Red Hat OpenShift Fundamentals 

 
Glossary of terms 

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Application 
Also known as an application program or application software, an application is a computer software 
package that performs a specific function. 

Application Environment 
The collection of technologies a customer assembles to build, deploy, and manage applications in their 
environment. 

Application Programming Interface (API) 

The means by which one piece of software can talk to another and exchange information. Programmers 
use APIs when the applications they are writing need to provide access to other systems. 

Application Programming Interface (API) - led collaborative deployments 

When multiple development teams collaborate on the APIs they will use to assure their applications will 
communicate with each other. You may hear terms like contract led, or API first development being 
used. 

Architecture 
The fundamental organization of a system embodied in its components, their relationships to each 
other, and to the environment, and the principles guiding its design and evolution. 

Automation 
The use of technology to perform tasks without human assistance. 

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CI/CD 
CI/CD is a method to frequently deliver apps to production platforms by introducing automation into 
the stages of app development. The main concepts attributed to CI/CD are continuous integration, 
continuous delivery, and continuous deployment. CI/CD is a solution to the problems integrating new 
code can cause for development and operations teams. 

Cloud-native development 
The rapid creation, maintenance, and management of applications that can run across complex hybrid 
cloud environments without modification. This approach enables organizations to get the most from 
innovative technologies and practices like containers, microservices, agile, DevOps, and continuous 
integration and deployment (CI/CD). 

Containers 
Containers allow developers to easily package and deliver applications across development, test, and 
production environments. Containers are similar to virtual machines (VM) in that they hold applications 
and the necessary configurations (and files) needed to move from development, to test, to production 
– without nasty side effects like configuration or versioning issues. Containers are much more 
lightweight than VMs as all of the code needed is embedded within the container itself. 

Container Adoption Journey 

The Container Adoption Journey is Red Hat’s strategic approach to taking customers from isolated 
projects to enterprise-wide container adoption while transforming IT teams and processes along the 
way. 

Custom Resource Definition (CRD) 

A custom resource is an object that extends the Kubernetes API or allows you to introduce your own API 
into a project or a cluster. A custom resource definition (CRD) file defines your own object kinds and lets 
the API Server handle the entire life cycle..   

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Data streaming 
Data that is continuously generated by different sources. 
 

Distributed communication 
When computer programming, software, and its data are spread out across more than one computer, 
but communicate complex messages through their nodes (computers), and are dependent upon each 
other. 

DevOps 
The word “DevOps’ is a mashup of “development” and “operations” but it represents a set of ideas and 
practices much larger than those two terms alone, or together. DevOps describes approaches to 
speeding up the processes by which an idea (like a new software feature, a request for enhancement, or 
a bug fix) goes from development to deployment in a production environment where it can provide 
value to the user. These approaches require that development teams and operations teams 
communicate frequently and approach their work with empathy for their teammates. Scalability and 
flexible provisioning are also necessary. 
 
 

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Hybrid cloud   
A combination of one or more public and private clouds with some degree of workload portability, 
integration, orchestration, and unified management. The key here is that there is an element of 
interoperability, migration potential, and a connection between tasks running in public clouds and 

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on-premises infrastructure, even if it’s not always “seamless” or otherwise fully implemented. (Otherwise, 
it’s just a bunch of clouds. See “multicloud.”).   

Highly distributed cloud architecture   

Ability to deploy technology and applications across clouds while preserving the ability to interact (to 
“talk” to each other).  

Highly distributed platform   

A platform whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and 
coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another.
 

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Infrastructure  
A general term for computer resources, including hardware (physical servers), storage, networking, and 
code, all the way up to the operating system. Infrastructure generally does not include user-space 
applications.  

Integration  
The connection of data, applications, APIs, and devices across your IT organization to be more efficient, 
productive, and agile.
 
 

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Kubernetes  
Kubernetes is a portable, extensible, open-source platform for managing containerized workloads and 
services, that facilitates both declarative configuration and automation.
 
 

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Memory-caching   
A technique in which computer applications store data in a computer’s main memory (i.e., random 
access memory, or RAM) to enable fast retrieval of that data. 

Microservices  
An architectural style and an approach to developing an application as a suite of small services, instead 
of as one large 'monolithic' application. It allows applications to be built and modified more easily and in 
addition, microservices can be reused in different applications, thereby resulting in better productivity 
and more responsiveness to the business. For example, loyalty card functions in a hotel booking 
application. 

Monolithic  
A centralized deployment of applications and application services, commonly deployed to maximize use 
of computing resources on a hosting server, deployed as a single unit of work.  

Multicloud  
A cloud approach that uses multiple cloud services from multiple private or public cloud providers, 
without interconnectivity between clouds. 
 
 

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Net new application   

An application that results from a refactoring of existing applications. 
 
 
 

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Omnichannel 
Provides a unified customer experience across platforms, creating a single view for customers to 
interact with their own information. 
 
Operating System 
The software that supports a computer's basic functions, such as scheduling tasks, executing 
applications, and controlling peripherals. 
 
Operator Life cycle Manager (OLM) 
The backplane that facilitates management of operators on a Kubernetes cluster. 
 
Operator SDK 
Provides necessary framework so that developers can build Operators based on their expertise without 
requiring knowledge of Kubernetes API complexities and focus on adding business logic when 
packaging their application in an Operator.  

Orchestration  
The automated arrangement, coordination, and management of complex computer systems and 
software. You may hear other definitions based on the technical context of the conversation.  
 
 

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Private cloud  
Pools of virtual resources are controlled and often managed by the organization using the resources. A 
private cloud provides an environment where the hardware, storage, and network are dedicated to a 
single client or company,. It is highly customizable. Like public clouds, private clouds are delivered via a 

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self-service environment (sometimes over the internet), but are secured by a private network, privacy 
settings, or management.  

Public cloud  
A public cloud is a pool of virtual resources provided by a third party over the internet that is 
automatically provisioned and allocated among multiple clients through a self-service interface. 
 
 

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Real time messaging  

The distribution and delivery of messages that are designed to be consumed or otherwise used in real 
time (i.e. as events occur and no later). 

Runtimes 
The general description of the technology that allows an application to run. Common examples of 
runtimes would be Quarkus, Spring Boot, and node.js. 
 
 

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Service composition  
A collection of services where many smaller services are combined together to accomplish a unit of 
work. 

Service mesh 
A service mesh is a way to control how different parts of an application share data with one another. 
Unlike other systems for managing this communication, a service mesh is a dedicated infrastructure 
layer built right into an app. This visible infrastructure layer can document how well (or not) different 

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parts of an app interact, so it becomes easier to optimize communication and avoid downtime as an app 
grows. 
 
Shared core 
Refers to a new class of subscriptions entitlement where we provide a pool of cores that is shared across a 
group of products. The number of cores, not the number of product instances running are what is important.  
 
Software-as-a-Service 
A method of software delivery and licensing in which software is accessed online via a subscription, 
rather than bought and installed on individual computers.  
 
 

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Telementry 
Collecting key metrics to read and transmit for advanced troubleshooting and analysis. 
 
 
 

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Unified Application Environment 

An application environment all, or mostly composed of, technologies engineered to work together to 
automate, integrate, and accelerate the creation of applications. 
 

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