We are very excited to announce that API Connect and DataPower will be moving to the
Redhat Universal Base Image. Bottom line up front, whether you use Redhat Open Shift (RHOS) or not, there are no changes to how API Connect or DataPower runs, is installed, upgraded, or system prerequisites.
From Redhat:
"With the release of the Red Hat Universal Base Image (UBI), you can now take advantage of the greater reliability, security, and performance of official Red Hat container images where OCI-compliant Linux containers run - whether you’re a customer or not. This means you can build a containerized application on UBI, push it to a container registry server of your choosing, and share it. The Red Hat Universal Base Image can allow you to build, share and collaborate on your containerized application where you want."
Again, there will be no changes to how API Connect runs, how it is installed, how it is upgraded, or the system requirements (you do not need RHOS!). This is only a change to the underlying base image that the software runs. UBI is just a different flavor of Linux, one that has all of the advantages of being open-source, while all of the advantages of being a part of the RedHat Ecosystem.
In the near future, this will allow API Connect and DataPower to be fully certified on RedHat Openshift and all of the benefits that come with it.
These changes will be rolled out over 2H 2019. I'll update this post when they are live and available for download from FixCentral (as a FixPack).