OpenShift: reviewed part 1

In this post I’ll try to explain why everyone should start using OpenShift.
1. What it is?
The paas platform OpenShift is a free and opensource platform from RedHat. With free, meaning actually that you get 3 gears for free. On those nodes (see it as virtual servers), you can do almost everything you want. From running a JBoss Application server, up till a php application or do something with MongoDB.
The fact that it is open source makes it even more nice. You can simply download the paas platform and install it in your own small datacenter, taking advantage of all the features the online platform gives you. Simply clicking on the image below will bring you to the download page to install it in your own datacenter.

2. Tutorial on how to get started
Now, where to start? Get yourself an account on this link and simply follow this tutorial: Getting started
There’s nothing more? NO. It’s as easy as that. In no time you’ll have your first application up and running!
3. How does it actually work?
What you get from OpenShift is a gear, on which you can put your stuff. A gear is nothing more than a virtual server, where you can go to using ssh. On a gear you can put one or more cartridges. A cartridge is a preconfigured container like for example a JBoss Application Server, a MySQL database or MongoDB. When creating a gear, you’ll receive a git repository, and it is to that repository that you will have to push your code. Using action hooks (More info) you can tell OpenShift how to build and deploy your application. Below you can see a quick overview of available cartridges (at the time of writing)

4. Why you should use it?

• It’s FREE
• It’s OpenSource: So you can download it, and even change it according to your needs
• You can simply add Jenkins as a build server, with one click on a button
• It is ideal for development! Quickly create an application and put it online

5. Why you should not use it?

• There’s no online production version (yet)
• Sometimes there’s an outage
• When using a lot of memory, cpu, …, you might think a small node is not enough.

6. You want to know more?
Join us at the next JBoss Netherlands usergroup event Wed Dec 12: meetup