OpenStack vs OpenShift: what are the differences for your cloud?

Today, mastering cloud environments is a strategic lever for companies seeking to modernize, improve agility and enhance IT performance. Cloud platforms Open Source such asOpenStack and OpenShift are key pillars of this transformation, each responding to specific needs in the vast ecosystem of the cloud computing. One, heir to infrastructure management, helps build agile data centers or sovereign private clouds; the other accompanies the application revolution by facilitating the development, orchestration and rapid deployment of applications. containerized.

Over the years, these tools have won over telecoms and IT giants, and their complementary nature is attracting interest from innovation managers and technical teams alike. To understand where the open and hybrid cloud trends are heading, it's vital to distinguish between their philosophies, their use cases, and their contributions in terms of flexibility, security and performance. safety or scalability. This quantitatively argued reference dossier also sheds light on the possible synergies between these two worlds, and helps readers - whether experts, decision-makers or developers - to choose the right ecosystem for their own digital transformation needs.

OpenStack vs OpenShift: Understanding the fundamentals of open source cloud platforms

OpenStack: Infrastructure as a Service for managing private and public clouds

OpenStack is the global benchmark for building large-scale private and public clouds. Born of a desire to make management d'infrastructure as flexible as that of cloud giants as Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azurethis open source platform allows you to orchestrate virtual machinesthe storagenetworks, and even bare metal via its Ironic. It offers a model IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), automating the creation, configuration and management of physical and virtual resource pools.

• Total control on in-house infrastructure, ideal for sovereign or hybrid private clouds.

• Native integration with KVM, Docker and several market-leading hypervisors.

• Large hardware support via a worldwide community and publishers such as Red Hat, Canonical or Mirantis.

• Usage-privilege in telecoms, research and organizations seeking to build an alternative to VMware or offers Public clouds.

For example, Orange and La Poste have built internal clouds on OpenStack to control costs, compliance and scalability. This foundation open-source attracts CIOs with its vendor neutrality and its ability to federate vast physical infrastructures into a unified front-end for cloud computing.

OpenShift: Kubernetes PaaS platform for application development and deployment

If OpenStack managesinfrastructure from cloud computing, OpenShift (developed by Red Hat) targets a completely different challenge: accelerating the development lifecycle and the application production. This Platform-as-a-Service is based on Kubernetes to orchestrate containers and offers teams DevOps tool-based, application-oriented experience with all types ofenvironments (public, private, hybrid cloud).

• Advanced orchestration of containerized applications thanks to native Kubernetes.

• CI/CD and DevOps tools for automated deployment.

• Enhanced security to meet the requirements of regulated sectors (finance, healthcare, industry).

• Native support for architectures microservices and deployment multi-cloud frictionless.

For developer teams, OpenShift becomes a launch pad for agile, scalable and modern applications, drastically reducing time-to-market. The platform also facilitates the transition from testing to production, a key factor in the adoption of the OpenShift approach. DevOps on a large scale.

Origins and development: OpenStack and OpenShift over time

OpenStack: birth, maturity and virtualized infrastructure orientation

Launched in 2010 by NASA and Rackspace, OpenStack joins the wave of new platforms open source disrupting the virtualization owner. Initially focused on virtual machine management, it soon broadened its scope to include network management (Neutron), storage (Cinder, Swift), and the abstraction of heterogeneous infrastructures, from physical servers to public clouds. With each successive release, OpenStack has gained in maturity: robustness, modularity and broad hardware compatibility. Large enterprises and cloud providers, keen not to depend on AWS or Azure, are adopting it to build sovereign, multi-tenant data centers, where each customer has its own isolated, secure space.

Red Hat, Canonical and Mirantis offer professional distributions and long-term support, helping to reassure decision-makers about the long-term viability of the project.

OpenShift: emergence, DevOps and industrial containerization

The result of continuous deployment, OpenShift was born at Red Hat in 2011, transforming the classic "Platform" approach into a solution focused on containers. OpenShift quickly pivoted to Kuberneteswhich consolidates its position as PaaS leader in the era of cloud-native architectures. The platform specifically targets the modernization of applications and culture DevOpswith CI/CD pipeline integration, auditability and secure cluster management.

• Driving force behind the spread of Kubernetes to traditional businesses.

• Strong adoption by digital transformation seeking to industrialize application deployment.

• Ability to drive workloads on bare metal, VM, public cloud (Google Cloud, AWS, Azure).

Through its ability to unify Dev, QA and Ops, OpenShift has fostered cultures of rapid innovation, where we now go from commit to delivery in a matter of minutes.

Key features: What OpenStack and OpenShift have to offer

OpenStack components: Nova, Neutron, Cinder, Keystone, Horizon...

OpenStack consists of a series of interconnected modules, each dedicated to a key aspect of the management d'infrastructure.

• Nova The orchestrator of virtual machines (compute), the key to cloud computing in-house.

• Neutron Advanced management of virtual networks, VLANs, load balancers.

• Cinder & Swift Respectively block storage and object storage highly scalable.

• Keystone Authentication, multi-tenant management and access rights.

• Horizon Web user console, administration of the entire cloud.

Other modules such as Glance, Ironic or Heat extend this flexibility to the bare metalautomated orchestration and centralized system images. This à la carte approach explains OpenStack's popularity in sectors requiring extreme customization of their systems. platform Cloud (see the OpenStack / Kubernetes comparison).

H4: Modularity and OpenStack use cases for private clouds and telecoms

• Deployment in telecoms to support 3G, 4G/LTE and tomorrow 5G networks.

• Management of private clouds in the public sector (e.g. hospitals, administrations).

• Facilitating the migration of legacy applications to a infrastructure centralized and modernized.

• Can be integrated with backup, monitoring and security (SOC) solutions.

This modularity, coupled withautomation architecture, optimized for the most demanding applications. costthe performance or the data sovereignty.

Component	Main function	Typical use case
Nova	Compute VM management	Hosting of internal services (ERP, databases)
Neutron	Network management	ISPs, Complete datacenter virtualization
Keystone	Authentication and rights	Multi-tenancy for public/private clouds
Cinder/Swift	Storage	Application archiving, Big Data
Horizon	Web console	Advanced user self-service

OpenShift: Kubernetes orchestration, CI/CD and integrated DevOps tools

The strength ofOpenShift lies in its management integrated containerized applicationspressed on Kubernetes. The environment integrates native :

• Ready-to-use CI/CD pipelines for industrialize application deployment.

• Dashboards for monitor application lifecycle, execution and health.

• A unified API, CLI and IDE Web, simplifying the day-to-day work of Dev, Op and SecOps teams.

• A catalog of ready-to-use services (databases, caches, message brokers).

Thanks to this “everything for the developer” philosophy, OpenShift is establishing itself among the preferred PaaS platforms for teams adopting DevOps and aimed at multi-cloud. The platform also favors the integration of external tools (Ansible, Jenkins) and the standardization of deployments, from source code to production.

Security, resource management and scalability: differentiated technical advantages

Visit safety plays a key role in the adoption of both solutions. OpenStack relies on tenant isolation, network segmentation and federated authentication (Keystone), guaranteeing a solid infrastructure in multi-client contexts. For its part, OpenShift embeds strict security policies on the execution of containersand offers a complete application security framework meeting industry standards (ISO, PCI-DSS, RGPD).

• OpenStack: network segmentation, fine ACL management, centralized monitoring.

• OpenShift: RBAC policies, anomaly detection, limitation of workload permissions.

When it comes to scalability, OpenStack stands out for its ability to manage entire data centers, while OpenShift excels at elastic scaling of applications, responding to peak loads or a rapid need to allocate resources for a critical application.

Fundamental differences between OpenStack and OpenShift for your hybrid cloud strategy

IaaS vs PaaS: virtualization vs native containers

The key difference lies in the service model: OpenStack provides a infrastructure in IaaSorchestrating virtual machinesand networks to host any type of application, from legacy to cloud-native. OpenShifton the other hand, focuses on the optimization and rapid deployment of applications via the PaaS (Platform as a Service), based on the containers (Docker, Kubernetes).

This structural distinction shapes the types of projects addressed by each :

• OpenStack for the global management of IT resources, VM provisioning, shared storage and flexibility hardware.

• OpenShift for DevOps culture, frequent release management, CI/CD automation and scalability applications containerized.

However, both solutions can coexist in an open hybrid cloud strategy and are often deployed together (more analysis here).

Levels of abstraction: infrastructure, applications and user experience

OpenStack offers an infrastructure-oriented experience, aimed primarily at system administrators and CIOs for provisioning, maintenance and securing the digital datacenter. Users interact via interfaces like Horizon, or APIs to drive their optimized servers. OpenShift offers a higher abstraction, focused on the application development cycle; it transforms the experience of teams, from developer to integrator to Ops, with "one-click" deployment tools, ephemeral environments and instant rollback capability.

The choice of model thus depends on the level of control and application workflow required.

	OpenStack	OpenShift
Level of abstraction	Infrastructure (IaaS)	Applications (PaaS)
Type of resource	VM, storage, networks	Containers, CI/CD pipelines
User profile	IT Admin, CIO	Developers, DevOps, QA
Main purpose	Large-scale infrastructure management	Deployment and management of containerized applications
Experience	Horizon Dashboard, System APIs	Console dev, CLI, IDE integration

Advantages, limitations and use cases: making the right choice between OpenStack and OpenShift

OpenStack advantages: flexibility, vendor neutrality, customization and cost optimization

The strengths of OpenStack lie in its flexibility architecture and its lack of dependency on cloud providers. Large organizations see it as an opportunity to optimize their costs by reusing existing hardware, avoiding the pay-per-use billing models of public clouds. On the other hand, OpenStack easily adapts to complex business needs (telecoms, hosting providers, academic research), where customization of theinfrastructure or regulatory compliance are key factors.

• Total control over the life cycle of theinfrastructure from datacenter to software.

• Multi-site deployment, including edge (software modernization).

• Integration into heterogeneous environments (VMware, bare metal, public clouds).

For example, Bouygues Telecom relies on OpenStack for the network core of its fiber offerings, where performance, robustness and scalability are essential.

OpenShift: DevOps gas pedal, enhanced security, microservices and multicloud deployment

For companies focused on rapid application development and digital transformation, OpenShift delivers considerable time savings. Deployment standardization, CI/CD automation and microservices are proving their worth. OpenShift enables large banks and innovative start-ups to deliver faster, make releases more reliable and strengthen their security compliance.

• Advanced orchestration for containerized applications on all models of cloud.

• Use in 5G, IA/ML and edge-computing projects (discover IA/ML cases).

• Proven platform for hybrid multi-cloud (e.g. seamless migration between AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).

Challenges & drawbacks: complexity, resource requirements and subscription costs

Both models present their own specific challenges. OpenStack, with its rich modularity, can be complex to install and maintain: the integration of numerous components, team skills training and hardware tuning all require substantial initial investment. What's more, the migration of legacy applications often requires costly adaptations.

• OpenShift : strong dependence on the Red Hat ecosystem, professional subscription costs to be expected.

• Potential difficulty in deploying on some older or unsupported hardware.

• DevOps and DevSecOps skills required to take advantage of advanced automation.

Take the time to take stock of business requirements, existing technology and long-term needs (see this host comparison) is a critical phase in avoiding an oversized or unsuitable solution.

Synergy, complementarity and tomorrow: OpenStack and OpenShift in open clouds

Deploying OpenShift on OpenStack: the benefits of a convergent cloud architecture

Many companies are now adopting the combination of OpenShift on an OpenStack foundation to offer both the power of an infrastructure (IaaS) and rapid application delivery (PaaS). This convergence enables OpenShift to benefit from OpenStack's scalability, security and resilience, while leveraging its CI/CD and DevOps tools to rapidly deploy containerized applications.

• Automated provisioning of application clusters via the OpenStack API.

• Optimization of operating costs, dynamic reallocation of resources.

• Sovereign cloud for sensitive sectors thanks to infrastructure sovereignty (banking, energy, public sector).

This approach, sometimes referred to as "native cloud on private cloud", confirms the natural complementarity between the two platforms and meets Red Hat's vision of an ecosystem open-source and interoperable.

Community, Red Hat support and continuous innovation on both platforms

The ecosystem of Red Hat is a solid guarantee of the durability, security and functional evolution of both solutions. The OpenStack and OpenShift communities benefit from a worldwide collaborative dynamic, offering regular updates, abundant documentation and professional support.

• 24/7 training and support by Red Hat on all types of environment (on premise, cloud, edge).

• Ongoing contribution to open-source code, accelerating innovation and compliance with tomorrow's standards.

• Increasing compatibility with new Cloud standards, DevOps tools, serverless or PWA technologies (PWA guide).

This sustained ecosystem favors the integration of OpenStack and OpenShift into "best of breed" strategies, with each solution covering an essential part of enterprise IS, from theinfrastructure to theapplicationthrough to security and scalability.

Concrete examples: telecommunications, AI/ML, 5G, edge computing and software modernization

In the telecoms sector, the widespread use of OpenStack as a foundation for Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has helped to increase density, reduce hardware costs and boost service resilience (4G, 5G, LTE agility). OpenShift, meanwhile, is making its mark in 5G deployment projects (cloud-native workload management, orchestration of low-latency microservices).

• IA/ML OpenShift accelerates model industrialization, test repeatability and the deployment of intelligent services (see also Generative AI).

• Edge Computing OpenStack federates small-scale distributed clusters, while OpenShift focuses on packaging runtime-ready applications at the edge.

• Software modernization : The tandem facilitates the refactoring of legacy applications, combining the maintenance of the IS and the progressive adoption of containers and microservices.

Recent business cases demonstrate the effectiveness of OpenStack/OpenShift convergence in deploying European SaaS offerings, minimizing dependence on US hyperscalers and strengthening data sovereignty.

FAQ: OpenStack vs OpenShift

Which solution should you choose to modernize legacy applications in the cloud?

OpenStack makes it easy to migrate traditional applications thanks to complete infrastructure virtualization, while OpenShift excels at creating new cloud-native services via Kubernetes orchestration and CI/CD container management.

Does OpenShift necessarily require OpenStack underneath?

No, OpenShift can run on any infrastructure (OpenStack, AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, bare metal). However, its synergy with OpenStack provides a flexible, secure and high-performance private infrastructure for containerized applications.

What are the advantages of combining the two platforms?

Combining OpenStack and OpenShift maximizes the flexibility, scalability and robustness of a hybrid cloud. Administrators control their data centers, while developers automate the deployment of next-generation applications, all under Red Hat supervision.

OpenStack or OpenShift, which platform is right for SMEs?

For SMBs focused on traditional management and control of their infrastructure, OpenStack offers flexibility and control, especially for private clouds. For cloud-native developments, unleashing DevOps potential and multi-cloud, OpenShift is the preferred choice.

Is Red Hat support essential?

Red Hat support, although not mandatory (open-source solutions available), ensures professional guidance, critical security updates and peace of mind for strategically sensitive deployments.

Interactive tool: "Cloud Simulator: OpenStack or OpenShift?"

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