Data Backup Digest

Red Hat is considered by many to be the industry leader in open source software and computing. What some do not realize, however, is the fact that Red Hat has played in a very active role in cloud computing. Moreover, their recent introduction of OpenShift v2.0, which serves as an upgrade to their previous platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offering, is highly regarded as the next big step in onsite cloud computing within an enterprise setting.

What is OpenShift?

There are numerous versions of the OpenShift service, with each specific version offering different functionality. Red Hat's public PaaS, known as OpenShift Online, includes a free plan that offers limited functionality. Even with its limitations, OpenShift Online can still support API development, management and scaling throughout a public cloud architecture.

OpenShift Enterprise is meant specifically for enterprises that would whether operate their own, privatized cloud. Although OpenShift Enterprise requires an annual software subscription, this PaaS offering can streamline the entire API development process, ultimately speeding up service delivery and ensuring the achievement of development deadlines.

The final version of OpenShift, known as OpenShift Origin, is meant for use by developers. Available completely free, OpenShift Origin even provides the entire source code for its software. This lets independent developers play around with the software on their own systems.

Ashish Badani, GM of Red Hat's cloud business unit, spoke enthusiastically about the new PaaS offering. “This platform will realize the high-end feature set that is available with the OpenShift online version of this platform”, he said during the initial product unveiling. “There are many versions of OpenShift platform, which are very useful for a wide range of customers, and Red Hat release the updates of these platform three to four times a year." He continued by saying that these releases “will be very useful for the security and efficiency of this cloud based open source platform," and "This console is very useful for those developers of the applications who want to manage them effectively and efficiently.”

Support

OpenShift provides a great deal of support for various programming languages, database structures and system frameworks. Programming environments supported include JavaScript, Ruby, Python, PHP, Perl and Java, while support databases include MySQL, PostgreSQL and MongoDB. Some supported system frameworks include Rack for Ruby, WSGI for Python, PSGI for Perl, CakePHP, Codelgniter, Django, Perl Dancer and more.
Pricing Plans

As mentioned earlier, some versions of OpenShift, particularly OpenShift Online and OpenShift Origin, can be used without paying a cent. However, the functionality of each version is limited compared to OpenShift Enterprise. For this version, users will need to maintain a Silver Plan at a base price of $20 per month. While this price is subject to rise based on website traffic, the Silver Plan includes a bevy of special features and functionality. This includes increased storage space over users of the free software, technical support available directly from Red Hat's dedicated team of IT professionals, custom SSL domains, automatic scaling, free software upgrades and unlimited access to Red Hat's comprehensive base of resources.