5 steps to getting started with Red Hat OpenShift

Ready to get started with Red Hat® OpenShift®? We have compiled this checklist to help you set up your environment and start building and deploying your first applications. Our list contains tips and best practices that cover everything from deploying your first OpenShift clusters in Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console to the operators every Red Hat OpenShift environment should have. 

The Red Hat Customer Portal is your starting point for building your first application with Red Hat OpenShift. The Red Hat OpenShift product page in the Customer Portal provides quick access to:

• Product documentation.
• Knowledgebase and community discussions.
• Critical security advisories.
• Self-service and live support options.

After familiarizing yourself with the Customer Portal, log into Hybrid Cloud Console to install Red Hat OpenShift and register your first cluster. There are 4 methods available to install a cluster, and your method will depend on the cluster type required.

Install Red Hat OpenShift and your first cluster

After selecting your method, follow the documentation to install Red Hat OpenShift and register your first cluster. The documentation provides platform-specific instructions for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and others.

1. Use the OpenShift installer to generate a configuration file to set network, storage, and authentication settings.
2. Deploy the cluster using the OpenShift installer.
3. Verify the cluster installation in Hybrid Cloud Console. 

Use Hybrid Cloud Console to manage Red Hat OpenShift

Hybrid Cloud Console includes tools for automating code deployment, databases, server provisioning, and application testing. Use Hybrid Cloud Console to:

• Access Red Hat Insights to identify and remediate potential security, performance, and availability threats to your Red Hat infrastructure.
• Get information on Red Hat subscription tools to manage your Red Hat products.
• Track costs for your clouds and containers across Red Hat products.

Authenticate and authorize users

The first step after installation is configuring and managing user authentication for OpenShift clusters. Red Hat OpenShift supports multiple identity providers, including htpasswd, Keystone, lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), Google, GitHub, and others.

Learn more about authentication and authorization.

Configure and manage storage

Red Hat OpenShift supports persistent and ephemeral data storage for your clusters, whether you are using on-premise, cloud, or hybrid cloud infrastructure.

• Persistent is used for stateful applications that require persistent storage.
• Ephemeral is used for stateless applications.

Learn more about storage management.

Install and configure logging

Logging is a separate subsystem that you install alongside Red Hat OpenShift. Logging can collect and aggregate logs from your clusters, including node system audit logs, application container logs, and infrastructure logs.

Before installing the logging component, you will need to deploy the OpenShift Elasticsearch and Red Hat OpenShift logging operators.

Logging can be installed using the web console or the command line interface.

Learn more about logging.

Configure and use the monitoring stack

Unlike logging, the OpenShift monitoring stack is installed as part of the Red Hat OpenShift installation. The monitoring stack is preconfigured, preinstalled, and self-updating. You can also set up monitoring for user-defined projects in addition to the default monitoring.

Use the web console to monitor metrics, alerts, and dashboards.

Learn more about the monitoring stack.

Allow Telemetry for Red Hat OpenShift

Telemetry collects anonymized information about OpenShift clusters and components from installations worldwide. Red Hat uses this information to make improvements to the Red Hat OpenShift experience. None of the information is shared with third parties and you can opt out of Telemetry at any time.

Learn more about Telemetry.

What are operators?

Operators extend the functionality of an OpenShift cluster and make it simpler for you to manage your applications. As a core part of Red Hat OpenShift, operators are used for automating the installation, configuration, and management of Red Hat OpenShift features and other Kubernetes-native applications.

Red Hat OpenShift OperatorHub is your source for certified operators from software vendor partners and the open source community.