Getting started with Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud

Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud is a managed Kubernetes service to create your own cluster of compute hosts where you can deploy and manage containerized apps on IBM Cloud. Combined with an intuitive user experience, built-in security and isolation, and advanced tools to secure, manage, and monitor your cluster workloads, you can rapidly deliver highly available and secure containerized apps in the public cloud.

Ready to create your first cluster?

If you already have an IBM Cloud account and want to get started immediately:

Create a cluster now

Don't have an account? Sign up for IBM Cloud

Use this page to move through the main setup flow: review the service, prepare your account, plan your environment, create a cluster, and deploy a sample app.

Review the basics

Start with the core concepts, terminology, and benefits. For more information, see Understanding Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud.

If you already know the basics, continue to the next section.

Prepare your account

Make sure that your IBM Cloud account is ready for cluster creation. For setup steps, see Preparing your account to create clusters.

You must be logged in to IBM Cloud before you create a cluster. If you don't have an account yet, you can create one.

Pricing considerations

Pricing varies based on worker node flavor, number of nodes, and infrastructure type. For more information, see Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud pricing.

Choose your infrastructure type

Before you create a cluster, choose the infrastructure type that fits your environment.

VPC
Worker nodes are provisioned as virtual server instances on VPC infrastructure. VPC is the recommended infrastructure type for new clusters. It provides network isolation by default and supports the latest Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud features, including dedicated hosts and secure by default.
Classic
Worker nodes are provisioned on virtual or bare metal machines on IBM Cloud classic infrastructure. Use Classic if you require bare metal worker nodes, software-defined storage (SDS) flavors, or connections to existing classic infrastructure resources.
Satellite
Worker nodes are provisioned on your own infrastructure, including on-premises hardware or virtual machines in other cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and GCP. Use Satellite when you need to run IBM Cloud-managed clusters outside of IBM Cloud data centers.

For a detailed comparison including worker node options and availability, see Cluster environment strategy.

Create a cluster

Review your deployment options in the following table.

Options for creating a cluster
Type Level Time Description
Quickstart Beginner 30 minutes Create a pre-configured OpenShift Virtualization Service cluster with virtual machine capabilities ready to use. For more information, see Quickstart: Creating a Virtualization Service cluster.
Tutorial Beginner 30 minutes Create a small, 2-node cluster to begin testing Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud. For more information, see Creating a 2-node VPC cluster by using Schematics.
Tutorial Beginner 45 minutes Follow the steps in this tutorial to create your first cluster by using the IBM Cloud CLI. This tutorial uses Classic infrastructure. For more information, see Creating a classic cluster from the CLI.
Tutorial Beginner 1 hour Follow the steps in this tutorial to create your own Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), then create an Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud cluster by using the CLI. For more information, see Create a cluster in your own Virtual Private Cloud.
Deployable architecture: Quickstart variation Beginner 1 hour This deployable architecture creates one VPC cluster with two worker nodes and a public endpoint. Note that the Quickstart variation is not highly available or validated for the IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services. For more information, see Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud on VPC landing zone
Deployable architecture: Standard variation Intermediate 1-3 hours This deployable architecture is based on the IBM Cloud for Financial Services reference architecture. The architecture creates secure and compliant clusters on a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) network. For more information, see Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud on VPC landing zone.
Deployable architecture: Community Registry Intermediate 1-4 hours There are more deployable architectures available in the Community Registry. Review the options to see if they fit your use case. For more information, see Catalog and select Community Registry from the drop-down menu.
Deployable architecture: OpenShift AI on IBM® Intermediate 1-2 hours This deployable architecture creates a new OpenShift cluster that runs GPU worker nodes and includes the Red Hat OpenShift AI operator. For more information, see OpenShift AI on IBM Cloud in the Catalog.
Custom deployment Intermediate 1-3 hours Create a custom cluster on Classic infrastructure.
Custom deployment Intermediate 1-3 hours Create a custom cluster on VPC infrastructure.

Already have a cluster? Learn how to access it and continue to the next step to deploy a sample app.

Deploy a sample app

After you create your cluster, deploy a sample app from the Red Hat OpenShift console, you can deploy one of the built-in service catalog apps and expose the app with a route.

  1. From the navigation menu, change from the Administrator perspective to Developer perspective.

  2. Click +Add > View all samples > Go.

  3. Wait a few minutes for the resources to deploy.

  4. Check the status from the Topology pane by clicking your Go app and reviewing the sidebar.

  5. When the deployment is complete. Click the Open URL button to view your app in a web browser.

    Hello World!

  6. To clean up the resources that you created, delete your deployment from the Topology pane.

Quick actions

If you already have a cluster, use these links to continue:

Access your cluster
Connect to your cluster and run kubectl commands. For more information, see Accessing clusters.
Install the CLI
Set up your local development environment. For more information, see Installing the CLI.
Deploy your first app
Get hands-on with a sample application. For more information, see Deploying apps.

Need to check pricing first? View Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud pricing.

What's next?

Continue with one of these curated learning paths: