Introduction to OpenShift Virtualization Storage Solutions
For more than two decades, organizations have been using virtualization to optimize their IT infrastructure and reduce costs. VMware has been a leading supplier of data center virtualization solutions. During data center modernization, or if you want to migrate away from VMware, Red Hat® OpenShift® has emerged as a leading alternative.
Where many modernization or migration initiatives fail is that they only consider a component of the system. System architects pay attention, you can’t build or modernize a virtualization platform without factoring in the critical underlying storage subsystem. Your storage system plays an important role in ensuring optimal performance, scalability, and efficiency when running Virtual Machines (VMs) in OpenShift or Kubernetes. Selecting the right storage solution depends on various factors, including workload requirements, scalability needs, and budget constraints.
This blog will provide an in-depth overview of the various OpenShift storage options, their benefits, use cases, and key considerations for selecting the best fit for your workload needs.
What is OpenShift?
OpenShift is an open-source application platform developed by Red Hat, whose flagship product is the OpenShift Container Platform, an OpenShift PaaS Platform, orchestrated with Kubernetes on a foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It’s a comprehensive solution for building, deploying, managing, and scaling cloud-native and traditional applications with high efficiency by automating operations across on-premises, hybrid- and multi-cloud environments.
Image Credit: Red Hat
Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization (OpenShift-V) is a feature of OpenShift that allows you to run and manage VMs alongside containers on the same platform. It brings traditional virtualization workloads into the container-based world of Kubernetes, enabling you to modernize your applications and infrastructure gradually. With OpenShift-V, you can run both containerized and virtualized workloads side by side, managed through the same familiar OpenShift interface. It’s a popular choice for organizations seeking a VMware alternative or modernizing their IT infrastructure because it efficiently enables DevOps workflows.
The Role of Storage in Virtualization
As organizations increasingly adopt OpenShift for virtualization, the role of storage is critical as it directly impacts application performance, data availability, and scalability.
By selecting the right storage system, you can optimize resource utilization, provide faster access to data, and create a persistent storage tier for high availability which is especially important for stateful applications like databases, where data needs to be consistently accessible even during system restarts or failures.
VMs in Kubernetes support multiple types of devices that can be attached as storage, LUN, disk, CDROM, and filesystems. There are several disk methods of virtualizing storage: file-based, block-based, and object-based. Block storage for OpenShift is more frequently virtualized than file- or object-based storage systems.
Types of Red Hat OpenShift Storage Solutions
Here I’ll focus on three types of disk storage, each supporting different needs and workloads.
Block Storage
Once reserved as a primary storage tier for traditional workloads, block storage is evolving into a critical component of high-performance, accelerated data pipelines. Today, it is the linchpin of accelerated data pipelines that drive modern enterprise success. It provides high performance and low latency, making it ideal for performance-intensive applications such as databases, real-time analytics, and transactional workloads.
Benefits of using block storage for OpenShift
- Consistent low latency
- Granular control over data allocation and storage resources, optimizing performance based on specific needs
- Efficient utilization of storage resources
- High performance, supporting high input/output operations per second (IOPS)
Use cases for block storage
- Databases (e.g., Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL)
- Transactional and real-time analytics workloads
- AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) training
- High-performance computing (HPC) applications
File Storage
File storage provides a familiar hierarchical structure to store data in files and folders and provides a unified view of storage regardless of its physical location.
Key features of OpenShift file storage
- Shared storage with POSIX compatibility
- Simple, straightforward interface for organizing and accessing data
- Provides easy data access across multiple applications
When to choose file storage
- For shared application environments (e.g., web servers, content management systems)
- If you have a collaborative workload requiring simultaneous access to data
- Applications require a familiar file system interface
- General-purpose workloads
Object Storage
Object storage stores data as objects within a flat structure, making it highly scalable and suitable for large datasets. It is a cost-effective solution that is ideal for storing large amounts of unstructured data, such as images, videos, and backups. It offers high durability and availability, making it suitable for long-term data retention.
Understanding object storage for OpenShift
Object storage is designed for unstructured data where data may be written once but read many times. With it, you can store massive volumes of data without worrying about fixed file hierarchy. It’s a scalable and cost-effective solution for storing large volumes of unstructured data using metadata for efficient data retrieval. Ceph Storage offers integration with OpenShift, providing object storage capabilities.
Advantages of Object Storage in OpenShift
- Cost-effective solution for large-scale storage needs
- Ideal for backup and archival purposes
- Provides high scalability and durability
Evaluating Your Virtualization Storage Needs
When choosing OpenShift Virtualization storage, consider these various factors to determine the best fit for your specific requirements.
Factors to Consider in OpenShift-V Storage Selection
Performance Requirements
Assess the performance requirements of your applications and VMs, including throughput, latency, and IOPS. Storage performance is critical for applications that require low latency and high throughput. If your workload involves running transactional databases or mission-critical applications, block storage solutions like Lightbits provide optimal performance.
Scalability Needs
As data volumes increase, storage solutions must scale efficiently. Consider the potential growth of your data and choose a solution that can scale accordingly. Object storage is inherently scalable, making it a preferred choice for long-term data storage. File and block storage solutions can also scale but may require additional infrastructure considerations.
Budget Constraints
Cost considerations include not just the initial investment but also operational expenses. Evaluate the cost of each storage solution, including initial investment, operational expenses, and potential maintenance costs.
Assessing Your Current Infrastructure
Evaluate your existing infrastructure to ensure compatibility with the selected storage solution and project future growth to avoid frequent migrations.
Compatibility with Existing Systems
Before selecting a storage solution, ensure compatibility by evaluating your existing IT infrastructure, including hardware, software, and networking, and how well it integrates with your existing OpenShift environment. Selecting a system with native integrations with OpenShift operators can simplify deployment and management.
Future Growth Projections
Analyze your anticipated data growth to ensure the selected storage can accommodate future needs without significant reengineering. If your organization anticipates rapid growth in data storage requirements, choosing a scalable and flexible solution is essential. Object storage and software-defined storage solutions like Lightbits are well-suited for scale.
Comparing Performance and Scalability Metrics
The comparisons in performance and scalability may be helpful in your initial evaluation of storage types, but the ratings in this table are generalizations. Actual performance results can vary significantly depending on the vendor, implementation, configuration, workload, and other factors. It’s crucial to conduct thorough testing and evaluation with your specific use case and chosen vendor to determine the most suitable storage type for your needs.
| Feature | Block Storage | File Storage | Object Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| IOPS Performance | High | Medium | Low |
| Latency | Low | Medium | High |
| Throughput | High | Medium | High |
| Scalability | High | Medium | High |
Data Durability and Availability
Assess the data protection mechanisms offered by each storage system, including redundancy, replication, and disaster recovery capabilities, and ensure they align with your business’s needs. Different systems will offer various data services. Key factors you should seek are solutions that offer high durability with multi-region redundancy, RAID configurations, advanced clustering, and efficient data replication.
Support and Maintenance Considerations
When choosing a storage solution, evaluate the level of support and maintenance required. Enterprise-grade solutions like Lightbits offer managed support, reducing the operational burden on IT teams.
Case Studies: Migrating VMs to OpenShift-V
This blog post, “Migrating VMs to Red Hat OpenShift Virtulation,” demonstrates a successful implementation of OpenShift-V with Lightbits block storage through a live migration of a VM running a simulated heavy I/O application. The VM, composed of three volumes (OS, data, and logs) using a ReadWriteMany (RWX) block storage class provided by Lightbits, was migrated between worker nodes while continuously subjected to a mixed read/write workload. The migration, initiated via a VirtualMachineInstanceMigration object, took approximately 16 seconds to complete. Performance monitoring during the migration showed minimal impact on IOPS and latency, with only a slight decrease in IOPS and a minor increase in latency observed compared to a baseline run without migration. This demonstrates the seamless integration of OpenShift-V and Lightbits software-defined block storage, enabling live migration of demanding VM workloads with minimal disruption, showcasing a robust virtualization storage solution for modernizing data centers.
Choosing the Right OpenShift Virtualization Storage
You can optimize your OpenShift environment for the best possible performance and efficiency by carefully assessing your storage needs and comparing available solutions. Here’s a high-level recap of the three types of disk storage for OpenShift:
- Choose Block Storage if you require high performance, low latency, and persistent storage for VMs at scale. For organizations seeking a high-performance, software-defined storage solution, Lightbits offers a compelling choice. Its integration with OpenShift Virtualization, combined with performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency, makes it an ideal option for data center modernization.
- Opt for File Storage when dealing with shared workloads that need concurrent access.
- Leverage Object Storage when you need cost-effective, scalable storage for large datasets and archival, but not if your applications require fast data access.
Choosing the right storage solution requires careful consideration of factors such as performance requirements, scalability needs, budget constraints, and compatibility with existing systems. Evaluating performance metrics, such as speed, latency, data durability, and availability, is essential in selecting the best storage option.
I hope this blog sheds light on the importance of your storage systems to ensure the optimal performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency of your OpenShift-V environment. By carefully evaluating your specific needs and requirements and considering the various factors discussed in this blog, you can make an informed decision to support your business objectives, enable your data center modernization initiative, or enable your migration from VMware to OpenShift.
