Discover the Complete Process of Running Applications on OpenShift

Author : Nikhil kumar | Published On : 24 Aug 2026

OpenShift Application Deployment

Running an application on OpenShift is more than just running application code inside a container. This usually includes preparing the application, finding or creating a container image, deploying the workload, exposing it via a service or route and evaluating how it performs. OpenShift full course is a platform based on Kubernetes that provides capabilities to make developing and deploying applications easier.

By understanding this entire process, developers are able to have an idea of what is happening in between writing application code and making that application available for customers. OpenShift offers web-console and command-line workflows to enable practitioners to select the right workflow for their development environment, and operational needs.

Build the Application and Container Image

Containers are an integral part of running apps on OpenShift. A developer creates an application and its dependencies into a container image. The image is stored in a container registry and can be used as a base for an Openshift workload. Processes exist in OpenShift that use source code as input to produce an application image.

From a practical learning standpoint you can start simple and then gradually add containerisation. Learners can observe how the source code of an application is transformed into a runnable image and how the image is made available to OpenShift. This is a key building block, as container images constitute a fundamental bridge between application development and deployment.

OpenShift Application Development

Once the image or source code is available, developers are able to build an application in OpenShift. Source code, container images, or other supported input can be passed to the oc new-app command. OpenShift will then construct the resources needed to build and deploy your application, according to the workflow you selected.

Developers are able to design apps graphically and manage workloads using the OpenShift web console. Both the console and the oc command-line interface are useful to work with as they each provide a different view to look at and manipulate OpenShift resources. Both approaches are often discussed in practical developer workshops on application deployment.

Deployments and Pods Management

When an application is created, OpenShift takes care of executing workloads utilising Kubernetes resources. A Deployment describes how you want your application to look. ReplicaSets and pods are responsible to ensure that the desired amount of application instances are running. The OpenShift manual recommends not creating new deployments using the old DeploymentConfig approach, but rather using the Kubernetes Deployment objects.

With deployments you may provide your developers control over scalability and modifications to the program. For example, an application can be launched with multiple replicas to serve increased traffic. A new version can be progressively deployed over an old version . By understanding these resources developers are able to grasp how OpenShift delivers application availability and not just deployment as a one shot action.

Presenting the Applications to the Users “

We still need a way for users or other services to reach a running application. OpenShift Services allow you to offer the application workloads internally in a consistent manner whereas Routes allow you to expose HTTP or HTTPS applications outside. Red Hat developer workshop: Exposing applications to users in the application deployment process.

How do services and routes work? This is a big part of what developers developing web apps and APIs need to master. A practical example would be to deploy an application , build a service , expose that service using a route and visit the application using a browser . This provides the learners with a full picture of how traffic gets to workloads running inside OpenShift.

Upgrading, Scaling and Monitoring your Applications

The applications tend to have variable workloads, therefore developers are expected to be able to scale deployments and observe application activity. OpenShift allows to have numerous replicas of workloads. Applications may handle higher traffic provided their architecture is properly. Developers may also look at application logs and talk to the running containers during problem determination.

Another crucial portion of the lifecycle is application updates. OpenShift deployments manage the transition from one version of an application to another. This offers rolling updates where the new pods become ready as the older instances are replaced gradually. This may aid in reducing the effect of application releases.

Automating application lifecycles

Deployment in modern OpenShift environments can be more than manual commands with CI/CD and GitOps techniques. OpenShift Pipelines automates building container images, staging deployments, and more. OpenShift GitOps provides Git-based configuration for continuous delivery. Red Hat demonstrates compiling source code to an image, pushing the image to a registry and modifying deployment configuration via GitOps.

Automation enables the repeatable way of application delivery. Rather than manually running each deployment procedure, development teams may establish workflows that reliably build, test and deliver programs. That’s what makes OpenShift especially critical for developers and DevOps professionals working in today’s cloud-native environments.

Bottom Line Own the Full OpenShift Application Lifecycle

That’s all about the execution of the applications on the Openshift. Writing Application Code Building Container Images Working with Pods and Deployments Workloads Exposing Applications using Services and Routes Scaling of Resources Performance Monitoring Application Version Upgrades Every stage helps in building a reliable lifecycle of an application.

Developers are able to learn about these stages and explore how OpenShift training courses enables modern application delivery with hands-on projects. With a simple containerised app you will gain useful knowledge and confidence to go toward automated CI/CD and GitOps operations. Regular practice allows learners to build a better foundation to deal with cloud-native applications, DevOps workflows and OpenShift-based development environments.