins like Calico, Flannel.
- OpenShift: Uses OpenShift SDN with advanced networking features.
- Storage:
- Kubernetes: Supports standard persistent volume plugins.
- OpenShift: Supports additional storage solutions and easier dynamic provisioning.
- Multi-Tenancy:
- Kubernetes: Basic multi-tenancy features.
- OpenShift: Enhanced multi-tenancy with better project and resource isolation.
- Authentication:
- Kubernetes: Uses tokens and external authentication systems.
- OpenShift: Integrated OAuth server, LDAP, and other authentication methods.
- Operator Framework:
- Kubernetes: Supports operators for managing applications.
- OpenShift: Enhanced OperatorHub with certified operators for various applications.
- Support and Certification:
- Kubernetes: Community support; third-party vendor support.
- OpenShift: Red Hat provides enterprise-grade support and certifications.
- Enterprise Readiness:
- Kubernetes: Requires additional tools and configurations for enterprise readiness.
- OpenShift: Ready for enterprise use with built-in monitoring, logging, and compliance features.
- Developer Experience:
- Kubernetes: Requires more manual setup for developer tools.
- OpenShift: Offers integrated developer tools, including web IDE, CI/CD pipelines, and application templates.
- Resource Management:
- Kubernetes: Standard resource management features.
- OpenShift: Advanced resource quotas and limits, including horizontal and vertical pod autoscaling.
- Service Catalog:
- Kubernetes: Requires installation of the Kubernetes Service Catalog.
- OpenShift: Built-in service catalog with predefined services and easy integration with third-party services.
These differences highlight how OpenShift builds on Kubernetes to provide a more comprehensive, secure, and user-friendly platform for enterprise environments.