How Sony Interactive Entertainment Leveraged OpenShift to Level Up its Online Gaming Services
OpenShift is a family of containerization software products developed by Red Hat. Its flagship product is the OpenShift Container Platform a hybrid cloud platform as a service built around Linux containers orchestrated and managed by Kubernetes on a foundation of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
OpenShift originally came from Red Hat’s acquisition of Makara, a company marketing a platform as a service (PaaS) based on Linux containers, in November 2010. OpenShift was announced in May 2011 as proprietary technology and did not become open-source until May of 2012. Up until v3, the container technology and container orchestration technology used custom developed technologies.
For more info you can refer to :- https://www.redhat.com/en/technologies/cloud-computing/openshift
Key Features : -
- Container Orchestration: OpenShift uses a smart system called Kubernetes to automatically manage applications stored in containers. It takes care of tasks like deploying, resizing, and updating these applications without any hassle. This helps ensure that the applications are always available and can handle any problems that may arise.
- Developer-Friendly: OpenShift is designed with developers in mind. It provides an easy-to-use interface and tools that make it simple for development teams to create, test, and launch applications. It supports many different programming languages and works well with popular tools that developers like to use.
- Works with Various Clouds: OpenShift is flexible and can work with different cloud services like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. It can also run on private clouds and in-house computer systems. This means organizations can choose the best cloud setup or a combination of them to fit their needs.
- Automated Testing and Deployment: OpenShift helps developers by automating the process of testing and launching new code changes. This is called continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD). It speeds up the time it takes to release new applications, getting them to users faster.
- Scales and Keeps Running: When there is a high demand for an application, OpenShift can automatically increase its capacity to handle the extra load. This is called automatic scaling. It also has built-in features to make sure applications stay up and running even if there are technical issues, reducing downtime.
- Keeps Applications Secure: OpenShift takes security seriously. It uses special controls to manage who can access applications (role-based access control or RBAC). It also keeps applications in separate compartments, so they can’t interfere with each other. Additionally, it scans container images for any weaknesses to keep applications safe from potential threats.
- Monitors Performance: OpenShift has built-in tools to keep an eye on how applications are performing. It helps administrators see how well the applications and infrastructure are doing and if there are any issues that need attention. This way, they can ensure everything is running smoothly.
What Is the OpenShift Container Platform Architecture?
OpenShift Container Platform has a microservices-based architecture of smaller, decoupled units that work together. It runs on top of a Kubernetes cluster, with data about the objects stored in etcd, a reliable clustered key-value store. Those services are broken down by function:
- REST APIs, which expose each of the core objects.
- Controllers, which read those APIs, apply changes to other objects, and report status or write back to the object.
Users make calls to the REST API to change the state of the system. Controllers use the REST API to read the user’s desired state, and then try to bring the other parts of the system into sync. For example, when a user requests a build they create a “build” object. The build controller sees that a new build has been created, and runs a process on the cluster to perform that build. When the build completes, the controller updates the build object via the REST API and the user sees that their build is complete.
The controller pattern means that much of the functionality in OpenShift Container Platform is extensible. The way that builds are run and launched can be customized independently of how images are managed, or how deployments happen. The controllers are performing the “business logic” of the system, taking user actions and transforming them into reality. By customizing those controllers or replacing them with your own logic, different behaviors can be implemented. From a system administration perspective, this also means the API can be used to script common administrative actions on a repeating schedule. Those scripts are also controllers that watch for changes and take action. OpenShift Container Platform makes the ability to customize the cluster in this way a first-class behavior.
To make this possible, controllers leverage a reliable stream of changes to the system to sync their view of the system with what users are doing. This event stream pushes changes from etcd to the REST API and then to the controllers as soon as changes occur, so changes can ripple out through the system very quickly and efficiently. However, since failures can occur at any time, the controllers must also be able to get the latest state of the system at startup, and confirm that everything is in the right state. This resynchronization is important, because it means that even if something goes wrong, then the operator can restart the affected components, and the system double checks everything before continuing. The system should eventually converge to the user’s intent, since the controllers can always bring the system into sync.
Let’s explore organization that used OpenShift to overcome a challenge:-
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) is the video game and interactive entertainment division of Sony Corporation, responsible for the development, production, and distribution of the PlayStation gaming platform. Established in 1993, SIE has become one of the leading players in the gaming industry, known for its iconic gaming consoles, innovative game titles, and vibrant online gaming services.
Challenge Facing:
As the popularity of PlayStation gaming grew exponentially over the years, SIE faced significant challenges in managing the infrastructure and deployment of their online gaming services. With millions of active users across the globe, the demand for seamless online gaming experiences was ever-increasing. Ensuring high availability, scalability, and efficient software updates for their gaming ecosystem became paramount to meet the demands of their passionate gaming community.
The traditional IT infrastructure used by SIE was not agile and scalable enough to cope with the dynamic and rapidly evolving gaming landscape. The existing deployment processes were often manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors, hindering the ability to deliver new game updates and features promptly
Solution by OpenShift:
To overcome these challenges, Sony Interactive Entertainment embraced OpenShift as its container platform to revolutionize its online gaming services. OpenShift, based on Kubernetes, provided SIE with a powerful and modern solution for managing their infrastructure and applications in a more flexible and scalable manner.
By adopting OpenShift, SIE could containerize their gaming services, breaking them down into smaller, self-contained units known as containers. Each container held the necessary components, libraries, and dependencies, ensuring consistency and making it easier to manage different aspects of their gaming platform. Containerization facilitated easier deployment, scaling, and versioning of their gaming services.
OpenShift’s seamless integration with Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines allowed SIE to automate the software deployment process. This enabled continuous integration and continuous delivery, facilitating faster and more frequent game updates and enhancements.
End Result:
The adoption of OpenShift brought remarkable improvements to Sony Interactive Entertainment’s gaming platform. By containerizing their gaming services, SIE achieved greater flexibility and scalability. The platform allowed them to dynamically allocate resources based on user demand, efficiently utilizing their infrastructure to ensure optimal performance during peak gaming hours.
OpenShift’s automated scaling capabilities played a critical role in handling spikes in user traffic during game launches and special events. The platform’s self-healing features automatically addressed any issues that arose, minimizing disruptions to the gaming experience and ensuring high availability for their gaming community.
Moreover, OpenShift’s efficient deployment processes reduced the time and effort required to release new game updates and enhancements. This accelerated software delivery allowed SIE to provide a continuous stream of fresh content to their gaming community, enhancing player engagement and satisfaction.
Conclusion :-
Sony Interactive Entertainment’s adoption of OpenShift as its container platform revolutionized the management of their online gaming services. OpenShift’s containerization and orchestration features enabled SIE to deliver an exceptional and immersive gaming experience to millions of PlayStation users worldwide, reinforcing their position as a leading force in the gaming industry.
