VMware vSphere to OpenShift Virtualization Migration with F5 BIG-IP

Introduction

OpenShift Virtualization [1] [2] is Red Hat’s offering for KubeVirt virtualization, a solid virtualization platform for VM workloads. In turn, KubeVirt is based on the KVM/QEMU projects.  VMs running in OpenShift Virtualization can be plugged into the POD network and/or in external networks, being able to replace a VMware platform. 

This article has an attached guide (PDF) that shows how to move workloads and BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) instances from VMware with vSphere networking to OpenShift Virtualization. This guide is aligned with the OpenShift Virtualization Reference Implementation Guide and the OpenShift Migration Toolkit for Virtualization. The latter facilitates the migration of application VMs.

Overview of the guide

The guide is composed of the following sections:

1. Overview of the migration process
2. Network considerations
3. Preparatory works
4. Migration procedure
5. Additional information

The guide is meant to be self-contained and includes all the details needed. In https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-openshift-virt-migration/tree/main you will find sample manifests to be used alongside the guide.

Note that migrating a BIG-IP VE from VMware to OpenShift Virtualization doesn’t require any additional licenses. The existing licenses can be re-used. 

Note also that OpenShift Virtualization requires the Q35 machine type, which is supported starting with BIG-IP versions 15.1.0, 16.1.5, and 17.1.1. Check this link for details.

Final remarks and next steps

OpenShift Virtualization provides a strong foundation to host both VM and container workloads, thus unifying the platform for all applications and ultimately simplifying the infrastructure.

Download the attached PDF to see the guide. This guide is a living document, and we expect to update it with improved content. We are looking forward to your questions and comments on the guide.