Happy new year as this will be the first post of 2021! 2020 was obviously a challenging year, my hope is I will have more time to devote to blogging in 2021. Please reach out and let me know what topics would be most helpful.
Overview
In this Article we will walk through an OpenShift deployment using the IPI (Installer Provisioned Infrastructure) method on AWS. OpenShift offers two possible deployment methods: IPI (as mentioned) and UPI (User Provisioned Infrastructure). The difference is the degree of automation and customization. IPI will not only deploy OpenShift but also all infrastructure components and configurations. IPI is supported in various environments including AWS, Azure, GCE, VMware Vsphere and even Baremetal. IPI is tightly coupled with the infrastructure layer whereas UPI is not and will allow the most customization and work anywhere.
Ultimately IPI vs UPI is usually dictated by the requirements. My view is unless you have special requirements (like a stretch cluster or specific integrations with infrastructure that require UPI) always default to IPI. It is far better to have the vendor, in this case Red Hat own more of the share of responsibility and ensure proper, tested infrastructure configurations are being deployed as well as maintained throughout the cluster lifecycle.
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