Support policy for certified containers
This topic describes the support policy that is provided by ITXA for certified containers. It also outlines the differences in support policy for OpenShift Container platform and other Kubernetes platform.
ITXA is enhanced to enable deployment by using containers. You can either create your own containers or choose any of the supported deployment models.
- Ad hoc container - The ad hoc deployment model, which is also referred to as Do It Yourself (DIY) model, provides the ability to create and deploy your own containers in a custom manner by using the base software that is available with the traditional installation.
- Certified container on any Kubernetes platform - An improvement to the custom approach is a more prescriptive model that delivers containers and the associated Helm charts that are built to be enterprise-ready production images. These containers are packaged with certified container editions and are validated for cloud deployment by using the certification tools that are provided by Red Hat. You can deploy the containers to any public or private cloud by using the cloud provider’s Kubernetes-based proprietary orchestration tools.
- Certified container on OpenShift Container platform - This model is a further improvement of the previous model that allows to deploy the containers to any public or private cloud by using the IBM’s multi-cloud container orchestration tools (OpenShift Container platform) that provides a seamless technology coverage for all the elements of deployment.
The support policy considerations for each of these models are important for organizations to consider as they plan their investment in leveraging the power of container technologies to run their production workload.
The following diagram illustrates the various deployment models:
Container delivery models
Each container delivery model of ITXA has different components and package entitlements that are necessary for deployment. As each model is deployed with varying degrees of divergence from a prescriptive approach, the time to value the benefit for each of these models can vary significantly.
The following table explains the container delivery model of ITXA:
| Ad hoc containers | IBM certified container by using proprietary Kubernetes | IBM certified container by using OpenShift Container platform |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Capability matrix for container delivery models
The capability features and tools that are provided for container deployment differ based on the delivery model and ownership of the container creation process.
The following table illustrates the capability matrix for various container delivery models:
| Ad hoc containers | IBM certified containers by using proprietary Kubernetes | IBM certified containers by using OpenShift Container platform | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ITXA (core product functionality) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Basic documentation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Deployment or orchestration (Helm chart) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Prebuilt container images with secure certified prepackaged operating system and hypervisor | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Toolkit to generate customized images | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Upgrade path from non-container to container model | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced documentation (Best practices, blogs, videos, and learning materials in OpenShift Container platform) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Platform services (logging, monitoring, authentication, and so on) | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Security, compliance, and portability from OpenShift Container Platform | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Automated Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) by using the scripted source to image workflows | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Fast-tracked security updates based on Red Hat advisories | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
Support policy for container delivery models
The support policies for container delivery models are:
- Support policy statement for ad hoc containers that are created by users
- For users who have created custom Docker containers with ITXA, version 10.0 base product, and have deployed in any Kubernetes platform, the IBM Technical Support is limited to the technical inquiries and triage in the core software that is running inside the container.
- Support statement for IBM certified containers deployed on proprietary
- For users who choose to deploy the IBM certified containers on proprietary container orchestration tools (EKS, GKE, AKS, or PCF) on public cloud such as Amazon, Azure, Google, and so on, or in their private cloud by using native Kubernetes, the IBM Technical Support is limited to the base software, certified containers, Helm charts, and upgrades. IBM provides limited support for the container editions that are deployed in such proprietary renderings for Kubernetes. The non-conformant characteristics of such tools hinder the ability to assist users. For an outline of the reduced capabilities when containers are deployed on proprietary, see the capability matrix for container delivery models.
- Support statement for IBM certified containers that are deployed by using OpenShift Container platform
- IBM certified containers are built to best deploy on OpenShift Container platform. This combination provides an end-to-end enterprise-grade Kubernetes-based container orchestration platform for a complete lifecycle management of the containers and operators. The product containers and deployment strategy are certified by IBM to be production ready, enterprise-grade, resilient, secure and compliant, and scalable in any public and private cloud by using OpenShift Container platform. The IBM Technical Support fully supports this delivery model across the complete lifecycle management of IBM certified containers, Helm chart orchestration, and any deployment pattern in OpenShift Container platform. For more information about certified containers, see Installing ITXA certified container images.
- Deprecation policy for certified container images
- The container images that are released every quarter are certified for the supported versions of
OpenShift Container platform that is released. When the OpenShift Container platform version is
desupported, the corresponding images are also deprecated. Therefore, ensure that you upgrade to the
latest version of the supported container images.
For more information about the supported container images, see Software Product Compatibility Reports.