Introduction
Run your own applications alongside IBM Software Hub services. Securely, consistently, and in multiple physical locations.
As organizations modernize their data and AI platforms, the need to integrate custom services such as internal tools, domain-specific services and partner applications alongside enterprise data services continues to grow. IBM Software Hub 5.3 introduces a major new capability designed for this: Bring your own Application.
This new feature allows customers to deploy and operate their own applications directly within the Software Hub platform, either on the local cluster or across Remote Data Planes (RDPs). It brings unified security, lifecycle management, centralized monitoring, and resource governance of the IBM-provided services in IBM Software Hub to customer-provided services.
With BYOA, your platform becomes the foundation not just for IBM services, but for all the applications that matter to your business, running securely and consistently under a single operational model.
Why BYOA Matters
1. Expanded Use Cases Across IBM and Customer Services
BYOA allows the platform to manage services beyond the standard IBM Software Hub catalog. This includes:
- Run WatsonX samples in an on premises cluster
- IBM Code Engine samples
- General OpenShift-based applications
- Any containerized internal service your organization uses
The platform becomes highly extensible, covering internal apps and AI services under a unified deployment and security model.
2. Unified Integration and Security
BYOA benefits from Software Hubs security model; the authentication and authorization layer used across Software Hub. This means you can:
- Protect custom application endpoints with IBM Software Hub’s endpoint security
- Grant application access to specific Software Hub users or groups
- Enforce consistent security and audit policies across IBM and non-IBM services
- Control resource use with Software Hub Quotas
- Unified monitoring of IBM and non-IBM services.
The custom application feature enables both IBM and non-IBM services to share a unified user and group management system. This removes the need to grant OpenShift access for using non-IBM services, eliminating exposure of OpenShift to end users, and simplifying security in regulated or tightly controlled environments.
3. Separate Personas with minimum permissions
BYOA supports separate personas and roles: Instance Admins, Application Admins, and Application Users. Instance admins administer an instance of Software Hub. Application admins can create, delete, and maintain custom applications. Application users can access application endpoints. Each person has only the software hub permissions required, and no more.
4. Built for Multi-Cluster, Hybrid, and Distributed Deployments
BYOA is compatible with Remote Data Planes.
This means you can deploy services:
- On the local cluster
- Across multiple remote clusters
- Into autoscaling environments
- Onto special-resource clusters with GPUs, AI accelerators, FPGAs, or high-memory nodes
Applications automatically benefit from IBM Software Hub’s advanced scheduling and resource-awareness capabilities.
5. Data Sovereignty and Residency
With Remote Data Planes, data can remain in one location while being used by services deployed in another.
For example:
- Store data in Paris for residency compliance
- Run analysis from London via a remote plane
BYOA inherits this architecture, reducing copies of data and improving compliance posture.
Application Types and Samples
BYOA supports three major application types, each suitable for different scenarios.
- Dockerfile Apps: You provide a GitHub repository containing a Dockerfile. Software Hub builds and deploys the application.
- Template Apps (OpenShift Templates): Template apps use OpenShift’s native template format to generate application resources.
- Kube YAML Apps: For teams already managing services through Kubernetes manifests, Kube YAML Apps allow for deploying a full collection of YAML resources directly to the selected data plane.
A repository of Custom Application samples is available at https://github.com/IBM/swhub-custom-app-samples
Application Monitoring
Application information for both the local cluster and remote clusters is visible in a single interface. This includes:
- Application health events
- Pod readiness and liveness signals
- Resource utilization. CPU, Memory, GPU, Storage
- Scheduling or node-level events
All available without the need to provide OpenShift access.
Resource Governance
Enforced Quotas can be used to prevent resource overuse and ensures fair access, especially when multiple teams share clusters, GPU resources are limited and when auto scaling or cloud burst scenarios occur.
For more information about using RDP in cloud bursting environments, see: https://community.ibm.com/community/user/blogs/michael-closson/2025/06/11/remote-data-plane-with-gpu-aware-cloud-bursting
Deployment and Management Options
BYOA applications can be deployed and managed using the Command Line or through a REST API.
Software Hub Premium
BYOA and Remote Data Planes are premium features. For more information about Software Hub Premium, refer to IBM Software Hub Documentation.
Application Deployment
Let's deploy a chatbot with the command line interface. The following command will deploy a Dockerfile application from a git repository. The application resources and configuration are specified.
$ cpd-cli manage create-dockerfile-application \
--app_name=ps-chatbot-demo \
--app_port=8080 \
--repo_url=https://github.com/shuangpan5217/Industry-Accelerators-1.git \
--repo_token=<token> \
--repo_branch=test \
--repo_app_dir=watsonx.ai/QnA_chatbot_app \
--cpu=400m \
--memory=200Mi \
--cpu_limit=500m \
--memory_limit=400Mi \
--tls_enabled=false \
--app_run_id=l66n2b4a5tra
The application URL and the physical location is shown in the output of the command
The Application can be accessed through the URL. If the application is running in a remote cluster, the URL is always local to the cluster, even if the application is running on a remote cluster. After the application has started, it can be accessed through its URL.
Conclusion: A More Extensible, Governed, and Hybrid Platform
Bring your own Application in IBM Software Hub 5.3 transforms the platform into an extensible foundation for both IBM and customer services. By combining unified security, lifecycle control, multi-cluster deployments, and monitoring, organizations can run their applications within a consistent operational model.
Whether you’re enabling AI at the edge, enforcing global data residency, or modernizing internal tools, BYOA extends Software Hub into a hybrid, multi-cluster application platform.
Visit https://github.com/IBM/swhub-custom-app-samples to see a variety of sample applications.