In today's rapidly evolving IT landscape, organizations face the challenge of building applications that can run consistently and reliably across various environments—from traditional on-premises infrastructure to multiple public clouds and edge locations. Red Hat's open hybrid cloud platform offers a comprehensive solution to this challenge, providing a consistent foundation for workload deployment and management across diverse environments.
As enterprises increasingly adopt hybrid and multi-cloud strategies, having a unified platform becomes essential for operational efficiency, security, and innovation. Red Hat's solution stands out by combining the flexibility of open source technologies with enterprise-grade stability and support.
What is the Red Hat Open Hybrid Cloud Platform?
The Red Hat open hybrid cloud platform is an integrated set of technologies that enables organizations to build, deploy, run, and manage applications consistently across on-premises, public cloud, and edge environments. At its core, the platform is built on open source technologies, making it inherently flexible and avoiding vendor lock-in.
This platform encompasses several key Red Hat products, including:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL): The foundation of the platform, providing a stable, secure, and consistent operating system layer.
- Red Hat OpenShift: A Kubernetes platform for container orchestration that adds developer and operations-focused tools.
- Red Hat OpenShift Platform Plus: An extended platform that adds advanced security, management, and registry capabilities.
- Red Hat Application Foundations: A set of application services, runtimes, and integration capabilities.
- Red Hat OpenShift AI: Machine learning operations (MLOps) tools for building, deploying, and managing AI/ML workloads.
Red Hat Open Hybrid Cloud Architecture
The architecture of Red Hat's hybrid cloud platform is designed with layered components that work together to provide a complete application platform. Let's explore the key architectural layers:
1. Advanced Management & Security Layer
At the top of the architecture sits the advanced management and security layer, which includes:
- Multicluster Management: Provides centralized visibility and control across Kubernetes clusters, enabling consistent policy enforcement, configuration, and application deployment.
- Cluster Security: Offers comprehensive security capabilities including vulnerability scanning, compliance checking, and runtime security.
- Global Registry: A centralized container image registry that supports multi-tenancy, replication, and security scanning.
- Cluster Data Management: Enables data protection, disaster recovery, and migration across clusters.
2. Integrated DevOps Services
This layer provides the tools and services that streamline the application development and deployment process:
- Service Mesh: Simplifies service-to-service communications with advanced routing, security, and observability capabilities.
- Serverless: Enables event-driven, auto-scaling application components that run only when needed.
- CI/CD Pipelines: Automates the building, testing, and deployment of applications.
- GitOps: Manages infrastructure and application configurations using Git repositories as the source of truth.
- Observability: Provides tracing, logging, and monitoring tools for comprehensive application visibility.
- Cost Management: Offers insights into resource usage and associated costs across environments.
3. Kubernetes Cluster Services
This layer expands on core Kubernetes with additional services essential for enterprise operations:
- Installation & Updates: Simplifies cluster deployment and provides over-the-air updates to keep clusters current.
- Networking & Ingress: Advanced networking capabilities, including software-defined networking and comprehensive ingress control.
- Storage: Integrated persistent storage options for stateful applications.
- Monitoring & Logging: Built-in tools for cluster health monitoring and centralized log management.
- Registry: An integrated container image registry for storing and managing container images.
- Authorization: Fine-grained access control mechanisms for cluster resources.
- Virtualization Support: Ability to run both containers and traditional virtual machines side by side.
- Operator Framework: Simplifies the deployment and management of complex applications on Kubernetes.
4. Kubernetes Orchestration Layer
At the core of the architecture is Kubernetes, the industry-standard container orchestration platform that manages container deployment, scaling, and operations. Red Hat is a leading contributor to the Kubernetes project, ensuring that OpenShift benefits from the latest innovations while maintaining enterprise stability.
5. Linux Foundation Layer
The foundation of the entire platform is Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), providing a consistent, secure, and reliable operating system that runs across all deployment environments. RHEL's container-optimized variants offer enhanced security and performance for containerized workloads.
Deployment Options: Flexibility Across Environments
One of the key strengths of Red Hat's open hybrid cloud platform is its deployment flexibility. Organizations can run the platform across a wide range of infrastructure options:
Self-Managed or Fully Managed: Deployment Models
Red Hat OpenShift, the container platform at the heart of the hybrid cloud solution, offers multiple deployment models to fit different organizational needs:
Self-Managed Options:
- On-Premises or Edge: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform and Red Hat Device Edge for complete control over your infrastructure.
- Partner-Provided Solutions: Integrated offerings like Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift and HPE GreenLake for Red Hat OpenShift.
- Public Cloud (Customer-Managed): Self-managed OpenShift running on your cloud provider accounts.
Managed Service Options:
- Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA): Jointly managed by Red Hat and AWS, integrated with AWS services and billing.
- Azure Red Hat OpenShift (ARO): Jointly managed by Red Hat and Microsoft, with integrated Azure services.
- Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud: Fully managed service on IBM Cloud infrastructure.
- OpenShift Dedicated on Google Cloud: Managed OpenShift service running on Google Cloud.
These options give organizations the flexibility to choose the right deployment model based on their existing skills, infrastructure investments, and operational preferences.
Installation Methods
Red Hat provides multiple installation methods to accommodate various operational requirements:
- Automated (Installer-Provisioned Infrastructure): Auto-provisions the underlying infrastructure, enabling self-service deployments.
- Full Control (User-Provisioned Infrastructure): Lets you bring your own hosts and choose your infrastructure automation tools for maximum flexibility.
- Interactive-Connected (Assisted Installer): A web-based guided experience for infrastructure-agnostic installations.
- Local-Disconnected (Agent-based Installer): Supports disconnected or air-gapped environments with automatable CLI-driven installations.
Red Hat vs. Competitors: A Feature Comparison
How does Red Hat's hybrid cloud platform compare to alternatives from other major vendors? Here's a detailed comparison:
| Feature | Red Hat | AWS | Microsoft Azure | Google Cloud | VMware |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| Hybrid Cloud | YES with disconnected | YES Disconnected with EKSAnywhere | YES | YES no disconnected | YES no disconnected |
| Multi Cloud | YES with disconnected | NO Disconnected with EKSAnywhere | NO | YES no disconnected | NO no disconnected |
| Multi-Cloud Management | YES | NO | NO | YES | Limited |
| Containers and VMs | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| Integrated AppDev | YES | DIY | YES | NO | YES |
| Application Services | YES | YES | YES | Limited | Limited |
| Customer Managed | YES | NO | YES | NO | YES |
| Managed Service | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO |
The comparison highlights Red Hat's unique position as the only platform that offers a truly open-source, full-featured solution with both hybrid and multi-cloud capabilities, including disconnected operation.
Key Benefits of Red Hat's Open Hybrid Cloud Platform
1. Consistency Across Environments
The platform provides a consistent experience across all environments, from development to production, and across on-premises, cloud, and edge locations. This consistency eliminates environment-specific issues and accelerates application delivery.
2. Avoid Vendor Lock-in
Built on open-source technologies and standards, the platform prevents vendor lock-in, giving organizations the freedom to deploy workloads wherever it makes the most business sense, now and in the future.
3. Enhanced Developer Productivity
Integrated developer tools, CI/CD pipelines, and self-service capabilities empower developers to focus on creating business value rather than wrestling with infrastructure concerns. The platform supports a wide range of programming languages, frameworks, and development approaches.
4. Operational Efficiency
Automation, unified management, and consistent operations across all environments reduce operational overhead and allow IT teams to manage more with less. The platform's focus on automation and self-service capabilities further enhances efficiency.
5. Enterprise-Grade Security
Built-in security features at every level of the stack—from the OS to the application—help protect applications and data. The platform includes vulnerability scanning, compliance checking, network segmentation, and runtime security.
6. Flexibility and Scalability
The platform scales from edge devices to global multi-cloud deployments, allowing organizations to start small and expand as needs grow. It supports both traditional and cloud-native applications, enabling modernization at your own pace.
Use Cases for Red Hat's Open Hybrid Cloud Platform
Application Modernization
The platform provides a path to modernize legacy applications incrementally, supporting both containerized microservices and traditional applications running in virtual machines. Organizations can modernize at their own pace while leveraging cloud-native capabilities.
Multi-Cloud Strategy Implementation
For organizations pursuing a multi-cloud strategy, the platform offers a consistent foundation across different cloud providers, preventing cloud-specific silos and enabling workload portability.
Edge Computing
The platform extends to edge locations with lightweight deployment options, disconnected operation capabilities, and remote management features. This enables use cases like retail store systems, telecommunications infrastructure, industrial IoT, and more.
AI/ML Workloads
With Red Hat OpenShift AI, the platform provides specialized tools for building, training, and deploying machine learning models in production. The integrated MLOps capabilities streamline the entire ML lifecycle.
Hybrid Development and Deployment
Organizations can develop applications in one environment (e.g., public cloud) and deploy them in another (e.g., on-premises) without code changes, taking advantage of each environment's unique characteristics.
Getting Started with Red Hat's Open Hybrid Cloud Platform
For organizations interested in exploring Red Hat's open hybrid cloud platform, there are several ways to get started:
- Developer Sandbox: Try OpenShift for free in a hosted environment without installation requirements.
- Self-Managed Trial: Deploy OpenShift in your own environment with a 60-day evaluation license.
- Managed Service Trial: Explore OpenShift as a managed service on your preferred cloud provider.
- Red Hat Labs Engagement: Work with Red Hat experts to plan and implement your hybrid cloud journey.
Conclusion
Red Hat's open hybrid cloud platform provides a comprehensive solution for organizations looking to build, deploy, and manage applications consistently across diverse environments. By combining the innovation of open source with enterprise-grade stability and support, Red Hat offers a unique value proposition in the hybrid cloud market.
As organizations continue to navigate complex IT landscapes and accelerate digital transformation initiatives, having a flexible yet consistent platform becomes increasingly important. Red Hat's solution addresses these needs while providing the security, operational efficiency, and developer productivity that modern enterprises require.
Whether you're just beginning your hybrid cloud journey or looking to optimize an existing strategy, Red Hat's open hybrid cloud platform offers the tools, flexibility, and support to help you succeed in today's dynamic IT landscape.