Red Hat has unveiled the latest version of its OpenShift Kubernetes platform with a series of enhancements and new features.
The firm said Kubernetes-powered cloud platforms must span all hybrid cloud infrastructure and the variety of workloads and applications running on the platform, hence the new functionality. It added that the latest version would provide “a common foundation to more consistently develop, deploy and run a hybrid mix of applications and services.”
OpenShift 4.8 now features IPv6/IPv4 dual-stack and IPv6 single stack support to provide applications with interoperability and communications for environments using IPv6 in addition to IPv4, such as in cloud-native network functions for telecommunications and government agencies worldwide that require IPv6 support. Red Hat said this capability provides additional security for applications, including regulatory compliance.
The platform's Pipelines will let users define, version, and track changes to their application delivery pipelines alongside their application source code in Git repositories.
Red Hat said developers can now rely on the Git workflow to automate the deployment of their CI/CD pipelines. This would also leave an audit trail as Git commits as the pipelines are collaboratively updated throughout their lifecycle.
There are also enhancements to the OpenShift console, such as the ability for Spring Boot developers to code and test locally before sharing the code more broadly. Additionally, to further improve development with Serverless, Red Hat OpenShift 4.8 enables advanced scaling options for the developer console.
New OpenShift Serverless functions capability will also allow developers to create and run functions on-demand on OpenShift. Red Hat said this is currently available as a technology preview and would remove the burden of manual infrastructure provisioning and scaling.
Also debuting are OpenShift sandboxed containers. These are based on the Kata Containers open source project and provide a more secure container runtime using lightweight virtual machines.
Joe Fernandes, vice president and general manager of Cloud Platforms at Red Hat said with the latest OpenShift version, organizations would be able to run a “diverse mix of workloads from data driven intelligent applications to the mission critical traditional applications that teams are working to modernize."
Red Hat OpenShift 4.8 is expected to be available in July, including the ability to try it on the Developer Sandbox for Red Hat Openshift.
