We are excited to announce the availability of OpenShift version 4.15 for your clusters that are running in Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud (ROKS). This marks our 14th release of OpenShift.

Our OpenShift service ensures a straightforward upgrade experience by using the IBM Cloud console, sparing you the need for extensive OpenShift expertise with just a few clicks! For more information and methods on upgrading your cluster, look here.

When you deploy new clusters, the default OpenShift version remains 4.14 (soon to be 4.15); however, you have the flexibility to opt for immediate deployment of version 4.15.

OpenShift version 4.15

In addition to all the great OpenShift features provided in this release, Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud version 4.15 also includes numerous component updates that our community is excited about. Here are a couple of highlights included in this release:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux CoreOS (RHCOS) and HyperShift: RHCOS is a lightweight operating system specifically designed for the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OCP). It represents the next generation of single-purpose container operating system technology while providing the same quality, security, and control measures that support Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). HyperShift is a middleware for hosting OpenShift control planes at scale. As such, we’ve introduced more deployments into the control plane, namely an Ignition server. You can learn more about this here.
  
  
• Secure by Default Cluster VPC Networking: This feature aims to significantly harden the security stature of clusters provisioned in IBM Cloud VPC. When provisioning a new cluster, networking restrictions are employed - only allowing connectivity that is necessary for the cluster to operate. If your new clusters require egress connectivity, additional steps must be performed. For detailed information about Secure by Default VPC Networking and how to operate within this environment, visit here.

To see the full list of IBM and Red Hat enhancements, visit Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud version 4.15 change log and OpenShift Container Platform 4.15 release notes for more details.

OpenShift version support updates

Now that Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud supports OpenShift version 4.15, clusters running version 4.12 are tentatively scheduled to be deprecated on July 17, 2024 with end of support tentatively scheduled for February 26, 2025. It is important to note clusters that run a deprecated OpenShift version may not receive fixes for security vulnerabilities until they are updated to a non-deprecated version.

As a reminder, if your cluster runs a deprecated or unsupported OpenShift version, review the potential impact of each OpenShift version update, and update today. If your cluster runs an archived OpenShift version, create a new cluster and deploy your apps to the new cluster. Here is the current support status for Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud clusters running an earlier OpenShift version:

• Clusters running OpenShift version 4.11 remain unsupported with end of support reached on March 6, 2024. Such clusters will not receive fixes for security vulnerabilities until they are updated to a deprecated or supported version.
  
  
• Clusters running OpenShift version 4.10 or earlier remain archived. For security reasons, IBM reserves the right to shut down the control planes of such clusters.

For general questions, engage our team via Slack by registering here and join the discussion in the #general or #openshift channels on our public Slack.