Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. About This Guide
This guide provides a high-level walkthrough of the container security measures available in OpenShift Container Platform, including solutions for the host layer, the container and orchestration layer, and the build and application layer. This guide contains the following information:
- Why container security is important and how it compares with existing security standards.
- Which container security measures are provided by the host (RHEL) layer and which are provided by OpenShift Container Platform.
- How to evaluate your container content and sources for vulnerabilities.
- How to design your build and deployment process to proactively check container content.
- How to control access to containers via authentication and authorization.
- How networking and attached storage are secured in OpenShift Container Platform.
- Containerized solutions for API management and SSO.
1.2. What Are Containers?
Containers package an application and all its dependencies into a single image that can be promoted from development, to test, to production, without change.
Containers provide consistency across environments and multiple deployment targets: physical servers, virtual machines (VMs), and private or public cloud.
Some of the benefits of using containers include:
| INFRASTRUCTURE | APPLICATIONS |
|---|---|
| Sandboxed application processes on a shared Linux OS kernel | Package my application and all of its dependencies |
| Simpler, lighter, and denser than virtual machines | Deploy to any environment in seconds and enable CI/CD |
| Portable across different environments | Easily access and share containerized components |
Further Reading
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OpenShift Container Platform Architecture: Core Concepts
Containers and Images - Red Hat Enterprise Linux Atomic Host Container Security Guide
1.3. Container Security in OpenShift Container Platform
This guide describes the key elements of security for each layer of the container solution stack, while also showing how OpenShift Container Platform can be used to to create, deploy, and manage containers at scale, with security in mind at every stage and every layer.
