What is the OpenShift Partner Lab?
OpenShift Partner Lab (OPL) is a collaborative environment that a team can reserve and use in the final phases of their development process for a short time, usually lasting from 1 day to 1 month.
Our lab provides a dedicated and customizable OpenShift cluster currently hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as installer-provisioned infrastructure or as a managed Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS (ROSA) cluster.
Who can use the lab?
OPL is available to all Red Hat technology partners. However, the use of the lab is contingent upon business needs and timelines.
To access an OPL environment, the partner must have a Red Hat sponsor or representative internally request the lab environment on their behalf. This can include a partner account manager (PAM), a solution architect, or another Red Hat professional familiar with the partner and the project needs. The Red Hat sponsor will request the lab internally and the lab manager will review and approve the request as appropriate or, if necessary, request further information.
Once the reservation is approved, cluster details will be sent to the primary partner contacts using the environment.
Primary lab use cases
There are several IT uses for OPL that can support a company’s technology goals, including:
- Implementing final development, testing, and certification of containers and operators or Helm charts.
- Developing proof of concepts.
- Customer demos, when Red Hat Demo Platform is not available or appropriate.
- Engaging in joint solution co-creation.
- Managing product integration and testing.
Since the lab is not designed for long-term work, each use case scenario should be a short-term project of 1 month or less. In the case of a partner that needs to complete a lengthy project, we advise them to take advantage of partner or developer subscriptions or OpenShift Local, or set up a development cluster environment.
*If you render the cluster inoperable or disable it where it is inaccessible in any way, Red Hat will not perform any disaster recovery or backup. We will provide you with a new cluster.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list of requirements to use, or benefits of OPL. Other use cases will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Prerequisites
- You must be a registered Red Hat Technology Partner.
- You need to have a Red Hat sponsor (this can be any Red Hat associate) request lab access on your behalf.
- You should have operational knowledge of Red HatⓇ OpenShiftⓇ and Kubernetes.
- You have operational experience with containers, operators, and/or Helm charts as appropriate.
Value of the lab
- OpenShift Partner Lab is free to partners.
- Opportunity to choose between multiple Red Hat OpenShift versions and instance sizes that suit your development needs.
- Ability to innovate and reach your goals faster.
The do-it-yourself route of installing and configuring your Red Hat OpenShift cluster means dedicating a lot of time and energy to:
- Find, reserve, and prepare your entire environment.
- Finance your cloud services if you’re in a cloud environment.
- Manage and configure your own Red Hat OpenShift installation, making it more difficult to collaborate and receive timely support in your development process.
For short-term projects or other time-sensitive needs, using the lab is an effective and efficient way to receive the benefits of our partner program.
Configuration options
- AWS installer provisioned cluster (OpenShift cluster installed on Red Hat-owned infrastructure using the OpenShift installer tool)
- Versions
- Node instance sizes: M5 Large, M5 XL, M5 2X
- AWS ROSA clusters (managed Red Hat OpenShift service running natively on AWS)
Getting Started
- Fill out our request form with your Red Hat sponsor.
- If you do not have a Red Hat sponsor or have questions, contact partner-lab@redhat.com.
FAQ
How will I get technical support?
- The lab does not include technical support. You should be using your support resources via your supported Red Hat OpenShift subscriptions. However, debugging and assisting on the cluster will be easier and faster since it’s on Red Hat infrastructure. You may discuss options for support with your Red Hat lab sponsor and/or the lab manager.
How long can I reserve the lab for?
- You may reserve the lab anywhere from 1 day to a month.
Can you accommodate multiple time zones?
- Yes, our lab accommodates all time zones. Every cluster will be available Monday through Friday, from 8 AM to 6 PM, according to your selected time zone. If your team operates across multiple time zones, we can accommodate your needs by splitting the available hours accordingly.
Can I change my cluster configuration in the middle of my lab reservation?
- No, the cluster configuration will be set in the initial cluster setup. Make sure to plan ahead when choosing your cluster configuration.
Does the lab run OpenShift Virtualization?
- Yes. When you fill out the request form you will be asked to provide all the necessary information for us to assess the most efficient cluster running OpenShift Virtualization.
For any further questions or comments, reach out to partner-lab@redhat.com.
