The Developer Sandbox for Red Hat OpenShift offers you free access to a Red Hat OpenShift cluster. It's a great way to learn about and experiment with containers, Kubernetes, OpenShift, and microservices.
I'll be demonstrating the Developer Sandbox at Red Hat Summit 2023. Read on for a sneak peek of what to expect at my lightning talk.
Check out our session preview: The developer's guide to Red Hat Summit 2023
Two rules of a sandbox
A sandbox has two rules:
- Don’t throw sand.
- No cats in the sandbox.
What does this mean? It means you don't harm other users and you don't allow unwanted visitors. In terms of the Developer Sandbox: Your code won't interfere with anyone else's code, and scammers, cryptocurrency miners, and other bad actors won't be admitted.
How to build applications in OpenShift
There are multiple ways to build an application in OpenShift; they include Source2Image (S2I), importing an image, using a Pipeline, and more. I'll discuss these methods and also demonstrate some of them. Live. Without a net.
Can I get a database?
Yes. The Developer Sandbox includes 18 different database offerings. You can spin up a new database instance from zero in as little as three mouse clicks. During my Summit talk, I'll show how easy it is to get a relational database in your Developer Sandbox.
But I don't want to install anything!
While some activities do require you to install the OpenShift command-line tool, oc, it's often not necessary. In fact, the OpenShift dashboard—a browser-based view into your project in the cluster—has a built-in command line window.
Edit, push, and build from the browser
The Developer Sandbox includes Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces (formerly Red Hat CodeReady Workspaces), a browser-based IDE that is built on VS Code. This has many benefits, including zero-time onboarding of developers (i.e., "Here's a URL"), no need to install libraries or runtimes, access from any browser on any machine anywhere, and more.
During my lightning talk, I'll edit code, push it to a GitHub repo, and we'll watch an OpenShift Pipeline build and deploy the application.
(Kubernetes) Operators are standing by
Operators are the method by which a lot of software, libraries, middleware, etc., are installed and maintained in Kubernetes and OpenShift. The Developer Sandbox for Red Hat OpenShift includes several Operators, which I will review in my lightning talk. They include Camel K, Red Hat OpenShift Data Science, gitops-primer, and a lot more. The Service Binding Operator will also be featured in my presentation.
A lot of activities
Not sure what do to with the Developer Sandbox? Perhaps you just don't know how or where to start. Don't worry, we have a long (and growing) list of activities:
- Learn Kubernetes
- Build from source
- Use Kafka to handle events
- Create a serverless function
- and a bunch more.
At Summit 2023, I'll quickly introduce all of the activities and, if I have time, blast through one. Or catch me after my talk and we can navigate one together.
Signing up is easy–dooo eeet
Don't want to wait until May 23 for Red Hat Summit 2023 and my lightning talk? You can sign up for your own Developer Sandbox account right now at no cost.
See you in Boston!
Last updated: November 8, 2023
