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IBM zCX Foundation for Red Hat OpenShift

Extend your IBM z/OS ecosystem with containerized applications in a Red Hat OpenShift cluster on z/OS

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IBM® zCX Foundation for Red Hat® OpenShift® (zCX for Red Hat OpenShift) enables the agile and flexible deployment of containerized Linux® on IBM Z® applications within a self-contained Red Hat OpenShift cluster, seamlessly integrating with the IBM z/OS® ecosystem.

Modernize your IBM z/OS ecosystem with IBM zCX Foundation for Red Hat OpenShift, allowing for the deployment of containerized Linux on IBM Z applications within a self-contained Red Hat OpenShift cluster. This solution enables the colocation of applications and workloads by using z/OS Qualities of Service (QoS) while providing enterprise-level container orchestration and management.

By integrating containerized Linux on IBM Z applications with z/OS, developers can extend and enhance their existing infrastructure with the agility and flexibility needed to support modern application demands.
What's new

Summary of changes and updates for releases
Benefits Seamless integration with z/OS

Allows containerized Linux on IBM Z applications to run alongside native z/OS workloads by using the robust QoS of z/OS for improved performance, reliability and security.

 Enterprise-level container orchestration

Provides comprehensive container orchestration capabilities through Red Hat OpenShift, enabling modern application provisioning, deployment and management within the trusted IBM Z environment.

 Agility and flexibility

Facilitates agile and flexible deployment of containerized Linux on IBM Z applications, supporting modernization efforts by enabling quick, scalable and efficient deployment within a self-contained Red Hat OpenShift cluster.
Features
Self-contained Red Hat OpenShift cluster

Provides a fully integrated Red Hat OpenShift cluster within the IBM z/OS environment, allowing seamless deployment and management of containerized Linux on IBM Z applications.
Enterprise-ready Kubernetes

Uses Red Hat OpenShift’s enterprise-grade Kubernetes platform to manage containerized applications across hybrid cloud, multicloud and edge environments, enabling a consistent and scalable application deployment strategy.
Colocation of workloads

Minimizes latency by colocating containerized applications alongside native z/OS workloads, optimizing performance, resource utilization and data access by running them on the same physical hardware.
Inherit disaster recovery

Inherits the robust z/OS QoS, including high availability, security and workload management, and provides integrated disaster recovery with automatic restart capabilities by using z/OS DR/GDPS.
Enterprise-grade container orchestration

Uses Red Hat OpenShift’s advanced container orchestration features, offering automated deployment, scaling and management of containerized applications, fully integrated within the IBM Z environment.
Operational management consistent with z/OS

Seamlessly integrates into the existing z/OS environment, ensuring consistent operational management that aligns with established z/OS processes and standards.
Flexible application deployment

Supports the deployment of containerized applications and software, providing the agility to integrate modern, containerized applications with the existing z/OS infrastructure while maintaining compatibility with DevOps tools and CI/CD pipelines.

Use cases

z/OS software ecosystem expansion Provide an integrated z/OS operational model with z/OS QoS (such as performance and security), including colocated non-SQL databases, latest microservices and analytics framework.
Systems management Decrease the demand of operations and dependency management. Examples include a centralized database and user interface (UI) portals for management products.
DevSecOps Attract/use new talent, improve time to market and provide a cloud-native experience on z/OS. Examples include open-source applications and Linux-based development tools.
z/OS Software Exploitation Provide integration with mission-critical workloads (including CICS, IMS, Db2, etc.). Examples include applications and workloads that benefit from accessibility and proximity to key resources.
Technical details
Hardware requirements

zCX for Red Hat OpenShift requires an IBM z14® or higher server.
z/OS requirements

zCX for Red Hat OpenShift requires z/OS 2.4 or higher.
z/OSMF

The z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) interface is used to provision, deprovision and manage zCX for Red Hat OpenShift appliance instances. Therefore, z/OSMF must be active in a system on the sysplex where you are deploying a zCX for Red Hat OpenShift cluster.

 Explore z/OSMF workflows for zCX for Red Hat OpenShift
Plan for zCX for OpenShift
Take the next step

Discover how to run Red Hat OpenShift containerized applications on z/OS.

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Footnotes

z/OS address spaces for zCX for Red Hat OpenShift are zIIP -eligible. Most zCX for Red Hat OpenShift processing can be dispatched on available zIIP processors.

This product, IBM zCX Foundation for Red Hat OpenShift, is an IBM product. Therefore, primary service and support are offered through IBM. Purchase of zCX for Red Hat OpenShift provides entitlement to Red Hat OpenShift. If you experience any issues with zCX for Red Hat OpenShift, open a case here: http://www.ibm.com/mysupport