As a result of new joint efforts across NetApp, Red Hat and Google Cloud, we are announcing support for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes in OpenShift on Google Cloud through NetApp Trident Version 24.10. This enables joint customers to take advantage of Google Cloud infrastructure that’s optimized for OpenShift, reduce operational toil, and streamline migration of complex workloads.

The power of OpenShift-optimized infrastructure

Red Hat and Google Cloud have a long history of collaborating on and contributing to Kubernetes as well as other Cloud Native Compute Foundation (CNCF) projects including Istio, Knative and Tekton. Together, these projects make up the basis for OpenShift, Red Hat’s platform that helps developers build, deploy, and manage applications. In fact, Google and Red Hat have been collaborating since before Kubernetes was even conceived, including co-developing Cgroups, a precursor to Linux containers. When Google open-sourced Kubernetes, Red Hat was one of the first to jump on board, betting the Red Hat OpenShift platform on the new open-source standard. Today, Google and Red Hat hold prominent leadership roles in Kubernetes governance, and are #1 and #2 largest contributors to Kubernetes, respectively.

Google Cloud infrastructure is highly optimized for OpenShift. Custom machine shapes let you optimize OpenShift Pods:Nodes bin-packing, reducing how much compute capacity you need to provision for a typical OpenShift workload. Hyperdisk Storage Pools enables thin-provisioning for OpenShift PersistentVolumes, reducing the amount of storage that needs to be provisioned. Additionally, support for live migration in a wide array of Compute Engine families lets you provide higher uptime guarantees for stateful OpenShift workloads, which are common in enterprise application portfolios.

And when you deploy OpenShift workloads on Google Cloud, you can count on access to a deep bench of L3/ L4 engineers who are experts in the OpenShift runtime core components (in Kubernetes) given Google’s staff strong participation as core maintainers and technical leads in Kubernetes, providing you with enterprise-grade support and coverage for mission-critical workloads.

NetApp Volumes storage comes to OpenShift on Google Cloud

When you deploy OpenShift workloads on Google Cloud, there’s a wide array of options for modernizing your operations, with OpenShift-native integrations into managed infrastructure services across compute, networking, storage, monitoring/logging, secrets/encryption, serverless, CI/CD, etc.

These managed infrastructure services give you the ability to “carry much fewer pagers” than you typically would with an on-prem OpenShift deployment. However, sometimes you are migrating applications that have requirements or dependencies on specific solutions for infrastructure pillars (such as storage). The typical approach is to rely on self-managing the architecture — and going back to carrying pagers…

With support for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes in OpenShift, you benefit from the best of both worlds for your file storage needs: the modernization, toil-reduction, and efficiency benefits of a managed service, with enterprise-ready features, compatibility, and familiarity of NetApp on-premises storage.

You can maximize data performance and reliability for your Red Hat OpenShift workloads on Google Cloud by leveraging high-performance file storage on Google Cloud infrastructure while using NetApp Volumes features like automated snapshots, and Red Hat OpenShift-native persistent storage integration helps ensure high availability and fault tolerance across your workloads. 

Streamlined deployment for a variety of workloads

Collaboration between Google Cloud, NetApp and Red Hat makes it easier to quickly configure and deploy Red Hat OpenShift clusters and workloads in Google Cloud with NetApp Volumes for file storage, with streamlined access to Google Cloud IAM, service account management, and the Certificate Authority Service, among others. NetApp Volumes provides as small as 1 GiB volumes, read-write many (RWX) PVs, low-latency performance and up to 12.5 GiB/sec throughput with large volumes, all while protecting your applications and data with customer managed encryption keys (CMEK). 

“Google Cloud is heavily invested in our partner community with the common goal of providing a world-class experience for our customers. Building on our long-standing technical collaborations with industry-leading partners like Red Hat and NetApp, we are deeply aligned on the core principles of both openness and reliability to help enterprise customers get what they need done. Our customers are increasingly turning to us to help them transform their business and together, and through a joint partnership with NetApp and Red Hat, we can help customers with a new way to cloud, while leveraging familiarity and consistency that brings together innovations across their business.” - Stephen Orban, Google Cloud VP of Migrations, ISVs, and Marketplace 

De-risk cloud adoption while accelerating time to value

We are partnering with one of our trusted resellers, Converge Technology Solutions, to bridge on-premises, multi-cloud, and Google Cloud, and provide unified management and operational experience for your Red Hat OpenShift and NetApp workloads. Converge’s expertise in Red Hat OpenShift and NetApp technologies helps ensure solutions are architected for peak performance, scalability, and reliability. You can take advantage of their deep understanding of hybrid cloud and Kubernetes/Red Hat OpenShift to provide a smooth transition to Google Cloud, minimizing disruption and maximizing uptime. At the same time, Converge’s best-practice-aligned methodologies help streamline Google Cloud deployments while integrating Red Hat OpenShift and NetApp Volumes, so you can run persistent containerized workloads on an enterprise-class hybrid cloud environment.

"Converge is thrilled to partner with Google Cloud, Red Hat, and NetApp to deliver this powerful new solution for OpenShift on Google Cloud. Our deep expertise in hybrid cloud and Kubernetes, coupled with our proven methodologies, ensures a seamless transition and rapid time-to-value for clients adopting this innovative offering. This collaboration empowers enterprises to modernize their operations, optimize their infrastructure, and unlock the full potential of containerized workloads in a secure and reliable hybrid cloud environment." - David Luftig, Executive Vice President Strategy and Solutions, Converge Technology Solutions

Connect with us to learn more

Are you ready to get more value from the cloud? Learn more about Red Hat solutions on Google Cloud Marketplace, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes. You can also contact your Red Hat, NetApp, or Google sales representatives, or reach out to Converge Technology specialists to discuss your specific use cases. 

About NetApp
NetApp is the intelligent data infrastructure company, combining unified data storage, integrated data services, and CloudOps solutions to turn a world of disruption into opportunity for every customer. NetApp creates silo-free infrastructure, harnessing observability and AI to enable the industry’s best data management. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in the world’s biggest clouds, our data storage delivers seamless flexibility. In addition, our data services create a data advantage through superior cyber resilience, governance, and application agility. Our CloudOps solutions provide continuous optimization of performance and efficiency through observability and AI. No matter the data type, workload, or environment, with NetApp you can transform your data infrastructure to realize your business possibilities.

About Red Hat, Inc. 
Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

About Converge 
Converge Technology Solutions Corp. is a services-led, software-enabled, IT & Cloud Solutions provider focused on delivering industry-leading solutions. Converge’s global approach delivers advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), application modernization, cloud platforms, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, and digital workplace offerings to clients across various industries. The Company supports these solutions with advisory, implementation, and managed services expertise across all major IT vendors in the marketplace. This multi-faceted approach enables Converge to address the unique business and technology requirements for all clients in the public and private sectors. For more information, visit convergetp.com.