Deploying IBM Connect:Direct for UNIX using an IBM Certified Container Software

Note: The information in "Installing IBM Connect: Direct® for UNIX using an IBM Certified Container Software" section was deprecated and is no longer maintained. For the most up-to-date information, refer to the latest release of the Installing IBM Connect: Direct® for UNIX using an IBM Certified Container Software section.
IBM Certified Container Software offers a Red Hat certified IBM® Connect:Direct® for UNIX image and Helm chart and can be used to deploy a production-ready IBM Connect:Direct image into Red Hat OpenShift/Kubernetes cluster.

IBM Certified Containers are more than a simple Helm chart. IBM Certified Containers accelerate time to value and improve enterprise readiness at a lower cost than containers alone

An IBM Certified Container meets standard criteria for packaging and deployment of containerized software with platform integrations.

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites to successfully use a Certified Container:

Overview

A Certified Container provides the basic features of a package manager (Helm chart) to help with the installation and maintenance of software. Using a Certified Container you can perform flowing action on helm chart:
  • Deploy
  • Upgrade
  • Configure
Key Concepts
  • Chart

    A Certified Container Software uses a packaging format called Charts.

    IBM Connect:Direct for Unix Chart is a collection of files that consists of a few YAML configuration files and templates rendered into Kubernetes manifest files.

    Charts are created as files laid out in a directory tree that you can package into versioned archives that the system deploys.

  • Release

    Release is a running instance of a chart combined with a specific configuration

  • A certified container release uses:
    • A command line tool, helm to provide a user interface.
    • Packaging format called Charts.

Key Components

A Certified Container Software has two major components:
  • Helm Client
    It manages charts and is a command line interface for end users. Use Helm client to:
    • Develop charts
    • Manage repositories
    • Send charts to be used for deployment
    • Ask for information about Releases
    • Request upgrades or uninstallation of existing Releases

Network

The IBM Certified Container Software release is tested with Weave Net-type network for Kubernetes. For more information, refer to Kubernetes Networking.