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System context for VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift architecture

System context for VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift architecture

The following diagram shows the system context for this reference architecture. A system context diagram is a high-level diagram that provides an initial view of the system. It defines the key elements of a system, the boundary of the system, and the entities that interact with it, along with the interaction.

VMware Solutions and Red Hat® OpenShift® System Context
IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions and Red Hat OpenShift system context

Actors

The system context diagram identifies the following actors:

  • VMware administrator - The administrator is responsible for the ongoing deployment and maintenance of the VMware® environment.
  • Red Hat OpenShift administrator - The administrator is responsible for the ongoing deployment and maintenance of the Red Hat® OpenShift® environment.
  • Application user - The users of the applications that are deployed in the VMware and Red Hat OpenShift environment.

Systems

The system context diagram identifies the following systems:

  • NSX Edge - Virtual appliances that manage north-south traffic into and out of the VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic instance.
  • NSX load balancer - Used by Red Hat OpenShift for access to control plane and worker hosts. Load balancing is a function within the NSX® Edge, providing an L4/7 application load balancer.
  • IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions Active Directory - Used for vCenter and NSX Manager authentication and can be extended to be used by Red Hat OpenShift.
  • IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions DNS - Used by the VMware and Red Hat OpenShift environment to provide FQDN registration and resolution. DNS is configured to forward lookups to shared IBM DNS servers, allowing the resolution of public endpoints.
  • IBM Cloud shared NTP - Used to maintain time synchronization within the environment.
  • Persistent volumes:
    • vSAN - vSphere® provider and storage class that is configured in Red Hat OpenShift environment that allows ReadWriteOnce persistent volumes to be stored as virtual machine disks. The IBM Cloud Red Hat OpenShift environment allows ReadWriteMany persistent volumes.
    • Block - IBM Cloud provider and storage class that is configured in Red Hat OpenShift environment that allows ReadWriteOnce persistent volumes.
  • Public internet - Provide access to the VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift environment to communicate with the public internet.
  • IBM Cloud private network - Provide access to the VCF for Classic and Red Hat OpenShift environment to communicate with the IBM Cloud private network and services.