Red Hat® OpenShift® Virtualization - Tech Preview on IBM Z® and IBM® LinuxONE is available, together with the Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18, which is required to run OpenShift Virtualization.

About Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization

OpenShift Virtualization meets the needs of clients who want to modernize their applications to containers, while also running virtual machines (VMs) in a more modern and efficient way, enabling coexistence between existing and next-gen virtual machines and containers. OpenShift Virtualization provides:

A path to infrastructure modernization

Use Red Hat OpenShift’s modern application development processes and tools for the virtual workloads to expedite the modernization of VM-based applications and prepare for future investments in cloud-native development and artificial intelligence (AI).

Centralized management

Simplify operations with a single platform for VMs and containers. As a result, standardize infrastructure deployment and maintain all workloads using a common, consistent set of established, enterprise tools.

Faster time to production

Streamline infrastructure and application delivery with a platform that supports self-service options and integrations with CI/CD pipelines. With OpenShift Virtualization, developers can build, test, and deploy workloads faster, accelerating time to market.

OpenShift Virtualization – Tech Preview for IBM Z and IBM® LinuxONE

OpenShift Virtualization Operator for IBM Z and IBM® LinuxONE can be downloaded from OperaturHub and must be installed on top of a Red Hat OpenShift 4.18 cluster in a LPAR, no separate KVM installation is required. 

OpenShift Virtualization for IBM Z and IBM® LinuxONE specifically manages KVM guests, excluding IBM z/VM®, VMware, and other hypervisors. Additionally, it only supports guests based on the s390x architecture.

OpenShift Virtualization provides integration with OperatorHub for easy installation, OpenShift UI and CLI for management, storage management with IBM Fusion Data Foundation or Local Storage, network management with SDN for VMs, cluster logging and monitoring of the VMs, and high availability within the cluster.

For the Tech Preview for IBM Z and IBM® LinuxONE refer to the Red Hat documentation. Minimum required resources for OpenShift Virtualization Operator are aligned with the minimum required resources for a Red Hat OpenShift cluster. Each deployed VM requires a minimum of 1GB of additional resources, depending on the VM specifics and the used workload. It’s recommended to plan for additional IFLs, memory, and storage resources for the individual workload on top of the cluster.

Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization on IBM Z and IBM® LinuxONE brings modern application management and tools to VMs to expedite the modernization of existing applications. It provides management efficiencies by monitoring the health and performance of VMs and containers side by side.