Getting started with OpenShift Virtualization

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization provides a modern platform to run and deploy new and existing virtual machine workloads.

Try Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Try Red Hat OpenShift in our free Developer Sandbox
OSVirt_Sandbox_featured_image
Overview Getting started Download/Sign up

OpenShift Virtualization

OpenShift Virtualization brings virtualized workloads directly into the development, deployment, and management workflows within OpenShift. Whether you're new to OpenShift Virtualization or an experienced user, there are learning paths, articles, and other resources that will help you reach the next phase of your virtualization journey.

Virtualization and Red Hat OpenShift

Getting started with OpenShift Virtualization

Introduction to OpenShift Virtualization and Application Modernization using the Developer Sandbox

Learn how to create and manage your virtual machines (VMs) using Red Hat OpenShift and the Developer Sandbox.

 

Learn more

Getting started with OpenShift Virtualization

Explore the features and functionalities of OpenShift Virtualization by installing and configuring a basic environment.


Learn more

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization: FAQs from the field

Get answers to your questions about OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

Windows failover clustering in Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization using SCSI-3 persistent reservation

The Microsoft Windows Server family of operating systems comes with the ability to set up clustered storage. 

 

Learn more

Learn OpenShift Virtualization: 7 training resources to help you to get started

Check out more resources to get started with OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

OpenShift Virtualization video series

Check out this comprehensive video series on OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

Migrating VMs

The Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) migrates VMs at scale to Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization and only requires a few simple steps. MTV supports live migration, both cold and warm. MTV currently supports three platforms: VMware VSphere, Red Hat Virtualization, and OpenStack. The latest version of the tool adds support for migration directly from ESX/ESXi (embedded hypervisor software) using software development kit endpoints and migration of OVAs (single file distribution of the OVF vile package) created in VMware.

Live migration moves a running VM to a different node in a cluster without disrupting the workload. There are two types of migrations, cold and warm. Warm migration is done on an active and running VM. During warm migrations, data is copied during a During cold migrations, the VM at the original host is shut down while data is copied. precopy stage while the source VM is still running. The VM is then shut down and the balance of the data is copied during the cutover stage.

For migrating hundreds or more VMs to OpenShift Virtualization, Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform and MTV can be combined.

Migration Toolkit for Virtualization

Ease the adoption of Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization with the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization. With migration functionality, quickly migrate virtual machine workloads to a single platform.

 

Learn more

Get started with the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization

MTV enables you to migrate virtual machines from VMware vSphere, Red Hat Virtualization, or OpenStack to OpenShift Virtualization running on Red Hat OpenShift.

 

Learn more

Demonstration of Red Hat Migration Toolkit for Virtualization

See how MTV simplifies the migration process. 

 

Learn More

VMware to OCPv Migration

See a demo of how to migrate your virtual machines from vSphere to OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

Live Migration

Take a deep dive into live migration.

 

Learn more

Demystifying Networking

OpenShift Virtualization can use OpenVirtual Network (OVN)-Kubernetes, OpenShift Software Defined Network, or other certified network plug-ins. Container network interfaces (CNIs) provide a pluggable interface to configure network interfaces in containers. Multus CNIs are CNI plug-ins that can run other CNI plug-ins. OpenShift uses Multus to attach multiple network interfaces to pods. A software bridge is a link layer device that behaves like a network switch, sending packets between interfaces that are connected to it. A bridge on a RHEL host emulates a hardware bridge or in virtual environments, integrates VMs to the same network as the host.

Software Defined Network and Services

Review instructions for configuring and managing your OpenShift Container Platform cluster network, including DNS, ingress, and the Pod network.

 

Learn more

Open Virtual Network-Kubernetes

Find out more about OVN-Kubernetes network plug-in.

 

Learn more

Multus

Get to know more about the Multus CNI plug-in.

 

Learn more

Bridged networking

Find out more about network bridges. 

 

Learn more

What about storage?

OpenShift supports multiple types of storage for on-premise and cloud providers. Container storage for persistent and non-persistent data can be managed in OpenShift. OpenShift Virtualization uses persistent volumes (PVs) with shared storage across worker nodes which are linked as persistent volume claims (PVCs). Pvs let cluster administrators provision persistent storage for a cluster. With PVCs, developers can request access to PVs without working about the underlying storage infrastructure.

Understanding OpenShift storage concepts

Learn all about the types of storage supported by OpenShift.

 

Learn more

Storage configuration

Learn how to configure a default storage class, storage profiles, Containerized Data Importer (CDI), data volumes, and automatic boot source updates.

 

Learn more

Store persistent data in Red Hat OpenShift using PVCs

Learn how to create a PVC and access it with your pod.

 

Learn more

Multi-cluster Hosting

OpenShift Virtualization supports cross-cluster management with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes (RHACM). RHACM manages the fleet which provides multi-cluster management, cross-cluster observability and cross-cluster resource searching for admins.

OpenShift Virtualization supports the use of disaster recovery (DR) to make sure that an environment can recover for an outage. Two methods are supported, metropolitan disaster recovery (Metro-DR) and regional-DR. Metro-DR leverages synchronous replication which writes to storage on both the primary and secondary sites so that the data is synchronized between sites. Regional-DR uses asynchronous replication where data from the primary site is synchronized with the secondary site at regular intervals. The choice of DR is determined by latency and throughput requirements. OpenShift GitOps manages the application and Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management running on the hub cluster orchestrates the failover.

OpenShift Virtualization also supports the use OpenShift Data Foundation Metro-DR solution or OpenShift Data Foundation Regional-DR. Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management allows the management of multiple OpenShift clusters including deployed applications and is needed for both OpenShift Data Foundation Disaster Recovery solutions.

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization disaster recovery guide

Review this detailed guide to disaster recovery for OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

Use OpenShift Data Foundation disaster recovery to protect VMs

Leverage OpenShift Data Foundation (ODF) disaster recovery to protect your VMs.

 

Learn more

Self-service VMs

Platform engineers or admins can create VM templates which are preconfigured VM images that include an OS, applications, and configuration required to deploy new VMs. VM templates ensure that all VMs are standardized, can be quickly deployed, are identical, allow for rapid scaling of virtual environments, and makes management and maintenance of the virtual environments easier.

These templates can used by developers to create multiple identical VMs that can be requested as needed. Once created, these VM templates can be used for disaster recovery, development and testing, production environments, etc.

Building virtual machines with Red Hat Developer Hub: The what, why, and how

Increasing developer productivity with OpenShift Virtualization and Red Hat Developer Hub, Part I.

 

Learn more

A self-service approach to building virtual machines at scale

Increasing developer productivity with OpenShift Virtualization and Red Hat Developer Hub, Part II.

 

Learn more

Create software templates for VMs with OpenShift Virtualization

Increasing developer productivity with OpenShift Virtualization and Red Hat Developer Hub, Part III.

 

Learn more

Creating Windows Golden Image for OpenShift Virtualization

See how to use OpenShift Virtualization Windows UEFI installer pipeline to create customized Windows 11 and 10 golden images.

 

Learn more

Creating VMs from templates

Read how to create a VM from a template by using the web console.

 

Learn more

OpenShift Virtualization video series - VM Custom template

See how to create a custom VM template.

 

Learn more

OpenShift Virtualization on Red Hat OpenShift Service on Amazon Web Services (ROSA)

Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA)

Unified platform to build, modernize, and deploy applications at scale on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

 

Learn more

OpenShift Virtualization installation and usage

Learn how to use OpenShift Virtualization in OpenShift Service on AWS.

 

Learn more

Deploying virtual machines in OpenShift Virtualization on ROSA

Learn how to deploy virtual machines in OpenShift Virtualization.

 

Learn more

OpenShift Virtualization for vSphere administrators

Feature image for Red Hat OpenShift
Article
May 16, 2024

OpenShift Virtualization for vSphere admins: Introduction to network configurations

Alan Cowles

Explore how virtualization administrators have interacted with previous...

Learn more
Feature image for Red Hat OpenShift
Article
May 20, 2024

OpenShift Virtualization for vSphere admins: A change in the traditional storage...

Alan Cowles

Discover how a containerized virtualization solution presents an entirely new...

Learn more
Virtualization share image
Article
May 23, 2024

OpenShift Virtualization for VMware vSphere admins: Disaster and site recovery

Alan Cowles

Learn how to protect your virtual machine workloads using OpenShift...

Learn more
secure coding - simple
Article
Aug 01, 2024

Minimize downtime when migrating from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization

Vamsi Ravula

Understand how Red Hat Service Interconnect enables a disruption free...

Learn more

More OpenShift Virtualization resources

Get started with the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization share image

Get started with the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization

This learning exercise explains the requirements for the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization and how to add the operator.

 

Learn more

Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS

Storage and data protection for OpenShift Virtualization

Understand what it means for a storage solution to support virtual machines running in OpenShift Virtualization.

 

 

Learn more

Featured image for Red Hat OpenShift AI.

Deploy a Redis cluster on OpenShift Virtualization

Learn how to deploy a Redis cluster based on virtual machines powered by Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.

 

 

Learn more

OS_Virt_GitOps_featured_image

Manage OpenShift virtual machines with GitOps

Managing virtual machines in an Infrastructure as Code (IaC) environment requires efficiency and reliability.

 

Learn more

OpenShift virtualization and application modernization using the Developer Sandbox

Learn how to create and manage your virtual machines (VMs) using Red Hat OpenShift and the Developer Sandbox.

 

Start this learning path now

OSVirt_Sandbox_featured_image