OpenShift 与 OpenStack：让云变得更简单
Both OpenShift and OpenStack were developed around 2010 and 2011, representing open-source technologies aimed at building scalable cloud platforms. They are suitable for deploying scalable systems in mixed-cloud environments. Historically, OpenStack was created earlier than OpenShift, and their technological evolution reflects the transition from virtual machines to containerized applications.
OpenShift operates on a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model, running on mainstream cloud services such as AWS and Google Cloud Platform, and is specifically designed for the development and operations of containerized applications. Users can manage their applications and services independently, allowing them to focus on optimizing their development workflows and DevOps processes.
OpenStack, on the other hand, provides Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) capabilities, enabling the conversion of physical servers into cloud services. This platform builds a distributed hardware virtualization infrastructure, encompassing core components such as virtual machines (configured with CPU cores and memory), virtual networks, and distributed storage.
In the context of container virtualization becoming the mainstream of cloud infrastructure, OpenShift and OpenStack, being mutually independent and non-interfering, are often combined to achieve more comprehensive cloud solutions.
For example, OpenShift can be deployed on infrastructure built by OpenStack as a third-party API service for managing containerized application deployments. It can also integrate both technologies within a single application. Additionally, OpenShift can be directly deployed on OpenStack cloud services.
The collaborative application of OpenShift and OpenStack covers the entire lifecycle from virtualized hardware configuration to the development and operations of containerized applications. This approach effectively reduces customer deployment costs, enhances workflow efficiency, and ensures the scalability of applications.
Therefore, OpenShift and OpenStack are widely applied in mixed-cloud strategies, particularly favored by large global organizations. The following will detail the advantages and disadvantages of both technologies and their common deployment scenarios.
As an open-source cloud platform, OpenStack's core functions include providing and allocating computing, network, and large-scale storage resources. In addition to APIs, it offers a web-based management interface, supporting advanced features such as user identity management, DNS services, and virtual machine image management. Its modular design allows users to flexibly deploy components based on their needs.
In practical applications, OpenStack is typically combined with OpenShift or similar Kubernetes management solutions to achieve parallel operation of virtual machines and containerized applications. The Magnum component, as a native container management service in OpenStack, supports the deployment and management of containerized applications.
The advantages of OpenStack lie in its ability to help enterprises build custom cloud infrastructures based on existing technologies, significantly reducing costs. Its modular architecture supports flexible configurations. Additionally, as an open-source software with high scalability, it is highly extensible.
However, OpenStack also faces challenges. Its complexity stems from a large number of independent components, requiring meticulous configuration, which makes the installation process cumbersome. Community documentation may lag behind technological advancements, affecting the pace of iteration. Despite these challenges, collaboration with professional service providers can mitigate these issues, though it may incur additional costs.
OpenShift focuses on building distributed, scalable applications and development environments, providing complete deployment, execution, management, and orchestration environments for containerized applications. Its integrated tools simplify modern development and deployment workflows, typically offered as PaaS, SaaS, and CaaS (Container as a Service) solutions to enterprises.
OpenShift uses a proprietary Kubernetes distribution, enabling cross-cloud and infrastructure boundary deployments, and providing a consistent user experience. The core functionalities of Kubernetes are enhanced with security and monitoring mechanisms, managed centrally through centralized policies. The Operator is a mechanism for packaging, deploying, and managing native Kubernetes applications. Native Kubernetes applications are those that are deployed on Kubernetes clusters and managed via the Kubernetes API and kubectl tools.
In OpenShift, the Operator mechanism is widely applied to achieve advanced features such as automated deployment, monitoring, and scaling. OpenShift's core advantage lies in its mixed-cloud capabilities, significantly accelerating development processes and shortening time-to-market. Additionally, its end-to-end security mechanisms, including identity authentication and authorization, effectively prevent network intrusions and data leaks, ensuring data protection.
Nevertheless, OpenShift has limitations: it supports only specific operating systems based on Red Hat, such as RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) and RHCOS (Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS). The installation process is relatively complex, and strict security policies may restrict the direct use of non-compatible Docker Hub containers.
In conclusion, OpenShift and OpenStack, as key technologies in enterprise virtualization, are widely applied in mixed-cloud environments, serving as indispensable tools for developers in building systems and platforms. This article aims to help readers deepen their understanding of the technical characteristics and application scenarios of both technologies.
